Professionals in all areas of librarianship will find inspiration in the essays collected here--each of them innovative tips for increasing circulation, enhancing collections, and improving flexibility. With extensive experience in the nations top libraries and media centers, the 73 contributors describe what really works based on their real-world experiences.

Fewer employees, shorter hours, diminished collection budgets, reduced programs and services-all at a time of record library usage. Don't fret and fritter away scarce resources. Be frugal In this book, library expert Smallwood persuasively demonstrates that the necessity of doing business differently can be positive. Presenting creative and resourceful solutions to universal concerns from dozens of librarians, representing a wide variety of institutions, this collection helps overtaxed library professionals - Find supplementary funding sources, including grants - Save money by sharing...

Retirement holds many questions for librarians. Smallwood's volume offers insight, inspiration, and tips for those already retired as well as those thinking about retiring. A raft of veteran librarians, financial advisors, and other experts address * Planning for retirement, and how to leave things in good shape for those continuing your work * The pros and cons of taking early retirement, including financial considerations * How to stay connected to the profession after leaving the job by engaging in part-time work and through professional-related activities * Second careers, community...

There's no shortage of library management books out there--but how many of them actually tackle the little details of day-to-day management, the hard-to-categorize minutiae that slip through the cracks of a larger handbook? Library Management Tips that Work does exactly that, answering numerous questions library managers may never have thought to ask, such as* How create a job manual, and keep staff accountable* Keeping your library board in the loop* Using numbers to make your case* Dealing with unreturned library materials* Methods for managing multiple libraries with one FTE librarian*...

This psychological detective novel explores the once largely unacknowledged-not only soldiers get post-traumatic stress disorder: that child abuse whether it is overt or covert incest, is a time bomb. Lily's Odyssey unfolds with the inevitability, impact, and resolution of an ancient Greek play. The dialogue rings true, the journey conveyed with moods and half-tones, to portray fragmented Midwestern characters with poignancy. From child to grandmother, Lily's voyage is told with lyricism, humor, and irony through a poet's voice to distill American life in religion, marriage, and family. A...

How to Thrive as a Solo Librarian is a compilation of chapters by librarians offering advice to colleagues who must work alone or with very limited help. The contributors come from schools and colleges, special and corporate archives, public libraries, and seasoned LIS faculty across the United States and abroad who are familiar with the vigor, dedication, and creativity necessary for solo librarians.

Both new librarians and those changing directions in the field can benefit greatly from a relationship with a positive and supportive mentor. In this anthology, public, school, academic, and special librarians, as well as LIS faculty and consultants, offer expertise and wisdom for those wishing to become a mentor or a protege or those wishing to implement a mentoring program within their library or library association. Topics include philosophical reasons for choosing to enter a mentor relationship, practical tips on setting up a program, internships, practicums, job shadowing, virtual...

Preservation of historical documents and library related materials is a growing problem in all library types and institutions. Fortunately, editors Carol Smallwood and Elaine Williams have pulled together the wisdom of practicing professionals to elucidate how to cope with the many problems that arise when preserving, managing, and digitizing important collections. Preserving Local Writers, Genealogy, Photographs, Newspapers, and Related Materials contains informative chapters on physical preservation, collection management, cooperation with organizations and communities, various formats, and...

Using a library's facilities to bring arts to the community is a wonderful marketing and outreach opportunity, a tangible way to show the public that libraries offer value, thus shoring up grassroots support. Carol Smallwood has combed the country finding examples of programs implemented by a variety of different types of libraries to enrich, educate, and entertain patrons through the arts.

Increasingly, libraries are struggling to deal with a growing diversity in the cultural background of their patrons. Problems arising from this cultural diversity afflict all library types--school, public and academic. Library Services for Multicultural Patrons is by and for all libraries that are striving to provide multicultural services to match the growing diversity in the cultural background of patrons. The book is designed to offer helpful tips and practical advice to academic, public, and school librarians who want to better serve the multicultural groups in their communities. The...