As bookstores and the Internet march forward, the library community continues to question and forecast its role in society. Innovative libraries nationwide have seized the opportunity to reinvent themselves, bringing a new level of excitement to the industry. Yet puzzlement remains on what strategies, what roles will work in communities where…

Tom Peters packs 36 hours of work into the confines of a 24-hour day. Without breaking a sweat, he juggles multiple collaborative projects, which currently include an Illinois academic library shared storage facility; a multistate virtual reference and instruction service for blind and visually impaired individuals (InfoEyes); a virtual meeting…

Most school library media centers have a number of resources available to assist in the career planning process. Typical career-planning books cover writing resumes and cover letters, the interview process, job banks, occupational descriptions, and salaries. Keeping current on careers can be a costly endeavor for school library media center…

In this article, the author discusses and provides some examples on how students and teachers should use library media centers. He also discusses the common problems with facilities design as it changes along with other aspects of society. He states that flexibility in design ensures that the physical facility will meet future program needs.…

Johnson Doug, a representative of the state library association decided to speak to the board members of the Left Overshoe Independent Schools when they threatened to implement a budgetary cut for the library school program. The local parents and teachers should testify to the board the advantages of a library program and raise voice against…

The sound approach in creating learning environments is in implementing a fully integrated library program that is both efficient and effective. Further, its definition and the way it works are stated.

Necessity is still the mother of invention, and physical processing is a reality for most libraries. Ergo, the inevitable development of Indigo Media and its innovative MediaPrint software, which allows distributors to overlay customized labels, logos, barcodes, and artwork onto retail labels of audiobooks, CDs, VHS tapes, DVDs, and CD-ROMs, on a…

In this article, the author addresses the importance of having orientation for new librarians. During their crucial first few weeks on the job, the author claims, new librarians need as much hands-on, real-world training as they can get. If they are ushered to the information desk without an introduction to the staff interface of the catalog or to…

Integration of library services into the portal that Lasalle University recently implemented for the entire campus is described. In addition to learning the technical aspects was the need to inspire change in the communication culture of the university and to rethink how the library provides services.

Public libraries are suffering budget cuts in most states nationwide, according to an informal LJ survey, with a significant segment--though not a majority characterizing the strictures as worse than in the early 1990s, the last time libraries were hit hard. LJ contacted state library agencies and, in some-cases, state library associations, for a…

There's no doubt about it: magazines can be a nuisance. They're easy to rip off, flimsy, and costly. The dogeared, thumb-smudged pages, missing subscription cards, and already-solved crossword puzzles and mazes (completed confidently in ink!) are sure signs that kids find magazines irresistible. Young children and teens love to flip casually…

Lynne Cutler's driving force is the intense curiosity that led her to audit 24 additional courses while studying librarianship. It is what drives her to make Oakland Public Library's services available to those with disabilities, so that everyone can have "access to all the things in life I treasure, like books, words, music, art,…

Dennis Wilson is a patient and persistent man. After three years of observation, data gathering, extensive discussion, and presentations, he reorganized his collection development team into seven members. Before, the work was distributed among 75 people. Wilson's motivation? The need to get products to patrons "as soon as possible." The…

For Jill Emery, an interest in librarianship came at an unusually young age. Today, Emery's earliest colleagues would be proud, not just of the vibrant career Emery has established for herself but for what she has done to lead the profession into the digital future. As director of electronic resources at the University of Houston, Emery is at the…

A recent library school graduate, Corey Harper was nominated by his colleagues at the University of Oregon (UO) because of the key role he played in implementing digital collections. Along with technical expertise, says Watson, he brought with him "[an ability to] balance idealism with expediency, the striving for perfection with the need to…