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Books in Library and information science

Supporting librarians, information professionals, and researchers, this portfolio covers digital libraries, information retrieval, and data management. It features technological innovations, cataloging standards, and user-centered services that enhance access, preservation, and knowledge dissemination.

  • Knowledge, Information and the Business Process

    Revolutionary Thinking or Common Sense?
    • 1st Edition
    • Liz Taylor
    • English
    The key focus of this book is to integrate elements of information and knowledge management, together with the business process and intellectual capital. The book questions some of the fundamental concepts and principles currently used to manage information that revolve around business processes. Specifically, it addresses the argument to more effectively evaluate the contributions of human and systems capital (which are defined) to a process, highlighting the need to make more conscious decisions about what role each will perform in the developed process.
  • The Human Side of Reference and Information Services in Academic Libraries

    Adding Value in the Digital World
    • 1st Edition
    • Lesley Farmer
    • English
    This book examines the questions: how academic libraries provide value-added reference and information services in the digital age. It provides best practices from a global perspective. The book starts by looking at the information needs and info-seeking behaviours of university students and faculty. Then it examines the use cycle: consumer, instruction, and producer. It examines the resource cycle: collection development, instructor, maintenance. What are the essential elements of reference: orientation, instruction, collaborative planning, products?
  • A Handbook of Ethical Practice

    A Practical Guide to Dealing with Ethical Issues in information and Library Work
    • 1st Edition
    • David McMenemy + 2 more
    • English
    This book looks at all of the ethical issues facing information and library professionals in one overarching, and practically-focused, text. As such, it is of great benefit to both practitioners and to LIS students. The focus of the book is two-fold: (1) It contains a detailed discussion of the issues that impact on the day-today practice of information workers in the 21st century; and (2) contains case studies discussing potential solutions to ethical problems faced. The book provides sections which work like flowcharts leading from ethical issues through decision points to proposed solutions based on the literature/case studies. This is a highly useful resource that provides appropriate access to potential solutions for day-to-day queries.
  • Digital Rights Management

    The Problem of Expanding Ownership Rights
    • 1st Edition
    • Christopher May
    • English
    Digital Rights Management examines the social context of new digital rights management (DRM) technologies in a lively and accessible style. It sets out the scope of DRMs in non-technical terms and then explores the shifts that DRM has produced within the regime of protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs). Focusing on the social norms around the protection of IPRs, it examines the music industry and software development sector to ask whether the protections established by DRM are legitimate and socially beneficial. Using these key examples to establish a more general argument, the books central conclusion is that rather than merely re-establishing threatened rights, the development of DRM has extended the rights of intellectual property owners, and that such an extension violates previous carefully balanced political compromises as regards the maintenance of the public domain.
  • The Future of the Book in the Digital Age

    • 1st Edition
    • Bill Cope + 1 more
    • English
    With contributions from some of the world's leading authorities, this publication considers the future of the book in the digital age. As more books are published than ever before, this timely publication addresses a range of critically important themes relating to the book - including the present and future for publishing, libraries, literacy and learning in the information society. In the early 1990s the printed word appeared to be facing a terminal crisis, threatened from all sides by new media and other forms of entertainment. Subsequently the book has proved to be resilient in the face of these challenges, confounding the predictions of those who saw its replacement, whilst digital technology is providing mechanisms that enhance our ability to produce and distribute printed books. New developments, such as the growth of self-publishing and print on demand, and initiatives from major players such as Amazon and Google, mean that the printed book is in the middle of great changes.
  • The Profit Impact of Business Intelligence

    • 1st Edition
    • Steve Williams + 1 more
    • English
    The Profit Impact of Business Intelligence presents an A-to-Z approach for getting the most business intelligence (BI) from a company's data assets or data warehouse. BI is not just a technology or methodology, it is a powerful new management approach that – when done right – can deliver knowledge, efficiency, better decisions, and profit to almost any organization that uses it. When BI first came on the scene, it promised a lot but often failed to deliver. The missing element was the business-centric focus explained in this book. It shows how you can achieve the promise of BI by connecting it to your organization’s strategic goals, culture, and strengths while correcting your BI weaknesses. It provides a practical, process-oriented guide to achieve the full promise of BI; shows how world-class companies used BI to become leaders in their industries; helps senior business and IT executives understand the strategic impact of BI and how they can ensure a strong payoff from their BI investments; and identifies the most common mistakes organizations make in implementing BI. The book also includes a helpful glossary of BI terms; a BI readiness assessment for your organization; and Web links and extensive references for more information.
  • The Impact of Organisational Culture On Knowledge Management

