Best Practices for Corporate Libraries

 

Kelsey, Sigrid E. and Marjorie J. Porter (eds.) Best Practices for Corporate Libraries. 

Libraries Unlimited, 2011. ISBN: 978-1-59884-737-6

This collection of essays looks at all aspects of corporate librarianship: from services and facilities to marketing and demonstrating value. Topics covered include library service functions, return on investment, measurements and evaluation, collaboration, communication and outreach in corporations, managing changes in the corporation and in the library, and legal issues such as intellectual property concerns.

Crash Course in Public Library Administration

 

Disher, Wayne. Crash Course in Public Library Administration. Libraries Unlimited, 2010.
ISBN: 978-1-59884-465-8

This book offers a great introduction to small public library management. It offers practical advice on key subjects as policy writing, budgeting, general planning and facility management. It also provides answers to questions about governance and power structures of local government.  It is a great resource for anyone suddenly thrown into a leadership role. It could also serve as an effective tool for an administrative training course.

Open Conversations: Public Learning in Libraries and Museums

Carr, David. Open Conversations: Public Learning in Libraries and Museums. Libraries Unlimited, 2011. ISBN: 978-1-59158-771-2

Author David Carr's purpose is to urge the staff of traditional cultural institutions like libraries and museums into a more proactive role in educating their communities. Libraries need to break out of the role of repository and embrace a vision of the library as an instrument of personal, social, and cultural change. Carr offers many ideas and specific resources to help library staff explore their role and how to make their institution into a relevant and active participant in the pursuit of knowledge and community engagement necessary for a robust democratic society.

Designing the Search Experience: The Information Architecture of Discovery

 

Tony Russell-Rose and Tyler Tate (eds.) Designing the Search Experience: The Information Architecture of Discovery. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 2013. ISBN: 9780123969811

Searching for information is both an art and a science, according to the editors of this new book on search experiences. Using both theory and best practices, the book lays out a framework for effective user interface design as well as the display and manipulation of search results. It also addresses faceted search and the emerging technologies associated with mobile and collaborative search environments. Check out the table of contents for more details!

Redesigning the College Library Building, 2013 Edition

Primary Research Group.  Redesigning the College Library Building, 2013 Edition.  027.7 Redes 2013 ed.  ISBN 978-1-57440-213-1

This report looks closely at college plans to restructure or alter space use in college libraries. The 190+ page study gives detailed data on college library plans to increase or decrease space for various departments and purposes, how they plan to develop and deploy their capital budgets, which types of projects and purposes are favored for the near future. The report helps librarians to answer questions such as: How many workstations will libraries deploy? Will the number increase or decrease? What about space allocated to information commons? Or to classroom space? What about office space? Collection space? Space for special collections? The report helps its end users to stay on the cutting edge, to find out what library planners are hoping to achieve in the near future. The study also looks at budgets for repairs, and for major renovations and gives data for overall budgets and on a per student enrolled basis. Data in the study is broken out by size and type of college, with separate data for community colleges, research universities, 4-year colleges and those non-research universities that grant MA/PhD degrees.