Public Libraries and Their Communities
Public Libraries and Their Communities

Author: Kay Ann Cassell

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-04-02

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1538112698

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Public Libraries and Their Communities: An Introduction provide an overview of public librarianship today. It covers library organization, policy development, staffing, fiscal organization including funding sources and budgets, the legal framework, relationships with local and state governments, advocacy, services and service development for different age groups and for different groups of users, development of programming and outreach, collection development, promotion and marketing, and current issues and trends. In addition to context and concepts, the book uses many examples from both large and small public libraries to bring principles to life. Examples include real library policies, case studies, strategic planning, organization charts and library budgets. Many think that public libraries are not complicated to run.This book aims to show that public libraries are very complicated and require much skill on the part of the director, staff, and Board of Trustees to meet the needs of their local users.Advocacy and marketing have become important parts of the work of public libraries. Funding is always challenging so public libraries must constantly be making the local government and its citizens aware of the public library – its programs, collections, and services. This book's focus is on how public libraries reach beyond the walls of their buildings and touch the lives of their citizens.Meeting community interests and needs is essential for 21st century public libraries. For students the book offers discussion questions at the end of each chapter. These questions also provide discussion starters for public library staff development.

How Public Libraries Build Sustainable Communities in the 21st Century
How Public Libraries Build Sustainable Communities in the 21st Century

Author: Kaurri C. Williams-Cockfield

Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing

Published: 2023-09-08

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 1803824379

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Public libraries, through their mission, vision, and position in the community, play a significant part in building community sustainability and are already positioned to serve as a “backbone support organization” for collective impact initiatives.

Public Library Collections in the Balance
Public Library Collections in the Balance

Author: Jennifer Downey

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2017-07-25

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A fascinating and informative read for librarians, library staff, and MLIS students, this book offers practical information and professional guidelines to examine current issues in censorship and libraries while also enabling readers to consider their own opinions about intellectual freedom. This book addresses contemporary issues in censorship and intellectual freedom and can serve as an invaluable resource for librarians and other library staff and as an eye-opening read for MLIS students. It covers the waterfront of intricate and thorny issues regarding intellectual freedom, including determining strategies for patron privacy, deciding how to filter public computers, handling challenges to items in a collection, and recognizing and eliminating under-the-radar self-censorship during collection development and weeding. Readers will also gain an understanding of the perils of over-reliance on community assessments and other evaluative tools and consider important concerns of public library employees, such as whether to restrict borrowing privileges of R-rated movies and M-rated video games to patrons of various ages, and the legalities that surround these questions. Each chapter blends instructive background narrative with practical advice, research findings, and relevant information about librarianship's professional guidelines, including the ALA's Library Bill of Rights and the Freedom to Read Statement. Vignettes, "what would you do?" examples, effective nonconfrontational techniques for conflict resolution, and lists of tips and traps help readers to think critically about their own biases and rehearse possible responses to controversial situations. Librarians, library staff, and MLIS students can use this book for personal professional development, as supplemental reading for MLIS courses or professional training workshops, or as a resource for library policy-planning discussions.

Organizing Library Collections
Organizing Library Collections

Author: Gretchen L. Hoffman

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2019-08-05

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 1538108526

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Libraries organize their collections to help library users find what they need. Organizing library collections may seem like a straightforward and streamlined process, but it can be quite complex, and there is a large body of theory and practice that shape and support this work. Learning about the organization of library collections can be challenging. Libraries have a long history of organizing their collections, there are many principles, models, standards, and tools used to organize collections, and theory and practice are changing constantly. Written for beginning library science students, Organizing Library Collections: Theory and Practice introduces the theory and practice of organizing library collections in a clear, straightforward, and understandable way. It explains why and how libraries organize their collections, and how theory and practice work together to help library users. It introduces basic cataloging and metadata theory, describes and evaluates the major cataloging and metadata standards and tools used to organize library collections, and explains, in general, how all libraries organize their collections in practice. Yet, this book not only introduces theory and practice in general, it introduces students to a wide range of topics involved in organizing library collections. This book explores how academic, public, school, and special libraries typically organize their collections and why. It also discusses standardization and explains how cataloging and metadata standards and policies are developed. Ethical issues also are explored and ethical decision-making is addressed. In addition, several discussion questions and class activities reinforce concepts introduced in each chapter. Students should walk away from this book understanding why and how libraries organize their collections.

Curating Community Collections
Curating Community Collections

Author: Mary Schreiber

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2024-01-25

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Begins where diversity audits end, informing and supporting academic, school, and public librarians in the quest to embed diversity, equity, and inclusion in a meaningful and sustainable manner throughout collections, policies, and practices. A primary question for many librarians, directors, and board members is how to evaluate diversity in a collection on an ongoing basis. Curating Community Collections provides librarians with the tools they need to understand the results of diversity audits and to formulate a reasonable, achievable plan for increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion not only in the collection itself, but also in library collection policies and practices. Information on ways to make diversity, equity, and inclusion part of a library's everyday workflow will help ensure the sustainability of these principles. Mary Schreiber and Wendy Bartlett teach readers how to increase the number of diverse materials in their collections and make them more discoverable to library patrons through the implementation of a community collections program. Stories from librarians around the United States and Canada who are auditing and improving the diversity of their collections add broad, scalable perspectives for libraries of any size, budget, and mission. Action steps provided at the end of each section offer a practical road map for all types of libraries to curate a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community collection.

