Wednesday, December 27, 2017

American Libraries 1730 – 1950


Breisch, Kenneth. American Libraries 1730 – 1950. New York : W.W. Norton & Company ; Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, 2017. ISBN 9780393731606.

An expansive overview of our storehouses of knowledge, from the earliest library building (Philadelphia, 1745) to midcentury modern and beyond. Although new technologies appear poised to alter it, the library remains a powerful site for discovery, and its form is still determined by the geometry of the book and the architectural spaces devised to store and display it. American Libraries provides a history and panorama of these much-loved structures, inside and out, encompassing the small personal collection, the vast university library, and everything in between.

Through 500 photographs and plans selected from the encyclopedic collections of the Library of Congress, Kenneth Breisch traces the development of libraries in the United States, from roots in such iconic examples as the British Library and Paris’s Bibliotheque-Ste.-Genevieve to institutions imbued with their own American mythology. Starting with the private collections of wealthy merchants and landowners during the eighteenth century, the book looks at the Library of Congress, large and small public libraries, and the Carnegie libraries, and it ends with a glimpse of modern masterworks. [Includes] 850 illustrations.

Using Digital Analytics for Smart Assessment


Farney, Tabatha. Using Digital Analytics for Smart Assessment. Chicago : ALA Editions, 2018. ISBN 9780838915981. 

From the publisher:
Tracking the library user's journey is no simple task in the digital world; users can often navigate
through a series of different websites, including library websites, discovery tools, link resolvers, and more just to view a single journal article. Your library collects massive amounts of data related to this journey—probably more than you realize, and almost certainly more than you analyze. Too often library analytic programs simplify data into basic units of measurements that miss useful insights. Here, data expert Farney shows you how to maximize your efforts: you’ll learn how to improve your data collection, clean your data, and combine different data sources.

Teaching you how to identify and analyze areas that fit your library’s priorities, this book covers:
  • case studies of library projects with digital analytics;
  • ways to use email campaign data from MailChimp or ConstantContact;
  • how to measure click-through rates from unavailable items in the catalog to the ILL module;
  • getting data from search tools such as library catalogs, journal search portals, link resolvers, and digital repositories;
  • using COUNTER compliant data from your electronic resources;
  • techniques for using Google Tag Manager for custom metrics and dimensions;
  • descriptions of analytics tools ranging from library analytics tools like Springshare’s LibInsights and Orangeboy’s Savannah to more focused web analytics tools like Google Analytics, Piwik, and Woopra; and
  • data visualization tools like Tableau or Google Data Studio.
Focusing on digital analytics principles and concepts, this book walks you through the many tools available, including step-by-step examples for typical library needs.

Supporting Local Businesses and Entrepreneurs in the Digital Age

DiVincenzo, Salvatore and Elizabeth Malafi. Supporting Local Businesses and Entrepreneurs in the Digital Age. Santa Barbara, California : Libraries Unlimited, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2017. ISBN 9781440851520.

From the publisher:
Serving communities today entails serving businesses—in particular, local businesses, entrepreneurs, and those looking to become entrepreneurs. Understandably, many librarians are not prepared for this role, and as a result feel uncomfortable in it. Supporting Local Businesses and Entrepreneurs in the Digital Age: The Public Librarian's Toolkit explains how librarians and libraries can better serve the business community, offering specific guidance on everything from information resources—including books, databases, and free online sites—to programming, special events, marketing, and outreach.

Readers will gain insight into key topics ranging from embedded business librarianship, virtual business librarianship, and government documents to seminars, one-on-one appointments, and trade shows. Providing invaluable guidance based on the authors' real-world experience and research as well as interviews with librarians in all sizes of libraries around the country, this book offers practical, actionable advice and proven best practices for serving local business owners and entrepreneurs.

Features:
  • Gives librarians tools and practical advice for better serving small businesses and entrepreneurs 
  • Provides librarians with the "big picture" of serving small businesses, from collections and services to programs 
  • Speaks to librarians at all sizes of libraries, offering concrete guidance and tips that they can immediately put to use in their community
  • Offers real-life examples from librarians throughout the United States

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Connected Librarians Tap Social Media


Robertson, Nikki D. Connected Librarians: Tap Social Media to Enhance Professional Development and Student Learning. International Society for Technology in Education, 2017.
ISBN: 978-1-56484-392-0

Publisher's Description
Once taboo in schools, the use of social media has become essential, providing schools with opportunities for outreach, advocacy and more. Today, it’s often the responsibility of librarians to model the proper use of social media for students.

