Whether because of budget and staffing concerns or issues with productivity and output, technical services teams have come into being in many organizations. In Teams in Library Technical Services, editors Rosann Bazirjian and Rebecca Mugridge present research and case studies demonstrating what these reasons are and how the use of teams has been and should be applied to libraries. Everything from describing the various types of teams and how to manage them-especially in academic libraries-to exploring recurring themes on the relationships between professional and support staff, the changing roles of librarians, and how managers and teams address issues such as performance evaluation, rewards and recognition, hiring, workload and workflow, and process improvements is covered. Managers and other librarians who must understand the evolution of teams in library technical services units, the application of team theory in libraries, and the practical assessment of team organizational structure will be greatly served by this work.

Everyone loves a good ghost story. Phantoms of the Paramount, Shadows on Third Avenue, The Legend of Ann Lake, The Boy in the Red Cap. Veteran ghost hunter Michael Norman has uncovered almost three dozen stories of legitimate Minnesota eeriness to thrill readers. Norman, author of five nationally popular collections of ghost tales, interviewed local storytellers and combed newspapers to document legends involving supernatural and strange occurrences. Following old and fresh leads, he gathered stories from all over the state. Ghost stories have existed as long as humans have been telling tales. Perhaps they rise from our curiosity about what happens to us and our loved ones after death, perhaps they explain phenomena that we do not understand, or maybe, just maybe, the dead do walk the earth. Norman does not attempt to prove or disprove the existence of ghosts but instead allow readers to make up their own minds. his tales feature people's strange and paranormal experiences in quite ordinary places, including homes, theatres, B&Bs, and restaurants. Many of the engaging and hair-raising accounts involve strange and frightening incidents of the last fifty years; some tales document very recent unexplainable or spectral events. The book includes a list of sites open to the public and documents the hauntings' locations -- from Taylors Falls and Pipestone to Northfield and Nobles County -- for Minnesotan who may want to "pass through" the sites. Beware: these stories do not have conclusive endings, since they remain mysteries to this day. but perhaps that's best. An ending would just take the fun out of it.

"Haunted Homeland" is a comprehensive collection of true ghostly tales, not penned by fictioneers such as Poe and King, but passed on by word of mouth and preserved by memory as windows to our nation's haunted past.
From a haunted castle in the wilds of Alaska to phantom clergymen in the southwest and mysterious bouncing lights on the east coast, this latest volume covers the places, the people, and the things that belong to the earthbound realm of the fantastic. Norman has gathered together spectral events of all kinds: apparitions of the famous like Mary Surratt, Mary Todd Lincoln, and Mad Anthony Wayne, haunted crime scenes in Chicago and along the Indiana byways, as well as banshees, poltergeists, and even a ghost named George who has become an accepted resident in a North Carolina home. These anecdotes are not the stuff of imaginary nightmares, but of tales of personal encounters with the haunted parts of America.

The latest in the bestselling series of Americana occult folklore collections that have included "Haunted America" and "Historic Haunted America," "Haunted Heritage" brings together yet another amazing collection of spectral tales from all across the United States and Canada.
The tales-based on interviews, public records, and family histories reach from coast-to-coast in the United States and Canada. Some involve famous families (such as that of American patriot Nathan Hale), and some, famous events (such as the Battle of Little Big Horn). Some are gentle and benevolent (a family member watching over his/her descendants), other vengeful and disruptive (the unresting souls of the wrongfully dead).

"Historic Haunted America" is an engrossing investigation into North American ghost legends, a comprehensive documenting yesterday and today's most shocking hauntings in the United States and Canada.
From the ghost-ridden forts in Old Tucson to the "Inn of the 17 Ghosts" near Philadelphia, from the haunted plantations of Louisiana and Georgia to a haunted community playhouse in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Michael Norman and Beth Scott tell stories of the past and present so terrifyingly real that even the most skeptical reader will believe.

BOX 27 is a hard-hitting dramatization of the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays. Stephen, a Marine days away from promotion, feels he's living a lie and wants to live his life with "honor, respect and duty," even if it means outing his lover, Maj. Howard Kurtis. Complicating matters, Howard is also a lifelong friend of Stephen's father, Col. Mills. In BOX 27 we witness how choosing honor and truth in the face of prejudice can come at a price. After the shock of this confession pass, the Colonel decides that Stephen is still his son, but that he cannot stay in the Marines. The Colonel confronts Howard to own up to whatever information he knows about Stephen. Howard conceals his relationship with his friend's son. The Colonel tells that he over heard a conversation between Stephen and Howard that lead him to believe that Howard was lying about his involvement. Howard is now forced to make a decision between giving his friend the truth and sticking to his falsehood.

A fleeting figure dressed in a white party dress roams the streets of southwest Chicago. A long-dead Iowa college student treads the staircase in an old building. A ghostly, plaid-shirted workman plays peek-a-boo with a ticket seller in a Minnesota theater. A phantom wolf prowls Ohio's Jackson and Pike Counties. For decades, journalist Michael Norman has been tracking down spine-tingling tales that seem to arise from authentic incidents in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, and Wisconsin. In Haunted Heartland he offers more than eighty entertaining, eerie stories. Are they true in the world that we know, or only in a dark vale of twilight?

Grab a cozy blanket, light a few flickering candles, and enjoy the unnerving tales of "Haunted Wisconsin." Gathered from personal interviews with credible eyewitnesses, on-site explorations, historical archives, newspaper reports, and other sources, these scores of reports date from Wisconsin's early settlement days to recent inexplicable events.
You'll read about Wisconsin's most famous haunted house, Summerwind; three Milwaukee men who encountered the beautiful ghost of National Avenue; a phantom basketball player; a spectral horse that signaled death in the pioneer era of the Wisconsin Dells; a poltergeist in St. Croix County who attracted a crowd of more than three hundred spectators; the Ridgeway Ghost who haunts the driftless valleys of southwestern Wisconsin; a swinging railroad lantern held by unseen hands; the Ghost Island of the Chippewa Flowage; and many others. Are ghosts real? That's for you to decide
Now available in a Third Edition with updates and several new accounts, "Haunted Wisconsin" remains a favorite collection of unexplained midwestern tales, enjoyed by readers of all ages.

For the first four months of 1942, U.S., Filipino, and Japanese soldiers fought what was America's first major land battle of World War II, the battle for the tiny Philippine peninsula of Bataan. It ended with the surrender of 76,000 Filipinos and Americans, the single largest defeat in American military history.
The defeat, though, was only the beginning, as Michael and Elizabeth M. Norman make dramatically clear in this powerfully original book. From then until the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, the prisoners of war suffered an ordeal of unparalleled cruelty and savagery: forty-one months of captivity, starvation rations, dehydration, hard labor, deadly disease, and torture--far from the machinations of General Douglas MacArthur.
The Normans bring to the story remarkable feats of reportage and literary empathy. Their protagonist, Ben Steele, is a figure out of Hemingway: a young cowboy turned sketch artist from Montana who joined the army to see the world. Juxtaposed against Steele's story and the sobering tale of the Death March and its aftermath is the story of a number of Japanese soldiers.
The result is an altogether new and original World War II book: it exposes the myths of military heroism as shallow and inadequate; it makes clear, with great literary and human power, that war causes suffering for people on all sides.