    • 1st Edition
    • Marina Du Plessis
    • English
    Aimed at knowledge management professionals and students in the field of knowledge management and information science, this book highlights issues in organisational cultures that can impact the implementation of knowledge management. Organisational culture has an extremely high impact on knowledge management, but is very difficult to identify and to address. The book indicates how people, culture, technology, strategy, leadership, operational management, process and organisational structure issues all have an impact on the implementation of knowledge management in an organisation. The book also provides a model to identify and manage areas in the organisation that impact knowledge management, which is easy and practical to apply, to enable successful knowledge management programmes.
  • How LIS Professionals Can Use Alerting Services

    • 1st Edition
    • Ina Fourie
    • English
    This book examines how Library and Information Service (LIS) professionals can use alerting services (also called current awareness services or CAS) to survive: to grasp new opportunities to enhance information services, their professional development, professional image and job satisfaction. It focuses on services available through the web, the importance of environmental scanning and the importance of LIS professionals using their awareness of new information to make a difference. Being alert and keeping track of the latest developments are not enough. Information should be used to generate new knowledge, to inspire, to make progress and to survive. LIS professionals need to be confident that they can prepare for new challenges, deal with information anxiety and information overload and claim new professional roles. Well-informed, confident and creative LIS professionals should be an inspiration to other professions: their use of alerting services should serve as a benchmark for others. The book draws on research on information behaviour, information usage, and information communication and also on alerting services, environmental scanning, and knowledge generation.
  • Digital Information Contexts

    Theoretical Approaches to Understanding Digital Information
    • 1st Edition
    • Luke Tredinnick
    • English
    This book is an introduction to critical and theoretical perspectives on digital information. It outlines the origins of information management in nineteenth-century humanism, the adoption of scientific perspectives in the documentation and information science movements, and modern theoretical frameworks for understanding the social, cultural and political place of digital information. Digital Information Contexts is the first book aimed at information professionals to give a detailed outline of important perspectives on information and meaning, including post-structuralism and post-modernism. It explores parallels between information management and media, communication and cultural studies. Each chapter includes recommended further reading to guide the reader to further information. It is a comprehensive introduction to theoretical frameworks for understanding and studying digital information.
  • Digital Libraries

    Integrating Content and Systems
    • 1st Edition
    • Mark V. Dahl + 2 more
    • English
    Low cost Internet technology has transformed library services by allowing libraries to play a creative and dynamic role in the delivery of information to their users. This book helps managers, systems personnel, and graduate students understand the challenges of providing digital library services with a number disparate content providers and software systems. It also helps readers understand what libraries must do to deliver a user experience customized to the needs of individual institutions.
  • Wikis

    Tools for information Work and Collaboration
    • 1st Edition
    • Jane Klobas
    • English
    Wikis as information sources, as a form of publishing, and as tools for collaboration, are discussed in this book. The applications of wikis in library and information services, education and business are explored, with examples. Provides an overview of wikis, in the context of the increasing use of ‘social software’ and the trend towards a more interactive World Wide Web. The different kinds of wikis are identified and described. The advantages and problems associated with using wikis in information work and collaboration are discussed. One of the problems is simply that of finding wikis that deal with a particular topic or activity, and this is addressed through a discussion of directories, search engines and other finding tools. Later chapters cover the options for creating wikis and the management of a wiki. The book concludes with lists of resources related to wikis.
  • Collection Management

