Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Being Evidence Based in Library and Information Practice


Koufogiannakis, Denise and Alison Brettle (eds.). Being Evidence Based in Library and Information Practice. Neal-Schuman, 2016. ISBN: 978-0-8389-1521-9

Description
Bringing together recent theory, research, and case studies, this book provides librarians with a new reference point for how they can use and create evidence within their practice, in order to better meet the needs of their communities.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Background and model

1. Introduction -  Denise Koufogiannakis and Alison Brettle
2. A new framework for EBLIP - Denise Koufogiannakis and Alison Brettle
3. Articulate - Alison Brettle and Denise Koufogiannakis
4. Assemble - Denise Koufogiannakis and Alison Brettle
5. Assess - Alison Brettle and Denise Koufogiannakis
6. Agree - Denise Koufogiannakis and Alison Brettle
7. Adapt - Alison Brettle and Denise Koufogiannakis

Part 2: EBLIP in action
8. Practitioner-researchers and EBLIP - Virginia Wilson
9. Academic libraries - Mary M. Somerville and Lorie A. Kloda
10. Public libraries - Pam Ryan and Becky Cole
11. Health libraries - Jonathan D. Eldredge, Joanne Gard Marshall, Alison Brettle, Heather Holmes, Lotta Haglund and Rick Wallace
12. School libraries - Carol Gordon
13. Special libraries - Bill Fisher
14. Conclusion - Denise Koufogiannakis and Alison Brettle

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Free Government e-Resources for Youth


Ormes, Dorothy. Free Government e-Resources for Youth: Inform, Inspire, and Activate. Libraries Unlimited, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-4408-4131-6

Description
This book helps librarians promote online government information to youth and to assist youth in using it to become informed and educated about our federal government and how it works. It covers various areas of K–12 curriculum, highlighting activities and lesson plans based on national and state standards, and gives helpful directions for creating displays and conducting programs for youth on the government.

Table of Contents 
  1. Stakeholders in U.S. government information
  2. Understanding the governmental process
  3. The government and education
  4. The government and science
  5. The government and the arts and humanities
  6. The government and numbers : the census and beyond
  7. The government and money
  8. More government on the Web : agency pages, digital information, apps and mobile sites
  9. Finding the needle in the haystack
  10. Joining the FDLP : are you eligible? what's in it for you?

Critical Library Pedagogy

Pagowsky, N., & McElroy, K. (Eds.). (2016). Critical Library Pedagogy Handbook (Vols. 1 & 2). Chicago, IL: Association of College and Research Libraries. ISBN: 978-0-8389-8917-3

Publisher's Description
Critical pedagogy incorporates inclusive and reflective teaching for aims of social justice; it provides mechanisms for students to evaluate their social, political, and economic standing, and to question societal norms and how these norms perpetuate societal injustices. Teaching librarians have long incorporated social justice into their work, but focused interest in critical library pedagogy has grown rapidly in recent years.

In two volumes, the Critical Library Pedagogy Handbook works to make critical pedagogy more accessible for library educators, examining both theory and practice to help the busy practitioner explore various aspects of teaching for social justice.

Volume One, Essays and Workbook Activities, provides short essays reflecting on personal practice, describing projects, and exploring major ideas to provide inspiration as you begin or renew your exploration of critical pedagogy. The bibliography of each chapter provides a network of other sources to explore, and the volume closes with a selection of workbook activities to improve on your own practice and understanding of critical pedagogy.

Volume Two, Lesson Plans, provides plans covering everything from small activities to multi-session projects. Critical pedagogy requires collaborating with learners and adapting to their needs, as well as continual reflection, but these lessons provide elements you can pull and tweak to fit your own environment. These chapters also provide 30 different views on creating and delivering critically designed information literacy instruction and reflect material commonly requested by faculty—including introductions to databases, evaluating information sources, and the research cycle. 

Monday, October 24, 2016

Rethinking Information Work: A Career Guide for Librarians and Other Information Professionals


Dority, G. Kim. Rethinking Information Work: A Career Guide for Librarians and Other Information Professionals. 2nd edition. Libraries Unlimited, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-61069-959-4

Description
This guide is appropriate for those embarking on careers in library and information science as well as those looking to make a change, providing career design strategies that can be used to build a lifetime of career opportunity.

