What does it take to have a great library? The right leader? A great team? A wonderful facility? The best services? How can you transform your library to better meet the demands of tomorrow? This author visited 10 exemplary public libraries in the United States and Great Britain to find answers to these questions. She interviewed directors and key staff, researched archives, and observed facilities, operations, and interactions. The results of her explorations are contained in this volume, providing readers with nuts and bolts information on public library management along with general...

This collection of 22 highly informative essays offers important insight into current activities in the area of building planning. Written by recognized building experts from the United States and Australia, the essays discuss critical planning issues from a management perspective.

Topics include space design; collection marketing; furniture selection; landscaping; accommodating different age groups; hosting activities and events; seeking support from the community; and more. Technology is given a high priority. A bibliographic essay provides an abundance of suggested titles...

Very often in the operation of two-year and other small academic libraries there are common issues and concerns. Librarians working in such institutions take the opportunity to share current thinking on such topics as managing change, accreditation standards, auxiliary roles and responsibilities on the campus, marketing library services, collection development, personnel issues, cooperation with other institutions, coping with technology, and a host of unusual problems.

The flat hierarchy in two-year and other small academic libraries does not always avail front-line librarians a smooth...

Just beginning to enter the workplace, Millennials have never known a world that wasn't connected by email, instant messages, text messages, and the Internet. For libraries, the challenge is clear: how do we serve older and more established clientele, yet sustain progress? How do we welcome this new generation into our professional midst?

These 18 chapters explore the pervasiveness of change: in personnel selection and training; budget planning; marketing and promotion; fund raising; health issues for staff and clientele; retirement and recruitment; staying current; inter-library and...

Connection. Competition. Collaboration. These three words define management of college libraries, today and in the future. They also describe the contents of this book, which focus on planning for the multiple directions that college library managers must consider and act upon. Contributed chapters cover the challenges nearly all must face, such as understanding users, information literacy, staff alignment, and the integration of physical building and function. Some chapters contain studies and models that can be replicated at similar institutions. Others offer documentation that can be...

The purpose of this book is to provide the director of a small college library--typically defined as a facility managed by one to seven librarians--with information on every important managerial function specific to their facilities. This content will be much more useful for these library specialists than that of management books covering generic library management or targeted towards large academic settings.

"Managing the Small College Library" covers the key responsibilities of the small college library director: personnel, planning, budgeting, and serving key constituencies. The...

Library specialists in the cataloging and metadata professions have a greater purpose than simply managing information and connecting users to resources. There is a deeper and more profound impact that comes of their work: preservation of the human record.

"Conversations with Catalogers in the 21st Century" contains four chapters addressing broad categories of issues that catalogers and metadata librarians are currently facing. Every important topic is covered, such as changing metadata practices, standards, data record structures, data platforms, and user expectations, providing both...