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Public Libraries in the 21st Century presents a comprehensive analysis of the impact of recent policy initiatives directly targeted at public libraries along with broader developments in the public sector environment within which they operate. Key features include: • An exploration of the context within which public libraries are operating and analysis of their role in local and national life; • Examples of best practice in service delivery; • Evaluation of the challenges and opportunities confronting public library managers; • Wide ranging coverage, including information from published and unpublished sources, supplemented by interviews with key stakeholders in the public library sector. The book provides a unique and thorough guide to the contemporary discourses surrounding issues of identity, social purpose, value and strategy facing the public library service.
The study Reimagining the Library of the Future investigates the various models of public buildings and civic space through the lens of the library. It takes a critical look at the history, present, and future transformation of this significant building typology that has recently emerged as a redefined community place, social condenser, and urban incubator for knowledge generation, storage, and sharing. In particular, the library has evolved as a vibrant and vital member of community development and as a basis for outreach efforts. This book presents 40 recent public and academic libraries from around the world, with over 200 images. As the survey of precedents shows, the historical cases have informed the design of the recent libraries and the continuous development of the building type over time. Well-designed libraries are now in abundance, and the wider view of this study includes mediatheques and learning centers. The selection of contemporary projects focuses on urban libraries in Europe (Germany, Italy, Austria, Netherlands), the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan, and China.
Academic and public libraries are much different today than they were even 15 years ago. With even bigger changes on the horizon, what lies in store? This volume offers ideas to academic and public librarians about the future of library services. Editors Hernon and Matthews invite a raft of contributors to step back and envision the type of future library that will generate excitement and enthusiasm among users and stakeholders. Anyone interested in the future of libraries, especially library managers, will be engaged and stimulated as the contributorsExamine the current state of the library, summarizing existing literature on the topic to sketch in historical backgroundProject into the future, using SWOT analysis, environmental scans, and other techniques to posit how library infrastructure (such as staff, collections, technology, and facilities) can adapt in the decades aheadConstruct potential scenarios that library leaders can use to forge paths for their own institutionsThe collection of knowledge and practical wisdom in this book will help academic and public libraries find ways to honor their missions while planning for the broader institutional changes already underway.
Prepare yourself for the challenges that are certain to be facing the public library system in the coming years. Managing Public Libraries in the 21st Century predicts the types of management, planning, collections, building, funding and governing structures, and services that will be needed in the 21st century. The contributors address some of the most pressing questions with which the profession must be prepared to deal, including: What management skills will be required to administer the public library in the coming years? How can educators best prepare their students for public library administration? How will library funds be distributed in the future? The answers to these and many other important questions are highlighted in this informative new book. Public librarians, as well as library school faculty and students will find this volume to be fascinating and indispensable.
Major changes in public libraries throughout the world have led to an increased focus on governance issues. Forging successful futures for public libraries depends on effective governance. This book defines governance and examines its many facets in relation to public library provision internationally, differentiating governance from the policies, processes and practices of public libraries. The perspectives of leaders, practitioners, researchers, decision makers, and service users are presented, offering a variety of views from the past, the present and potential approaches in the future. Decision-making and the roles of decision makers involved in governance are explored. Prominent figures from the public library community throughout the world have contributed their knowledge and experience. Wicked problems facing the public library sector are identified and the varying approaches adopted internationally to deal with them are outlined. There are many practitioner and professional practice issues associated with provision of libraries and views on library usage and delivery vary according to user and practitioner standpoints. Globally diverse content provides directions for the future development of public libraries and for dealing with the emerging challenges facing the library world.
Public libraries play an important role in our society, and this book provides a comprehensive overview of their history and current state. The book includes information on the development of public libraries over time, as well as their current organizational structure and funding sources. Whether you are a librarian, a library patron, or simply interested in learning more about this important institution, this book is sure to be an enlightening read. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
The new report from Primary Research Group is based on interviews with webmasters from the San Jose Public Library, the Salt Lake City Public Library, the Alexandria Library, the Los Angeles Public Library, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Public Library, the Houston Public Library, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the Colorado Virtual Library and the Boston Public Library. A free sample chapter is available for download. A few of the report?s conclusions are summarized below:CONTENT MANAGEMENTLibraries take widely varying approaches to the issue of how should control the website and who should be empowered to add content to the site. Some libraries prefer to centralize access in the hands of just a few librarians who act as gatekeepers to the website. Others prefer to empower as many librarians as possible to contribute to the site, and to oversee their own contributions to the site. To achieve this, some libraries have purchased off the shelf content management systems, while others have developed in-house content management systems that allow non-technical librarians to function independent of the need for technical help. THE IMPACT OF CASCADING STYLE SHEETS (CSS)Cascading style sheet, that allow librarians to edit entire sites, or subsets of site, with one click of the mouse, have become popular ways to introduce some uniformity and lower the labor demand of editing public library websites. Cascading style sheets are important because librarians are finding more and more reasons to add more and more content to their sites. Public library websites have often quickly become unwieldy monsters that voraciously eat up librarian time. Correcting and editing these beasts by hand is dangerous and cascading style sheets allow proper measured feeding without loss of limb. MOST POPULAR PAGESSome of the most popular pages on the public library websites surveyed were the events calendar, basic library info page, database gateways and children?s and teen pages.STAFFINGRelative to the importance of the library website to the overall success of the library, the size of most library web staffs, when such staffs exist, is quite small. Usually one to three individuals run the website, and they often have other responsibilities. The strategy that most have pursued to overcome their small staffs is to devolve responsibility for content to subject specialist librarians, and to empower them to be able to edit the portions of the website for which they are responsible. UNIQUE CONTENTMost librarians interviewed stressed the need to develop unique content that would draw traffic to the website. Among the type of content mentioned were: interactive storytelling and educational games, reading lists and contests, book reviews by librarians posted online, subject guides, and events calendars. CHILDREN?S & TEEN SERVICESOne of the most vibrant areas for website development has been services for children and teens. This age group grew up with access to the world wide web and it is truly the only generation for which web use and communication is as natural as turning on the television for most Americans. Libraries have responded with books clubs, personalized spaces, interactive stories and games, and other features aimed at this audience. Nonetheless, many libraries have just scraped the surface of their potential in this area. We like what the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Public Library has done in this area, developing unique content, focused marketing and web teams to create a unique site for Charlotte area children. SPECIAL COLLECTIONSMany libraries have plans to digitize their special collections, or at the very least, to digitize finding aids for those collections and increase access to them through the library website. We expect that this will soon become a major area of public library investment and a challenge for website administrators who must devise access schemes to digitized resources.
Public Libraries in the 21st Century presents a comprehensive analysis of the impact of recent policy initiatives directly targeted at public libraries along with broader developments in the public sector environment within which they operate. Key features include: ¢ An exploration of the context within which public libraries are operating and analysis of their role in local and national life; ¢ Examples of best practice in service delivery; ¢ Evaluation of the challenges and opportunities confronting public library managers; ¢ Wide ranging coverage, including information from published and unpublished sources, supplemented by interviews with key stakeholders in the public library sector. The book provides a unique and thorough guide to the contemporary discourses surrounding issues of identity, social purpose, value and strategy facing the public library service.