Strong archival programs are rare, in part because the archival field has not given sustained attention to program leadership and management issues over the years. As a consequence, many programs are underfunded and undersupported and lack sufficient space, staff, and other resources to carry out their immensely important work. This collection of essays from eight of the archival field's notably successful leaders provides first-hand accounts of how to carry out planning, build coalitions and alliances, garner resources, empower and inspire program personnel, change program direction, and take programs in new, dynamic directions.

There is an abundance of literature on archival theory, techniques, and practice, but leadership, program building, and related topics are seldom covered in archival literature. This collection of essays provides varying perspectives, insights, advice, caveats, and other helpful information based on the experiences of highly regarded professionals in the field who have actually developed and administered successful programs. They address such issues as how to define program success, the traits of a successful program, leadership traits, and similarities and differences between archival program and similar programs, such as libraries.

Gives an account of the birth, life, and occasional death of 10,000 early American library collections and traces relationships between the presence of libraries and other aspects of American life. 1876 is considered to mark the beginning of the modern library movement in the United States, but Americans created and used thousands of libraries before that date. While the history of American libraries has not been neglected by scholars, none has examined in detail where in the different parts of the country various libraries came into existence over any extended period of time. The present work does that, detailing the kinds of libraries that existed before 1876 and including 80 to 85 kinds, depending on the way the collections are classified.

Databases and public access catalogs are being used extensively by the public and the academic and business communities as major sources of information. Most users want to access these databases directly to locate the information they need. Increasingly, users are demanding user-friendly databases that will assist them in finding conceptual information effectively. The lack of compatibility or standardization among many different indexing vocabularies and thesauri makes it difficult to find related information in information retrieval systems containing many different online databases. This book provides a thought-provoking new perspective on the role of vocabulary control in providing access to the conceptual information found in online databases and catalogs. The first three chapters provide a basis for understanding the structure of vocabulary control systems used for the indexing of conceptual information. Chapters 4 and 5, which deal with thesaural relationship model formulation and investigation, will be of the greatest interest to designers of online databases and public access catalogs who are striving to improve access to conceptual information from multiple databases. Researchers and developers of thesauri, who are faced with the problems of compatibility and convertibility, will also be interested in testing the applicability of the thesaural relationship model for other vocabulary control systems. The findings reported in chapter six will be of particular interest to database producers and vendors. Although switching and frequency online search strategies for database search engines are not yet available, end-users and experienced searchers can still incorporate these concepts to improve the effectiveness of their searches. Recommendations resulting from this investigation are summarized in the final chapters. With the proliferation of online databases and the increasing number of inexperienced users, the development of new search strategies to facilitate easier searches is critical. This book will be required reading for everyone involved in this effort.

Shattering any idea that librarianship is a politically neutral realm, this insider's account of seven debates from the floor of the American Library Association Council illustrates the mechanisms the governing body used to maintain the status quo on issues like racism, government surveillance and climate change. At play in each debate are rules of parliamentary procedure, appeals to authority, denial, and chastisement of librarians who pushed the ALA to make real its commitments to human rights and social justice. Providing a fascinating look at the Council's inner workings, the author parses debates concerning antiapartheid boycotts; partnerships between ALA, McDonald's and the Boy Scouts of America; spying by the National Security Agency; censorship in Israel and the Occupied Territories; fossil fuel industry divestment; and the recent revival by ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom of the infamous film The Speaker.

The world-class National Palace Museum (NPM) in Taiwan possesses a repository of the largest collection of Chinese cultural treasures of outstanding quality. Through implementing a two-organizational restructuring, and shifting its operational focus from being object-oriented to public-centered, it aims to capture the attention of people and promote awareness of the culture and traditions of China. In this vein, the NPM combines its expertise in museum service with the possibilities afforded by Information Technology (IT). This book analyses the research results of a team sponsored by the National Science Council in Taiwan to observe the development processes and accomplishments, and to conduct scientific researches covering not only the technology and management disciplines, but also the humanities and social science disciplines. The development process of new digital content and IT-enabled services of NPM would be a useful benchmark for museums, cultural and creative organizations and traditional organizations in Taiwan and around the world.

