Describes ways that a library can be used as an integral part of a school reading program. (MKM)

A critical look at prevailing assumptions concerning relations between libraries and society is followed by a discussion of specific demographic trends including population growth, population increase of people over 65, women, geographic population redistribution, minorities, the poor, class status, and social research in the library field. (MBR)

The appearance of revolutionary information technologies must elicit equivalent responses from the library profession. Creating local online databases--information dropshipping--is an activity that public and academic libraries can implement. Through technology, libraries can create a new domain on the production side of knowledge and information.…

Explores mutual advantages for information literacy through public and school library partnerships. Highlights include different goals for the same audience, a shift in services and roles, exemplary national programs, and possibilities of joint collection development. Demonstrates the needs and actions to stimulate the opportunity for adolescents…

Clifford A. Lynch, developer of MELVYL and former director of library automation at the University of California, is now executive director for the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI). This interview discusses Lynch's background, MELVYL, the Web and the role of libraries and librarians, community and collaborative filtering, the library of…

Contends that an entrepreneurial model of librarianship contradicts traditional ideals of free and equal access to information and argues that such a model threatens the future of the library as a vital public sphere of democratic culture. Discusses broad trends of advanced capitalism to provide a context for the critical interpretation of issues…

Describes a program developed by the Youth Services Division at the Queens Borough Public Library's Central Library to help teenagers maximize growth opportunities, build self-esteem, and see the library as a life resource. Highlights include securing funding through LSCA (Library Services and Construction Act), recruiting participants, and…

Describes the IMPEL (Impact on People of Electronic Libraries) project that investigated the social, organizational, and cultural impacts of the increasingly electronic environment experienced in academic library and information services in the United Kingdom. Topics include librarians' perceptions of their role and future role; subject…

Discusses the role of academic libraries as campus meeting centers, highlighting the distinction between changing functional requirements that are addressed with space programming and the social and emotional needs of a community that are realized through the design of place. Offers examples of design ideas and recommendations for librarians and…

Identifies several areas of the library profession that will need to adapt to changing expectations in the future. Discusses librarian stereotypes; role redefinition in light of changing technology and electronic resources; greater diversity of user needs; technology literacy; generational issues, including retirement rates; and diversity and…

Discusses academic library instruction and librarians' collaboration with faculty to promote information literacy. Highlights include the education reform movement; strategic alliances; partnerships within a multicampus higher education system to promote information literacy; and assessment of the library's role as a key component of…

Explains the objective of the ARL (Association of Research Libraries) Scholars Portal initiative as the development of scholarly productivity tools and services. Considers the library's role and describes the initial emphasis on developing a tool that delivers licensed and openly available digital content across a range of subject fields and from…

The Communications Director of the American Library Association (ALA) offers five reasons librarians should claim literacy as their top professional mission: the "America Reads Challenge" to ensure that all 8-year-olds can read by the year 2000; the ALA's experience in literacy programs; the issue's universality; the success of past…

Describes developments in the United Kingdom's Royal Society of Chemistry's Library and Information Centre that has changed from a professional and learned society library into a business center. Development of a priced information service, electronic sources of information including online databases and the Internet, and marketing and promotion…

Discusses the Internet's impact on library resources and the academic curriculum, highlighting collection development and the library's role in integrating the Internet into the curriculum. Suggests that librarians should promote the use of the Internet in the academic community and should integrate Internet resources with other library materials…