Table of Contents

  1. Rethinking information work
  2. Self-knowledge : your career starting point
  3. Traditional LIS career paths
  4. Nontraditional LIS career paths
  5. Independent LIS career paths
  6. Understanding, describing, and documenting your value
  7. Thriving on change
  8. Building professional equity
  9. Getting from here to there
  10. Improvising your resilient career
Appendix A. Special interest groups
Appendix B. Career and employment resources
Appendix C. LIS blogs and social media.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Young Adult Literature: From Romance to Realism

Cart, M. (2016). Young Adult Literature: From Romance to Realism (3 ed.). Chicago, IL: Neal-Schuman. 978-0-8389-1462-5.

Cart’s authoritative survey is already a go-to text for students of literary studies, teachers, and YA staff. In this new edition he gives it a thorough update to make it even more relevant and comprehensive. Surveying the landscape of YA lit both past and present, this book
  • sketches in the origins of literature targeted at young adults;
  • shows how the best of the genre has evolved to deal with subjects every bit as complex as its audience;
  • closely examines teen demographics, literacy, audiobooks, the future of print, and other key topics;
  • includes updated treatment of best-selling authors like John Green, Suzanne Collins, and Veronica Roth, plus interviews with leaders in the field;
  • presents new and expanded coverage of perennially popular genre fiction, including horror, sci fi, and dystopian fiction;
  • offers an updated overview of LGBTQ literature for young adults, including Intersex;
  • covers such commercial trends as adult purchasers of YA books and the New Adult phenomenon; and
  • features abundant bibliographic material to aid in readers’ advisory and collection development.
Cart’s up-to-date coverage makes this the perfect resource for YA librarians who want to sharpen their readers’ advisory skills, educators and teachers who work with young people, and anyone else who wants to understand where YA lit has been and where it’s heading.

(book description)

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Guide to Electronic Resource Management


Ross, Sheri V.T. and Sarah W. Sutton. Guide to Electronic Resource Management. Libraries Unlimited, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-4408-3958-0

Description
This book offers step-by-step guidance for overseeing collection development of electronic resources with a special focus on activities revolving around the life cycle of the materials, such as identifying and evaluating appropriate resources; managing the knowledge base, link resolver, discovery layer, and administrative accounts for each resource; and gathering and analyzing usage statistics and other assessment data. Content includes a chapter on communicating with authors, funding sources, publishers, and libraries regarding digital rights and access to texts.

Table of Contents 
  1. Emergence and entrenchment of electronic resources in libraries
  2. The information environment
  3. Information standards
  4. Identifying and selecting electronic resources
  5. Acquiring and licensing electronic resources
  6. Providing access to electronic resources
  7. Managing access and discovery
  8. Assessing electronic resources
  9. Preserving electronic resources
  10. Scholarly communication
  11. Future directions of electronic resources management.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Practical Ontologies for Information Professionals

Stuart, David. Practical Ontologies for Information Professionals.Chicago: ALA Neal Schuman,2016. 006.332 Stuar     ISBN978-0-83891511-0



More data and information is being created than ever before. Ontologies, formal representations of knowledge with rich semantic relationships, have become increasingly important in the context of today’s information overload and data deluge. The publishing and sharing of explicit explanations for a wide variety of concepts, in a machine readable format, has the power to both improve information retrieval and discover new knowledge. Information professionals are key contributors to the development of new, and increasingly useful, ontologies.

Practical Ontologies for Information Professionals provides an accessible introduction to the following:
·        defining the concept of ontologies and why they are increasingly important to information professionals;
·        ontologies and the Semantic Web;
·        existing ontologies, such as RDF, RDFS, SKOS, and OWL2;
·        adopting and building ontologies, showing how to avoid repetition of work and how to build a simple ontology;
·        interrogating ontologies for reuse; and
·        the future of ontologies and the role of the information professional in their development and use.

  • the future of ontologies and the role of the information professional in their development and use.More data and information is being created than ever before. Ontologies, formal representations of knowledge with rich semantic relationships, have become increasingly important in the context of today’s information overload and data deluge. The publishing and sharing of explicit explanations for a wide variety of concepts, in a machine readable format, has the power to both improve information retrieval and discover new knowledge. Information professionals are key contributors to the development of new, and increasingly useful, ontologies.
Practical Ontologies for Information Professionals provides an accessible introduction to the following:
  • defining the concept of ontologies and why they are increasingly important to information professionals;
  • ontologies and the Semantic Web;
  • existing ontologies, such as RDF, RDFS, SKOS, and OWL2;
  • adopting and building ontologies, showing how to avoid repetition of work and how to build a simple ontology;
  • interrogating ontologies for reuse; and
    the future of ontologies and the role of the information professional in their development and use.

