This text aims to show that in place of futuristic dreaming and madness, libraries can embrace advanced technologies while retaining their role as service-oriented repositories of all formats of organized information and knowledge.

In his trademark informal, irreverent, and engaging style, renowned library writer and speaker Walt Crawford draws on his wealth of experience as he assures would-be librarian-writers that they very well might have something worth saying. Proceeding matter-of-factly, he dissects what it really takes to write for library colleagues, countering traditional received wisdom, while questioning the powers that be. Whether you're on a tenure track and want your articles to offer more pleasure than pain, or just have something to share with colleagues, these suggestions will guide you in making both...

Academic libraries routinely struggle to afford access to expensive journals, and patrons may not be able to obtain every scholarly paper they need. Is Open Access (OA) the answer? In this ALA Editions Special Report, Crawford helps readers understand what OA is (and isn't), as he concisely * Analyzes the factors that brought us to the current state of breakdown, including the skyrocketing costs of science, technolgy, engineering, and medicine (STEM) journals; consolidation of publishers and diminishing price competition; and shrinking library budgets * Summarizes the benefits and drawbacks...

Liblogs--blogs written by library people, as opposed to official library blogs--provide some of today's most interesting and useful library literature. This book offers a broad look at English-language liblogs as they are and as they've changed between 2007 and 2008. The book includes more than 600 blogs with detailed analysis of 27 metrics for 2007 and 2008 and changes from 2007 to 2008--and, for 143 of them, 2006 as well. Through tables, charts and text, we explore the liblog landscape.