Connected Librarians: Tap Social Media to Enhance Professional Development and Student Learning offers insights into the opportunities and obstacles of this exciting but sometimes challenging topic, including practical ideas for making the most of social media in your school library.

This informative guide is the professional development librarians need to understand how to effectively use social media to improve student learning.

This book will:
  • Demonstrate how to model responsible social media use to manage issues of privacy and anonymity within social media sites and apps.
  • Provide tips on teaching digital citizenship, such as using a learning management system to create a safe environment for students to hone digital communication skills.
  • Show how to leverage social media tools to encourage reading and writing through rating and reviewing books, creating fan fiction and more.
  • Demonstrate how to use social media as a powerful tool to build your own professional learning network.
Table of contents and excerpt

Reimagining Library Spaces

Rendina, Diana. Reimagining Library Spaces: Transform Your Space on Any Budget. International Society for Technology in Education, 2017. ISBN: 978-1-56484-391-3

Publisher's Description
With the advent of modern technologies and the rise of participatory and active learning pedagogy, the traditional school library model is no longer as effective as it once was.

Reimagining Library Spaces helps librarians rethink the library space, including the changing role of technology, showing ways to transform how students learn in and use these spaces.

Find the guidance you need to make smart and efficient updates to your library space that encourage the use of technology to improve student learning.

This book includes:
  • Tips and strategies for transforming your outdated library space on a small budget. 
  • How-to’s for addressing the challenges and opportunities brought about by the changing role of technology, including collaborative learning labs, makerspaces and ways to support BYOD.
  • Practical suggestions for finding ideas to improve your space, inventory your library and survey your community.
Table of contents and excerpt

Creating & Managing the Full-Service Homework Center



Mediavilla, Cindy. Creating & Managing the Full-Service Homework Center. American Library Association, 2018.
ISBN: 978-0-8389-1618-6

Publisher's Description
Despite the proliferation of online homework websites and tutoring services, public libraries still have an important role to play when it comes to supporting young people’s educational needs. Public libraries that take a proactive approach—by setting up organized homework centers—have the potential to become catalysts for better performance in school, improved self-esteem, and engaged learning. Whether readers are investigating the possibility of setting up a center from scratch or are eager to revamp an existing center, this book shows the way forward with
  • discussion of the philosophy behind a public library homework center and its many benefits, with useful talking points for getting stakeholders on board; 
  • examples of model programs from across the country; 
  • guidance on assessing the community’s educational priorities and utilizing outcome-based planning and evaluation methods; 
  • pragmatic advice on how to collaborate with schools and educators to coordinate goals; 
  • thorough consideration of such key issues as carving out a space, setting hours, scheduling staff, and selecting and procuring educational resources; 
  • handy tools for a successful homework center, including sample surveys, homework helper application forms and contracts, staff and volunteer job descriptions, and focus group questions; 
  • advice on equipment and technology considerations; and 
  • methodologies for evaluation and improvement. 
This comprehensive resource will help public libraries create and manage a vibrant homework center that effectively serves students while also building community support for the library.

Table of contents (center tab)

The Fun of Motivation: Crossing the Threshold Concepts

The Fun of Motivation: Crossing the Threshold Concepts (Publications in Librarianship #71), by Mary Francis. ACRL, 2017. 978-0-8389-8933-3.

Publisher's Description
What’s the place of fun in education? When students learn something new, they reach a learning edge, a threshold, where learning becomes uncomfortable because the material is difficult or beyond their understanding. To avoid this discomfort, some students can simply fall back on what they already know. This is a critical point, because if they do not move beyond the edge, they are stuck with both limited knowledge and a negative feeling about learning. Fun can be used as a motivating technique to help students get past this learning edge, and to meet an established goal or learning objective.

