Best of
Library-Science

2011

Reflective Teaching, Effective Learning: Instructional Literacy for Library Educators


Char Booth - 2011
    Because MLIS education tends to offer less-than-comprehensive preparation in pedagogy and instructional design, this much-needed book tackles the challenge of effective teaching and training head-on. Char Booth, an avid library education and technology advocate, introduces a series of concepts that will empower readers at any level of experience to become better designers and presenters, as well as building their confidence and satisfaction as library educators.

Books: A Living History


Martyn Lyons - 2011
    The author traces the evolution of the book from the rarefied world of the hand-copied and illuminated volume in ancient and medieval times, through the revolutionary impact of Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press, to the rise of a publishing culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the subsequent impact of new technologies on this culture.  Many of the great individual titles of the past two millennia are discussed as well as the range of book types and formats that have emerged in the last few hundred years, from serial and dime novels to paperbacks, children’s books, and Japanese manga. The volume ends with a discussion of the digital revolution in book production and distribution and the ramifications for book lovers, who can’t help but wonder whether the book will thrive—or even survive—in a form they recognize.

The Readers' Advisory Guide to Street Literature


Vanessa Irvin Morris - 2011
    Controversial in some quarters, it is also wildly popular, and this readers' advisory by street lit expert Morris * Sketches out the rich history of the genre, shwoing why it appeals so strongly to readers and providing a quick way for street lit novices to get up to speed * Covers a variety of subgenres in terms of scope, popularity, style, major authors and works, and suggestions for readers' advisory * Serves as a tool to improve library customer service by strengthening the relationship between library staff and patrons who may be new to using public librarise Emphasing an appreciation for street lit as a way to promote reading and library use, Morris' book helps library staff establish their "street cred" by giving them the information they need to provide knowledgeable guidance.

The Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror


Becky Siegel Spratford - 2011
    So how do you wend your way through all of them to find the ones that interest a particular reader? RA expert Spratford updates her advisory to include the latest in monsters and the macabre, including * Lists of recommended titles, authors, and sub-genres, all cross-referenced for quick reference * Tips for effectively practicing horror RA, with interview questions for gauging a reader's interests * An expanded resources section, with an overview addressing the current state of horror lit, and suggestions of how to dig deeper As both an introductory guide for librarians just dipping their toes into the brackish water of scary fiction, as well as a fount of new ideas for horror-aware reference staff, Spratford's book is infernally appropriate.

Linked Data: Evolving the Web Into a Global Data Space


Tom Heath - 2011
    As the Web becomes ever more enmeshed with our daily lives, there is a growing desire for direct access to raw data not currently available on the Web or bound up in hypertext documents. LinkedData provides a publishing paradigm in which not only documents, but also data, can be a first class citizen of the Web, thereby enabling the extension of the Web with a global data space based on open standards - the Web of Data. In this Synthesis lecture we provide readers with a detailed technical introduction to LinkedData. We begin by outlining the basic principles of LinkedData, including coverage of relevant aspects of Web architecture. The remainder of the text is based around two main themes - the publication and consumption of LinkedData. Drawing on a practical LinkedData scenario, we provide guidance and best practices on: architectural approaches to publishing LinkedData; choosing URIs and vocabularies to identify and describe resources; deciding what data to return in a description of a resource on the Web; methods and frameworks for automated linking of data sets; and testing and debugging approaches for LinkedData deployments. We give an overview of existing LinkedData applications and then examine the architectures that are used to consume LinkedData from the Web, alongside existing tools and frameworks that enable these. Readers can expect to gain a rich technical understanding of LinkedData fundamentals, as the basis for application development, research or further study.

Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright


Patricia Aufderheide - 2011
    Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi chart a clear path through the confusion by urging a robust embrace of a principle long-embedded in copyright law, but too often poorly understood—fair use. By challenging the widely held notion that current copyright law has become unworkable and obsolete in the era of digital technologies, Reclaiming Fair Use promises to reshape the debate in both scholarly circles and the creative community.            This indispensable guide distills the authors’ years of experience advising documentary filmmakers, English teachers, performing arts scholars, and other creative professionals into no-nonsense advice and practical examples for content producers. Reclaiming Fair Use begins by surveying the landscape of contemporary copyright law—and the dampening effect it can have on creativity—before laying out how the fair-use principle can be employed to avoid copyright violation. Finally, Aufderheide and Jaszi summarize their work with artists and professional groups to develop best practice documents for fair use and discuss fair use in an international context. Appendixes address common myths about fair use and provide a template for creating the reader’s own best practices. Reclaiming Fair Use will be essential reading for anyone concerned with the law, creativity, and the ever-broadening realm of new media.

Interlibrary Loan Practices Handbook


Cherié L. Weible - 2011
    This collection presents a complete view of the interlibrary loan (ILL) process, with contributions from all areas of the technical services community, providingbrbull; Guidance on how to do ILL efficiently and effectively, with advice on how to be a considerate borrower and lenderbrbull; Details of preferred staffing and management techniques, showing how best practices can be implemented at any institutionbrbull; Discussion of important issues that can fall between the cracks, such as hidden copyright issues,brand the logistics of lending internationally Consortia and other library partnerships are now sharing ever larger fractions of their collections, and this book gives library staff the tools necessary for a smoothly functioning ILL system.

Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education


Will Richardson - 2011
    To prepare students to flourish in this new learning world, schools will need to transform themselves in important ways. This book is a road map for any educator thinking about using the web for learning. Build your own learning network, and use learning networks in the classroom and schoolwide to improve student outcomes.

True Stories of Censorship Battles in America's Libraries


Valerie Nye - 2011
    And not all censorship controversies involve the public objecting to a book in the collection-libraries are venues for displays and meetings, and sometimes library staff themselves are tempted to preemptively censor a work. Those facing censorship challenges can find support and inspiration in this book, which compiles dozens of stories from library front lines. Edifying and enlightening, this collection Tells the stories of several librarians who withstood difficult circumstances to champion intellectual freedom Touches on prickly issues such as age-appropriateness, some librarians' temptation to preemptively censor, sensitive cultural expressions, and criminality in the library Presents case studies of defenses that were unsuccessful, so librarians facing similar challenges can learn from these defeats There are fewer situations more stressful in a librarian's professional life than being personally confronted with a demand to remove a book from the shelves or not knowing how to respond to other kinds of censorship challenges. Reading this book will help fortify and inform those in the fray.

The Atlas of New Librarianship


R. David Lankes - 2011
    What is librarianship when it is unmoored from cataloging, books, buildings, and committees? In The Atlas of New Librarianship, R. David Lankes offers a guide to this new landscape for practitioners. He describes a new librarianship based not on books and artifacts but on knowledge and learning; and he suggests a new mission for librarians: to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities. The vision for a new librarianship must go beyond finding library-related uses for information technology and the Internet; it must provide a durable foundation for the field. Lankes recasts librarianship and library practice using the fundamental concept that knowledge is created though conversation. New librarians approach their work as facilitators of conversation; they seek to enrich, capture, store, and disseminate the conversations of their communities. To help librarians navigate this new terrain, Lankes offers a map, a visual representation of the field that can guide explorations of it; more than 140 Agreements, statements about librarianship that range from relevant theories to examples of practice; and Threads, arrangements of Agreements to explain key ideas, covering such topics as conceptual foundations and skills and values. Agreement Supplements at the end of the book offer expanded discussions. Although it touches on theory as well as practice, the Atlas is meant to be a tool: textbook, conversation guide, platform for social networking, and call to action.Copublished with the Association of College & Research Libraries.

Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology, and the Future of the Academy


Kathleen Fitzpatrick - 2011
    Facing these issues head-on, Kathleen Fitzpatrick focuses on the technological changes--especially greater utilization of internet publication technologies, including digital archives, social networking tools, and multimedia--necessary to allow academic publishing to thrive into the future. But she goes further, insisting that the key issues that must be addressed are social and institutional in origin.Springing from original research as well as Fitzpatrick's own hands-on experiments in new modes of scholarly communication through MediaCommons, the digital scholarly network she co-founded, Planned Obsolescence explores these aspects of scholarly work, as well as issues surrounding the preservation of digital scholarship and the place of publishing within the structure of the contemporary university. Written in an approachable style designed to bring administrators and scholars into a conversation, Planned Obsolescence explores both symptom and cure to ensure that scholarly communication will remain relevant in the digital future.Related Articles: Do 'the Risky Thing' in Digital Humanities--Chronicle of Higher EducationAcademic Publishing and Zombies--Inside Higher Ed

Fundamentals of Government Information: Mining, Finding, Evaluating, and Using Government Resources


Erice J. Forte - 2011
    Sifting through the massive amount of government data available to find the answers and current information you and your patrons need, however, can be difficult and overwhelming. Fundamentals of Government Information will bring ease and effectiveness to this daunting process by providing you with the background knowledge and tools needed to quickly access the very best government information resources. Here, the editors pool their extensive experience to present, in an approachable and well-organized style, the most current online and print government information resources available. You will find models and techniques throughout, as well as more than 50 chapter exercises. Key topics include: Essential government resources, the nature of government information, and government rules and regulations The court system and judicial law Statistical resources like the Statistical Abstract of the United States Health information and PubMed General scientific information and scientific publishing agencies like NASA and the United States Geologic Survey (USGS) Environmental and energy resources from agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy Consumer information from sources such as the Pew Center on the Internet and American Life Census data

Becoming Confident Teachers: A guide for academic librarians


Claire McGuinness - 2011
    While instruction is now generally accepted as a core library function in the 21st century, librarians often lack sufficient training in pedagogy and instructional design; consequently, they find their teaching responsibilities stressful and challenging. By exploring the requirements and responsibilities of the role, this book guides teaching librarians to a position where they feel confident that they have acquired the basic body of knowledge and procedures to handle any kind of instructional requests that come their way. In addition, the author offers strategies and methods for self-development and fostering a “teacher identity,” giving teaching librarians a greater sense of purpose and direction, and the ability to clearly communicate their role to non-library colleagues and within the public sphere.

ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science


Michael Levine-Clark - 2011
    Written by a panel of experts from across the LIS world, and updated to include the latest technology and internet-related terms, this handy book will become an essential part of every library's and librarian's reference collection and will also be a blessing for LIS students and recent graduates.

Deaf Education in the 21st Century: Topics and Trends


Nanci A. Scheetz - 2011
     Specifically developed as a current and comprehensive look at the rapidly evolving field of deaf education, this first edition text covers a wide array of critical topics regarding deaf and hard-of-hearing education including cognition, social development, personal development, myths and misconceptions, postsecondary opportunities and employment, cochlear implants, and personnel training. Supplemented with a variety of illustrations, charts, and tables, Deaf Education in the 21st Century has been carefully written and organized to prepare today's students to work effectively with this population.

The No Shelf Required Guide to E-book Purchasing


Sue Polanka - 2011
    47 no.8 According to recent studies, e-book penetration in libraries of all types is rising rapidly. Creating or expanding an e-book collection is a complicated challenge. In addition to facing the same challenges a librarian would face in developing a print collection, librarians developing an e-book collection also face a host of unprecendented legal, technological, and vendor challenges. This issue of Library Technology Reports will examine these challenges, focusing on strategies for purchasing e-books in a consortium, working with vendors, implementing e-reader programs in an academic environment, and purchasing electronic textbooks. Although the challenges are significant, this issue will show how they can be overcome and how the effort it takes to develop an e-book collection is well worth the effort.

