Library Use of the Mega Internet Sites, 2013 Edition


Book Description

This report looks closely at how libraries are using mega internet sites such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Flickr, Tumblr, Yahoo!, eBay, Amazon, and many others. The report covers more than 60 major internet sites or services, and discusses their use in information literacy and their overall usefulness as tools for librarians. The report provides a map to how librarians are using major internet sites and services today.




Repositioning Reference


Book Description

To compete today, librarians need to not only provide old services in new ways but also to provide new services. Repositioning Reference: New Methods and New Services for a New Age re-imagines reference services in libraries and information organizations and the role of reference librarians, taking into account rapid developments in technology and information-specific services in non-library sectors. It traces the history of technology adoption for reference services, describes competitive pressures facing reference services, identifies untapped opportunities for reference services and librarians, details innovative and creative solutions for energizing the profession and engaging library user communities, and prescribes means to evaluating technologies for reference services. This book: • Includes current and unique examples of innovative reference services to serve as inspiration and launching points for readers. • Offers contemporary management theory and practice from outside of the field of LIS to offer readers a guide for initiating, leading, and managing change in their organizations. • Outlines the processes of environmental scanning and SWOT analysis, which are important practices for keeping abreast of changes in the field and positioning an organization to make the most of their opportunities and to minimize threats. Repositioning Reference may be used as a textbook by LIS educators whose courses and learning experiences prepare aspiring librarians to lead the reference revolution and by practicing librarians in diverse settings who want to be change agents.




Cultivating Connected Learning


Book Description

If you want to boost your library's relevancy and support youth learning, consider incorporating connected learning at your library. This book helps you to realize the potential of this exciting and dynamic trend. Learning doesn't just happen in the classroom: it happens everywhere. The connected learning model supports this principle, asserting that young people learn best when their experiences are interest-driven, peer-supported, and rooted in solid academics. Libraries are the perfect environment for this type of learning, providing a place where teens can connect with each other and with adult mentors to engage with learning material and thrive. This book shows you how to cultivate connected learning in your library. You'll discover what the approach involves, its benefits, and what it can look like in various library settings. You'll also learn how to generate support for connecting learning within your library; reimagine your spaces and programs to better support connected learning; integrate technology into programs and services to make it accessible to youth; build partnerships with other libraries as well as other organizations; recruit volunteers; and raise community awareness to increase involvement.




Digital Libraries


Book Description

The very recent emergence of the 'information society' has created new situations that political and economic disciplines have never previously considered. There is a new complexity and many open questions for both individuals and societal macro-structures, which have to maintain, despite this revolution, a satisfactory level of activity and at the same time have to build a new state of stability. With regard to problems identified by many researchers relating to the storage and processing of (semi-)structured digital data, accessibility and sharing, intellectual property, digital documents, information retrieval, information literacy, relevance of information, information profiles of users, etc., the policies envisaged by some for the 'information society' may cause concern and embarrassment from a scientific point of view. This book gathers together 13 contributions from leading information science researchers and presents some of the scientific challenges for these areas, which are also the greatest challenges facing us in the current digital age.




PROCEEDINGS OF NATIONAL SEMINAR ON MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AND PRACTICE VOLUME 1


Book Description

This Conference Proceedings of the National Seminar entitled “Multidisciplinary Research and Practice” compiled by Dr. M. Kanika Priya records various research papers written by eminent scholars, professors and students. The articles range from English literature to Tamil literature, Arts, Humanities, Social Science, Education, Performing Arts, Information and Communication Technology, Engineering, Technology and Science, Medicine and Pharmaceutical Research, Economics, Sociology, Philosophy, Business, Management, Commerce and Accounting, Teacher Education, Higher Education, Primary and Secondary Education, Law, Science (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Zoology, Botany), Agriculture and Computer Science. Researchers and faculty members from various disciplines have contributed their research papers. This book contains articles in Three languages, namely: English, Tamil and Hindi. As a editor Dr. M. Kanika Priya has taken up the tedious job of checking the validity and correctness of the research work in bringing out this conference proceedings in a beautiful manner. In its present shape and size, this anthology will, hopefully, find a place on the library shelves and enlighten the academics all round the world.




Mobile Computing and Wireless Networks: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications


Book Description

We live in a wireless society, one where convenience and accessibility determine the efficacy of the latest electronic gadgets and mobile devices. Making the most of these technologies—and ensuring their security against potential attackers—requires increased diligence in mobile technology research and development. Mobile Computing and Wireless Networks: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications brings together a comprehensive range of voices and research in the area of mobile and wireless technologies, exploring the successes and failures, advantages and drawbacks, and benefits and limitations of the technology. With applications in a plethora of different research and topic areas, this multi-volume reference work benefits researchers, service providers, end-users, and information technology professionals. This four-volume reference work includes a diverse array of chapters and authors covering topics such as m-commerce, network ethics, mobile agent systems, mobile learning, communications infrastructure, and applications in fields such as business, healthcare, government, tourism, and more.




