Though gamification is not new, the rapid adoption of smartphones and the growing mobile web and app universe has made it ubiquitous, social, and seamlessly woven into reality in ways we couldn't have imagined even ten years ago. And it's extremely popular. Gamification, when done right, will engage your library's users, and better yet, help them learn. In this issue of Library Technology Reports, Kim will clarify your understanding of gamification with a range of examples from social causes, education, and libraries. She points out the gaming elements of apps you may have used, like Foursquare or Waze, and explores game mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics. This Report also covers such topics as: What distinguishes gamification from related concepts such as games, toys, and playful design How the Canton Public Library used a Drupal website and a "User Badge" module for its summer reading program North Carolina State University's mobile scavenger hunt Portland State University's digital badge program certifying critical thinking skills 7 types of knowledge and associated gamification elements Navigating the debate over external rewards and intrinsic motivation What makes the Bottle Bank Arcade Game effective in promoting recycling

This book provides teachers, librarians, and education methods professors with strategies, lesson plans, and activities that enable them to use literature as a springboard to social studies thematic instruction. With the amount of time and resources allocated to teaching social studies being significantly reduced, social studies lessons need to be incorporated into other subjects. Notable Books, Notable Lessons: Putting Social Studies Back in the K–8 Curriculum offers the tools to teach students social studies concepts that are increasingly relevant and essential in today's diverse, globalized world—lessons that are vital in order to prepare students to think critically and participate in our multicultural democracy. Providing information that elementary and middle school teachers and librarians, district-level curriculum directors and principals, staff developers, and social studies and literacy methods professors will find extremely useful, this book uses the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)/Children's Book Council (CBC)'s current and past lists of Notable Books at the elementary and middle school levels to offer easy-to-follow lesson plans that integrate social studies instruction with reading and language arts. The lesson plans pose compelling questions to facilitate discussion and critical thinking and suggest engaging activities that are connected to the social studies concepts. The book also includes sample student handouts for the selected pieces of literature.

The budget-constrained, rapidly evolving climate of higher education and academic libraries makes it a necessity for academic librarians and administrators to communicate the value of their library to the university. This book explains how to execute this critical task. Authored by a library director and director of library liason and instructional services who formerly served as a faculty member, a librarian, and a professional development instructor, The Pivotal Role of Academic Librarians in Digital Learning establishes the library's role in supporting student learning in an increasingly digital environment by exploring theoretical foundations and sharing concrete examples. The chapters focus on strategies and methods for demonstrating the academic library's value through strategic campus partnerships, creation of learning objects such as video tutorials, research instruction designed to facilitate student collaboration, and participation in assessment of learning on campus. All of the topics addressed within a broad range of subject matter fall within the scope of learning in the "digital age," with particular emphasis on utilizing online learning environments-including social media-to teach students critical thinking and research skills as well as to position the academic library as an integral part of the modern learning environment. This book is a must-read for academic librarians in instructional roles, teaching faculty, academic library administrators and managers who need to communicate the value of the library in relation to student learning, and academic administrators who are obligated to demonstrate the important role of libraries in academic excellence. Advocates and explains the instructional role of academic librarians-a role that is key and continuing to grow in importance Furnishes practical examples of digital products and proven processes to aid in student learning Provides concrete methodologies to use technology to increase the visibility and perceived value of academic libraries Illustrates the use of templates, lesson plans, and other tools that serve teaching librarians

From the efforts of its first librarian who ensured immigrants could access books in their own languages, to the present day as an active community hub, the library has been responsible for many groundbreaking Canadian firsts. The Regina Public Library implemented the country's first fully automated library system, established the first writer-in-residence program, pioneered English as a Second Language classes, hosted Indigenous storytelling circles, and was instrumental in developing a single, one-card system for all of Saskatchewan. With contributions from community members, Biblio Files covers the library's entire history and demonstrates why it is such a beloved and necessary institution.

