Creative Management of Small Public Libraries in the 21st Century is an anthology on small public libraries as centers of communities serving populations under 25,000 that make up most of the public library systems in the United States. A wide selection of topics was sought from contributors with varied backgrounds reflecting the diversity of small public libraries. The thirty-two chapters are arranged: Staff; Programming; Management; Technology; Networking; Fundraising; User Services and provide tools to lead a local public library with relevant and successful services. This volume shares a common sense approach to providing a small (in staff size or budget) but mighty (in impact and outcome) public library service. The contributors demonstrate that by turning the service delivery team outward to the community with enthusiasm and positive energy, it is possible to achieve significant results. Many chapters summarize best practices that can serve as checklists for the novice library director or as a review for the more seasoned manager working through new responsibilities. Chapters are tactical, focusing on specific issues for managers such as performance evaluations, effective programming, or e-reader services. Time management is crucial in a small or rural public library as well as the challenges associated with managing Friends and volunteers. While most public libraries do not have the resources to satisfy customer expectations for instant gratification, ultra-convenience and state-of-the-art technologies, The authors of this book details strategies and methods for providing top-notch customer service while moving beyond customer service to the creation of meaningful customer relationships. This volume makes an important contribution to the literature by reminding us that public libraries transform communities of every size. In fact, never before has the role of the public library been a more critical thread in the fabric of community life.

The second edition of this popular handbook has been thoroughly updated by the original team of experts and some new contributors, to provide current best practice guidance on the key legal information issues for every type of service. Each of the chapters is updated to reflect general changes in law libraries and their users in the past seven years. In particular, the handbook covers new information technologies, including social networking and communication. New chapters also focus on the key topics of outsourcing, and the impact of the 2007 Legal Services Act. The second edition of this valuable handbook continues to be an important professional reference tool for managers and staff of all types of legal information services, and will help them with the challenges they face in their work every day.

With the rapid development of information and communication technology and increasingly intense competition with other organizations, information organizations face a pressing need to market their unique services and resources and reach their user bases in the digital age. Marketing Services and Resources in Information Organizations explores a variety of important and useful topics in information organisations based on the author's marketing courses and his empirical studies on Australian academic librarians' perceptions of marketing services and resources. This book provides an introduction to marketing, the marketing process, and marketing concepts, research, mix and branding, and much more. Readers will learn strategic marketing planning, implementation, and evaluation, effective techniques for promoting services and resources, and effective social media and Web 2.0 tools used to promote services and resources. Marketing Services and Resources in Information Organizations is survey-based, theoretical and practical. The advanced statistical techniques used in this book distinguish the findings from other survey research products in the marketing field, and will be useful to practitioners when they consider their own marketing strategies. This book provides administrators, practitioners, instructors, and students at all levels with effective marketing techniques, approaches, and strategies as it looks at marketing from multiple perspectives. Dr. Zhixian (George) Yi is a Leadership Specialization Coordinator and Ph.D. supervisor in the School of Information Studies at Charles Sturt University, Australia. He received a doctorate in information and library sciences and a PhD minor in educational leadership from Texas Woman's University, and he was awarded his master's degree in information science from Southern Connecticut State University. In 2009, he was awarded the Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship from Beta Phi Mu, the International Library and Information Studies Honor Society. He was selected for inclusion into Who's Who in America in 2010.

The 21st Century Academic Library: Global Patterns of Organization and Discourse discusses the organization of academic libraries, drawing on detailed research and data. The organization of the library follows the path of a print book or journal: acquisitions, cataloguing, circulation, reference, instruction, preservation and general administration. Most libraries still have public services and technical services, and are still very print-based in their organization, while their collections and services are increasingly electronic and virtual. This book gathers information on organizational patterns of large academic libraries in the US and Europe, providing data that could motivate libraries to adopt innovative organizational structures or assess the effectiveness of their current organizational patterns.

XML-based Content Management: Integration, Methodologies and Tools covers the design and deployment of XML-based solutions and how to manage content and metadata, a practice that requires a more methodological approach than those traditionally applied to the design and deployment of document and content management solutions. The extensive use of XML implies the need of adding additional activities, quality controls, and tools to the established document-management and web-application design processes. The book describes a methodology that covers the different phases of the content and metadata management lifecycle, from generation, to archiving, to compliance with existing content management and archiving standards. In addition, the book reviews the key characteristics of the tools necessary for storage, retrieval and delivery.