    A Concise Introduction
    • 1st Edition
    • John Kennedy
    • English
    The rapidly increasing reliance on digital rather than print-based resources has not diminished the importance of library collection management, but it has required significant modification in the thinking and the practice of collection managers, who today usually have to consider their clients' need for both print-based and digital materials. This updated edition aims to provide a concise overview of the major elements of contemporary collection management of print and digital resources - including policy formulation, selection, acquisition, evaluation, preservation, deselection, and cooperative collecting - in a way which aims to be of interest to the student and to any other reader seeking an understanding of a particularly dynamic area of librarianship.Much that has been previously published on collection management focuses on academic libraries, particularly those in North America. This book places greater emphasis on the experiences of smaller public and special libraries, and attempts to view its subject from the perspective of libraries in Australia and other countries geographically remote from North America and Western Europe. Dr John Kennedy has taught collection management at Charles Sturt University for over a decade and has produced several previous publications on the subject.
  • Information Literacy

    Recognising the Need
    • 1st Edition
    • Geoff Walton + 1 more
    • English
    This set of conference proceedings derives from the Information Literacy: Recognising the Need conference at Staffordshire University, 17 May 2006. The papers in this book discuss key themes in information literacy and have been written by several renowned experts in the field. Information literacy is not just about finding information: it is a true catalyst for educational change. It enables independent lifelong learning. These papers consider the position of information literacy in the higher education arena, how students bewitched by easy internet searching can be engaged in the learning process and how information professionals and academic colleagues might move in partnership towards the information literate university.
  • Training Library Patrons the Addie Way

    • 1st Edition
    • Debby Wegener
    • English
    This book takes an informal and in-depth look at the five steps of the ADDIE model - Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation – as used in library training programmes. With hints and tips and practical advice from other trainers, the aims of the book are to (1) make the training of library patrons a simple task and (2) to show library staff that training can be rewarding and extremely satisfying. Anyone who has had to design a library training programme will know that it can be quite a daunting task without guidelines, but when it comes to the various learning theories and the associated instructional design models, the choice can be overwhelming. This book will help the reader overcome these problems.
  • Scenarios and Information Design

    A User-Oriented Practical Guide
    • 1st Edition
    • Mary Rice-Lively + 1 more
    • English
    Developers of digital media require new skills in information design. Information designers developing web sites, software or online system interfaces, games and other digital media often overlook critical steps to ensure the usability of their product. Scenarios and Information Design introduces readers to both the theory and practice of the use of scenarios to create usable information spaces. Through practical applications, such as step-by-step guidelines for scenario development and case studies with analysis tools, the book outlines crucial steps to develop user and use scenarios to achieve competencies for and tools to implement prescribed tasks for user-oriented information design.
  • Characteristics of the Successful 21St Century Information Professional

    • 1st Edition
    • Dennie Heye
    • English
    This book is intended for professional Library and Information Services (LIS) staff and LIS students who want to be more successful as information professionals. The LIS profession is one of the most challenging in the 21st century, combining expertise in information management with information technology skills and knowledge of marketing. The author has written a practical and concise book on key characteristics, with practical tips and techniques. Characteristics of the Successful 21st Century Information Professional is a guide to the diverse characteristics of the information professional, helping readers to achieve greater success in their jobs and careers.
  • Solving Management Problems in Information Services

    • 1st Edition
    • Christine Urquhart
    • English
    The book provides a practical approach to solving management problems in information and library services. The aim is to demonstrate that some simple mathematical techniques can be used to make the life of the harassed manager easier and more interesting.
  • The Culture of Evaluation in Library and Information Services

    • 1st Edition
    • John Crawford
    • English
    This practical book is written from the point of view of the practitioner, rather than the researcher. It presents current and recent work in the subject area in a way relevant to practitioners, researchers and students. The book includes practical examples of survey and research work and discusses honestly the practical difficulties involved. Aimed at an international audience, examples of good practice are drawn from a number of countries across the world.
  • Interlending and Document Supply in Britain Today

