While most music lovers are familiar with the famous scores of Tchaikovsky, Delibes, and Stravinsky, many other lesser-known composers also wrote for the ballet. Several of these composers wrote almost exclusively for the ballet--and all enriched the world of dance. Minor Ballet Composers presents biographical sketches of 66 underappreciated ballet composers of the 19th and 20th centuries from around the world, along with selected stories from the ballets they helped create. While the composers'contributions to ballet music are emphasized, all aspects of their lives and works are touched upon. Plot summaries and excerpts from reviews of many of the ballets are also provided. Other topics of interest you'll find covered in Minor Ballet Composers include: Les Six: Darius Milhaud, Louis Durey, Georges Auric, Arthur Honegger, Francis Poulenc, and Germaine Tailleferre--and their relationship with Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau how politics, revolutions, and wars have affected composers and their works who studied with whom; who collaborated with whom schools, movements, and musical renaissance the importance of opera to ballet music the relationship between film scores and ballet music which books, plays, stories, and folk tales certain ballets are based upon where many of these ballets premieredMinor Ballet Composers emphasizes the importance of second-tier composers and their influence on the rich tradition of music written for the dance (though in some cases the music was appropriated for the ballet from other original designs). The gathering of these composers in a single volume in appreciation of their ballet music, with a glossary of choreographers and an index of ballet titles, makes this book a useful volume for ballet aficionados, music librarians, musicians, and others interested in dance and dance music.

Like their librarian colleagues, reference archivists mediate between the user and the source material. However, given the nature of archival materials and of their holding repositories, unique issues arise. While such matters as provenance and original order and access and security continue to be vital underpinnings of their work, a myriad of other issues comes into play as reference archivists attempt to balance the competing demands of donors, researchers, the public, and the press. From the creation and dissemination of finding aids for electronic resources to the implementation of marketing strategies to increase support and strengthen service, Reference Services for Archives and Manuscripts shows you how to thrive in the changing world of archival reference. Intended to foster an appreciation of the issues both within and beyond the field of archives, Reference Services for Archives and Manuscripts reveals that today's archivist is straddling the world of the traditional with the world of the new. The book establishes its value as it guides you through new concerns such as how to: take advantage of technological developments in appraisal, accession, and preservation address copyright, privacy, and funding issues for electronic resources mount archival cataloging records on local and wide-area databases create a publicly available site on the Internet improve in-house access tools, professional abilities, and the caliber of public service address security issues and respond to theftReference Services for Archives and Manuscripts also helps you by preparing you for changes in the relationship between archivist and researcher that will inevitably occur with further changes in technology. Other vital issues discussed are improved access for unserved and underserved groups, a revision in ethical codes, and the ability of archivists to become more customer-centered.

Despite efforts of contemporary reformers to curb the availability of dime novels, series books, and paperbacks, Pioneers, Passionate Ladies, and Private Eyes reveals how many readers used them as means of resistance and how fictional characters became models for self-empowerment. These literary genres, whose value has long been underestimated, provide fascinating insight into the formation of American popular culture and identity. Through these mass-produced, widely read books, Deadwood Dick, Old Sleuth, and Jessie James became popular heroes that fed the public's imagination for the last western frontier, detective tales, and the myth of the outlaw. Women, particularly those who were poor and endured hard lives, used the literature as means of escape from the social, economic, and cultural suppression they experienced in the nineteenth century. In addition to the insight this book provides into texts such as "The Bride of the Tomb," the Nick Carter Series, and Edward Stratemeyer's rendition of the Lizzie Borden case, readers will find interesting information about: the roles of illustrations and covers in consumer culture Bowling Green's endeavor to digitize paperback and pulp magazine covers bibliographical problems in collecting and controlling series books the effects of mass market fiction on young girls Louisa May Alcott's pseudonym and authorship of three dime novels special collections competition among publishersA collection of work presented at a symposium held by the Library of Congress, Pioneers, Passionate Ladies, and Private Eyes makes an outstanding contribution to redefining the role of popular fiction in American life.