Crash Course in Technology Planning


Brown, Christopher D. Crash Course in Technology Planning. Libraries Unlimited, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-4408-5060-8

Description
From software to hardware to networks and even electricity, if you are tasked with managing IT resources and infrastructure on a bare-bones budget for your library, you need this book!

Table of Contents
  1. Introduction
  2. Set yourself up for success
  3. Triage
  4. Troubleshooting the individual computer
  5. Mobile devices
  6. Your software arsenal
  7. Inventory
  8. Networks and networking 
  9. Networks, servers, clients, and addressing servers and clients
  10. A short primer on electricity
  11. Maintaining your machines
  12. Procurement
  13. The value of sales representatives
  14. Future planning and goal setting
  15. Dealing with the public 101 : understanding technology literacy 
  16. Dealing with the public 102 : managing your own superhero status.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Crash Course in Library Budgeting and Finance


Holt, Glen E. and Leslie Edmonds Holt. Crash Course in Library Budgeting and Finance. Libraries Unlimited, 2016. ISBN:978-1-44083474-5

Description
The book addresses the entire process of financial planning, from a general, conceptual overview of library budgeting to the details of generating and spending income, and describes best practices for implementing financial controls. Subjects covered include building construction and capital projects, fund raising, capital campaigns, moving to fee-based services, extending and developing earned income, financial best practices, and assessment and evaluation. The authors also make recommendations regarding when and how to share relevant financial information throughout the organization and with constituents throughout the book.

Table of Contents

Introduction to library money
Financial literacy in the US
Financial aliteracy of librarians
The national economy and library continuity
Electronic communications : how computers are changing library finance
Legal context : basic rules you need to know
Professional advice
Annual report as a starting point
Purpose documents used for financial plan
Budget planning
Basic library budget language
Shifts in library service demands and income
Primary sources of income
Ways to increase funding
Fundraising
Other sources of donations
Earned income
Dispelling financial myths
Purchasing : your part in spending library funds
Staff costs
Capital expenses
Acquisition of materials
Other expenses
Evaluating the budget
Communicating library financial principles

Financial Management of Libraries and Information Centers


Burger, Robert H. Financial Management of Libraries and Information Centers. Libraries Unlimited, 2017. ISBN: 978-1-4408-5013-4

Description
This book provides a logical, organized way for library school students, librarians, and others such as library board members to gain the specific knowledge critical to the financial management of libraries and information centers. It covers a full spectrum of topics and skills— from the basics of budgeting, accounting, and financial statements to audits, forecasting, risk management, and revenue sources.

Table of Contents
SECTION I: FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Chapter 1: Financial Management as Information Management
Chapter 2: Novice Financial Management: Your First Budget
Chapter 3: Basic Financial Statements
Chapter 4: The Accounting Process, or How Financial Statements are Produced
Chapter 5: How Governmental Financial Statements Differ from Not-for-Profit and For-Profit Financial Statements
Chapter 6: Other Elements of Financial Statements and Financial Statement Analysis
Chapter 7: Internal Control and Auditing of Financial Statements

SECTION II: BUDGETING

Chapter 8: Estimation, Forecasting and Financial Risk Management
Chapter 9: Budgets: General Aspects
Chapter 10: Budgets: Heuristics, Choice Architectures, and Decision Traps
Chapter 11: Capital Budgeting

SECTION III: REVENUES

Chapter 12: Time Value of Money
Chapter 13: Revenue Sources: Tax Revenue
Chapter 14: Bonds and Their Role in Revenue for Capital Projects and Other Areas
Chapter 15: Revenue Sources: Tuition, Grants, Gifts and Fundraising, Fees and Fines
SECTION IV: EXPENDITURES

Chapter 16: Contract Basics
Chapter 17: Expenditures: Personnel
Chapter 18: Expenditures: Collections
Chapter 19: Expenditures: IT, Facilities, and Other Operating Expenses
SECTION V: COST ACCOUNTING IN LIBRARIES