    • 1st Edition
    • Jean Bradford + 1 more
    • English
    This comprehensive book explains to library staff and students how interlending and document supply (IDS) operates in the United Kingdom. It also helps librarians overseas understand how to interact with UK libraries. Interlending and Document Supply in Britain Today a comprehensive treatment of the subjects which IDS librarians in all types of library need to know, in order to work more effectively. Senior library managers will benefit from an overview of the current organisation of IDS, enabling them to improve their support to frontline staff and to identify issues which will be important in the future.
  • Descriptive and Subject Cataloguing

    A Workbook
    • 1st Edition
    • Jaya Raju + 1 more
    • English
    A workbook on descriptive and subject cataloguing featuring practical examples and suggested solutions to reinforce theoretical concepts and practical application in descriptive cataloguing (using Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd ed., 1998 rev.), bibliographic classification (using Dewey Decimal Classification, 21st ed.) and assigning subject headings (using Sears List of Subject Headings, 17th ed.).
  • Ten Steps to Maturity in Knowledge Management

    Lessons in Economy
    • 1st Edition
    • J. K. Suresh + 1 more
    • English
    Presents a comprehensive set of lessons for the KM practitioner, covering all phases of planning, design, implementation and assessment of knowledge management. A central theme of the book is that for the success of KM in an organization, it is critical to ensure that investments and changes are made with sensibility and economy in each phase of the KM solution. The book explains the reasoning behind each of the lessons, illustrates it with scenarios extracted from real-world KM implementations, and provides guidelines for practitioners to implement the lesson in their own organization.
  • The Institutional Repository

    • 1st Edition
    • Richard E. Jones + 2 more
    • English
    Providing a thorough review of the concept of the Institutional Repository (IR) the book examines how they can be set up, maintained and embedded into general institutional working practice. Specific reference is made to capturing certain types of research material such as E-Theses and E-Prints and what the issues are with regard to obtaining the material, ensuring that all legal grounds are covered and then storing the material in perpetuity. General workflow and administrative processes that may come up during the implementation and maintenance of an IR are discussed. The authors notes that there are a number of different models that have been adopted worldwide for IR management, and these are discussed. Finally, a case study of the inception of the Edinburgh Research Archive is provided which takes the user through the long path from conception to completion of an IR, examining the highs and lows of the process and offering advice for other implementers. This allows the book the opportunity to introduce extensive practical experience in unexpected areas such as mediated deposit.
  • Digital Libraries and the Challenges of Digital Humanities

    • 1st Edition
    • Jeffrey Rydberg-Cox
    • English
    One of the major challenges facing librarians and curators of digital repositories are the innovative ‘born digital’ documents created by scholars in the humanities. These documents range from the parsed corpora created by linguists to traditional reference information presented in electronic databases, to rich, multi-media hypertexts combining audio, still and moving video and text, and many other sorts of material. Too often, librarians think of electronic resources solely as providing access to subscription databases. This book encourages librarians to think holistically of the life cycle of electronic resources from new items being created at their institution, to end-user access, to long term preservation of digital resources.
  • Knowledge Management

    For Teams and Projects
    • 1st Edition
    • Nick Milton
    • English
    The discipline of Knowledge Management (KM) is becoming established as a key productivity enabler in today’s modern organisations. This book describes how KM can be applied at a team and project level: at all scales from small teams working on discrete activities, to large multi-company construction and development projects. The book includes some of the KM techniques that can be applied to projects, such as Peer Assists, Project Retrospect's, Technical Limit meetings, KM self-audits, and KM plans. It is illustrated throughout with examples from successful organisations.
  • Knowledge-Based Working

    Intelligent Operating for the Knowledge Age
    • 1st Edition
    • Steve Ellis
    • English
    Covers the priorities and challenges facing organisations who are increasingly focused on ‘knowledge work’; it is written from a human relations – rather than a technological - perspective. It uses real cases, backed up by evidence and analysis from a detailed study into strategic knowledge based working (KBW). The content of the book draws on two chief sources: the author’s own expertise in KBW developed over five years of blue chip KBW consultancy, and the results of a previously unpublished five year study. The book offers clear, step-by-step guidance to executives who need to understand, deploy and implement KBW.
  • Bush, City, Cyberspace