Taking Your Library Career to the Next Level: Participating, Publishing, and Presenting helps librarians establish a brand and name recognition in their area of expertise, suggesting how to write winning proposals for both publication and presentation and places to publish. In addition, it covers how to conquer fears of public speaking and how to make presentations more dynamic. As professional development is important in most library settings to earn or maintain credentials, this book helps academic librarians look for opportunities to earn tenure, also helping special librarians look for ways to focus their training on a narrow subject area. Regardless of their reason for looking for professional development opportunities, librarians of all types will find satisfaction in contributing to the profession at a higher level. Participating in professional conversations and decision-making that impacts others in the field, and sharing knowledge through publishing and presenting are great ways to become better librarians.

Using vendor licensing and fair use guidelines, library collections can contain thousands of online videos either purchased or through in-house digitization. In this book, the authors share their knowledge developed in building and maintaining a streaming video collection. Highlights include key information and tips, as well as recommended best practices, for the licensing and acquisitions processes, providing access, promoting the collection, and evaluating the library and vendor collections. The authors cover the options for acquiring streaming video titles and options for hosting videos. The book is structured with an introduction, a chapter on each key process with subsections on specific aspects of those processes, and finally with a concluding chapter which looks at the future of streaming video collections for libraries. Creating a Streaming Video Collection for Your Library will serve as a key reference and source of best practices for libraries adding streaming video titles to their collections or for any library that is already offering streaming video. Since this is a relatively new area of collection development, this book will help libraries and video vendors establish consistent guidelines, licensing models and workflows.

Educational Programs: Innovative Practices for Archives and Special Collections explores how archivists and special collections librarians in organizations of different sizes and types have approached the challenges in creating effective educational programs to prepare the next generation of researchers and advocates for archives. The case studies featured are: 1.Tablet and Codex, Side by Side: Pairing Rare Books and E-Books in the Special Collections Classroom 2.Fells, Fans and Fame: Acquiring a Collection of Personal Papers with the Goal of Engaging Primary School Children 3.Student Curators in the Archives: Class-Curated Exhibits in Academic Special Collections 4.A Win for All: Cultural Organizations Working With Colleges of Education 5.The Archive as Theory and Reality: Engaging with Students in Cultural and Critical Studies 6.Make Way for Learning: Using Literary Papers to Engage Elementary School Students 7.Archivists Teaching Teachers: The Archives Education Institute and K-12 Outreach 8.Animating Archives: Embedding Archival Materials (and Archivists) into Digital History Projects 9."A Certain Kind of Seduction": Integrating Archival Research into a First-Year Writing Curriculum 10.Not Just for Students: An Archives Workshop for Faculty 11.Web Archiving as Gateway: Teaching K-12 Students about Archival Concepts 12.Evocative Objects: Inspiring Art Students with Archives 13.Documenting and Sharing Instruction Practices: The story of TeachArchives.org These case studies show a range of audiences and strategies, but all were selected because they demonstrate ideas that could be transferred into many other settings. They can serve as models, sources of inspiration, or starting points for new discussions. This volume will be useful to those working in archives and special collections as well as other cultural heritage organizations, and provides ideas ranging from those that require long-term planning and coordination to ones that could be more quickly implemented. The chapters also provide students and educators in archives, library, and public history graduate programs a resource for understanding the varieties of issues related to creating and implementing educational programs and how they can be addressed.

University campuses and their academic libraries are increasingly interconnected. A major sign of this is the transformation of interlibrary loan into resource sharing. The emergence of resource sharing has brought with it new challenges for the university library. These challenges can be overcome, and the university library can emerge a stronger institution, more connected with the patrons and community it serves. To accomplish this transformation, libraries need to learn from the past in order to take a leading role in developing future technology to meet the needs of their patrons. Resources Anytime, Anywhere explores the transformation of interlibrary loan into resource sharing by looking at the ideas that have motivated the library-developed technologies that have changed the way resource sharing is conducted. Resources Anytime, Anywhere illustrates how academic libraries can take an active role in developing technology to meet the needs of their patrons. Through designing our own products and sharing them with other libraries, we can join the lessons of the past with the technology of today to create a more interconnected library that can meet the future needs of library patrons.