Protecting Intellectual Freedom in Your Public Library


June Pinnell-Stephens - 2011
    Chock-full of case studies, real-life examples, and hypothetical scenarios, this book provides *An engaging way to introduce new employees to basic IF concepts *Practical advice on how to effectively handle intellectual freedom challenges *Numerous sidebars, written by IF expert Deborah Caldwell-Stone, detailing copyright laws, statutes, past court cases, and smaple policies *And much more

Without a Net: Librarians Bridging the Digital Divide


Jessamyn C. West - 2011
    Part inspirational, part practical Without a Net: Librarians Bridging the Digital Divide is a summary of techniques, approaches, and skills that will help librarians meet this challenge.Jessamyn C. West's experience as a librarian, deeply immersed in technology culture yet living in rural America, makes her uniquely qualified to write this book. Taking a big-picture approach to the subject, she demystifies and simplifies tech training for the busy librarian, providing an easy-to-use handbook full of techniques that can be used with many different library populations. As an added bonus, she also examines the players in the library technology arena to offer firsthand reports on what works, what doesn't, and what's next.

The Special Collections Handbook


Alison Cullingford - 2011
    It also includes International case studies in each chapter drawn from a variety of sectors that offer insight into how real people have dealt with challenges in practice.

Metadata for Digital Collections: A How-To-Do-It Manual


Steven J. Miller - 2011
    

Teen Read Week and Teen Tech Week: Tips and Resources for Yalsa's Initiatives


Young Adult Library Services Association - 2011
    

Managing Image Collections: A practical guide


Margot Note - 2011
    Readers will gain the knowledge to manage the digitization process from beginning to end, assess and define the needs of their particular project, and evaluate digitization options. Additionally, they will select strategies which best meet current and future needs, acquire the knowledge to select the best images for digitization, and understand the legal issues surrounding digitization of visual collections.

A Book Sale How-To Guide: More Money, Less Stress


Pat Ditzler - 2011
    Book sale veterans Ditzler and Dumas point out specific ways to run a sale to ensure maximum financial benefit while building community support. Readers will learn - How to organize teams of volunteers to solicit, sort, price, and manage the physical inventory, including art, cultural objects, videos, CDs, and more - The importance of building momentum from one book sale to the next by recruiting a permanent team of volunteers - How the Internet can be used to increase sales Using case histories from three successful ongoing programs, everything from setup to cleanup, on-site money matters, and financial control is covered. The practical sample forms included will make running a successful book sale that much easier.

Visible Writings: Cultures, Forms, Readings


Marija DalbelloTiphaine Samoyault - 2011
    With more than 130 color and black-and-white photographs, Visible Writings sheds new light on the visual dimensions of writing as well as writing's interaction with images in ways that affect our experiences of reading and seeing.Multicultural in character and historical in range, essays discuss pre-Colombian Mesoamerican scripts, inscriptions on ancient Greek vases, medieval illuminations, Renaissance prints, Enlightenment concepts of the legible, and the Western "reading" of Chinese ideograms. A rich array of modern forms, including comics, poster art, typographic signs, scribblings in writers' manuscripts, anthropomorphic statistical pictograms, the street writings of 9/11, intersections between poetry and painting, the use of color in literary texts, and the use of writing in visual art are also addressed.Visible Writings reaches outside the traditional venues of literature and art history into topics that consider design, history of writing, philosophy of language, and the emerging area of visual studies. Marija Dalbello, Mary Shaw, and the other contributors offer both scholars and those with a more casual interest in literature and art the opportunity, simply stated, to see the writing on the wall.

Hacking the Academy: New Approaches to Scholarship and Teaching from Digital Humanities