The Fun of Motivation: Crossing the Threshold Concepts is organized into two parts—Part I examines the theories behind motivation and fun in the classroom, and offers three instructional techniques that highlight their benefits. Part II is the application of the theories explored in Part I, and its six chapters each address one of the threshold concepts provided in ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Each chapter contains three lesson plans addressing the threshold concept, one for each of the three fun instructional techniques. Assessment opportunities are provided throughout, with formative assessment strategies as well as summative assessments, including sample rubrics to apply to a range of student work. Each lesson plan ends with a section on possible modifications and accommodations and additional ideas on how to adapt the lesson for different student populations.

The threshold concepts within the Framework need to be facilitated with deliberation by librarians integrating them into their instruction sessions. Students must be motivated to learn these concepts that help them master skills across disciplines. The Fun of Motivation can help you explore, implement, and assess this powerful means of motivation.

More Information
See the publisher's website for table of contents and information about the author.

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Complete Guide to Personal Digital Archiving

Marshall, Brianna H. Complete Guide to Personal Digital Archiving. ALA Editions, 2018. ISBN: 978-0-8389-1605-6

Description
Whether it’s a researcher needing to cull their most important email correspondence, or an empty-nester transferring home movies and photographs to more easily shared and mixed digital formats, this book will show you how to offer assistance by helping you break down archival concepts and best practices into teachable solutions for your patrons’ projects.

Table of Contents 

Part I        Learning about Personal Digital Archives Best Practices

Chapter 1    Archiving Digital Photographs, by Sarah Severson
Chapter 2    Archiving Social Media, by Melody Condron
Chapter 3    Archiving Web Content, by Cameron Cook
Chapter 4    Archiving Audiovisual Materials, by Yvonne Ng
Chapter 5    Assess, Annotate, Export: Quick Recipes for Archiving Your Personal Digital Life, by Jamie Wittenberg and Celia Emmelhainz

Part II        Personal Digital Archives and Public and Community Audiences

Chapter 6    The Washington, DC Public Library’s Memory Lab: A Case Study, by Jaime Mears
Chapter 7    Digitizing Memories and Teaching Information Literacy in Queens, NY, by Natalie Milbrodt and Maggie Schreiner
Chapter 8    Community-Based Digital Archiving: The Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal at Washington State University, by Lotus Norton-Wisla and Michael Wynne

Part III    Personal Digital Archives and Academic Audiences

Chapter 9    Personal Digital Archives Programming at Liberal Arts Colleges, by Amy Bocko, Joanna DiPasquale, Rachel Appel, and Sarah Walden McGowan
Chapter 10    Supporting Artists’ Personal Archives, by Colin Post
Chapter 11    Personal Digital Archiving as a Bridge to Research Data Management, by Sara Mannheimer and Ryer Banta

Part IV    Social and Ethical Implications of Personal Digital Archives

Chapter 12    Avoiding a Gambit for Our Personal Archives, by Matt Schultz
Chapter 13    Digital Photos, Embedded Metadata, and Personal Privacy, by Isaiah Beard
Chapter 14    Black Folk Magic: An Autoethnography of Digitally Archiving Black Millennialhood, by Camille Thomas
Chapter 15    Absent Others: Contemporary Mourning and Digital Estates, by Angela Galvan

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Revised Standards and Guidelines of Service: Library of Congress Network of Libraries for the Blind and Physically Handicapped



Chicago, IL: Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies, a division of the American Library Association. ISBN: 9780838989746.

Publisher's description:
This document represents a new approach to the Standards and Guidelines used by the Network Libraries of the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (LC/NLS). Like previous editions, this document is intended as a resource for LC/NLS network libraries to maintain the best service levels for eligible individuals and institutions. This new concise and flexible edition of the Standards and Guidelines provides a straightforward, and detailed version for network service providers to use as benchmarks when providing services to eligible parties. The standards address core areas of LC/NLS network library services and activities, including provisions of services, resource development and management, public education and outreach, administration and organization, and planning and evaluation. The addition of standards addressing staffing and use of physical library space and the introduction of revised staffing model guidelines highlight the importance of these areas for network services providers and their patrons.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Disciplinary Applications

Godbey, Samantha, et al., editors. Disciplinary Applications of Information Literacy Threshold Concepts. Association of College and Research Libraries, 2017. ISBN: 978-083898970-8

Publisher's Description
The definition of threshold concepts has been expanded over the years based on the work of many educational scholars and practitioners, but are essentially described as a portal, transition, or threshold to additional learning and deeper understanding for a learner. Threshold concepts are transformative, integrative, irreversible, bounded, and troublesome, and can be a valuable tool in both facilitating students’ understanding of their subject and aiding in curriculum development within the disciplines.

