A study to compare the effectiveness of an in-person library orientation with an online asynchronous orientation was conducted with three sections of Social Work Research Methods, a required course in the University of Iowa's Master of Social Work program. Two sections of the course received an online orientation involving short videos, text and…

Updated to include the 2011 award and honor books, this new edition of the annual guide to the Newbery and Caldecott awards gathers together the books deemed most distinguished in American children's literature and illustration since the inception of the renowned prizes. Librarians and teachers everywhere rely on this guidebook for quick reference…

What is steampunk? Most call it Victorian science fiction. Steampunk can claim such authors as H.G. Wells and Jules Verne as its earliest writers. These two Victorian/Edwardian era writers created steampunk settings in books such as "The Time Machine" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth". In the 1990s, writers such as William Gibson, Bruce…

"Do what's best for kids!" The author's former principal said this often when they discussed media program needs. Media specialists can make media centers places where students and teachers want to be. This article looks at everyday, attainable, common sense best practices. These everyday best practices require time, energy, new ways of thinking,…

Since getting books into the hands of her students was of utmost importance to her, this author began to look at areas that took away from the time she had to work with the students. In this article, the author offers suggestions on how to have a successful school library program, regardless of reductions in budget and/or staff. She mentions that…

School libraries have increasingly seen the number of school librarians in each school decrease, creating more solo librarian positions in schools. While this is not a new dilemma, it is one that requires initiative and persistence on the part of the school librarian to accomplish tasks and make decisions. Making decisions about individual school…

Gaming has come to the library. School librarians are increasingly incorporating gaming into their program of resources and services. Besides addressing the natural interest that youth have in games, school librarians recognize the educational benefits of games, particularly in terms of information and digital literacies. While board games have…

In the summer of 2010, Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam started offering the world's first library in an airport. This article describes Airport Library which is no ordinary library. It holds more than 1,200 items, but it lends nothing. It operates 24/7, yet it's only staffed by volunteers for 2 or 3 hours a day. It offers just nine public-access…

Since their inception, free public libraries have been a source of information, knowledge and culture for all. They are spaces where anyone can go, for as long as they like, without feeling pressure to buy anything, and without feeling judged for whatever it is they want to read. For these reasons, library services are crucial to adults who wish…

This article presents a digest of LISTSERVS of interest to access services for the period of April to June 2011. It presents questions and answers from Interlibrary Loan (ILL) people, CIRCPLUS, and OFFCAMP.

At the Libraries Service Center, statistics are generated on a monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis by using four Microsoft Excel workbooks. These statistics provide information about what materials are being requested and by whom. They also give details about why certain requests may not have been filled. Utilizing Excel allows for a shallower…

This essay served as the basis for the opening keynote speech during the Library Assessment Conference in Baltimore in 2010. It set the stage by tracing the demands for accountability in the beginning of the century and outlining progress made. It provided important background and context for the following four keynote papers delivered by Megan…

On 1 January 2012, early-childhood and out-of-school-hours care services were mandated to begin working under a new framework, designed to deliver greater consistency in service provision across the sector. With the aim of raising quality and driving continuous improvement through consistency among services and service ratings, the National…

Introduction: This paper investigates participatory practices in library activities for young children and their care-givers in a specific cultural context. Method: Using an ethnographic approach data were collected through participant observations of songtimes for babies and toddlers, and interviews and group interviews with staff and…

With the growing population of undergraduate students on our campus and an increased focus on their success, librarians at a large midwestern university were interested in the citation management styles of this university cohort. Our university library spends considerable resources each year to maintain and promote access to the robust…