Chapter 20: Cost Accounting: General Aspects, Types of Costs, Cost Calculations
Chapter 21: Cost Accounting: Role in Measurement and Evaluation of Services
Chapter 22: Cost Accounting: Activity Based Costing
Chapter 23: Cost Accounting: Differential Costing and Break Even Analysis

SECTION VI: MARKETING AND COMMUNITY TRUST

Chapter 24: Marketing, Public Affairs, and Development
Chapter 25: Ethics and Financial Management

SECTION VII: CONCLUSION

Chapter 26: Conclusion

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Library Conversations: Reclaiming Interpersonal Communication Theory for Understanding Professional Encounters







 

  The importance of being "fully present" in face-to-face as well as virtual interactions in the complex, challenging, and rapidly changing work environment of today's libraries cannot be overstated. It means the difference between conversations that are clear, non-confrontational, and productive and those that are unfocused, awkward, or even threatening.  From the reference desk and the community meeting to the board room, the human resource office, and the conference table, effective interpersonal communication lies at the center of the profession. Offering analysis applicable to all types of library situations, this book:

  • describes a number of theoretical frameworks for understanding interpersonal communication, spanning Aristotle, John Locke, Ruesch and Bateson, Watzlawick and his colleagues, and Erving Goffman;
  • uses examples from all different types of library interpersonal encounters, including those with colleagues, the public, managers, and subordinates, to discuss how these historical frameworks apply to libraries and the world of information science;
  • combines theory with decades-long empirical research gathered by the authors and their colleagues; and
  • offers an in-depth examination of the reference encounter, introducing a content/relational model of success illustrated with examples from librarians and library users.
By applying the insights provided here to daily communication practice, libraries everywhere can build positive relationships with library users, the communities they serve, and among their own staff.

Stellar Customer Service: Training Library Staff to Exceed Expectations

Stellar Customer Service: Training Library Staff to Exceed Expectations

Chakraborty, Mou. (ed.) Stellar Customer Service: Training Library Staff to Exceed Expectations. Libraries Unlimited, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-4408-4076-0

Description

This book presents innovative instructional methods that will inspire you to take a fresh approach to customer service training. It offers model staff training programs, suggestions for improvement at all levels of personnel, and guidelines on how to assess training needs.

Table of Contents

1. Customer Service Training: Advice from the Business World 
2. Creating a Comprehensive Training Plan for Better Customer Service Experiences in Your Library
3. Cultivating an “Always Say Yes” Attitude without Causing Chaos and Confusion 
4. Instilling a Service Focus in Student Workers 
5. Secret Shopping and Training Mini Detectives 
6. Using Volunteers to Expand the Walls of the Library: Books for Wider Horizons at Oakland Public Library
7. Customer Service Training in an Academic Technical Library 
8. A Prescription for Creating a Culture of Customer Service
9. More Libraries, More Opportunities for Customer Service Training 
10. Designing the Customer-Centric Library Culture: MPL’s Customer Service Revolution as a Case Study in Design Thinking
11. Library Reality TV: Using Improv Techniques to Transform Your Approach to Customer Service 
12. Providing Stellar Interlibrary Loan Service to Borrowing Libraries and Your Own Local Patrons: It’s All About Sharing 
13. Providing Remarkable Customer Service and Resources across a Healthcare System
14. Values-Based Customer Service: 21st-Century Customer Service for Public Libraries? 
15. Give a Pickle, Get a Smile! Sweet, Isn’t It?

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Small Libraries, Big Impact


Du, Yunfei. Small Libraries, Big Impact. Libraries Unlimited, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-4408-4156-9

Description
The challenge is substantial: library managers today must adopt a new mindset in order to perform a broad spectrum of activities and attract new users who are not traditional library patrons. Small Libraries, Big Impact: How to Better Serve Your Community in the Digital Age helps readers to meet the challenge of serving diverse users via a community-centered library.

Table of Contents

  • Libraries, users, and communities : an introduction
  • Improving community outreach
  • Supporting social justice and rights of access to information
  • Effecting social transition
  • Nourishing diversity
  • Fostering collaboration and entrepreneurship
  • Using outreach as marketing tool
  • Bridging the digital divide
  • Re-envisioning library spaces
  • Assessing user needs and improving user services.

