Fewer employees, shorter hours, diminished collection budgets, reduced programs and services--all at a time of record library usage. In this book, library expert Carol Smallwood demonstrates that despite the obvious downsides, the necessity of doing business differently can be positive, leading to partnering, sharing, and innovating. This…

This book assesses the current condition and direction of the American public library. It considers the challenges and opportunities presented by new electronic technologies, changing public policy, fiscal realities, and cultural trends. The authors draw on site visits and interviews conducted across the country, as well as extensive reading of…

This book provides a broad, introductory overview of issues affecting the marketing of public library collections, with examples and research results from more than 200 libraries of all sizes. This new edition of the work updates and expands the original, referencing new studies (published since 1992), encompassing more of the literature from…

This book examines the ways in which children's librarians can manage their services so collections and programs reach the intended audience. In the introduction to this second edition, the author considers recent changes in demographics, economics, social patterns, media and technology trends, and consequent changing emphases in managing…

This resource presents the tools necessary for bringing librarians' development and fundraising skills up to the level necessary to lead an effective campaign. The book points out that there are significant differences between raising money for libraries, especially academic libraries, and raising money for other types of organizations. It shows…

Public libraries must operate in a time of increasing change, both within the library community and throughout the larger social and economic environments in which the library must function. This book is a guide to the strategic management of change in community libraries. It addresses the unique circumstances and needs of public libraries and…

This book represents the thoughts and experiences of librarians and academics on the changing role of libraries in a global networked community. The first section of the book looks at the agendas for national libraries in a digital world. Issues covered include content and delivery, national policy and practice and strategies for success in a…

With comments from a variety of sources, this book presents fictional scenarios intended to get librarians thinking about possibilities. The book offers eight new future scenarios that explore such developments as virtual reality, robots, time travel, biotechnology, computer viruses, security, and more--all within the context of the public…

This handbook is a guide to the complex process of library facility siting and location. It includes relevant research and professionals' siting experiences, as well as actual case studies of closures, openings, mergers, and relocations of library facilities. While the bulk of the volume provides practical information, the work also presents an…

This book is the result of a set of case studies that were performed in four American public libraries between 1989 and 1992. The goal of the research was to describe the effect that planning has had in a representative set of libraries, focusing planning as a social phenomenon. The city, county, federated, and suburban library are examined.…

The need to approach library management from an entrepreneurial business perspective is vital, whether the information facility is in a corporate, academic, public or school setting. Although librarianship is not a business, library management must be driven by the same characteristics-- responsibility, performance, and control--as any other…

This book explores how librarians can work to strengthen and improve the quality of service to young adults. The introduction is written by Mary Kay Chelton, whose dissertation, "Adult-Adolescent Service Encounters: The Library Context" (1997), inspired this book. The book has 12 chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the provision of best young adult…

The purpose of this book and accompanying CD-ROM is to provide any library that is undertaking the development of a technology plan with a general introduction to the components of and process for developing a plan, while also providing specific examples of plans that illustrate a variety of approaches. These approaches include stand-alone…

This book is a compilation of advice on library fundraising through the presentation of real-life case studies. Contributors offer both recommendations and caveats based on their firsthand fundraising experiences in public and college libraries. Libraries of varying size and financial scale are represented in discussions of pursuing grants,…

This book addresses many of the practical issues involved in developing the virtual library. Seven presentations from the Eighth Annual Computers in Libraries Conference are included in this book in augmented form. The papers are supplemented by "The Evolving Virtual Library: An Overview" (Laverna M. Saunders and Maurice Mitchell), a…