Synergy may be defined as the collaboration between two or more parties to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate parts. That is exactly what happened in Denton, Texas, when all types of librarians collaborated on a community reading initiative. In 2007 Denton Reads--a One Book, One Community organization--was formed with…

Customer service is a core component of user experience and an important element in making patrons feel welcomed and valued within our libraries. At the University of Maryland Libraries, we took on the challenging task of creating a customer service training curriculum for all staff working at public service points and offering a digital badge for…

This study evaluates whether or not community college libraries have in place the characteristics necessary to develop digital branch libraries to meet the expanding and changing needs of their publics. Using Hon and Grunig's (1999) relationship building criteria as a framework, 98 community college library websites were analyzed to determine…

Evidence-based library and information practice (EBLIP) provides school librarians a systematic means of building, assessing, and revising a library program, thus demonstrating a school library program's worth to the larger school community. Through survey research collecting both qualitative and quantitative data, 111 public school librarians in…

In 2010, Jean Stevens from the New York State Education Department addressed a group of NY state administrators and shared, "It is no mistake that inquiry-based learning is throughout the Common Core." That was a cornerstone cry for which only school librarians knew the significance. After years of fighting for turf as a poor fief, it…

The ebook ecosystem has experienced many changes recently--having both positive and negative effects for the school library. On the positive side, many publishers have stopped seeing ebooks as the coming of the Apocalypse; instead, they are seeing that the publishing business survives and, indeed, flourishes. The different actors in this arena are…

When looking for ways to improve library services, we considered what data sources were readily available to us and how we could harvest and use this data. We investigated three years of chat reference statistics at Central Michigan University, a large research institution, to gain a better understanding of our patrons' chat behavior. We then…

This report presents findings from RAND's evaluation of the Appalachian Renaissance Initiative (ARI) in 17 districts totaling 99 kindergarten-12th grade schools within the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC). The initiative took place from the 2014-2015 through 2017-2018 academic years. The evaluation examined various aspects of ARI…

Birmingham City University's Library and Learning Resources' strategic aim is to improve student satisfaction. A key element is the achievement of the Customer Excellence Standard. An important component of the standard is the mapping of services to improve quality. Library and Learning Resources has developed a methodology to map these…

This case study explores the introduction of a university wide employability program by the World of Work Careers Centre (WOWCC) at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). The article reports the background against which an employability program was implemented; the justification and growing demand for more emphasis on employability skills in…

The attractiveness of social networking sites (SNSs) has extended to almost all professionals in numerous human organizations including the library. Librarians as a result of this development are now making use of these sites to connect to other libraries and librarians both within and outside their environment. However, it is observed that the…

In this article, the authors describe how they created a school library that is the center of learning in their school community with the collaborative vision of the principal (Mat McRae) and the school librarian (Kay Wejrowski) and the support of their entire staff. For eight years, McRae and Wejrowski have worked together as principal and school…

Every U.S. state and the District of Columbia has a law on the books that protects a library borrower's privacy, both an ethical and legal obligation of the library. In addition, FERPA further restricts access to users' records. Getting the message across to staff can be a challenge, especially if you employ students or volunteers who may not…

This bibliographic essay examines the difficulties associated with the selection, licensing, acquisition, and management of e-books in academic libraries. The potential advantages of e-book technology are likely to be realized only to the extent that they advance the economic goals of e-book suppliers and are consistent with the legal framework…

Though the academic library's primary mission is to serve the students, faculty, and staff of its parent institution, would-be users not officially associated with the institution frequently call upon the library to provide services and/or resources. Requests by these nonaffiliated users (sometimes called community users) pose a moral quandary for…