The volume deals with some of the most relevant issues related to the identity of the public library and its historical, cultural, social, organizational changes, according to a comparative perspective. The topics are covered in four sections (History, Present and Future of the Public Library; Models of Analysis, Measurement, Evaluation; Complexity Challenges; Work in Progress), thus providing a wide overview of the present and the future of an institution paramount in improving people’s lives
Public and university libraries are at a crossroads, hard-pressed by competition from Internet search engines, declining budgets and changes in popular culture. Libraries must respond aggressively. Otherwise they will be marginalized by the impact of digital technology on their traditional customer base. Author Ralph Blanchard, drawing on twenty years of experience as an information services entrepreneur, argues that it is irresponsible for librarians to simply turn academic tasks over to search engines, as many do. Instead, libraries should expand digital services and, using the tactics and strategies of successful for-profit information service businesses, reconnect with their customers by promoting themselves as 21st Century information experts. Topics in this wide-ranging study include: The library as a service business Change, risk and unintended consequences The Internet search engine business model Problems with students using search engines The evolution of "ambient information" Music and information technology "Millennials" as library customers Hiring and training library information workers Push and viral marketing strategies for libraries The Digital Challenge for Libraries calls for new initiatives by librarians and for a rekindling of interest in the vital role libraries play in an informed, prosperous and democratic society.
COVID-19 is profoundly affecting the ways in which we live, learn, plan, and develop. What does COVID-19 mean for the future of digital information use and delivery, and for more traditional forms of library provision? Libraries, Digital Information, and COVID gives immediate and long-term solutions for librarians responding to the challenge of COVID-19. The book helps library leaders prepare for a post-COVID-19 world, giving guidance on developing sustainable solutions. The need for sustainable digital access has now become acute, and while offering a physical space will remain important, current events are likely to trigger a shift toward off-site working and study, making online access to information more crucial. Libraries have already been providing access to digital information as a premium service. New forms and use of materials all serve to eliminate the need for direct contact in a physical space. Such spaces will come to be predicated on evolving systems of digital information, as critical needs are met by remote delivery of goods and services. Intensified financial pressure will also shape the future, with a reassessment of information and its commercial value. In response, there will be a massification of provision through increased cooperation and collaboration. These significant transitions are driving professionals to rethink and question their identities, values, and purpose. This book responds to these issues by examining the practicalities of running a library during and after the pandemic, answering questions such as: What do we know so far? How are institutions coping? Where are providers placing themselves on the digital/print and the remote/face-to-face continuums? This edited volume gives analysis and examples from around the globe on how libraries are managing to deliver access and services during COVID-19. This practical and thoughtful book provides a framework within which library directors and their staff can plan sustainable services and collections for an uncertain future. - Focuses on the immediate practicalities of service provision under COVID-19 - Considers longer-term strategic responses to emerging challenges - Identifies key concerns and problems for librarians and library leaders - Analyzes approaches to COVID-19 planning - Presents and examines exemplars of best practice from around the world - Offers practical models and a useful framework for the future
"In the past decade there has been an intense growth in the number of library publishing services supporting faculty and students. Unified by a commitment to both access and service, library publishing programs have grown from an early focus on backlist digitization to encompass publication of student works, textbooks, research data, as well as books and journals. This growing engagement with publishing is a natural extensions of the academic library's commitment to support the creation of and access to scholarship."--Back cover.
How are your library and its patrons adjusting to the challenges of the digital age? This essential book examines how digital formats are changing libraries today, from the perspectives of librarians, vendors, and library users. Editor Sul Lee is an internationally recognized leader in library administration and management. The expansion of digital collections has been one of the foremost issues in the library field since the early 1990s, and this book addresses important questions about the impact of the digital age. Questions like: How will scholars and students react to digital formats? How will electronic resources change collection development? Will libraries stop buying print materials in favor of digital resources? Will libraries convert to only digital products or will they have to buy both electronic and print formats? Will academic libraries retain their central role in the university? With chapters from leading academic deans and directors, directors of national organizations of library professionals, and book/serials vendors including Philip Blackwell, CEO of Blackwell Limited, this book explores: digital resources and technology digital books--and what they mean to libraries legislation on copyrights and intellectual property rights in the digital age electronic cooperation between libraries how digital technology can facilitate on-campus research partnerships the extent to which academic libraries are embracing electronic publications
This volume offers presentations at the most recent events of the IFLA Newspapers Section (Santiago de Chile, May 2007 & Durban, August 2007). The Santiago International Newspaper Conference as the first of its kind, aimed at taking stock of the Latin American newspaper collection and analyzing current activities from the basics to sophisticated digitization and software technologies. Most presentations are offered in Spanish and English. This publication focuses on the key issues in newspaper librarianship - preservation and access - in which digitization is a very important tool. Este volumen ofrece las presentaciones aportadas a las sesiones más recientes de la Sección de Periódicos de la IFLA (en Santiago de Chile, Mayo de 2007, y en Durban, Agosto de 2007). La Conferencia Internacional sobre Periódicos celebrada en Santiago de Chile, en tanto que la primera de su especialidad, estuvo dedicada a revisar la situación de las colecciones de periódicos en Latinoamérica y analizar las necesidades y actividades actuales en este campo, que van desde los aspectos más básicos hasta la mayor sofisticación en digitalización y en el empleo de todo tipo de software. Para lograr que los resultados de este acontecimiento estén disponibles para la comunidad bibliotecaria en general, la mayor parte de las presentaciones incluidas están en español y en inglés. Esta publicación se centra en las cuestiones clave de la biblioteconomía en relación con los periódicos - conservación y acceso - para las que la digitalización constituye un instrumento muy importante. El volumen recoge tanto los desarrollos más recientes como los muchos retos que quedan por afrontar.
Initiatives at a cross-cultural level, where libraries, museums and archives work together in creating digital libraries, and making their cultural heritage collections available online, are emerging. Leading academic researchers from the cultural heritage and the publishers sectors approach this issue: Digital library user experience: a focus on current user research; Digital library content: what users want and how they use it; Strategies for institutions: how cultural institutions and publishers respond to the digital challenge.
This title was first published in 2003. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are increasingly being recognized as vital to the economic growth and global inclusion and participation of developing countries. This book brings together both academics and practitioners to provide a comprehensive and insightful overview of ICT and development around the world. It examines the role of IT in providing new economic and industrial opportunities, in increasing access to global information and communication, in assisting small cultural and ethnic groups to overcome disadvantages of physical distance and in catalysing initiatives towards democratic decentralization and empowerment of citizens. It also critically appraises major problems such as inappropriate focus and resource allocation, and of missed opportunities. By combining comparative case studies from Africa, South and East Asia, South America and Eastern Europe with theoretical analysis, this volume synthesizes a range of issues related to the evident tensions that exist for developing countries as they try to balance global and local priorities through the adoption and use of ICTs.
Digital libraries have been established worldwide to make information more readily available, and this innovation has changed the way information seekers interact with the data they are collecting. Faced with decentralized, heterogeneous sources, these users must be familiarized with high-level search activities in order to sift through large amounts of data. Information Seeking Behavior and Challenges in Digital Libraries addresses the problems of usability and search optimization in digital libraries. With topics addressing all aspects of information seeking activity, the research found in this book provides insight into library user experiences and human-computer interaction when searching online databases of all types. This book addresses the challenges faced by professionals in information management, librarians, developers, students of library science, and policy makers.