Veit, a veteran university librarian and authority in information science, presents a brief descriptive account of the historical development and current state of presidential libraries and collections in the US. Not intended as a piece of original research, the work relies heavily on information distilled from government publications and questionnaires sent by the author to the nine presidential libraries and to repositories, such as the Library of Congress, that possess presidential archives. The largest section of the publication describes the scope, policies, programs, and services provided by the individual libraries. A brief bibliography is current as is a discussion of the legal and financial implications of the 1986 Presidential Records Acts. . . . Veit's monograph will serve as a useful reference tool of undergraduate college students. ChoiceR

In recent decades, the value of presidential papers for an understanding of the nation's history and the operation of our government has come to be more fully appreciated. While efforts have been made to preserve these materials, little has been done to describe their availability. This authoritative new volume is designed to provide the researcher or librarian with complete data regarding the contents, organization, and facilities of each library and collection, as well as an informed perspective on how these institutions have been created and maintained.

What does it take to have a great library? The right leader? A great team? A wonderful facility? The best services? How can you transform your library to better meet the demands of tomorrow? This author visited 10 exemplary public libraries in the United States and Great Britain to find answers to these questions. She interviewed directors and key staff, researched archives, and observed facilities, operations, and interactions. The results of her explorations are contained in this volume, providing readers with nuts and bolts information on public library management along with general insights into what libraries have been, are today, and can be in the future. Each chapter begins with background information on the library's location, community, and facilities; as well as its mission statement, history, and organization. Interviews (or, in some cases, summaries of interviews) with directors and key staff follow. Chapters close with the author's observations about distinguishing features of the library; and those comments are summarized in a final chapter-"The Public Library: A Tradition of Service, A Future of Performance." A selected bibliography, historical timelines, and black and white photos of each of the libraries help make this a unique and treasured resource for library administrators and staff, as well as faculty and students in courses on public libraries, library history, management, and facilities. It will be of interest to anyone interested in library history, library management, and the future of public libraries.

Comprehensive planning has become an essential element in the management of the modern university library. The purpose of this book is to help those now engaged in this important management function by summarizing the history of academic library planning and analyzing its practice in a group of major libraries over the past several decades. The most significant changes confronting academic libraries for the past several decades have been technological, social, and economic. Strategic planning is used as the tool for making these libraries more responsive to their environments and for helping them anticipate and prepare for change. Stanton F. Biddle examines the extent to which strategic planning is being employed, analyzes the planning documents, and develops guidelines for improving the quality of future planning efforts. The volume begins with a discussion of strategic or long-range planning taken from the literature of management and organizational theory. The next chapter reviews the historical development of large academic libraries and the history of the application of contemporary management theories and practices to their administrations through the 1970s. The following chapter focuses on the widespread dissatisfaction with traditional approaches to library management in the 1960s and 1970s. The next two chapters compare library planning source documents, and the final chapter concludes with recommendations.

Offering more than 400 street-lit titles, this guide helps readers' advisors and other librarians to better understand the genre and collect and recommend titles ranging from romance and coming-of-age stories to action stories and erotica. Street lit is also known to its enthusiastic readers as "urban fiction," "ghetto lit," "hip-hop lit," and "gangsta lit." No matter what it's called, it remains one of the most significant and increasingly popular forms of modern literature. This text provides a much-needed resource guide to this vibrant genre. In this title, more than 400 entries appear in eleven chapters, each focusing on a different subgenre of street lit. The author has organized titles by popular subgenres and themes, such as prison life and urban erotica, to help librarians more easily identify read-alikes. Urban Grit: A Guide to Street Lit also contains practical tips on integrating these books into an existing collection or library program and meeting challenges that may arise in the process.

The Invisible Librarian: A Librarian's Guide to Increasing Visibility and Impact provides insights into what many librarians are feeling, including questions such as "do they feel invisible?" and "How many times have they heard somebody say 'but everything is on the Internet'?" If you are a librarian struggling to find the best strategy for the future of the profession in a rapidly changing information environment, this book is for you. People don't realize that librarians make information available and not just by search engine. This book will make people think differently about librarians, making a case for their value and impact that is compelling, convincing, and credible. Given their versatility and knowledge, now is the time for librarians to become champions of the information age as they improve the visibility and impact of libraries to readers, to stakeholders, and in society. By the end of the book, librarians will have a Visibility Improvement Plan to guarantee future success.