This book contains the results of the first and only multi-institution study of interlibrary loan and document delivery customer satisfaction among academic library patrons. By examining customer perceptions and ILL/DD activities, Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery and Customer Satisfaction: Strategies for Redesigning Services allows library administrators and managers to better understand service needs and shows them where to best allocate resources. The volume includes current reports on workload and staffing in ILL, analysis of current ILL statistical software packages, reports of on-site software development, and suggestions for the future of ILL/DD services. As ILL and DD are the fastest growing services in academic libraries, having a tool that provides so much comparative data on service quality, efficiency, and effectiveness is crucial for librarians in search of solutions to an array of ILL/DD problems.Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery and Customer Satisfaction is a valuable resource for academic librarians, public and special librarians struggling with ILL/DD issues, DD providers (commercial or otherwise), and students in the field of library and information studies. Readers become immersed in the issues as this book: describes the development of local software to reduce the tedious tasks involved in request fulfillment, freeing office personnel to tackle more difficult requests analyzes how important delivery speed is to academic ILL/DD requestors and suggests when investing additional resources in improving delivery speed may be a waste of money provides comparative data on how many requests can be processed by the typical ILL office staff member debunks some long-held assumptions about delivery speed sets guidelines for efficiency and effectiveness proposes two strategies for redesigning ILL services to incorporate new developments in technology and innovative approaches toward long-standing, traditional servicesInterlibrary Loan/Document Delivery and Customer Satisfaction is useful not only to administrators interested in redesigning ILL and DD, but also to other libraries interested in comparing the speed and effectiveness of their service with some positively evaluated services provided by high-volume libraries. The software review helps providers implement the best choice of software for their offices and provides in-depth discussions about the strategies needed to further develop one's own software to reduce workload. At a time when the tenets of Total Quality Management and customer satisfaction are the focus of many managers, interlibrary loan and document delivery are transforming from peripheral services to primary services in the academic library. Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery and Customer Satisfaction reflects the convergence of these trends and provides a great snapshot of services provided by a representative group of academic libraries.

This book contains the results of the first and only multi-institution study of interlibrary loan and document delivery customer satisfaction among academic library patrons. By examining customer perceptions and ILL/DD activities, Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery and Customer Satisfaction: Strategies for Redesigning Services allows library administrators and managers to better understand service needs and shows them where to best allocate resources. The volume includes current reports on workload and staffing in ILL, analysis of current ILL statistical software packages, reports of on-site software development, and suggestions for the future of ILL/DD services. As ILL and DD are the fastest growing services in academic libraries, having a tool that provides so much comparative data on service quality, efficiency, and effectiveness is crucial for librarians in search of solutions to an array of ILL/DD problems. Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery and Customer Satisfaction is a valuable resource for academic librarians, public and special librarians struggling with ILL/DD issues, DD providers (commercial or otherwise), and students in the field of library and information studies.Readers become immersed in the issues as this book: describes the development of local software to reduce the tedious tasks involved in request fulfillment, freeing office personnel to tackle more difficult requests analyzes how important delivery speed is to academic ILL/DD requestors and suggests when investing additional resources in improving delivery speed may be a waste of money provides comparative data on how many requests can be processed by the typical ILL office staff member debunks some long-held assumptions about delivery speed sets guidelines for efficiency and effectiveness proposes two strategies for redesigning ILL services to incorporate new developments in technology and innovative approaches toward long-standing, traditional services Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery and Customer Satisfaction is useful not only to administrators interested in redesigning ILL and DD, but also to other libraries interested in comparing the speed and effectiveness of their service with some positively evaluated services provided by high-volume libraries.The software review helps providers implement the best choice of software for their offices and provides in-depth discussions about the strategies needed to further develop one's own software to reduce workload. At a time when the tenets of Total Quality Management and customer satisfaction are the focus of many managers, interlibrary loan and document delivery are transforming from peripheral services to primary services in the academic library. Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery and Customer Satisfaction reflects the convergence of these trends and provides a great snapshot of services provided by a representative group of academic libraries.