In 25 chapters divided into sections mirroring ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education—Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as a Process, Information has Value, Research as Inquiry, Scholarship as Conversation, and Searching as Strategic Exploration—Disciplinary Applications of Information Literacy Threshold Concepts explores threshold concepts as an idea and the specifics of what the concepts contained in the Framework look like in disciplinary contexts. The chapters cover many disciplines, including the humanities, social sciences, life sciences, and physical sciences, and a range of students, from first-year undergraduates to doctoral students.

Disciplinary Applications of Information Literacy Threshold Concepts provides a balance of theoretical and practical to help readers both conceptually and pragmatically with their work in supporting student learning, including chapters in which librarians have designed learning outcomes aligned with the frames of the Framework. These examples demonstrate different approaches to working with information literacy threshold concepts and how librarians are incorporating them within their disciplinary and institutional contexts. As Ray Land says in the Foreword, “This volume marks a significant new departure in the development of the threshold concepts analytic framework.”


Table of contents

Monday, December 11, 2017

Designing Adult Services: Strategies for Better Serving Your Community


Roberts, Ann. Designing Adult Services: Strategies for Better Serving Your Community. Libraries Unlimited, 2018. ISBN: 9781440852541.

Publisher's Description

Focusing on adult patrons ages 19 through senior citizens, this book explains how libraries can best serve this busy portion of their community's population at different life stages and foster experiences that are "worth the trip"—whether actual or virtual.

Adult library patrons are busier than ever before—working, taking classes and studying for advanced degrees, caring for children, helping their aging parents, taking care of their homes or rental properties, planning and nurturing careers, managing investments and retirement funds, and inevitably retiring. Each of these endeavors can require highly specific learning and education. Throughout their lives, adults continue to have different information needs that the library and its services can fill. Designing Adult Services: Strategies for Better Serving Your Community discusses the many ways libraries can serve adults of various ages and at different life stages, covering online services, collection development, programming, and lifelong learning.

This guide's unique approach simplifies the processes of designing and carrying out a successful adult services program for adult library users in all the various stages of life. The book is organized by age groups, with the respective information needs and life challenges. Each chapter suggests programs, services, and collection development strategies for the life stages. Public library administrators and managers as well as adult services librarians in public libraries will find this guide a must-read.

Features

  • Helps librarians make their libraries the go-to places in the community for both information and recreation
  • Enables librarians to accurately analyze the demographics of their communities and identify the services needed
  • Offers simple suggestions to help librarians with limited resources provide age-appropriate services
  • Describes information and resources most likely needed during each life stage, making it easier to target the audience for both programming and publicity

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Digital Citizenship in Action

Mattson, Kristen. Digital Citizenship in Action: Empowering Students to Engage in Online Communities. International Society for Technology in Education, 2017. ISBN: 9781564843937

Note: The book's introduction indicates that the "book is intended for teachers of Grades 6-12, school librarians, administrators, and other adults in the school community who are responsible for developing and delivering digital citizenship lessons."

Publisher's Description
For years, much of the available curricula for teaching digital citizenship focused on “don’ts.” Don’t share addresses or phone numbers. Don’t give out passwords. Don’t bully other students. But the conversation then shifted and had many asking, “Why aren’t we teaching kids the power of social media?” Next, digital citizenship curriculum moved toward teaching students how to positively brand themselves so that they would stand out when it came to future scholarships and job opportunities.

In the end, both messages failed to address one of the most important aspects of citizenship: being in community with others. As citizens, we have a responsibility to give back to the community and to work toward social justice and equity. Digital citizenship curricula should strive to show students possibilities over problems, opportunities over risks and community successes over personal gain.