Librarians entering the profession often shun the prospect of becoming catalogers because they perceive public service responsibilities as more rewarding than those of technical services. This is causing a shortage in the area of technical services in general and cataloging librarians in particular. A group of concerned professionals decided to investigate solutions to the problems, thus, the Simmons College Symposium on Recruiting, Educating, and Training Cataloging Librarians evolved. The editors have compiled papers presented at the symposium that propose solutions to the cataloger shortages. . . . Discussions included topics such as the evolving public/technical services relationship, the networking of professional librarians to aid in recruitment, flexible and creative education programs, and the cross training of library professionals to handle cataloging. The symposium participants, which included well-known professionals, administrators, and educators, encourage increased cataloging knowledge and involvement to support the automation and technological challenges facing libraries of today. The papers are well written and easy to read. Recommended. Library Journal Developed from a recent symposium, this informative book offers research-based analyses; it also offers realistic approaches to the concerns of catalogers and the library educators and administrators responsible for their recruitment, education, and training. It was written by more than 25 specialists who have developed solutions to particular problems within these three areas. Solutions are offered for a wide range of issues, including increased financial pressure on libraries, recruiting methods, the changing economic and professional expectations of librarians, the impact of technology, challenges for the library science curriculum, and training strategies for large and small institutions. This book will encourage library administrators to break new ground in applying creative solutions to the real-life problems of their institutions. It will help professional educators in designing or improving library and information science programs, and give students a greater understanding of critical issues in contemporary librarianship.

Digital games continue to enable innovative learning in the classroom, however, its implementation into the educational system requires a fundamental approach to achieve its greatest level of effectiveness. New Pedagogical Approaches in Game Enhanced Learning: Curriculum Integration addresses the major challenges associated with adopting digital games into a standard curriculum. By providing fresh perspectives from current practitioners in the education field, this publication serves as a guide for successfully implementing game learning and provides a valuable reference for educators, professionals, and even parents.

This book is directed toward graduate students who are preparing to become, or already serving as, school library media specialists. It reflects the rapidly changing questions being asked in school library media research, as well as the methods of addressing those questions. These changes are due to both the changing role of the school library media specialist, and the explosion of research methods available. The authors hope that this book will encourage its readers to pursue an active research agenda in their school library media center.

The intersection of informetrics and information retrieval (IR) research provides valuable insights for IR system modeling, design, and evaluation. This work introduces readers to informetric aspects of IR system contents and their use, and how knowledge of these patterns may be applied to better understandIR processes and their users. The recent wider availability of information retrieval technologies, due in large part to the growth of the Internet, has prompted an increase in research interest into the effective design and use of IR (information retrieval) systems. This work introduces readers to concepts of informetrics as they relate to IR, and how the intersection of these two subject areas can provide valuable insights for IR research. Informetrics, briefly summarized as the quantitative study of recorded discourse, can provide perspectives on patterns of information production and use. It also offers methodologies that may be applied in IR research that are often overlooked. Informetric analysis of IR systems can shed light on underlying patterns of IR system contents and how users interact with these systems. Applications of informetrics for IR research include the modeling and simulation of IR systems, file design and space planning, system design and implementation, system evaluation, and the targeting of services to users. Readers will learn about the scope of informetrics, informetric modeling techniques, informetric characteristics of IR systems and how they are used, and how knowledge of these characteristics may be applied in IR research.

For purposes of accreditation, resource sharing, and institutional mission, librarians need to assess the strengths of their collections in particular subject areas. This book describes and illustrates a brief test for determining a library's collection strength. Though such tests are most often employed in academic libraries, the methodology outlined by the author should be useful to all types of libraries in assessing the strength of their holdings. In a time of increasing material and limited resources, libraries need to be particularly judicious in deciding which works to acquire. Oftentimes, a library seeks to develop strong holdings in one or more subject areas. Such an approach is especially useful for libraries that share their resources with other institutions. To plan their acquisitions carefully and to be of greatest use to other consortia members, a library needs to gauge the strength of its holdings accurately. This volume describes and illustrates a relatively brief test to assign libraries a score for existing collection strength in a subject area. Drawing upon expert human judgment and holdings data available from OCLC, the test can assist librarians in setting and verifying collection levels on the RLG or WLN Conspectus scales. Collection strength is often verified in a labor-intensive fashion. The brief test presented by the author is an economical alternative to the more typical labor-intensive approach to collection analysis.