Managing Change in Academic Libraries helps academic librarians plan, implement, and manage changes to the fundamental structure of their organizations. It shows readers that in academic libraries the two driving forces behind most change are economics and technology. Declines in funding for education and in the purchasing power of libraries have made it impossible to maintain the status quo, let alone realize growth, in traditional information services and collection development. Add to this downward trend in library economics, the explosion of new information technology and its potential for radically altering communications and knowledge management, and one has the ingredients for some amazing changes in libraries.To help manage these many changes, chapters in Managing Change in Academic Libraries approach change with a mixture of radical and rational ideas. Readers learn academic librarians'views on dealing with change as they read about: an environmental scan which identifies both internal and external forces that are increasing the amount and scope of change in academic libraries technological change and its impact in academic libraries the academic library director 's role as an agent of change how two large library systems managed to change in some very fundamental ways when faced with serious economic and political challenges difficult personnel issues faced by academic libraries as they move into new organizational structures and adopt new management styles the future of traditional reference services in light of rapid developments in computing and networking how to change bibliographic control to better serve the changing expectations and needs of user communities conducting a restructuring study and recommendations for organizational change in a large research library systemEach chapter shows academic librarians how they can respond imaginatively and nimbly to economic, political, and technological change that envelopes their professional work life. Academic librarians will refer to Managing Change in Academic Libraries again and again as a survival tool as they meet with challenging and unpredictable changes.

The Economics of Access Versus Ownership offers library professionals a model economic analysis of providing access to journal articles through interlibrary loan as compared to library subscriptions to the journals. This model enables library directors to do an economic analysis of interlibrary loan and collection development in their own libraries and to then make cost-efficient decisions about the use of these services.This practical book s analysis and conclusions are based on 1994/95 academic year research conducted by the State University of New York libraries at Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, and Stony Brook. The research determined the costs and benefits of high-priced, low-use scholarly journals, focusing on journals in the mathematics and sciences that historically have high prices, low levels of use, and increasing rates of price escalation. The libraries'financial costs of access by interlibrary loan versus journal subscriptions was calculated and, using this information, a set of decision rules was established. Library directors and interlibrary loan/collection development heads can use this set of decision rules to determine, based on the level of use and subscription price, whether they should provide access to journal articles via interlibrary loan or journal subscriptions.The research findings presented in The Economics of Access Versus Ownership are significant to library professionals as journal subscription prices escalate and commercial document delivery services, consortium agreements, and interlibrary loan hardware and software proliferate. Contributors explore important factors necessary to understanding the economics of access. They encourage readers to consider the following when choosing between journal subscriptions and interlibrary loan: financial costs fixed and marginal costs decision rules which determine the most economically efficient method of access the use of a library consortium and joint collection development within the consortium as an economically efficient method of access added benefits of a library consortiumInformation found in The Economics of Access Versus Ownership makes it a useful guide for university and college library directors, interlibrary loan department heads, and collection development heads trying to choose the most economically sound, both for their libraries and their patrons, form of access to journal articles.

This is the first book to examine standards specifically as they apply to cataloging and classification, while at the same time considering the field of library science as a whole. The developments in standards detailed in Cataloging and Classification Standards and Rules portend great time savings in the cataloging process for those catalogers willing to advocate the necessary programming to their systems officer or bibliographic utility.Standards in the library and information science community underlie and impact the work of librarians and information specialists on a daily basis, yet, remain inconspicuous to even the most knowledgeable in the field. Cataloging and Classification Standards and Rules reviews the state of a full range of formal and informal standards and rules utilized in cataloging and classification. It also provides historical perspective, commentary, assessment of significance, and anticipation of future developments and evaluates the connections and interrelationships that exist among the various standards.Chapters in Cataloging and Classification Standards and Rules are written by professionals who have been key figures in the development of standards and have accessed primary source material for the preparation of their articles. They address these: what exactly constitutes a standard how something becomes a standard how standards undergo change evaluation of and commentary on the effectiveness of current standards the latest information on several standards currently in development, testing, or implementation what the future may holdCataloging and Classification Standards and Rules is a valuable reference book for both beginning and experienced professional librarians. As managers and consumers of bibliographic information, it is crucial that librarians understand the nature and status of a variety of formal and informal standards. This book will assist them in this task. Library school students specializing in cataloging and classification will also find this book an indispensable guide as they prepare themselves for employment in the field.