Friday, October 7, 2016

Acquisitions: Core Concepts and Practices, 2nd edition




Holden, Jess. Acquisitions: Core Concepts and Practices, 2nd edition. Neal-Schuman, 2017. 
ISBN: 978-0-8389-1460-1

Description
As a discipline, acquisitions encompasses everything from purchasing and budgeting to enabling access to materials; and every format from books, monographs, and serials to e-books, subscription-based electronic resources, and beyond. In this guide, Holden boils it to down to its essentials while providing a strategic framework that introduces and integrates all aspects of acquisitions. 

Table of Contents 

Chapter 1    Acquisitions: An Overview
  • Information Paradigm    
  • What Is a Collection?    
  • What Is Acquisitions?
  • Why Theory?
  • Why Ethics?
  • Applying Ethics
  • Conclusion: A Call for Radicalization

Chapter 2    Assemblages of Access
  • The Information Ecosystem
  • Working with Vendors
  • Orders
  • Strategic Assemblages of Access
  • Conclusion: Strategic Access

Chapter 3    Assemblages of Discovery
  • Discovery
  • Content Objects
  • eBooks as Assemblages
  • Online Ordering
  • Conclusion: Ensuring Connectivity

Chapter 4    Assemblages of Feedback and Service
  • Service Role of Acquisitions
  • Aspects of Service
  • Integrating Assemblages
  • Staffing
  • Technology
  • Content Acquisition Plans
  • Mechanisms of Feedback
  • Conclusion: Cycles of Feedback and Service

Chapter 5    The Acquisitions Assemblage: Putting It All Together
  • Managing Acquisitions
  • Alternate Strategies of Access
  • Archives: Present and Future
  • “Free”—Costs and Considerations
  • Managing eBooks
  • Diminishing Boundaries: The Case of Interlibrary Loan
  • Radical Strategies: Strategic Assemblages

Conclusion: Rhizomatic Acquisitions   

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

One-Shot Library Instruction Survival Guide, Second Edition

The One-Shot Library Instruction Survival Guide, Second Edition by Heidi E. Buchanan and Beth A. McDonough. ALA Editions, 2017. 978-0-8389-1486-1.

Publisher's Description
The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education is good news for one-shot instructors. With its six frames and conceptual approach you’re freed from a long list of outcomes and can instead focus on big ideas. The new edition of this concise guide will help you stay organized and use your limited time wisely. With guidance that will help students sharpen their critical thinking skills, use better sources, improve their understanding, and avoid plagiarism, this book covers
  • creative solutions for real-life problems, such as a difficult assignment or controversial topic, illustrated with 13 vignettes from professionals in the field;
  • efficient assessment despite limited time or resources;
  • specialized settings like an online class or classroom without computers;
  • practical ideas on instruction for the six frames;
  • choosing the right lesson for the right student at the right time;
  • how to use concept maps; and
  • creating assignments for active learning and experiential learning.
Filled with strategies to guide students towards meeting instructors’ expectations for critical thinking, this resource will also empower librarians to become better, more confident teachers.

More Information
See the publisher's website for Table of Contents and information about the authors.

Monday, October 3, 2016

Creating Makers: How to Start a Learning Revolution at Your Library

Egbert, Megan. Creating Makers: How to Start a Learning Revolution at Your Library. Denver: Libraries Unlimited, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-4408-4386-1




From the publisher:

This book shows you how, even with a tight budget and limited space, you can foster "maker mentality" in your library and help patrons reap the learning benefits of making—with or without a makerspace.

Just because your library is small or limited on funds doesn't mean you can't be part of the maker movement. This book explains that what is really important about the movement is not the space, but the creativity, innovation, and resilience that go along with a successful maker program. All it takes is making some important changes to a library's programs, services, and collections to facilitate the maker mentality in their patrons, and this book shows you how.

The author explains what a maker is, why this movement is important, and how making fits in with educational initiatives such as STEM and STEAM as well as with library service. Her book supplies practical advice for incorporating the principles of the maker movement into library services—how to use small spaces or mobile spaces to accommodate maker programs, creating passive maker programs, providing access to making through circulating maker tools, partnering with other organizations, hosting maker faires, and more. Readers will better understand their instructional role in cultivating makers by human-centered design thinking, open source and shared learning, and implementation of an inquiry approach.

Features
  • Offers librarians creative ways to become involved in the exciting maker movement and encourage maker mentality among patrons
  • Presents an approach through which any library, no matter their size or budget, can participate
  • Speaks to all ages, experience levels, and educational levels
  • Fills a gap in the literature by providing libraries with limited resources the means to offer maker opportunities 
Look inside the book.