Librarianship is constantly confronted with unexpected and quickly evolving sociotechnical challenges, yet the documents that define the core professional competencies for librarians are infrequently updated. Based upon survey responses collected from 383 working librarians located in the United States, we describe a set of gaps between current…

This paper examines the extent to which public librarians are successfully prepared to engage the community in digital literacy and inclusion. A qualitative, multiple case study research design was chosen, using an analysis of policy documents and existing training programs offered by the libraries together with semi-structured interviews with…

In April 2010, the New York State Board of Regents challenged the library community to rethink the State's vast array of library services to ensure that they are aligned with modern expectations and the expanded functions needed in today's society, operate with improved efficiency, and are prepared for the future as an essential and vibrant part…

For the Spring 2015 semester of the Public Library Management course, students were given digital badges along with grades for their coursework. For each topic's corresponding assignment, students received a traditional grade and those achieving at least an A- received a digital badge that represented the skill or knowledge demonstrated. By using…

Leadership is an often-misunderstood word, especially in the context of libraries. With multiple definitions for the word "leadership" and vast numbers of leadership styles, it can be difficult to identity what exactly is meant when discussing library leadership. This literature review brings together 10 years of scholarly research on…

This study compares the overall spending trends and patterns of growth of Academic Libraries with Public Libraries, K-12 schools, higher education institutions, and hospitals in the period of 1998 to 2008. Academic Libraries, while showing a growth of 13% over inflation for the period, far underperformed the growth of the other public institutions…

Librarians, like patrons and researchers, are caught between traditional library service models and the promise of evolving information technologies. In recent years, professional conferences have strategically featured programs and presentations geared toward building a mobile agenda and adapting or adopting services to meet new demands of mobile…

The St. Lucie West Library, also known as the FAU Treasure Coast Campus Library, is a joint-use library facility, with Florida Atlantic University partnering with Indian River Community College and the St. Lucie County (FL) Library System. This article will discuss the circulation, course reserves, interlibrary loan, and collection management…

There's no shortage of library management books out there--but how many of them actually tackle the little details of day-to-day management, the hard-to-categorize things that slip through the cracks of a larger handbook? "Library Management Tips that Work" does exactly that, addressing dozens of such issues facing library managers, including: (1)…

In 1956-57 John Metcalfe was seconded from the Public Library of New South Wales to the University of Sydney to report on the needs of the University Library. This is a forgotten chapter in that Library's history, and a hitherto unexamined aspect of Metcalfe's career. Metcalfe was apparently manoeuvering to leave the Public Library, and expected…

Special statistical reports on public, society, and school libraries have been published periodically by the United States Bureau of Education. Nine of these reports have appeared in the past 40 years, the last one, preceding the present 1913 report, presented the statistics of 1908. The earlier reports included the names of all libraries…

Building joint-use libraries to foster new types of learning and collaboration is a growing phenomenon that is of great interest to academic library planners around the world. Noteworthy among these efforts, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in San Jose, California, is a collaboration of a metropolitan university library and a major public…

Since the organization of the United States Bureau of Education in 1867 statistics of public libraries have appeared periodically in the annual reports. It has been the purpose to gather such statistics every five years, but it has not been possible to carry out the plan with perfect regularity. For forty years every annual report of the bureau…

Library development has followed much the same course as the development of the school. Beginning with institutions of higher learning for the rich and leisure class, the school came gradually to concern itself with the education of the children of the masses, rich and poor alike. Following the development of colleges and universities, the…

During the last decade, research has become increasingly important to the profession of librarianship. Seven library schools now have doctoral programs, foundation grants have stimulated and supported scores of major projects, and the research method has been recognized as an accepted technique for solving library problems. The increasing volume…