Addressing the needs of new adults—those ages 18–29—in the library is an important challenge. This book explains the needs and wants of new adults in the public library setting and identifies their preferences in physical space, programming, and technology. According to the Pew Research Center's 2015 Libraries at the Crossroads Report, 52 percent of people between the ages of 16 and 29 visited a bookmobile or library within the past year. Yet many public libraries' programming and outreach skip over this demographic, jumping from teen services to older adults. Library Programs and Services for New Adults provides a road map for including new adults into the family of the small public library and offers a variety of resources and programming ideas that librarians can use immediately. Author Kyla Hunt—a library technology and trends specialist—explains why the needs of new adults are typically overlooked at public libraries, defines who "new adults" are, and explains why serving their needs is key to the success of today's public libraries. Readers will come away with an in-depth understanding of the mindset and needs of patrons who are 18 to 29 years old and be able to cater to their preferences as they pertain to physical space, programming, technology, and marketing.

Written specifically for academic librarians and library administrators, this book identifies the myriad benefits of peer-assisted learning, exploring how the implementation of peer-assisted learning benefits information literacy instruction, cocurricular outreach, and reference services. In this era of accountability—and stretched budgets—in higher education, librarians need to make instructional programming both highly effective and sustainable. Peer-assisted learning is a methodology that has long been accepted in teaching but is relatively new as applied to academic library instruction, outreach, and reference. This book brings together the most innovative applications of peer-assisted learning in these contexts, explaining specific ways to apply peer-assisted learning in a variety of academic library settings for maximum benefit. This guidebook begins with an extensive literature review of the theoretical underpinnings of peer-assisted learning and the various benefits these programs can provide academic librarians and peer mentors. The bulk of the book's content is organized into three sections that address the subjects of information literacy instruction, cocurricular outreach, and reference services separately. Each section showcases real-world examples of peer-assisted learning at a variety of academic institutions. Through these case studies, readers can fully understand the development, implementation, and assessment of a peer-assisted learning program, and librarians and administrators will see the practical benefits of enriching the experiences of student employees. Practitioners will receive inspiration and guidance through chapters that discuss training activities, identify lessons learned, and explain the implications for further research.

Once treated as exclusive spaces for valuable but hidden and under-utilized material, over the past few decades special collections departments have been transformed by increased digitization and educational outreach efforts into unique and highly visible major institutional assets. What libraries must now contemplate is how to continue this momentum by articulating and implementing a dynamic strategic vision for their special collections. Drawing on the expertise of a world-class array of librarians, university faculty, book dealers, collectors, and donors, this collected volume surveys the emerging requirements of today's knowledge ecosystem and charts a course for the future of special collections. Expanding upon the proceedings of the National Colloquium on Special Collections organized by the Kelvin Smith Library of Case Western Reserve University in October 2014, this timely resource for special collections librarians, administrators, academics, and rare book dealers and collectors recounts the factors that governed the growth and use of special collections in the past; explores ways to build 21st-century special collections that are accessible globally, and how to provide the expertise and services necessary to support collection use; gives advice on developing and maintaining strong relationships between libraries and collectors, with special attention paid to the importance of donor relations; provides critical information on how libraries and their institutions' faculty can best collaborate to ensure students and other researchers are aware of the resources available to them; showcases proactive, forward-thinking approaches to applying digital scholarship techniques to special collections materials; looks at how the changes in the way authors work-from analog to digital-increases the importance of archives in preserving the aspects of humanity that elevate us; and examines sustainable and scalable approaches to promoting the use of special collections in the digital age, including the roles of social media and crowdsourcing to bring collections directly to the user. More than simply a guide to collection management, this book details myriad ways to forge the future of special collections, ensuring that these scholarly treasures advance knowledge for years to come.