In Digital Citizenship in Action, you’ll find practical ways for taking digital citizenship lessons beyond a conversation about personal responsibility so that you can create opportunities for students to become participatory citizens, actively engaging in multiple levels of community and developing relationships based on mutual trust and understanding with others in these spaces.

This book includes:
  • Tips for creating a digital space where students can try something new, grow through mistakes, and learn what it means to be a citizen in different spaces.
  • “Spotlight Stories” from teachers engaged with participatory digital citizenship that demonstrate how these ideas play out in actual classrooms.
  • Featured activities to help you integrate these ideas into your classroom.
Table of contents and excerpt

Children's Core Collection


Corsaro, Julie, and Kendal Spires, editors. Children's Core Collection. 23rd ed., Grey House Publishing, 2017. ISBN: 978-1-68217-235-3

The State Library has all of the books in the Core Collection series.

Publisher's Description
The Children's Core Collection is a comprehensive guide to 15,000 recommended books for children from preschool through grade six...users will find bibliographic data, content descriptions and reviews of 15,000 highly recommended titles, including Picture Books & Easy Readers, Story Collections, Fiction Books, Nonfiction Books, Biographies, and Graphic Novels.

More details and table of contents

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Academic Library Impact: Improving Practice and Essential Areas to Research

Academic Library Impact: Improving Practice and Essential Areas to Research, by Lynn Silipigni Connaway, William Harvey, Vanessa Kitzie and Stephanie Mikitish. ACRL, 2017. 978-0-8389-8976-0.

Publisher's Description
Now more than ever, academic libraries are being asked to demonstrate value to their institutional stakeholders, funders, and governance boards. Academic Library Impact builds on ACRL’s 2010 Value of Academic Libraries: A Comprehensive Research Review and Report and the results of the subsequent Assessment in Action program. It demonstrates how libraries are now measuring library contributions to student learning and success, and recommends where more research is needed in areas critical to the higher education sector such as accreditation, student retention, and academic achievement.

This action-oriented research agenda includes:
  • a report on all project phases and findings;
  • a detailed research agenda based on those findings;
  • a visualization component that filters relevant literature and creates graphics that can communicate library value to stakeholders, http://experimental.worldcat.org/valresearch;
  • a bibliography of the literature analyzed; and
  • a full bibliography of the works cited and reviewed.
All components were produced in partnership with OCLC Research and include analyses of library and information science (LIS) and higher education literature, focus group interviews and brainstorming sessions with academic library administrators at different institution types within the United States, and individual interviews with provosts.

Building on established best practices and recent research, Academic Library Impact clearly identifies priority areas and suggests specific actions for academic librarians and administrators to take in developing programs, collections, and spaces focused on student learning and success. It includes effective practices, calls out exemplary studies, and indicates where more inquiry is needed, with proposed research designs. It identifies the next generation of necessary research to continue to testify to library value. This new report is a significant milestone for ACRL’s Value of Academic Libraries initiative and for the profession.

Undergraduate Research and the Academic Librarian: Case Studies and Best Practices

Undergraduate Research and the Academic Librarian: Case Studies and Best Practices, edited by Merinda Kaye Hensley and Stephanie Davis-Kahl. ACRL, 2017. 978-0-8389-8908-1

Publisher's Description
Undergraduate research is often conflated with standard end-of-semester research papers, featuring APA style bibliographies and a certain number of sources. But in fact, undergraduate research is one of several high-impact educational practices identified by George Kuh and the Association of American Colleges & Universities, and is increasingly seen as a vital part of the undergraduate experience. Research helps students connect the dots between their interests, general education courses, writing requirements, and major coursework, and increases learning, retention, enrollment in graduate education, and engagement in future work.

In 25 chapters featuring 60 expert contributors, Undergraduate Research and the Academic Librarian examines how the structures that undergird undergraduate research, such as the library, can become part of the core infrastructure of the undergraduate experience. It explores the strategic new services and cross-departmental collaborations academic libraries are creating to support research: publishing services, such as institutional repositories and undergraduate research journals; data services; copyright services; poster printing and design; specialized space; digital scholarship services; awards; and much more. These programs can be from any discipline, can be interdisciplinary, can be any high-impact format, and can reflect upon an institution’s own history, traditions, and tensions.