Web-Based Services: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications


Book Description

The recent explosion of digital media, online networking, and e-commerce has generated great new opportunities for those Internet-savvy individuals who see potential in new technologies and can turn those possibilities into reality. It is vital for such forward-thinking innovators to stay abreast of all the latest technologies. Web-Based Services: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications provides readers with comprehensive coverage of some of the latest tools and technologies in the digital industry. The chapters in this multi-volume book describe a diverse range of applications and methodologies made possible in a world connected by the global network, providing researchers, computer scientists, web developers, and digital experts with the latest knowledge and developments in Internet technologies.




Reference and Information Services


Book Description

From the ongoing flood of misinformation to the swift changes occasioned by the pandemic, a myriad of factors is spurring our profession to rethink reference services. Luckily, this classic text is back in a newly overhauled edition that thoughtfully addresses the evolving reference landscape. Designed to complement every introductory library reference course, Cassell and Hiremath's book also serves as the perfect resource to guide current practitioners in their day-to-day work. It teaches failsafe methods for identifying important materials by matching specific types of questions to the best available sources, regardless of format. Guided by a national advisory board of educators and experts, this thoroughly updated text presents chapters covering fundamental concepts, major reference sources, and special topics while also offering fresh insights on timely issues, including a basic template for the skills required and expectations demanded of the reference librarian; the pandemic’s effect on reference services and how the ingenuity employed by libraries in providing remote and virtual reference is here to stay; a new chapter dedicated to health information, with a special focus on health equity and information sources; selecting and evaluating reference materials, with strategies for keeping up to date; a heightened emphasis on techniques for evaluating sources for misinformation and ways to give library users the tools to discern facts vs. “fake facts”; reference as programming, readers’ advisory services, developmentally appropriate material for children and young adults, and information literacy; evidence-based guidance on handling microaggressions in reference interactions, featuring discussions of cultural humility and competence alongside recommended resources on implicit bias; managing, assessing, and improving reference services; and the future of information and reference services, encapsulating existing models, materials, and services to project possible evolutions in the dynamic world of reference




Small Libraries, Big Impact


Book Description

This valuable book shows how to get your community behind your library by making it an essential part of community life and demonstrating its benefit to all members of the community. Evolving technologies and the changing social landscape have put pressure on public libraries to shift their service values and methods in order to maintain funding opportunities. The challenge is substantial: library managers today must adopt a new mindset in order to perform a broad spectrum of activities and attract new users who are not traditional library patrons. Small Libraries, Big Impact: How to Better Serve Your Community in the Digital Age helps readers to meet the challenge of serving diverse users via a community-centered library. Based on an intensive review of literature on serving library users in smaller libraries as well as the author's own research findings gained from interviewing 55 library directors, this book provides conceptual and practical tools for serving 21st-century users, gaining wider community support, programming dynamic events, and planning rewarding technology learning. Beyond supplying actionable advice, the book will also review relevant concepts and theoretical frameworks, such as community outreach and partnership, social justice and social inclusion, technology and social transition, cultural diversity and the digital divide, entrepreneurship, outreach, best practices for marketing libraries, and library space design.




Public Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives, 4th Edition


Book Description

All too often, public policy textbooks offer a basic grounding in the policy process without the benefit of integrating the use of policy analysis. Kraft and Furlong, since their first edition, take a different tack. They want students to understand how and why policy analysis is used to assess policy alternatives--not only to question the assumptions of policy analysts, but to recognize how analysis is used in support of political arguments. To encourage critical and creative thinking on issues ranging from the financial bailout to rising gas prices to natural disasters, the authors introduce and fully integrate an evaluative approach to policy. Public Policy starts with a concise review of institutions, policy actors, and major theoretical models. The authors then discuss the nature of policy analysis and its practice, and show students how to employ evaluative criteria in six substantive policy areas. Public Policy arms students with analytic tools they need to understand the motivations of policy actors--both within and outside of government--influence a complex, yet comprehensible, policy agenda. Enhancements to the 4th edition: - All chapters have been comprehensively updated to include recent events, issues, and policy debates including the conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the use of private contractors for military support and operations, the rising cost of gasoline and disputes over energy policy and climate change, the controversy over immigration policy, requirements for financial regulation, heightened concerns over economic and social inequality, and the clash over reforming taxes and entitlement programs, as well as dealing with the federal deficit and national debt. - New and updated "working with sources" and "steps to analysis" features help students investigate sources of information and apply evaluative criteria. - New and updated end-of chapter discussion questions, suggested readings, and web sites.