An invaluable how-to text that details the workshop model, addresses the design challenges, and explains the best avenues for curriculum-based learning in the school library makerspace. A successful school makerspace needs an enthusiastic maker community, school-wide participation, and staff support. How do you build this type of learning at your school? The innovative team behind Challenge-Based Learning in the School Library Makerspace addresses common questions and concerns and describes step-by-step how to introduce challenge-based learning into the school library makerspace. Intended for librarians and school staff who have already started thinking in terms of makerspaces but need further help sustaining programming and want to know more about Makerspace 2.0, this helpful guide details the workshop model, various real-world design challenges, and the process for implementing curriculum-based learning in the school library makerspace. Readers will be empowered to go beyond the initial implementation of a makerspace and to draw from an arsenal of proven methodologies for designing challenges for student learning. Additionally, the book enables the addition of curriculum connections to library programming, shows how to connect your students to local experts and the global maker community, and eases you into more productive collaboration with other librarians. Explores crowdsourced research methods that lead to authentic participatory learning Ensures that student-led workshops and design challenges result in tremendous success Supplies practical tips that can be applied by beginner maker-librarians and provides curricula suggestions for advanced maker-librarians Explains how to incorporate design thinking, empathy building, and problem solving with design challenges that spur student creativity

Introduce your teachers, librarians, and administrators to the roles and responsibilities of educators in advocating a whole school library learning commons using this step-by-step guide for creating shared learning space in your school. It is no surprise that technology has shifted the way we educate—bearing on how, what, and where we learn. This guide lays the framework for helping turn your school library into a whole school library learning commons (WSLLC)—a space where traditional academics merge with the latest technologies to engage learners in a way never before realized. Author Judith Anne Sykes contends that since the WSLLC philosophy allows staff and students to co-create knowledge in a shared space, it is more effective than the traditional approach. Sykes addresses the differences between a school library and a WSLLC, provides reasons to champion its creation in your institution, and discusses how to use mentoring as a means to sustain its survival. The book explores the roles and responsibilities of educators in developing WSLLC goals and presents strategies for using typical assessment tools—including standardized tests, report cards, and anecdotal assessments—to help support its philosophy.

Now you're a manager. Maybe you sought the position and interviewed for it, or maybe you were appointed to fill a need. Perhaps your long-term goal is upper-level library management, or maybe you're happy where you are and aren't sure how you'd like your career to progress. Whatever the case, this guide will provide you with quick, easy-to-implement tips and strategies for tackling the most common issues encountered by mid-level managers in an academic library. With ten chapters covering everything from building teams to creating a respectful workplace to managing university politics, Now You're a Manager provides lists, exercises, and techniques for assembling and managing an effective, happy team. Many of us were never taught how to be managers before we began managing. This book is designed to meet the specific needs of new mid-level managers in academic libraries, and can be used for individual use and group discussion, and by librarians and paraprofessionals who manage teams and departments.

This catalogue showcases some of the treasures of the University of Alberta's Map and Special Collections, as well as other U of A Libraries, particularly in terms of resources to aid in the study of the cultures of Medieval and Early Modern Europe. The curators have focused on "facsimiles," and one of the ways to view the exhibit is in terms of the art of the facsimile, from early twentieth-century black-and-white photographs to twenty-first-century colour, digital photographs on CD-ROM. A second theme is ancient book production, from the papyrus roll through the medieval parchment codex, down to the modern printed book. The curators have also considered representations of the world and its inhabitants: humans in their many activities and occupations, animals wild and tame, and monsters that dwelled in those parts of the world just beyond the boundary of the known.

This book connects teaching practical strategies and ideas with educational theories to give you techniques to use in the classroom to capture students' attention and engage them with instruction. Drawing on the literatures of adult education and of teaching skills, Engaging Diverse Learners: Teaching Strategies for Academic Librarians presents a wide range of methods to improve how you teach. Coauthors Mark Aaron Polger and Scott Sheidlower argue that in order to grab–and hold onto—students' attention, instructors must get their interest right from the beginning. The techniques they suggest explain how to take into consideration the range of different learning styles students may have, how to accommodate students with different English language skills or abilities, and how to successfully work with individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds or from different technologically adapted generations. The sections for each group address the key questions of identification (who are they?); how members of that group tend to react to libraries, librarians, and education; and how educational theories of that time affected students' learning in that generation.

