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…

Europeana: Think Culture (http://www.europeana.eu) is a wonderful cultural repository. It includes more than 15 million items (images, text, audio, and video) from 1,500 European institutions. Europeana provides access to an abundance of cultural and heritage information and knowledge. Because Europeana has partnered with and brought together so…

Bill Schickling has spent a good chunk of his professional life at what is now Polaris Library Systems, shaping both the older Galaxy system and the newer Polaris integrated library system (ILS). When he joined the company as a programmer in 1987, it was still part of Gaylord, known mostly for its furniture and supplies division. Schickling was…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the state of development of Polish digital libraries. Design/methodology/approach: The paper describes the establishment of the first digital library in Poland, the creation of the Wielkopolska Digital Library and other regional digital libraries. The organisational and technological solutions used…

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…

It seems, at times, that a frantic race persists to ensure that a child, in the crucial learning stages of early elementary education, acquires the appropriate reading level before he or she "gets behind." Though there are obvious issues with branding a book "Grade Level One" or "Reading Level 2.2," it is nevertheless…

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…

Recovery of significant achievements by exemplary individuals and institutions in public education and librarianship informs our present understanding and motivates future efforts. This narrative history recounts some of the struggles and successes of a great city library when the very conception of a free, public library was still being defined.…

Describes how the New Main San Francisco Public Library was created in spite of budget cuts and threats of shutting down library branches. Discusses community support, the political approach to fund raising, collection development and increased patronage, and linking branch libraries to the New Main's system. (AEF)

Presents a history of library cooperation and technological advancement in North Carolina libraries from the Depression years to the early 1990s. Discusses early library cooperation and development of the North Carolina Information Network (NCIN). Describes the seven task forces on: Bibliographic Database, Document Delivery, Funding, Public…

Presents results of a study undertaken for the state library of Maryland to develop a process for the development of a Maryland Digital Public Library. Highlights include planning; management; implementation requirements; networked environments; technical infrastructure issues; collection development; standards; information content; information…

Over time, the Regional Library Systems Act has succeeded in its aim to widen and improve access to library services for all Maine residents. Today, students in the smallest high schools and users of the most remote public libraries can plug into the resources of the largest public libraries in the state and draw on the services of their…

Reports on Bill and Melinda Gates's tour of Alabama, the first state to be wired to the Internet by the nonprofit Gates Library Foundation, and the model for connecting 1000 more libraries this year. Mutual appreciation between Alabama librarians and the Gateses resulted. An interview with Bill Gates focuses on challenges libraries face in…

The objectives of the Alabama Public Library Service are to: provide library services to the citizens directly or through local libraries; provide library services for those with special needs through the Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped; provide library services to employees of the State of Alabama to meet their…

Describes the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) advisory committees in terms of research, public, college and university, and special libraries. All four of the type-of-library advisory groups work to shape OCLC policies and programs, according to the particular needs of each group. OCLC's financial and programmatic success depends upon…