New recognition within society of previously unserved populations has created the need for librarians to also recognize these groups and to find ways to serve them equally. Reference Services for the Unserved provides information, guidance, and inspiration to library professionals in their work with previously unserved populations so that these persons may be absorbed into the larger, served population groups. It helps librarians adjust to making accommodations for these new user groups, recognizing that many people in these populations have very specific needs and bring with them some specific limitations in their abilities to take advantage of existing library services. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has transformed the lives of disabled and challenged people by mainstreaming disabled children in public schools, moving mentally and developmentally disabled people into community-based residences and workshops, providing services to disabled college students, and enhancing workplace accommodations. At the same time, the ADA has presented new challenges for the library community. Reference Services for the Unserved guides library professionals in meeting these new challenges by bringing together research and descriptions of several successful attempts to meet the information needs of previously unserved populations. In guiding library professionals and administrators in effectively serving currently unserved populations, authors in Reference Services for the Unserved tell readers how to: approach services for patrons with mental illness--examines issues of behavior "inappropriate in the situation" and ways for librarians to understand this behavior in order to carry out their professional objectives of providing access to information, improving quality of life, and meeting the legal mandates of the ADA. address the needs of disabled students in the academic library--recognizes that the information needs of disabled students are not different from those of traditional students; the differences are in means of access, overcoming barriers to access, and the need for adaptive technologies and techniques. meet the information needs of battered women--suggests ways library professionals can better assist individual battered women, social service providers, and public policy or decision-makers. integrate technology into the library setting--focuses on people with severe and persistent mental illness (the improvement of access to information sources on behalf of people with cognitive disorders whose ability to process text-based information is impaired) and reports on the use of computer-aided instruction (CAI) and multimedia technology to meet their information needs. develop or upgrade services to patrons with special needs--a bibliography of useful material for guidance.Combined with strong administrative support, the information in Reference Services for the Unserved provides a strong foundation for making positive and effective changes to better accommodate disabled and challenged patrons. Library professionals and administrators and students of library and information sciences will find it a necessary guide in their attempts to provide effective and quality services to all patrons.

Postcards, individually and collectively, contain a great deal of information that can be of real value to students and researchers. Postcards in the Library gives compelling reasons why libraries should take a far more active and serious interest in establishing and maintaining postcard collections and in encouraging the use of these collections. It explains the nature and accessibility of existing postcard collections; techniques for acquiring, arranging, preserving, and handling collections; and ways to make researchers and patrons aware of these collections.Postcards in the Library asserts that, in most cases, existing postcard collections are a vastly underutilized scholarly resource. Editor Norman D. Stevens urges librarians to help change this since postcards, as items for mass consumption and often with no apparent conscious literary or social purpose, are a true reflection of the society in which they were produced. Stevens claims that messages written on postcards may also reveal a great deal about individual and/or societal attitudes and ideas.Chapters in Postcards in the Library are written by librarians who manage postcard collections, postcard collectors, and researchers. Some of the authors have undertaken major research projects that demonstrate the ways in which postcards can be used in research, and that have begun to establish a standard methodology for the analysis of postcards. They write about: major postcard collections, including the Institute of Deltiology and the Curt Teich Postcard Archives the use of postcards for scholarly research postcard conservation and preservation, arrangement and organization, and importance and value Postcards in the Library describes the postcard collections in a variety of libraries of different kinds and sizes and indicates very real ways in which the effective use of postcard collections can result in and contribute to substantive, scholarly publications. It also offers advice and suggestions on the myriad issues that libraries face in handling these ephemeral fragments of popular culture.Special collections librarians, postcard collectors, postcard dealers, and historical societies will find the information in Postcards in the Library refreshing and practical. Libraries with established postcard collections or those thinking about developing postcard collections will use it as a valuable planning tool and start-to-finish guide.