As higher education becomes more competitive—for dollars, for students, for grant money, for resources in general—institutions will need to increase their development of programs that provide the experiential and deep learning, and increased engagement, that research provides. The scholarly and extracurricular experiences of college are increasingly becoming a major part of marketing college education. Beyond the one-shot, beyond course-integrated instruction, Undergraduate Research and the Academic Librarian is a detailed guide to how librarians can help students go beyond a foundation of information literacy toward advanced research and information management skills.

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

Now You're a Manager: Quick and Practical Strategies for new Mid-Level Managers in Academic Libraries

Manager

Madden, M. Leslie, Laura Carscaddon, Denita Hampton, Brenna Helmstutler. Now You're a Manager: Quick and Practical Strategies for new Mid-Level Managers in Academic Libraries. ACRL, 2017. ISBN: 978-083898787-2

Description
This guide will provide you with quick, easy-to-implement tips and strategies for tackling the most common issues encountered by mid-level managers in an academic library.  

Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Managing and Building Departments and Teams
Chapter 2. Managing Diverse Departments
Chapter 3. Creating a Respectful Workplace and Dealing with Problem Employees
Chapter 4. Professional Development and Training
Chapter 5. Mentoring and Coaching
Chapter 6. Conducting Effective Meetings
Chapter 7. Managing Between Library Administration and Your Employees
Chapter 8. Managing Library and University Politics and Bureaucracy
Chapter 9. Managing Change
Chapter 10. Managing as a Team

Monday, December 4, 2017

Handbook of Art and Design Librarianship

Glassman, Paul and Judy Dyki (eds.) Handbook of Art and Design Librarianship. 2nd edition. Neal-Schuman, 2017. ISBN: 978-0-8389-1624-7

Description
The handbook examines methods of innovative librarianship in academic and art school libraries and offers guidelines for information professionals working in art and design environments who support and anticipate the information needs of artists, designers, architects, and the historians who study those disciplines.

Table of Contents 

Part 1: Roles and Responsibilities
1. Governance and administration of the art and design library – Paul Glassman
2. Evolution not revolution – Barbara Opar
3. Expanding roles for fine arts liaison librarians – Stephanie Kays
4. Accreditation and visual arts libraries – Judy Dyki
5. Design thinking for design librarians: rethinking art and design librarianship – Rachel Ivy Clarke

Part 2: Materials and Collection Management
6. Visual resources: from analogue to digital and beyond – Molly Schoen
7. Developing digital collections – Greta Bahnemann and Jeannine Keefer
8. Inspirational encounters: management and use of archives and special collections in the art and design Library – Sarah Mahurter
9. What’s special about special collections? – Lee Sorensen
10. Artists’ books, publications, multiples, and objects – Tony White
11. Exhibition and collection documentation – Gustavo Grandal Montero
12. Tactile Libraries: material collections in art, architecture, and design – Rebecca Coleman and Mark Pompelia
13. Seeing the bigger picture: archival description of visual information – Alyssa Carver

Part 3: Teaching and Learning
14. Embedded in their world: moving mentally into the studio environment – Michael Wirtz
15. Teaching with threshold concepts and the acrl framework in the art and design context – Alexander Watkins
16. Teaching by the book: art history pedagogy and special collections – Sandra Ludig Brooke
17. Meta-Literacies in art and design education – Leo Appleton
18. The art of evidence: a method for instructing students in art history research – Catherine Haras
19. “I want students to research the idea of red”: using instructional design for information literacy instruction in the fine arts – Katie Greer and Amanda Nichols Hess
20. Cultural differences and information literacy competencies – Nancy Fawley

Part 4: Knowledge Creation
21. The ever-shifting landscape: mapping the present and future of digital art histories – Colin Post
22. Critical cARTography: mapping spaces for dialogue about identity and artistic practices – Andy Rutkowski and Stacy Williams
23. More than just art on the walls: enhancing fine arts pedagogy in the academic library space – Rachael Muszkiewicz, Jonathan Bull and Aimee Tomasek
24. Beyond the monograph? transformations in scholarly communication and their impact on art librarianship – Patrick Tomlin

