In the information society, is the community focused library a real possibility? This book reappraises the relationship between the library and its communities through an examination of the rise and decline of ’community’ librarianship over the last three decades. The authors consider key models of community based library service and argue that bland assertions of community prevalence mask a complex and problematic relationship between a highly traditional public service bureaucracy and its users. The resulting uncertainty of purpose, they claim, explains much of the current ’crisis’ of the public library movement. Drawing on recent social science theory and empirical work in the field, this book offers a new and critical perspective on the current public library debate. It is essential reading for librarians, students of information and library science and all who have a stake in the future of the public library. As a case study of community, public service and the local state it should also be of value to those with an interest in community development, cultural policy and local government.
Put simply, there is no text about public librarianship more rigorous or comprehensive than McCook's survey. Now, the REFORMA Lifetime Achievement Award-winning author has teamed up with noted public library scholar and advocate Bossaller to update and expand her work to incorporate the field's renewed emphasis on outcomes and transformation. This "essential tool" (Library Journal) remains the definitive handbook on this branch of the profession. It covers every aspect of the public library, from its earliest history through its current incarnation on the cutting edge of the information environment, including statistics, standards, planning, evaluations, and results;legal issues, funding, and politics;organization, administration, and staffing;all aspects of library technology, from structure and infrastructure to websites and makerspaces;adult services, youth services, and children's services;associations, state library agencies, and other professional organizations;global perspectives on public libraries; andadvocacy, outreach, and human rights. Exhaustively researched and expansive in its scope, this benchmark text continues to serve both LIS students and working professionals.
Whole Person Librarianship guides librarians through the practical process of facilitating connections among libraries, social workers, and social services; explains why those connections are important; and puts them in the context of a national movement. Collaboration between libraries and social workers is an exploding trend that will continue to be relevant to the future of public and academic libraries. Whole Person Librarianship incorporates practical examples with insights from librarians and social workers. The result is a new vision of library services. The authors provide multiple examples of how public and academic librarians are connecting their patrons with social services. They explore skills and techniques librarians can learn from social workers, such as how to set healthy boundaries and work with patrons experiencing homelessness; they also offer ideas for how librarians can self-educate on these topics. The book additionally provides insights for social work partners on how they can benefit from working with librarians. While librarians and social workers share social justice motivations, their methods are complementary and yet still distinct—librarians do not have to become social workers. Librarian readers will come away with many practical ideas for collaboration as well as the ability to explain why collaboration with social workers is important for the future of librarianship.
After decades of cultural warfare and political gridlock, the U.S. is beginning to find its balance thanks to a major cultural shift toward strengthening communities and other endangered social structures. Civic Librarianship explores the ideas of this new community movement and shows how they can transform public libraries by offering a renewed sense of purpose and powerful new strategies for development.
Get the foundational knowledge about health sciences librarianship. The general term “health sciences libraries” covers a wide range of areas beyond medical libraries, such as biomedical, nursing, allied health, pharmacy, and others. Introduction to Health Sciences Librarianship provides a sound foundation to all aspects of these types of libraries to students and librarians new to the field. This helpful guide provides a helpful overview of the health care environment, technical services, public services, management issues, academic health sciences, hospital libraries, health informatics, evidence-based practice, and more. This text provides crucial information every beginning and practicing health sciences librarian needs—all in one volume. Introduction to Health Sciences Librarianship presents some of the most respected librarians and educators in the field, each discussing important aspects of librarianship, including technical services, public services, administration, special services, and special collections. This comprehensive volume provides all types of librarians with helpful general, practical, and theoretical knowledge about this profession. The book’s unique "A Day in the Life of . . . " feature describes typical days of health sciences librarians working in special areas such as reference or consumer health, and offers anyone new to the field a revealing look at what a regular workday is like. The text is packed with useful figures, screen captures, tables, and references. Topics discussed in Introduction to Health Sciences Librarianship include: overview of health sciences libraries health environment collection development of journals, books, and electronic resources organization of health information access services information services and information retrieval information literacy health informatics management of academic health sciences libraries management and issues in hospital libraries library space planning specialized services Introduction to Health Sciences Librarianship provides essential information for health sciences librarians, medical librarians, beginning and intermediate level health sciences/medical librarians, and any health sciences librarian wishing to review the field. This crucial volume belongs in every academic health sciences library, hospital library, specialized health library, biomedical library, and academic library.
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. - Justifies the use of a variety of theoretical and practical resources for effecting positive change - Explores the role of the librarian as change agents
This updated edition enables readers to understand how academic libraries deliver information, offer services, and provide learning spaces in new ways to better meet the needs of today's students, faculty, and other communities of academic library users.