The perfect guide to jumpstart an information brokerage firm Here is an instructive guide for any librarian planning to start an information brokerage, whether as an entrepreneur or as a member of a document delivery group in a library. The methods used by successful firms and librarians are gathered together in this helpful book. Information Brokers: Case Studies of Successful Ventures identifies specific skills and relevant characteristics required to establish a successful information brokerage firm, and provides a descriptive model to assist you in running an information brokerage firm as a viable business venture.This guide is full of information gleaned from questionnaires sent to successful information brokerages throughout the United States and from in-depth interviews conducted with the principals of six of these firms. During the interviews, these individuals were questioned about many relevant issues of the field including: establishment of the business company history what specifically made each business a success general concepts concerning information brokering pertinent literature that helped them, and can help youLibrarians looking for a career change or who find their jobs in jeopardy as a result of budget cuts may want to look into the field of information brokerage. With Information Brokers: Case Studies of Successful Ventures, you can discover if the information brokerage field is for you

Gain an in-depth understanding of changes in technical services that have taken place over a quarter century and look at future trends and changes that may occur. Technical Services Management surveys and analyzes technical services in libraries from 1965 to 1990, a formative period and one of great change in library operations. The book also identifies trends that continue to impact technical services operations in libraries today. Readers gain a comprehensive knowledge of where the field has been and where it is now to help them plan and prepare more effectively for the future.Most chapters are historical, combined with a firm grasp of the present and a glimpse or more at the future. They are grouped to reflect the various aspects of technical services. Trends in technical services are considered in chapters on the development of technical services literature and the major changes in technical services in school libraries. Chapters on the major subdivisions within technical services--acquisitions and collection development, cataloging, and preservation--trace changes in library operations and the impact of automation. Issues in catalog design are explored in chapters on the emergence of online public access catalogs, bibliographic utilities, and approaches to authority control. Efforts to improve subject access are addressed through chapters on subject cataloging, the Dewey Decimal Classification, and indexing in the U.S. and Great Britain. To keep pace with changes in technical services, changes in professional education and development are needed as documented in chapters on cataloging education, continuing education in technical services, and the role of professional organizations. The final chapter outlines new challenges in the future and new roles for librarians in an electronic environment.Effective planning for the future includes learning about the past. Technical Services Management, 1965--1990 is a vital resource for library historians, library educators, technical services librarians, and graduate students in library and information science who need to know "how things were" in order to see more clearly "how things will be."

Predatory Publishing covers all aspects of predatory publishing, including topics such as predatory journals, hijacked publications, alternative metrics and fraudulent conferences, the book considers the sociocultural, geopolitical, and technical impact of predatory behaviors. Demonstrating that predatory publishing has taken advantage of the open access movement, the author highlights the negative impact such publishing practices have had on science discovery and dissemination around the world. Efforts to counter unethical and destructive conduct, such as journal blacklists, peer-review sting operations, the implementation of the strict journal selection criteria by the Directory of Open Access Journals, and government regulations in some countries, are also fully described. Predatory Publishing is a useful resource for every researcher, practitioner, and student in the global scholarly community. Individuals can expect to get a whole picture of the practice by reading this book; and decision-makers will find it informative to support their decisions. This book will be of interest to those studying and working in the fields of publishing, library and information science, communication science, economics and higher education. People in other fields, particularly biomedical sciences, will also find it useful.

Here is unique volume offering practical advice on weeding and maintaining reference collections. It covers different types of libraries--academic, corporate, public--and problems, and librarians describe in detail methods and criteria used by their libraries in weeding their reference collections. Dr. Pierce has organized the topics of her book into relevant chapters. These chapters, bound to appeal to a variety of needs, address and discuss the problems and management of growing reference collections. As many librarians find weeding reference books a difficult task, most reference departments suffer from a lack of space as a result. Collection growth reduces shelf and seating space, and both books and people are lost in the clutter. In reading this essential book, reference supervisors will come to understand the importance of allowing reference area growth combined with effective weeding to promote an attractive and well-stocked reference area. Heads of reference will find Weeding and Maintenance of Reference Collections full of useful information, from the specific criteria and detailed methods contributed by several librarians who have found success in weeding their reference collections, to the practical hints on planning and evaluating collection contents and organization. Students and faculty of library schools and information studies will gain insight into successful management of increasing amounts of reference material as the Information Age gathers momentum into the 1990s.