Digital Participation through Social Living Labs connects two largely separate debates: On the one hand, high speed internet access and associated technologies are often heralded as a means to bring about not only connectivity, but also innovation, economic development, new jobs, and regional prosperity. On the other hand, community development research has established that access by itself is necessary but not sufficient to foster digital participation for the broadest possible range of individuals. Edited by leading scholars from the fields of education, youth studies, urban informatics, librarianship, communication technology, and digital media studies, this book is positioned as a link to connect these debates. It brings together an international collection of empirically grounded case studies by researchers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. They advance knowledge that fosters digital participation by identifying the specific digital needs, issues and practices of different types of communities as they seek to take advantage of access to digital technologies. Collectively, these cases propose new ways for enabling residents to develop their digital confidence and skills both at home and in their local community, particularly through a 'social living labs' approach. The book is organised around key focus areas: digital skills enhancement, youth entrepreneurship, connected learning, community digital storytelling, community-led digital initiatives and policy development.

Library Supply Chain Management for Collection Services of Academic Libraries: Solving Operational Challenges and Enhancing User Productivity contains three sections, each comprised of several topical chapters on a particular subject. Part One explains why supply chain management is vital to libraries. Part Two builds on Part One, beginning with a classic supply chain model, including its brief history and current development. Part Three suggests a theoretical supply chain model based on emerging technological advancements of society. This model will develop based on four components, user goals, workflow efficiency, financial stewardship and core services.

Although they may not have always been explicitly stated, library work has always had normative goals. Until recently, such goals have largely been abstract; they are things like knowledge creation, education, forwarding science, preserving history, supporting democracy, and safeguarding civilization. The modern spirit of social and cultural critique, however, has focused our attention on the concrete, material relationships that determine human potentiality and opportunity, and library workers are increasingly seeing the institution of the library, as well as library work, as embedded in a web of relations that extends beyond the library's traditional sphere of influence. In light of this critical consciousness, more and more library and information science professionals are coming to see themselves as change agents and front-line advocates of social justice issues. This book will serve as a guide for those library workers and related information professionals that disregard traditional ideas of "library neutrality" and static, idealized conceptions of Western culture. The book will work as an entry point for those just forming a consciousness oriented towards social justice work and will be also be of value to more experienced "transformative library workers" as an up-to-date supplement to their praxis.

Libraries, Human Rights, and Social Justice: Enabling Access and Promoting Inclusion examines the interrelationships between digital literacy, digital inclusion, and public policy, emphasizing the impacts of these policy decisions on the ability of individuals and communities to successfully participate in the information society. It is the first large-scale consideration of digital literacy and digital inclusion as policy problems and provides policy recommendations to promote digital literacy and digital inclusion. This book is intended to help librarians better understand and articulate their roles in promoting human rights and social justice, as well as to educate policymakers, government officials, professionals in other fields, and researchers in other disciplines about the contributions of libraries to human rights and social justice. It explores the intersections of information, human rights, and social justice from a range of perspectives and addresses the differing roles of library institutions (public, school, academic, and special libraries), library professionals, professional organizations, governments, and library patrons. Discussion focuses on the practical side of human rights and avoids most of the philosophical discussions of the term. Similarly, this book emphasizes the practical nature of social justice and the social and societal structures that foster equality. Related issues of digital literacy and digital inclusion are considered as essential to providing information in human rights and social justice contexts. Digital literacy, the ability to use the Internet to meet information, combines with access to the Internet in order to successfully apply the skills of digital literacy is discussed under the topic of digital inclusion. These topics are discussed through legal, policy, social, cultural, and economic lenses. Issues are examined both in terms of efforts to support equity in communities as a whole and the efforts intended to promote equity in specific disadvantaged or marginalized populations, such as the homeless, immigrants, people with disabilities, and the socioeconomically disadvantaged. Many examples of the issues discussed are drawn from the original research that the authors have conducted. The ideas and suggestions in this book should help members of the library community understand where their roles related to human rights and social justice originate, how they fit within the broader policy context, how to improve their related services and practices, and how to advocate for better support of these roles. The authors of this book have been involved in this research for many years and this breadth allows the book to offer comprehensive policy recommendations, solutions, and best practices for an area that is currently extremely fragmented. The writing is at a level to make it useful to undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers, and policy makers.

Cybermetric Techniques to Evaluate Organizations Using Web-Based Data proposes a complete and multifaceted analysis model, integrating quantitative and qualitative measures (extracted from web usability, SEO and design interaction metrics and evaluations) with a purpose of finding potential correlations. It also includes metrics from new social media platforms, metrics related to the interaction among companies, impact filtering according to different entity categories, innovation and scientific activities and media presence. This model is then applied to test feasibility and accuracy. Different statistical methods and tests are also applied to guide data gathering and analysis.

