On June 15-16, 2010, California State Librarian Stacey A. Aldrich, initiated a strategic planning summit in Sacramento, California. The purpose of the summit was to build the future pathways for the California State Library (CSL)--one of California's oldest cultural institutions. This was accomplished by developing a CSL strategic plan (values,…

The Library of Birmingham (LoB) is a 193 million British pounds project designed to provide a new space for lifelong learning and knowledge growth, a physical and virtual portal for Birmingham's citizens to the wider world. In cooperation with a range of private, public, and third-sector bodies, as well as individual citizens, the library, due to…

In a rare show of bipartisanship, the Senate passed the controversial Federal Library Agency Act (FLAA) on a nearly unanimous voice vote, sending it to President Obama for his expected signature. The House had passed it in February with a two-thirds majority. The FLAA creates a new mandate by combining federal library functions scattered…

The nature of learning in a public library is relevant to what place e-learning and social networking technologies might have there. That a public library aims to provide something for everyone is also important. Alice Springs Public Library (ASPL) is a place of learning; it is also a crowded and composite space. The use ASPL could make of the…

This article is the fourth in a series of articles published annually by "Computers in Libraries" surveying integrated library systems and services (ILSs). The purpose of the annual survey is to enable comparison of the ILSs that are available. ILS vendors are in constant pursuit of an ever-changing, consistently vague definition of what the…

Preservation and conservation of library materials is an important aspect of library and information management. Their importance and necessity are more paramount in countries where resources are limited and libraries need to balance them with the needs of an ever increasing number of students hoping to use them. This article reports on the…

Librarians use online mapping services such as Google Maps, MapQuest, Yahoo Maps, and others to check traffic conditions, find local businesses, and provide directions. However, few libraries are using one of Google Maps most outstanding applications, My Maps, for the creation of enhanced and interactive multimedia maps. My Maps is a simple and…

Recent surveys indicate that many colleges and universities have reached a pivotal moment in assessing the function and future development of their institutional repositories. Other surveys convey that archivists are participating in the development and implementation of institutional repositories at a variety of levels and have contributed to the…

Although there have been changes in information technology and in higher education since the publication of College and University Archives: Selected Readings in 1979, the core fundamentals of college and university archives remain the same. If academic archivists are to make progress in their mission to ensure selection, preservation, and…

The author recently asked his colleagues, "How can libraries determine the value in collecting, managing, preserving, and/or cataloging e-resources?" hoping to challenge readers to come up with some thoughtful opinions and useful tips. Not surprisingly, he received a handful of substantially different but uniformly provocative and creative…

That little rectangle with a button next to it? (Those things called search boxes but might just as well be called "resource drains.") Imagine it disappearing from a library's webpages. The intricate works behind these design elements make up a major portion of what library staff spends time and money developing, populating, supporting,…

There is a general perception that as librarians, we know what constitutes and defines a rare book, that our heritage book collections are well-documented and their future survival is planned for and secure. This discussion paper asks whether our definitions of heritage material might be too narrow and whether they reflect the reality across all…

In October 2009, California Digital Library (CDL), where the author serves as manager of strategic and project planning, jumped into the world of social networking by joining Twitter. From Twitter, the CDL staff publish the content of their monthly newsletter, "CDLINFO News," and also additional content created by CDL programs and…

John Fiske (1842-1901) was an American historian, philosopher, lecturer, and prolific author. Renowned as a popularizer of evolutionary theory, Fiske rubbed elbows with Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. From 1872-79 he served as Assistant Librarian at Harvard University, occupied mainly with what is known today as "Technical Services," i.e.,…

This publication follows the tradition of publishing selected papers from Pacific Islands Association of Libraries, Archives and Museums (PIALA) annual conferences. The volume begins with a listing of the members of the PIALA 2008 Planning Committee, the Officers and Executive Board, and Acknowledgements, followed by the Schedule of Events and a…