This useful book helps reference librarians understand the information seeking needs and behaviors of the diverse groups of people in the communities they serve. With the increasing diversity of the American population, librarians striving to plan and deliver excellent reference services must enhance their understanding of how best to assist many types of individuals and groups, from children to the elderly. Library Users and Reference Services provides much-needed help in this area, delivering strategies and methods to aid readers in their quest for increasingly effective service for all members of the communities in which they work. Library Users and Reference Services is divided into four sections of chapters which cover a broad range of topics to assist readers in planning and delivering appropriate services. Section One explores customer service, economics of information, and marketing as key concepts useful in studying information needs of specific groups in the population. Section Two focuses on scholars and students in three broad academic disciplines: science, humanities, and social sciences.Section Three covers groups with special characteristics such as age, economic standing, gender, or profession. Section Four discusses evaluation and provides guidance in the use of the most widely accepted measures for assessing reference effectiveness. The book's final chapter explores redesigning reference services for the future, providing a glimpse of how such services may change. Library Users and Reference Services is a practical guide to help readers understand the many issues related to serving diverse populations in a community. Reference librarians and graduate library school students and faculty will learn more effective ways to help a heterogeneous public with the help of this new book.

A study of libraries and the role they play in both inner city areas and dispersed rural communities. It examines the library as a cultural institution, considering its spatial and symbolic presence and exploring its public service remit. The book is intended for undergraduates and postgraduates on library and information science courses and as supplementary reading for cultural and communications studies, tourism and recreation, human geography and sociology - as well as for public and academic librarians.

This volume applies digital humanities methodologies to indirect translations in testing the concatenation effect hypothesis. The concatenation effect hypothesis suggests that indirect translations tend to omit or alter identifiably foreign elements and also tend not to identify themselves as translations. The book begins by introducing the methodological framework to be applied in the chapters that follow and providing an overview of the hypothesis. The various chapters focus on specific aspects of the hypothesis that relate to specific linguistic, stylistic, and visual features of indirect translations. These features provide evidence that can be used to assess whether and to what extent the concatenation effect is in evidence in any given example. The overarching aim of the book is not to demonstrate or falsify the veracity of the concatenation effect hypothesis or to give any definitive answers to the research questions posed. Rather, the aim is to pique the curiosity and provoke the creativity of students and researchers in all areas of translation studies who may never have considered indirect translation as relevant to their work.

This helpful guidebook makes it easy for librarians to select the most appropriate periodical or serial for their proposed articles. A subject index with cross references ensures quick access to the alphabetically listed titles. The Guide to Publishing Opportunities for Librarians provides the following comprehensive information for each publication listed: bibliographic entry name and address of editor to whom manuscripts should besubmitted names of indexing and abstracting services which include the publication editorial aim/policy scope and content intended audience manuscript style requirements acceptance rate review procedures for submitted articles Both novice and experienced authors will be able to quickly select the most appropriate periodical or serial for proposed articles from a wide variety of publications. In addition to the more familiar organs of national library associations, societies, and library schools, the guide also includes regional publications, newsletters, bulletins, scholarly journals, interdisciplinary and general periodicals, subject-specific publications, and electronic journals. Public, academic, special, and school librarians, as well as other information specialists seeking to publish in the library science field, will find the Guide to Publishing Opportunities for Librarians a valuable tool for promoting professional development.

Improve the delivery of library services by implementing total quality management (TQM), a system of continuous improvement employing participative management and centered on the needs of customers. Although TQM was originally designed for and successfully applied in business and manufacturing settings, this groundbreaking volume introduces strategies for translating TQM principles from the profit-based manufacturing sector to the library setting. Integrating Total Quality Management in a Library Setting shows librarians how to improve library services by implementing strategies such as employee involvement and training, problem-solving teams, statistical methods, long-term goals and thinking, and an overall recognition that the system (not the staff) is responsible for most inefficiencies.Total Quality Management in a Library Setting describes the principles of TQM, its origins, and the potential benefits and barriers to be expected when adopting quality management approaches in libraries. Chapters provide guidelines for planning and implementation to help libraries use total quality management to break down interdepartmental barriers and work on continuously improving library services. The contributors, who have begun to think about using or who are already using TQM in a library setting, present specific planning and implementation issues that can be put to immediate use in libraries. With this innovative book, library managers will learn that by working together on problem solving teams to address specific operational questions, and by developing a shared knowledge of problem-solving tools and techniques, staff members grow personally and gain a larger sense of organizational purpose. Other TQM methods introduced in this book include the concept of the internal customer, which teaches staff to recognize how other staff members use the results of their work, and the principle of continuous improvement, which enables libraries to set measurable goals based on quantitative performance indicators, and to monitor progress toward those goals.