Unplugging the Classroom: Teaching with Technologies to Promote Students' Lifelong Learning provides techniques to help teaching and learning in an age where technology untethers instruction from the classroom, from semester seat-time, and from a single source of expertise. The book brings together researchers and practitioners from diverse academic fields, including library perspectives, and presents interdisciplinary discussions from both theoretical and applied areas. It is unique in its goal of bringing educators and librarians together to explore the challenges that are faced by students and faculty in any time, any place, any path, and any pace learning. In spite of the fact that the mobile revolution has definitively arrived, students and faculty alike aren't ready to make the leap to mobile learning. The pressures of technological advances, along with the changing nature of learning, will demand increasingly profound changes in education. Researchers have begun to address this issue, but the revolution in mobile communication has not been accompanied by a concomitant growth in pedagogical resources for educators and students. More importantly, such growth needs to be under-girded by sound learning theories and examples of best practice.

The rapid development of the Web and Web-based technologies has led to an ongoing redefinition of reference services in academic libraries. A growing diversity of users and the need and possibility for collaboration in delivering reference services bring additional pressures for change. At the same time, there are growing demands for libraries to show accountability and service value. All of these trends have impacted the field and will continue to shape reference and research services. And they have led to a need for increasingly specialized professional competencies and a literature to support them. In order to reimagine reference service for twenty-first century learning environments, practitioners will need to understand several focal areas of emerging reference. In particular, collaboration with campus partners, diverse student populations, technological innovations, the need for assessment, and new professional competencies, present new challenges and opportunities for creating a twenty-first century learning environment. Librarians must not only understand, but also embrace these emerging reference practices. This edited volume, containing five sections and fourteen chapters, reviews the current state of reference services in academic libraries with an emphasis on innovative developments and future trends. The main theme that runs through the book is the urgent need for inventive, imaginative, and responsive reference and research services. Through literature reviews and case studies, this book provides professionals with a convenient compilation of timely issues and models at comparable institutions. As academic libraries shift from functioning primarily as collections repositories to serving as key players in discovery and knowledge creation, value-added services, such as reference, are even more central to libraries' and universities' changing missions.

The current focus in higher education on student engagement, holistic education, social responsibility and community partnerships demands a significant mind-shift for academic libraries to reclaim their place at the heart of academic institutions that are reinventing themselves as social enterprises. The professional response to social trends in the academy and society includes moves such as converged services, embedded librarians, relationship management, inside-out libraries and design thinking. But such work is often confined to small parts of the library and has not created the largescale change in strategy and culture required to turn libraries into dynamic social organisations in the connected digital world. Incremental enhancement of services, spaces and structures is not enough. The present context calls for radical rethinking of library mission and service philosophy to realign resources, processes and practices to institutional needs. New ways of working must be guided by new ways of thinking that empower librarians to view practices holistically through a social lens. Intellectual and social capital theories offer new perspectives on library work and a proven conceptual framework for the reset needed to keep academic libraries relevant in the 21st century. The Social Future of Academic Libraries starts with the developments in thinking and practice that constitute the ‘social turn’ in communities, professions, the economy, the academy and libraries, while also introducing the core concepts of intellectual and social capital and networks. Part II presents nine case studies illustrating how social capital perspectives and social network theory can facilitate organisational learning, service development and collaborative relationships across different areas of library practice. Examples cover collection development, data services, information literacy, liaison librarians, library fundraising, service design, space utilisation, subject specialists and student success. The volume is accompanied by a keyword guide to the concepts, theories and models referenced in the text via two downloadable glossaries with related bibliographies to inform current reading and future work.

Libraries, writers, and poets have long had a close working relationship. Rapid changes in technology has not changed the importance of this cooperation: book talks and readings are as popular as ever-and the ways librarians support local writers with workshops, festivals, widely varied community events, are presented in creative ways in the 29 chapters. The forty-seven contributors are from across the United States.

This comprehensive guide to tween library services begins with a developmental description of this ever-changing group and offers practical advice about materials and programming. Criteria are provided for categorizing books, music, movies and magazines as appropriate for tweens, with special attention given to the reluctant reader. The authors discuss how to determine where tween services fit within the broader spectrum of youth services, and how to provide support for them. Information on marketing and outreach to tweens and their adults completes this essential guide.