Part 5: Physical Environment
25. Changing typologies in contemporary library design – Leo Appleton, Karen Latimer, and Pat Christie
26. Why is that column in the middle of the room? success in creating classrooms for library instruction – Paul Glassman
27. Finding common ground: creating library spaces for collaboration – Beverly Mitchell

Part 6. Promotion and Sustainability
28. Marketing plans – Paul Glassman
29. Engaging with social media – Ken Laing and Hillary Webb
30. Website strategies for art and design libraries – Judy Dyki

Appendix: Library profiles – Beth Morris

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

The Evaluation and Measurement of Library Services

Matthews, J. R. (2018). The Evaluation and Measurement of Library Services (2nd ed.) foreword by Lisa Hinchliffe. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited (ABC-CLIO, LLC). ISBN: 9781440855368.

Publisher's Description

This guide provides library directors, managers, and administrators in all types of libraries with complete and up-to-date instructions on how to evaluate library services in order to improve them.
  • Helps librarians to thoroughly examine their libraries' services toward making improvements
  • Enables librarians to answer with authority the question "what difference do we make?"
  • Explains the most effective ways of conducting library measurement and evaluation, covering qualitative and quantitative tools, data analysis, and specific methodologies for measuring and assessing specific services
  • Offers a highly readable and clear treatment of a topic of paramount importance, but that librarians often find difficult


Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Crash Course in Young Adult Services

Crash Course in Young Adult Services, by Sarah Flowers. Libraries Unlimited, 2017. 978-1-4408-5170-4.

Publisher's Description
A library can be a tremendous resource for teens—one that helps them to learn about themselves and the world they live in. But teenagers are intrinsically different from children and from adults, and these critical developmental differences affect the ways they interact with others, both in the world at large and in the library. Serving teens effectively in the library requires a basic understanding of who teens are and the developmental tasks they face—factors that affect all aspects of library service, from the specific programs and services we offer to the ways that staff provide assistance to the teen who is seeking help at a library service desk.

This book enables library workers to better understand adolescent development, which allows them to provide a positive library experience for teens. Readers will learn how to supply excellent library services with and for teens, including in the areas of collection development, readers' advisory, reference and homework help, programming, and advocacy. The book identifies the best ways to have positive interactions with teens in the library based on their mental development and details best practices for teen services. The concluding section discusses advocating for teens, with emphasis on their right to privacy and equal access to materials and services.

Features
  • Enables librarians to create a welcoming environment for teens in the library
  • Explains how to better understand teen patrons by finding out what teens read, listen to, and watch, enabling you to guide them to "something good to read"
  • Provides guidance in how to help teens meet their homework or other information needs
  • Examines thorny issues regarding access, privacy, challenges to materials, and Internet use
More Information
See the publisher's website for author information and a look inside.

Fostering Family History Services: A Guide for Librarians, Archivists, and Volunteers

Fostering Family History Services: A Guide for Librarians, Archivists, and Volunteers, by Rhonda L. Clark and Nicole Wedemeyer Miller. Libraries Unlimited, 2016. 978-1-61069-541-1.

Publisher's Description
Websites, social media, and the Internet have made research on family history accessible. Your library can tap into the popularity of the do-it-yourself genealogy movement by promoting your role as both a preserver of local community history as well as a source for helping your patrons archive what's important to their family. This professional guide will teach you how to integrate family history programming into your educational outreach tools and services to the community.

The book is divided into three sections: the first introduces methods for creating a program to help your clients trace their roots; the second provides library science instruction in reference and planning for local collections; and the third part focuses on the use of specific types of resources in local collections. Additional information features methods for preserving photographs, letters, diaries, documents, memorabilia, and ephemera. The text also includes bibliographies, appendices, checklists, and links to online aids to further assist with valuating and organizing important family mementos.

Features
  • Discusses the reference environment and offers tips for strategic planning for local studies
  • Includes hints of how to assess, organize, discard, or donate family heirlooms
  • Offers suggestions for caring for family history archives, including physical enclosures, digital copies, and the importance of data backups
  • Features templates for partnership agreements with other organizations
More Information
See the publisher's website for author information, table of contents, reviews, and a look inside.

Peer-Assisted Learning in Academic Libraries

Peer-Assisted Learning in Academic Libraries, edited by Erin Rinto, John Watts, and Rosan Mitola. Libraries Unlimited, 2017. 978-1-4408-4688-5.