Crash Course in Collection Development
Crash Course in Collection Development

Author: Wayne Disher

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2023-06-15

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1440880441

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The third edition of Crash Course in Collection Development is a must-have for librarians just entering the field and professionals in need of a refresher in effective library operations. It now covers all aspects of collection development and management - including inventory assessment, market analysis, budgeting, marketing, and customer service - in all library environments including public, academic, and school libraries. Focusing on collection development basics, it begins with information on gathering statistics and analyzing community needs to design a collection that meets user needs. It goes on to guide users in writing a collection development policy, budgeting, selecting materials, managing vendor relations, understanding the publishing industry, merchandising and promoting the collection, and handling complaints. Newly included in the third edition is a discussion of new purchasing and lending models; information for academic and school librarians; and such new trends as libraries as spaces for users, collection diversity issues, makerspaces, nontraditional collections, pop-up libraries, the digital divide, and noncirculating collections. Author Wayne Disher has once again written a practical and simple introduction to an important, complex, and evolving area of library service.

Crash Course in Weeding Library Collections
Crash Course in Weeding Library Collections

Author: Francisca Goldsmith

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2015-11-02

Total Pages: 118

ISBN-13: 1440836892

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Weeding is a perennial challenge for librarians. This book will help you rise to the task by offering you basic instructions, including information on new formats and digital collections. Weeding is often difficult—who can easily decide to discard books and other materials that someone may someday want to borrow? But weeding is essential to keeping your collection healthy and relevant. Perfect for all types of libraries and for both paraprofessionals and librarians unfamiliar with modern weeding methods, this practical guide offers clear guidance that can help you cope with the sometimes-paralytic fear and distaste that can accompany a must-do task. Each of the book's chapters treats a specific concern—for example, weeding electronic collections. Practical matters related to collection maintenance through material and online resource weeding are addressed, as are policy and procedure documentation and communication planning and best practices. You'll read about weeding ethics, using vendor-provided weeding tools, and floating collections. The book also shares advice on training volunteers as weeding assistants and on communicating with library stakeholders about collection maintenance. By showing you how to make weeding a normal part of your library's routine, this book will help you provide your community with a healthier, better circulating, and more valuable collection.

The Library Catalogue as Social Space
The Library Catalogue as Social Space

Author: Laurel Tarulli

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2012-01-16

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 1598846302

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Emphasizing the advantages of working together and exploring the future of library services in an online, socially connected world, this exciting book shows how all public library professionals can take advantage of our strongest community and information tool—the library catalogue. This book is a guide to the library catalogue that all public library professionals will find enlightening and useful. Its technical services perspective provides a different point of view as compared to traditional public library literature, which is often written by frontline professionals. For example, it poses and examines this thought-provoking question: should library catalogues be considered the primary gateway to the library's information, rather than the library website? Author and collection access librarian Laurel Tarulli examines next-generation or "social" catalogues, discussing the theories and concepts behind them, their impact on core library services, and their potential in shaping future libraries and library services. Geared toward frontline and backroom staff, this book helps readers understand next-generation catalogues and see the collaborative opportunities that are possible between the frontline and backroom. Written to be much more than a "one-time" read, this resource book provides practical ideas for beneficial collaboration and implementation of social features in library catalogues.

Transforming Libraries, Building Communities
Transforming Libraries, Building Communities

Author: Julie Biando Edwards

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2013-05-30

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 0810891824

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book is for those moving their library beyond places to find information. Written by practicing public librarians and an academic librarian with an interest in public libraries, the book focuses on how public libraries can become more community centered and, by doing so, how they can transform both themselves and their communities. The authors argue that focusing on building community through innovative and responsive services and programs will be the best way for the public library to reposition itself in the years to come.

Handbook for Community College Librarians
Handbook for Community College Librarians

Author: Michael A. Crumpton

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2013-10-29

Total Pages: 181

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An in-depth understanding of the complexities, dynamics, and emerging trends in community college libraries today. Handbook for Community College Librarians covers all aspects of librarianship that apply to community colleges in a one-stop reference book. It provides information that enables the librarian to become more successful in the community college environment and reflects on its unique qualities, identifying the specific skills required and the differences from other library settings. The authors address instructional design and highlight the distinctions in the types of information literacy appropriate to the specialized curriculum and certification needs of a community college. Besides being an outstanding professional development tool, this handbook will also be useful to library and information science students studying service in community college libraries as a career option.