A comprehensive look at contemporary trends and practices in public libraries Current Practices in Public Libraries combines research, surveys, and practical experience to examine a variety of trends, issues, and practices in public library administration. The leading researchers in the field explore vital contemporary topics ranging from literacy instruction and advocacy to ethical concerns in the acquisition of foreign language materials. This practical professional guide presents examples of successful programs at individual libraries as well as results of comprehensive national surveys about funding, computers and Internet access, and branch closures. Current Practices in Public Libraries presents an extensive look at advocacy, ethics, multicultural outreach, literacy training, marketing, and mentoring in today's public libraries. This comprehensive resource examines a wide range of issues, including public library funding; contributing factors to the quality of public access computing and Internet services; the impact of public library closures; recent human rights violations in U.S. public libraries; supporting local small business development; how multiculturalism and automation can affect collection development and technical services; new leadership models; the use of marketing and advocacy to build and sustain support for public libraries; promoting family learning activities; and the case for small, independent libraries. Current Practices in Public Libraries explores: library funding library expenditures budget shortfalls fiscal planning Internet access and connectivity library siting library Bill of Rights entrepreneurs customization of library services targeted services acquisitions collection development and management outsourcing state library agencies and associations federal library programs and legislation government relations information literacy tutoring and much more Current Practices in Public Libraries is an essential resource for librarians and library administrators working in public and academic settings, and for library sciences faculty and students.

Associations for librarianship frequently speak out against inequities especially when related to the freedom to read. Prisoners are in a grey area, often ignored and overlooked by policymakers, despite potential impact of library services for incarcerated individuals. The field is also de-professionalized: candidates sans graduate degrees in library science frequently fill positions and correctional institution administrators often author policies on library service. Authors writing about prison librarianship cite the need to implement the public library service model despite the dichotomy between this model and practical implementations of prison library service. The reason for this dichotomy is apparent: practices in prison libraries violate many tenets of librarianship with the justification of maintaining order in correctional institutions. The gap between policy and practice continues to grow in prison libraries. Prison Librarianship: The Neglected Profession is an exploration of this gap in prison libraries in the United States. The author investigates state, national, and international policies on prison libraries, reviews literature on the topic, and describes partnerships between prison and public libraries. To determine adherence to policy results from a national survey and follow-up interviews are shared, which serve as narratives to describe what is actually happening inside.

Student literacy is a perennial concern in and across nations, with measurement and accountability continually ramped up at both individual student and school levels. Debates about literacy and how it can best be improved are never far from media headlines. However, relatively little consideration is given to the role that school libraries and their staff play in building and maintaining student literacy, despite research linking school libraries and qualified staff to student literacy gains. With the number of students who struggle with basic literacy skills increasing in many nations, school libraries can play an important role in improving the academic, vocational and social outcomes for these young people, thereby increasing their opportunities. Fostering student wellbeing is also a key priority for schools given the challenges young people face in current times. This book seeks to promote greater understanding of the links between reading, literacy and wellbeing that could help students cope with these challenges, and the role of the school library in leading this approach. It explores the current role of school library professionals and highlights how literacy and wellbeing education and support sit within this, paying specific attention to how school library professionals build reading engagement and promote student wellbeing through various approaches, such as fostering health literacy and creating nurturing environments. Readers will be empowered to build a case for the importance of their role and library, and audit their current literacy and wellbeing offerings, and adjust or extend them where applicable based on best practice. The book also explores some of the many challenges facing school libraries and their professional staff that may need to be mitigated to ensure that they can reach their full potential for supporting student literacy and wellbeing.

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Library Volunteers Welcome! Strategies for Attracting, Retaining and Making the Most of Willing Helpers brings together 30 chapters from librarians and academics across the United States who've served as: board members for library organizations; heads of special collections; state library consultants; directors of state library associations; outreach coordinators; archivists; researchers; presenters at conferences; and other positions. Many are previous contributors to anthologies, professional journals, and have published their own books, several have won awards for their innovative programs and service, have degrees and work experience beyond librarianship, and volunteers within their communities. Volunteers are a crucial component of a library and finding the right people, keeping them, motivating them and pairing them with the right projects is challenging; this anthology is for librarians seeking to better their libraries.

Focusing on academic libraries and librarians who are extending the boundaries of e-learning, this collection of essays presents new ways of using information and communication technologies to create learning experiences for a variety of user communities. Chapters feature e-learning projects involving MOOCs (massive open online courses), augmented reality, chatbots and other innovative applications. Contributors describe the process of project development, from determination of need, to exploration of tools, project design and user assessment.