    The Development of Australian Children’s Literature into the 21st Century
    • 1st Edition
    • John Foster + 2 more
    • English
    Aimed at academic, professional and general readers, Bush, city, cyberspace provides a snapshot of the state of Australian children's and adolescent literature in the early twenty-first century, and an insight into its history. In doing so, it promotes a sense of where Australian literature for young people may be going and captures a literary and critical mood with which readers in Australia and beyond will identify. The title of the work is intended to capture the fact that the field has changed dramatically in the century and a half that 'Australian children's literature' has existed, from the bush myths and heroism that inform the past and the present, through the recognition that the vast majority of authors and readers live in cities, to the third wave of 'cyberliterature' that incorporates multimedia, hypertext, weblinks and e-books - none of which lessens the enduring enthusiasm of practitioners and readers for books.Bush, city, cyberspace is not meant to be an encyclopedic volume. Rather, well-known, recent and/or award-winning works have been emphasised, with the addition of others where these help to illuminate particular points. The book is similar in coverage and approach to Australian Children's Literature: An Exploration of Genre and Theme, written by the same three authors and published by the Centre for Information Studies in 1995. In the intervening period, much has changed in the field, notable examples including the blurring of the dividing line between 'quality' and 'popular' literature; the blending of genres; the rise of a truly indigenous literature; the demise, to a significant extent, of 'Outbackery' in fiction; the acceptance of multiculturalism as the norm; and the advent of the literature of cyberspace, with new methods, and the sheer speed, of communication between writer and reader. All these trends, and others, are reflected in this work.
  • The Information Literate School Community 2

    Issues of Leadership
    • 1st Edition
    • James Henri + 1 more
    • English
    This book is both an update and an extension of The Information Literate School Community: Best practice which has been used as a student textbook and practitioners guide in a number of countries. In this new book, the editors have sought to bring together an eclectic but focused group of researchers and practitioners to explore the key aspects of leadership in the information literate school community. The book provides both students and practitioners (principals, teachers, teacher librarians and researchers) with a critical analysis and evaluation of topics such as the concept of an information literate school community; the development of new literacies; research on information literacy; the implementation of an information literacy programme; the importance of reading development; leadership in information literate schools; policy formulation; knowledge management; ICT and student learning; the role of the teacher librarian; and professional development. There is an even balance of research and practice in the book that will appeal to a wide audience because of its currency and topicality.
  • Archives

    Recordkeeping in Society
    • 1st Edition
    • Sue McKemmish + 3 more
    • English
    Archives: Recordkeeping in Society introduces the significance of archives and the results of local and international research in archival science. It explores the role of recordkeeping in various cultural, organisational and historical contexts. Its themes include archives as a web of recorded information: new information technologies have presented dilemmas, but also potentialities for managing of the interconnectedness of archives. Another theme is the relationship between evidence and memory in archives and in archival discourse. It also explores recordkeeping and accountability, memory, societal power and juridical power, along with an examination of issues raised by globalisation and interntionalisation.... chapter authors are researchers, practitioners and educators from leading Australian and international recordkeeping organisations, each contributing previously unpublished research in and reflections on their field of expertise. They include Adrian Cunningham, Don Schauder, Hans Hofman, Chris Hurley, Livia Iacovino, Eric Ketelaar and Ann Pederson.The book reflects broad Australian and international perspectives making it relevant worldwide. It will be a particularly valuable resource for students of archives and records, researchers from realted knowledge disciplines, sociology and history, practitioners wanting to reflect further on their work, and all those with an interest in archives and their role in shaping human activity and community culture.
  • The New Information Professional

    How to Thrive in the Information Age Doing What You Love
    • 1st Edition
    • Sue Myburgh
    • English
    This books looks at the role of the information professional in the changing environment in which they now work. Information professionals find themselves in a paradoxical situation: there is increased interest in information and its management, stimulated by the Internet, and, simultaneously, diminished recognition by employers and the public at large of the theory and practice of library and information science. This has resulted in the ‘invasion’ of traditional library and information science territory by ‘rival’ groups, such as information technologists, system analysts, business consultants and even accountants, while information professionals with appropriate skills are ignored or even unemployed. This book provides clarification of the many issues facing both practicing information managers and library and information science students, as well as providing a guide to the new and diverse career pathways available in the field. These tools assist individuals in achieving greater success in their careers, as well as leading to greater recognition of the contribution of library and information services in organisations and society.
  • Faculty-Librarian Relationships