Completely revised with even more contributions added by practicing school librarians, this book further examines the responsibility to lead in many areas and identifies the real-world, day-to-day application of established theory and best practices. In today's educational landscape, school librarians need to lead the way in many areas, including advocacy, literacy, technology, curriculum, vision, collaborative instruction, and intellectual freedom. All of these areas are vital to building and sustaining a school library program that enhances and encourages student achievement, as well as to providing enhanced services to students and faculty. This revised edition of The Many Faces of School Library Leadership offers invaluable insights from recognized leaders in the field of school librarianship that detail leadership roles embraced by accomplished practitioners and consider the research regarding best practices. An essential read for practicing school librarians as well as for pre-service school librarians, it offers today's school librarians actionable advice for strengthening their roles, underlining their value, and protecting their future—all while boosting student learning and achievement. The expert guidance and perspectives in this book will bolster those who are facing enormous challenges to meet them and allow school library staff to protect their jobs and to save school library programs from extinction.

The library is one of the most fascinating places in the whole world. You can literally go around the world and back in the library. The library helps you find information to recipes and from fiction to finances. Let the library open up the world to you. Complete the activities provided and get your local librarian to sign the certificate at the end. Walk into a library and walk out into a whole new world. Julia Royston celebrates 30 years of librarianship in 2014. To celebrate this feat, she is dedicating this book, song and coloring book to all of the librarians in the world who have helped children and adults across the globe locate information, select a book or change their world through the power of libraries.

Using a research-based approach, this book examines the critical connections between writing and reading, and it explains how to encourage early literacy in the classroom and library. How can teachers and librarians support true literacy in young learners? Are very young children guided by meaning in constructing their reality and their relationship to the world? What is the value of championing writing at the kindergarten level? Guided by Meaning in Primary Literacy: Libraries, Reading, Writing, and Learning answers these questions and many more, providing best practices in early literacy through explicit lessons in writing and reading and demonstrating how the library can extend learning in deep and powerful ways. While some books emphasize reading, others emphasize writing, and still others focus on library instruction, this profound resource brings all of the components of literacy together in a meaningful way. Throughout the book, the authors highlight examples of student writing, anecdotes from the real world, and connections between theory and what happens in practical application. Unique in its thoroughness of content for this age group, this text is essential reading for all early childhood teachers and librarians working in schools and in public libraries with young children. The book also serves trainers working with teachers and librarians to increase their effectiveness in working with young children to promote early literacy. Provides critical information that helps educators improve early literacy programs-a current need in libraries of all types Combines research findings about early literacy that document the connection between writing and reading with meaningful theory to offer a strong rationale for library programming Reminds readers of the inherent joy and value of working with young children by telling them stories and engaging them in magical early literacy activities in the classroom and library

This important book is a call to action for the library community to address the literacy and life outcome gaps impacting African American youth. It provides strategies that enable school and public librarians to transform their services, programs, and collections to be more responsive to the literacy strengths, experiences, and needs of African American youth. According to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NEAP), only 18 percent of African American fourth graders and 17 percent of African American eighth graders performed at or above proficiency in reading in 2013. This book draws on research from various academic fields to explore the issues surrounding African American literacy and to aid in developing culturally responsive school and library programs with the goal of helping to close the achievement gap and improve the quality of life for African American youth. The book merges the work of its three authors along with the findings of other researchers and practitioners, highlighting exemplary programs, such as the award-winning Pearl Bailey Library Program, the Maker Jawn initiative at the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the Blue Ribbon Mentor Advocate writing institute in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, among others. Readers will understand how these culturally responsive programs put theory and research-based best practices into local action and see how to adapt them to meet the needs of their communities.