Publisher's Description
In this era of accountability—and stretched budgets—in higher education, librarians need to make instructional programming both highly effective and sustainable. Peer-assisted learning is a methodology that has long been accepted in teaching but is relatively new as applied to academic library instruction, outreach, and reference. This book brings together the most innovative applications of peer-assisted learning in these contexts, explaining specific ways to apply peer-assisted learning in a variety of academic library settings for maximum benefit.

This guidebook begins with an extensive literature review of the theoretical underpinnings of peer-assisted learning and the various benefits these programs can provide academic librarians and peer mentors. The bulk of the book's content is organized into three sections that address the subjects of information literacy instruction, cocurricular outreach, and reference services separately. Each section showcases real-world examples of peer-assisted learning at a variety of academic institutions. Through these case studies, readers can fully understand the development, implementation, and assessment of a peer-assisted learning program, and librarians and administrators will see the practical benefits of enriching the experiences of student employees. Practitioners will receive inspiration and guidance through chapters that discuss training activities, identify lessons learned, and explain the implications for further research.

Features
  • Introduces readers to a well-established and effective practice in higher education and demonstrates how it can be used in library-initiated programs
  • Provides the means to extend library staff resources by incorporating student employees in instruction, outreach, and reference services
  • Supplies practical examples—complete with assessments, administrative justifications and lessons learned—for training and assessing student peer mentors
  • Offers justification for how peer-assisted learning programs provide student employees with rewarding and enriching opportunities that can benefit them academically, personally, and professionally
More Information
See the publisher's website for editor information and a look inside.

Engaging Diverse Learners: Teaching Strategies for Academic Librarians

Engaging Diverse Learners: Teaching Strategies for Academic Librarians, by Mark Aaron Polger and Scott Sheidlower. Libraries Unlimited, 2017. 978-1-4408-3850-7.

Publisher's Description
Drawing on the literatures of adult education and of teaching skills, Engaging Diverse Learners: Teaching Strategies for Academic Librarians presents a wide range of methods to improve how you teach. Coauthors Mark Aaron Polger and Scott Sheidlower argue that in order to grab–and hold onto—students' attention, instructors must get their interest right from the beginning. The techniques they suggest explain how to take into consideration the range of different learning styles students may have, how to accommodate students with different English language skills or abilities, and how to successfully work with individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds or from different technologically adapted generations. The sections for each group address the key questions of identification (who are they?); how members of that group tend to react to libraries, librarians, and education; and how educational theories of that time affected students' learning in that generation.

Features
  • Describes engagement techniques that work even for shy librarians or instructors who aren't naturally comfortable with performance aspects of teaching
  • Covers working with adult learners at different age groups and students with different English language abilities, from different socioeconomic backgrounds, or with various levels of technological competence, not just the "traditional" undergraduate
  • Presents methods to overcome and win over those learners who initially react with "Why do I need another library lesson?"
More Information
See the publisher's website for author information and a look inside.

Academic Library Management: Case Studies

Academic Library Management: Case Studies, edited by Tammy Nickelson Dearie, Michael Meth, and Elaine L. Westbrooks. Neal-Schuman, 2018. 978-0-8389-1559-2.

Publisher's Description
What does successful academic library management look like in the real world?  A team of editors, all administrators at large research libraries, here present a selection of case studies which dive deeply into the subject to answer that question. Featuring contributions from a range of practicing academic library managers, this book:
  • spotlights case studies equally useful for LIS students and current managers;
  • touches upon such key issues as human resource planning, public relations, financial management, organizational culture, and ethics and confidentiality;
  • examines how to manage radical change, using project management methodology to reorganize technical services, creating a new liaison service model, advancing a collaborative future, and setting up on-the-spot mentoring;
  • discusses digital planning for archives and special collections;
  • rejects “one size fits all” solutions to common challenges in academic libraries in favor of creative problem solving; and
  • provides guidance on how to use case studies as effective models for positive change at one’s own institution.
LIS instructors, students, and academic library practitioners will all find enrichment from this selection of case studies.

More Information
See the publisher's website for table of contents and editor information.