    • 1st Edition
    • Paul Jenkins
    • English
    Faculty-Librarian Relationships illustrates how academic librarians can enjoy a healthy working partnership with the faculty they serve. Though geared towards those new to the profession, the book is aimed at librarians interested in learning more about this often-complex relationship. Helpful strategies are provided for librarians working with faculty in the areas of collection development and information literacy. The book includes a number of interviews conducted with faculty members so librarians have examples of thoughts, concerns and suggestions regarding libraries and librarians.
  • Knowledge Management

    An integrative Approach
    • 1st Edition
    • Meliha Handzic + 1 more
    • English
    This book focuses on basic knowledge management (KM) concepts and their inter-relationships. Most importantly, the book brings together diverse perspectives currently seen in the field of KM research and practice in a logical sequence incorporating the most relevant and representative examples into an integrated framework. It offers a comprehensive coverage of the KM phenomena, including: KM frameworks, KM drivers, socio-technological enablers and processes, KM outputs and outcomes, as well as issues and challenges for KM present and future. With its integrated and systematic approach to KM phenomena, the book contributes to achieving an objective and complete picture of the field. The book will help students, individuals and organisations to better understand the benefits and limitations of KM. It will also help managers to choose more suitable KM solutions to enhance and exploit their organisational knowledge.
  • Enabling End-Users

    Information Skills Training
    • 1st Edition
    • Ann Poyner
    • English
    This introductory book suggests ways of approaching some of the problems library and information professionals face as they prepare to offer end user education or training through personal tuition. Advice is given about how to take stock of existing library and information services in relation to their place and value within organisations. It examines issues about who needs end user education and training, what they might need and how it can be delivered. Guidance on planning and running individual, group and workshop training is provided.
  • Globalisation, Information and Libraries

    The Implications of the World Trade Organisation’s GATS and TRIPS Agreements
    • 1st Edition
    • Ruth Rikowski
    • English
    This book provides an overview of the World Trade Organisation; in particular, it focuses on two of the agreements being developed at the WTO, which are due to be strengthened in 2005, and are likely to have significant implications for libraries and information: the General Agreement on Trade in Services (the GATS) and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The book argues that the library and information profession needs to be more aware of these agreements and the way in which they threaten some of the professional ethics and principles (such as the balance in copyright).
  • Law, Libraries and Technology

    • 1st Edition
    • Mark Van Hoorebeek
    • English
    Libraries are continuing to evolve as a result of the dual pressures of technology and user access. The new digital media forms are enabling librarians to find new methods of information delivery. Libraries and librarians need to be aware of the legal ramifications of the new technologies that are available. This book provides an authoritative and practical guide to the subject. Despite the negative prognosis for libraries during the early 1990s in the face of digital technology, libraries have proved to be surprisingly resilient, and have begun the long process of incorporating digital technologies into their service. The legal ramifications, however, always need to be considered. This book does just that.
  • Classification in Theory and Practice

    • 1st Edition
    • Susan Batley
    • English
    This book covers all of the major library classification schemes in use in Europe, UK and US; it includes practical exercises to demonstrate their application. Importantly, classifying electronic resources is also discussed. The aim of the book is to demystify a very complex subject, and to provide a sound theoretical underpinning, together with practical advice and development of practical skills. The book fills the gap between more complex theoretical texts and those books with a purely practical approach. Chapters concentrate purely on classification rather than cataloguing and indexing, ensuring a more in-depth coverage of the topic.
  • Information Literacy