Help maximize your existing collection with this browsable volume containing titles that serve double-duty with their appeal to both teens and adults and cover genres spanning crime novels, romance, horror, science fiction, and more. An indispensable reference for libraries, this book takes the guesswork out of crossover readers' advisory by allowing you to easily guide teens who enjoy reading adult books and adults who enjoy reading teen stories. Chapters written by genre experts will help you better understand each genre's appeal to teens and adults as well as list dozens of titles that lend themselves to both groups of readers. The approach will help you maximize your collection while better serving your patrons. The work is divided into two parts: the first part covers adult books for teens, while the second section delves into teen books for adults. Chapters include a definition of the genre, appealing features unique to the category, the factors that make the works suitable for crossover, a listing of relevant titles and annotations, and trends on the horizon. Genres covered include urban fantasy, mainstream, historical fiction, graphic novels, and nonfiction.

Libraries and the organizations that provide services to them are devoting more attention to system-wide organization of collections—whether the ""system"" is a consortium, a region or a country. As a strategy for saving space and money while expanding access to additional materials and resources, the value of shared collections is indubitable. This collected volume from the Association of Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) spotlights the histories and experiences of several collaborations at academic libraries. Contributors share winning strategies for intentional decision-making in developing and managing shared collections, both print and digital, with expert guidance such as: analysis of six consortia case studies, ranging from giants like CIC and CARL to regional collaborations like the State of Maine and Manhattan research libraries elements to address in a memo of understanding among participating institutions risk assessment methodologies that enable institutions to focus local resources where they will provide the greatest return; and costs to anticipate for budgeting, such as collection analysis, space, validation, transport, staff, and administration . With practical advice on issues such as governance and business models, demand driven acquisition, rare works, and access, this monograph is a valuable resource for academic library directors, administrators, and collection development leaders.

This report presents 7 journalistic-style profile interviews with the directors of rare book collections at the Boston Public Library, Emory University, Washington University in St. Louis, the Ohio State University, Abe Books, University of Cincinnati, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.The directors of these collections discuss digitization, personnel, fundraising, exhibits, acquisitions, endowments, special events, security, university relations, and other issues of interest to rare book and document and special collection management in museums, libraries and colleges worldwide. The study includes a postscript on trends in collection security.

Collaboration involves a fusion of individual talents and skills through outreach and cooperation. And it is one of the key ingredients of a vibrant, successful library that is also relevant to the community it serves. But it doesn't just happen magically, and it's a challenge to kindle those original sparks of inspiration into a sustainable effort. Written by a team of librarians and community partners who themselves learned how to collaborate successfully, this uplifting book takes a fresh look at the essentials of how to nurture the best within ourselves and our colleagues in order to create lasting partnerships that will continue to thrive. Its breezy tone encourages reflection and discovery while giving practical suggestions on how to plan for short-term gains and long-term results. Questions and points to ponder included at the end of each chapter will facilitate discussion and planning. Helping you harness creative thinking and channel it into everyday work, this book: discusses why collaboration is so important and provides numerous tips for cultivating it; examines what to do when things go wrong, including techniques for generating patience and perseverance to help produce positive results;offers new ways to plan and implement, featuring guidance on how to establish a core group; explores ways to prioritize by starting with clear goals; describes the fundamentals of engaging with fellow staff and the wider community; and highlights ideas to spark curiosity that benefit everyone. An array of appendices with worksheets, examples, suggested readings, and other tools complete this celebration of collaboration, a book that will inspire effective communication and accountability within your organization and among community allies.

Whether they're students taking the traditional path of entering college from high school, or adult first-time or re-entry students, navigating the admissions and financial aid process can be overwhelming for the college bound. Public libraries can help provide information and guidance for a successful start, and this book shows how to do it. Incorporating insight gleaned from interviews with librarians serving college-bound patrons, this book includes: Checklists to help public libraries take stock of current services, programs, and resources for serving the college bound, with pointers on how to make improvements Tips for using, marketing, and expanding the collection effectively Ready-to-adapt program ideas Advice on shoring up support among stakeholders, overcoming objections, and taking advantage of outreach opportunities Worksheets to help library administrators evaluate staff skills and interests Reviews of online college-planning tools A directory of college-related organizations, publishers, resources, and education authority agencies With the assistance of this book, public libraries can provide truly outstanding service to this important population.