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.

As a branch of International and Area Studies Librarianship (IASL), East Asian Librarianship has become increasingly important in an age of globalization as scholars engage in interdisciplinary research and study. Volume 1 of Inside Major East Asian Library Collections in North America presents an extensive collection of interviews that give key insights into Japanese and Korean librarianship. East Asian Studies librarianship requires a variety of technical skills, combining deep subject background with knowledge of library processes/workflows, an awareness of research trends, and digital developments in their respective fields. Professionalism, tradition, standards, respected bodies of knowledge and individual practicing professionals' personality traits are closely examined over both volumes. Inside Major East Asian Library Collections in North America promotes shared understanding of librarians' work and contribution to society and will enable further collaborations and new services, utilizing the unique and distributed nature of their expertise.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Knowledge management strategies play an important role across numerous industries. These processes and strategies can be adopted into higher education sectors for use in managing scholarly assets. Managing Knowledge and Scholarly Assets in Academic Libraries is an essential reference source for the latest research on approaches for adopting and implementing various facets of knowledge management in academia. Featuring expansive coverage on a range of topics and perspectives, such as knowledge mapping, social media applications, and linked data, this publication is ideally designed for librarians, students, managers, and scholars seeking current research on the innovative measures of knowledge management in libraries.

The problem of purpose in the title is the 130-year debate within the library community over the proper place for the library in society. Chapters discuss roles for public libraries from the founding of the Boston Public Library with its clear educational purpose through attempts at rational planning for library roles in the 1980s. The controversy about the place of popular fiction in American libraries in the late 19th century; the militant outreach efforts during the early decades of the 20th century; the adult education phase during the 1920s to 1940s; and the library as an information nexus for the people during the late 1960s and 1970s are additional topics covered. The style is highly readable and provides important historical insights that should be of interest not only to library educators and students, but to any public librarian concerned with current service roles. Library Journal Since the mid-1800s, when the first American public libraries were established, the proper role of the library as a public institution has been debated within the professional community. A systematic examination of that debate, this study provides an historical survey of the public library's view of itself--its development, social and educational functions, and larger purposes within American society. Williams begins with a discussion of the creation of the Boston Public Library. He assesses public satisfaction with the services that libraries have consistently provided, including books for the recreational reader, materials and assistance to students, and children's programs designed to make books attractive and interesting to younger readers. He looks at the changing aspirations of the community of librarians, which has envisioned the institution variously as an agency for continuing education, a civic center of inspiration and uplift for the people, and a center for the political enlightenment of the masses. The author maintains that the gulf between public and professional perceptions needs to be addressed by present-day librarians, who continue to be faced with conflicting notions of what the library's role should be. He suggests that the professional community must sooner or later integrate a broader vision of the library's purpose with the expectations of the public it is intended to serve. Both entertaining and informative, this book offers new insights and historical perspectives that will be of particular interest to the fields of library science and American social and intellectual history.

Redesigning information education in response to the market dynamic requires clear articulation of the expectations of employers, identification of competencies for professionals, and appreciation of environmental, institutional, and situational contexts.

The author responds to these needs in a systematic and scientific manner by describing methods of translating market demands into defined sets of capabilities to serve as parameters for formal education of information professionals. He also provides a research framework for differentiating between undergraduate and graduate levels for developing educational models. Serious disparities in coverage and treatment of information education in different parts of the world are noted and analyzed using a global view.

In the decade ahead, libraries will have to do more with less. Fewer journal titles owned by each institution, less detailed cataloging, and fewer staff will become realities as libraries are forced to cope with budget restrictions. Serials management, in particular, will require a greater degree of adaptability and flexibility. This professional reference overviews the most significant emerging issues concerning serials management in academic libraries and provides practical advice to aid librarians in responding to a changing environment. Among the issues discussed are the debate of access versus ownership, the electronic dissemination of text and document delivery, standards for electronic data transfer, and approaches to cataloging. The volume offers practical solutions to the problems facing librarians, and it stresses the increasing role of automation in effective serials management. This professional reference is a guide to the many evolving issues in serials management, as well as a source of practical information designed to assist academic librarians in successfully managing their serials in a rapidly changing environment. Some of the key issues discussed include access versus ownership, the electronic dissemination of texts, document delivery systems, standards for the electronic transfer of data, and the debate over the outsourcing of cataloging. Fortunately, many of the issues concerning serials management readily lend themselves to automation. Thus, this volume gives considerable attention to automation as a solution to many of the problems confronting librarians. Each chapter includes references to current literature, and the volume concludes with a selected bibliography of works for further reading.

In the dynamic and interactive academic learning environment, students are required to have qualified information literacy competencies while critically reviewing print and electronic information. However, many undergraduates encounter difficulties in searching peer-reviewed information resources. "Scholarly Information Discovery in the Networked Academic Learning Environment" is a practical guide for students determined to improve their academic performance and career development in the digital age. Also written with academic instructors and librarians in mind who need to show their students how to access and search academic information resources and services, the book serves as a reference to promote information literacy instructions. This title consists of four parts, with chapters on the search for online and printed information via current academic information resources and services: part one examines understanding information and information literacy; part two looks at academic information delivery in the networked world; part three covers searching for information in the academic learning environment; and part four discusses searching and utilizing needed information in the future in order to be more successful beyond the academic world.

Provides a reference guide for motivated students who want to improve their academic performance and career development in the digital ageLays out a roadmap for searching peer-reviewed scholarly information in dynamic and interactive cademic learning environmentsExplains how to access and utilize academic information ethically, legally, and safely in public-accessed computing environmentsProvides brainstorming and discussion, case studies, mini-tests, and real-world examples for instructors and students to promote skills in critical thinking, decision making, and problem solving