    A Practitioner’s Guide
    • 1st Edition
    • Susie Andretta
    • English
    Taking an international approach, this book explores two main models of Information Literacy or IL: the SCONUL (Society of College, National and University Libraries) Seven Pillars of Information Skills and the IL competencies identified by the ALA (American Library Association). Practical examples for the development of IL skills identified by these models are illustrated using printed and web-based resources. The process of integrating IL provision within a programme of study is outlined to illustrate two strategies underpinning this integration at generic-skills level, the ‘plug & play’ approach, and at subject-specific level, the ‘research skills approach’. A range of diagnostic and assessment methods, to monitor the iterative process of IL skills development, are also presented within these frameworks.
  • Understanding Digital Libraries

    • 2nd Edition
    • Michael Lesk
    • English
    This fully revised and updated second edition of Understanding Digital Libraries focuses on the challenges faced by both librarians and computer scientists in a field that has been dramatically altered by the growth of the Web. At every turn, the goal is practical: to show you how things you might need to do are already being done, or how they can be done. The first part of the book is devoted to technology and examines issues such as varying media requirements, indexing and classification, networks and distribution, and presentation. The second part of the book is concerned with the human contexts in which digital libraries function. Here you’ll find specific and useful information on usability, preservation, scientific applications, and thorny legal and economic questions.
  • Continuing Professional Development

    A Guide for Information Professionals
    • 1st Edition
    • Alan Brine
    • English
    This book helps information professionals in their continuing professional development (CPD). The book shows them how to examine their own skills and plan their development over a period of time. It also helps them to focus on their career path and begin the acquisition of skills necessary for the route they wish to follow in information work. The book is set against the background of CPD being an essential part of the modern information professional’s career planning. Employers are certain to be able to choose between a number of qualified personnel for every available post. Those individuals that have a proven track record of skills development in both their personal and professional skills are more employable.
  • Electronic Resources in the Virtual Learning Environment

    A Guide for Librarians
    • 1st Edition
    • Jane Secker
    • English
    This book covers the key current topic of electronic library resources and learning in the digital age. The book begins by outlining the changing ‘information environment’ in which librarians now work. It then goes on to discuss: the development of e-learning as a concept and the impact this is having on the further and higher education sector; the changing role of the librarian in supporting online learning; the technical problems associated with connecting up library systems; the copyright and licensing of electronic resources in a digital environment; and, finally the book offers tips for librarians when becoming involved in such initiatives.
  • Freedom of Information

    Working Towards Compliance
    • 1st Edition
    • Liz Taylor
    • English
    As from 1 January 2005, Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation will come fully into force throughout the UK and could potentially change the way in which the public sector manages information. This report provides practical advice on how to achieve compliance with the Acts; the report helps to ensure successful management of the key risks that the Acts may pose to organisations across the UK. The report also introduces some of the change management issues that will need to be addressed within organisations to facilitate the transition to a more open culture of FOI.
  • Weblogs and Libraries

    • 1st Edition
    • Laurel Clyde
    • English
    This book discusses the topic of ‘weblogs and libraries’ from two main perspectives: weblogs as sources of information for libraries and librarians; and weblogs as tools that libraries can use to promote their services and to provide a means of communication with their clients. It begins with an overview of the whole weblog and blogging phenomenon. The many different kinds of weblogs are outlined (including personal weblogs, community weblogs, multimedia weblogs). The problem of locating weblogs is addressed through a discussion of weblog directories, search engines and other finding tools. Chapters include using weblogs as sources of information in the library or information service, the options for creating a weblog, and managing the library’s own weblog.
  • Online Information Services in the Social Sciences

    • 1st Edition
    • Neil Jacobs + 1 more
    • English
    Information professionals are increasingly responsible not only for running traditional information and library services but also for providing an online presence for their organisation. This book shows how best practice in delivering online information services should be based on actual user needs and behaviour. A series of case studies provide real life examples of how social science information is being used in the community. The book then draws on these case studies to outline the main issues facing service providers: such as usability, metadata and management. The book concludes with a look to the future and how both technological and organisational changes will shape online information services.
  • The Strategic Management of Technology