Electronic publications are proving to be a popular resource for many consumers. It is imperative that the credibility of vendor-supplied usage data is analyzed in order to present the most accurate, non-biased information on these up-and-coming products. Measuring the Validity of Usage Reports Provided by E-Book Vendors: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a pivotal scholarly source that examines the current practices and trends in usage reporting and offers recommendations for further refinement of this system. Featuring pertinent topics including COUNTER standardization, usage data, data consolidation, and report formatting, this publication is an ideal resource for academicians, students, and researchers that are interested in the latest evaluations in vendor-submitted usage reports.

What is it that women want to know? As it turns out, a lot Focusing on the reading interests of women, this guide maps and describes nonfiction that spans every Dewey category. What makes this body of literature unique is that it is written specifically for a female readership, and directly addresses women's issues. The author annotates more than 600 titles, with hundreds of additional titles referenced as read-alikes.

Although women's fiction is widely treated as a reading interest and even a genre, until now its nonfiction counterpart has not been seriously considered outside of scholarly circles. Yet, there is a body of popular literature that specifically appeals to women. This is clearly evident in the collections of women's bookstores, which carry life stories, personal and spiritual growth collections, guides to health, wellness and beauty, and so on.

Zellers's guide is designed to help readers and librarians navigate the breadth of nonfiction to find popular titles about women and women's experiences. Annotating some 600 titles, with hundreds more referenced as read-alikes; it is a valuable in readers' advisory services, as well as a great source for creating displays and programs (particularly during Women's History month). It may also be a useful resource for women's studies programs.

This is the latest in an important series of reviews going back to 1928. The book contains 26 chapters, written by experts in their field, and reviews developments in the principal aspects of British librarianship and information work in the years 2006-2010.

Innovative technologies are changing the way research is performed, preserved, and communicated. Managing Scientific Information and Research Data explores how these technologies are used and provides detailed analysis of the approaches and tools developed to manage scientific information and data. Following an introduction, the book is then divided into 15 chapters discussing the changes in scientific communication; new models of publishing and peer review; ethics in scientific communication; preservation of data; discovery tools; discipline-specific practices of researchers for gathering and using scientific information; academic social networks; bibliographic management tools; information literacy and the information needs of students and researchers; the involvement of academic libraries in eScience and the new opportunities it presents to librarians; and interviews with experts in scientific information and publishing.

Digital Humanities is a burgeoning field of research and education concerned with the intersection of technology and history, philosophy, linguistics, literature, music, cultural studies, and the arts. Supporting Digital Humanities for Knowledge Acquisition in Modern Libraries aims to stand at the forefront of this emerging discipline, targeting an audience of researchers and academicians, with a special focus on the role of libraries and library-staff. In addition to a collection of chapters on crucial issues surrounding the digital humanities, this volume also includes a fascinating account of the painstaking restoration efforts surrounding a 110-year-old handwritten historical source document, the results of which (never before published on this scale) culminate in a full-color, 70-page photographic reproduction of the 1904 Diary of Anna Clift Smith.

Humanistic Management by Teamwork (HMBT) is a dynamic leadership paradigm that emphasizes employee development and the use of a team approach for executing organizational and mission-oriented strategies. In this book it is described in relation to global forces, megatrends, and national imperatives that influence the making of academic or university libraries. The authors discuss the need for reshaping the organization and implementing the team-based organizational design, along with issues of staffing, communication, supervision, and performance appraisal. Concrete examples are given to illustrate how HMBT works in actual library settings. Bibliographies at the end of each chapter provide further resources for study. The methods presented readily afford the opportunity for operational ownership, self-renewal, and the realization of continuous managerial excellence. The authors show how, with these powerful techniques, libraries can successfully meet the challenges of the future.

Covers expert systems, software programs, computer assisted instruction, catalog automation, online retrieval use, and applications and management aspects. Price to individuals is $35. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.