Daniel J. Cohen - 2011
    Cohen and Tom Scheinfeldt posted the following provocative questions online:“Can an algorithm edit a journal? Can a library exist without books? Can students build and manage their own learning management platforms? Can a conference be held without a program? Can Twitter replace a scholarly society?”As recently as the mid-2000s, questions like these would have been unthinkable. But today serious scholars are asking whether the institutions of the academy as they have existed for decades, even centuries, aren’t becoming obsolete. Every aspect of scholarly infrastructure is being questioned, and even more importantly, being hacked. Sympathetic scholars of traditionally disparate disciplines are canceling their association memberships and building their own networks on Facebook and Twitter. Journals are being compiled automatically from self-published blog posts. Newly minted PhDs are forgoing the tenure track for alternative academic careers that blur the lines between research, teaching, and service. Graduate students are looking beyond the categories of the traditional CV and building expansive professional identities and popular followings through social media. Educational technologists are “punking” established technology vendors by rolling out their own open source infrastructure.Here, in Hacking the Academy, Daniel J. Cohen and Tom Scheinfeldt have gathered a sampling of the answers to their initial questions from scores of engaged academics who care deeply about higher education. These are the responses from a wide array of scholars, presenting their thoughts and approaches with a vibrant intensity, as they explore and contribute to ongoing efforts to rebuild scholarly infrastructure for a new millennium.

Let the Games Begin! Engaging Students with Interactive Information Literacy Instruction


Theresa R. Mcdevitt - 2011
    Here are sixty field-tested games that teach information literacy skills using fun, interactive activities at a variety of skill and knowledge levels. You'll find card games and Jeopardy games, games that involve individual and group work, clickers, white boards, chalk boards, running around the library, and moving around the classroom.Listen as Editor Theresa R. McDevitt and Contributor Ryan Sittler discuss the book with the bloggers at Adventures in Library Instruction in a 60-minute podcast called "Putting FUN back in Fundamentals."Editor Theresa McDevitt has picked 60 of the absolute best ones, all field-tested, from colleges and universities across the country. Examples include: Let's Play Information JeopardyLibrary Mystery Scavenger HuntName that LCSH!Biggest Researcher CompetitionYouTube DetectivesTwitter and Tagging Your Research PaperQuality CountsPick a PeriodicalDetails for each game are provided, including: objectives; information literacy standards addressed; audience (size, educational level); time required; materials and equipment - including prize suggestions; area setup; preparation; game instructions and processes.With this step-by-step creative guide, instructors will be able to confidently create information literacy instruction sessions that will break the mold, engaging students in learning that is both highly educational and highly enjoyable. Summary Table of Contents: Ice BreakersQuick Introductory Library Orientation ClassesThe Physical and Virtual Structure of Academic LibrariesThe Organization of Library MaterialsSearching Online CatalogsMonographic LiteratureFinding Periodical LiteratureOnline SearchingInternet Search StrategiesEvaluating the Quality and Authority of Print and Electronic ResourcesThe Ethical Use of Information

Graphic Novels in Your School Library


Jesse Karp - 2011
    This dynamic book takes a look at the term "graphic novel," how the format has become entwined in our culture, and the ways in which graphic novels can be used in the library and in the classroom. To set those unfamiliar with the format at ease, graphic novel expert Karp - Introduces the history, the symbols, and the conventions of the form - Provides annotated lists of core titles to help K-12 librarians build their collections - Offers lesson plans that use graphic novels to impart facts and enliven discussion on everything from life skills and dating to history A one-stop resource which keeps the school library firmly at center stage, this eye-opening book will change your view of graphic novels.

The End of Membership as We Know It: Building the Fortune-Flipping, Must-Have Association of the Next Century


Sarah L. Sladek - 2011
    No, membership is not dead, argues author Sarah Sladek. But associations do need to change their thinking and their models. In The End of Membership As We Know It: Building the Fortune-Flipping, Must-Have Association of the Next Century, Sladek offers practical, proven ways that associations can respond to changes affecting participation such as the generational shifts in the workforce, social changes, and technology-eased access to content and community.The End of Membership As We Know It explains:How niche the new competitive advantage is Why organizational culture has an enormous impact on recruitment and retention What emerging member-prospects value and want Why and how to focus on member ROI instead of program ROI How to craft and deliver compelling benefits rather than features How to extend your reach Which emerging models are taking root and showing promise Providing numerous real-world examples along with specific guidance, The End of Membership As We Know It is a must-have guide for moving your membership model into the future.

Transforming Information Literacy Instruction Using Learner-Centered Teaching


Joan R. Kaplowitz - 2011