    A Guide for Library and Information Services
    • 1st Edition
    • David Baker
    • English
    Aimed at professionals within Library and Information Services (LIS), this book is about the management of technology in a strategic context. The book is written against a backdrop of the complete transformation of LIS over the last twenty years as a result of technology. The book aims to provide managers and students of LIS at all levels with the necessary principles, approaches and tools to respond effectively and efficiently to the constant development of new technologies, both in general and within the Library and Information Services profession in particular. It looks at the various aspects of strategy development and IT management, and reviews the key techniques for successful implementation of strategy and policy.
  • Digital Dilemmas and Solutions

    • 1st Edition
    • Peter Limb
    • English
    Today, all librarians face daunting challenges posed by trends in technology, publishing, and education as the impact of a globalising information economy forces a rethink of both library strategic directions and everyday library operations. This book brings together the main issues and dilemmas facing libraries; the book clearly shows how to deal with them, and provides a best-practice guide to the solutions.
  • Australian Library Supervision and Management

    • 2nd Edition
    • Roy Sanders
    • English
    Australian Library Supervision and Management is aimed at both students and practitioners at supervisory to middle management levels. It introduces management theory, but much of the theory is woven through the text, which emphasises practical issues and perspectives. Topics given special attention include skills required to implement and support participative management, team management, leadership, self management, change management, strategic planning, job design, performance measurement, negotiation and conflict resolution.The first edition of this book, published in 1995, was the first comprehensive text on the management of libraries written for the Australasian librarian and student. Reviews of the first edition considered it a "a valuable contribution to the literature" (Australian Library Journal). Such has been the demand for this book, especially from students of library and information management, that it has been reprinted several times (including an abridged version in 2000). This long-awaited second edition takes into account the changes in management theory and practice, and the issues confronting the library manager in the twenty-first century.
  • Cataloguing Without Tears

    Managing Knowledge in the Information Society
    • 1st Edition
    • Jane Read
    • English
    This book is an introduction, ‘handy’ and authoritative guide to the principles of cataloguing for librarians, information scientists and information managers. It is intended to be used in conjunction with an internationally recognised standard to show how, firstly, cataloguing underpins all the other activities of an information service and, secondly, how to apply best practice in a variety of different situations.
  • A Librarian's Guide to the Internet

    Searching and Evaluating information
    • 1st Edition
    • Jeanne Muller
    • English
    Librarians constantly conduct searches for their customers and for themselves. However the internet and technology are constantly changing, resulting in pressure on librarians to keep up-to-date with how best to use the internet. This guide offers advice on how to use the internet and how to gain the information required most effectively. It covers for example: how to search in order to achieve the best results (strategies, what to ask and examples) and interpreting results (including examples). Importantly, not only does the book show how to use the Internet, but it also links this to perfect customer service - how to teach your customers what you know and how to properly interpret what your customers want.
  • Setting Up a New Library and Information Service

    • 1st Edition
    • Kirby Porter
    • English
    This book is intended as a guide for those people who have been charged with establishing a library or information service in their organisation. It is a practical guide to the steps that need to be taken, the people that will need to be dealt with and the procedures that will have to be adopted in order to bring the venture to a successful conclusion. The book contains many practical tips and hints from the author, based upon his ‘hands-on’, practical experience of setting up many new information services.
  • Knowledge Management

    Cultivating Knowledge Professionals
    • 1st Edition
    • Suliman Al-Hawamdeh
    • English
    This book serves as a reference for individuals interested in knowledge management (KM) and educational issues surrounding KM. It looks at KM as an emerging profession and the need to educate a new generation of knowledge professionals to deal with managing knowledge on the one hand and managing knowledge workers on the other hand. In particular, it examines the skills and competencies of knowledge professionals; and how educational programs can address these demands – covering such issues as determining the optimal mix of subjects from the various disciplines that develop the requisite professional competencies.
  • The Role of the Academic Librarian

    • 1st Edition
    • Anne Langley + 2 more
    • English
    This book covers the practical side of being an academic librarian – a role that has undergone a large degree of change in recent years. It outlines and describes the skills necessary to succeed in these large, and often complex, organisations. The book includes tools and techniques for an academic librarian for managing time, meetings, projects, publishing and research, communications (paper and electronic), the basics of supervision, and how to work in a large organisation. The impact of the growth of electronic formats on the role of the academic librarian are discussed in detail.