- Written by a team of scholars who developed the first major Black Digital Humanities program at a research institution (the African American Digital Humanities Initiative at the University of Maryland). - Written for an audience of practitioners, researchers, and graduate students to help prepare them to take on their own research and projects. - Each chapter features guiding questions, bullet lists of practical advice, and resources readers can use to implement best practices in their own work.

Retrospective Conversion is an essential guide for library catalogers and technical services managers in the process of converting manual catalog records to machine readable form. It clearly illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of the three conversion methods--converting in-house, contracting to a vendor, and a combination of the two--and covers the areas of cost, staff, time, and record quality for each. Catalogers will learn how to make a bigger investment in advance planning to achieve better end results. Helpful chapters emphasize the need for planning, quality control, and authority control in the creation of a complete catalog in a machine readable form. Also included are case studies that illustrate specific methods in action and provide a wealth of general, usable information.This unique reference covers a variety of valuable topics for catalogers involved in converting manual catalog records. It includes an in-depth bibliography and review of the retrospective conversion literature, including over 200 items addressing general considerations, special formats, and international issues. Specific examples of retrospective conversion are analyzed including projects in medium and large size institutions, non-serials and serials cataloging, music scores, and the Library of Congress's conversion of the PREMARC file. Specific techniques are explained such as the development of a PC workstation interface to facilitate the conversion process, the use of sampling techniques in project cost analysis, how to determine what quality standards are needed and at what cost, and authority control in both manual and online catalogs.

Dictionary & Thesaurus of Environment, Health & Safety is the first and only dictionary/thesaurus to focus on the usage and structure of environment, health, and safety terminology. Containing nearly 600 pages, this book features thousands of terms that may be hard to find in any other reference source. Thesaurus terms are presented under broad subject categories, and all acronyms found in the thesaurus are listed with their reciprocal phrases. A separate section features a mini-thesaurus for Department of Energy vocabulary. ANSI standards were used to construct the thesaurus, and definitions are included for most terms, with acronyms indicating the source(s) of the definitions.
Dictionary & Thesaurus of Environment, Health & Safety provides a semantic structure for environment, health, and safety terminology and will prove invaluable for anyone involved in the management of programs and information systems that use these terms.

- Written by a team of scholars who developed the first major Black Digital Humanities program at a research institution (the African American Digital Humanities Initiative at the University of Maryland). - Written for an audience of practitioners, researchers, and graduate students to help prepare them to take on their own research and projects. - Each chapter features guiding questions, bullet lists of practical advice, and resources readers can use to implement best practices in their own work.

Here is an in-depth book on the process of evaluating your acquisitions and collection management programs. No project, no matter how ingenious or innovative, will be granted support by a funding agency without a solid evaluation plan. Evaluating Acquisitions and Collection Management discusses the reasons evaluation is held in such high regard by administrators. The authors describe a variety of evaluation activities that cover both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The first section of the book covers current trends and the impact on collection development and acquisitions, and how the evaluation of collections can reveal patterns of program support that can then be compared between peer institutions. Other topics include the process of assigning relative value to acquisitions activities, performance appraisal, and methods for improving procedures of acquiring materials. Acquisitions librarians and administrators will find this book extremely helpful in streamlining their acquisitions and collection management programs.

This inspiring book addresses a topic that is far too often ignored or disregarded by sci-tech librarians: Exactly how do scientists and engineers really discover, select, and use the countless information and communications resources available to them when conducting research? The answer to this question should be a major influence on the way information specialists develop information systems in their libraries. Unfortunately, many librarians are not as familiar with the work, information needs, and communicating behavior of the research worker. Information Seeking and Communications Behavior of Scientists and Engineers looks at this question from several perspectives to give an overall view of how to best serve the needs of the scientific community.This book is an encouragement and a challenge to sci-tech librarians to make an ever greater effort to understand the work of their users, the differing information channels and sources they employ, and thus tailor the library's systems and services to best support their information-seeking behavior.