The digital humanities (DH) remain a growing area of interest among researchers and a locus of new positions within libraries, especially academic libraries, as well as archives, museums, and cultural heritage organizations. In response to this demand, many programs that train information professionals have developed specific curricula around DH.…

This article explores the historical relationships between libraries, policy, and politics in the United States. Far too often, policy and political discussions related to libraries have little historical context. While libraries have long viewed themselves as a pillar of democracy by supporting informed, educated, and engaged citizenry, political…

This report sheds light on the expertise required to support a robust and sustainable digital scholarship (DS) program. It focuses first on defining and describing the key domain knowledge, skills, competencies, and mindsets at some of the world's most prominent digital scholarship programs. It then identifies the main strategies used to build…

In 2008, we started by pulling a sample of 483 public libraries from across the country, using 2007 public library annual report data. Because small libraries have different needs and resources than larger libraries, we stratified the sample to make comparisons by size, according to the following population groups: fewer than 10,000 served;…

Self-service is a hit. From gas stations to banks to grocery stores--it has become table stakes for retailers who aim to satisfy an increasingly independent consumer. Libraries are no exception, and, in fact, with their card catalog past, they may well have been in the vanguard in enabling customers to find what they want on their own. Card…

This study reports on the results of interviews conducted in December 2009 and January 2010 to identify innovative service trends in library and information services in the government and corporate arenas. The study was undertaken as part of a Library and Archives Canada (LAC) research project to inform the Government of Canada Assistant Deputy…

Nationwide education initiatives are underway in various parts of the world, including a push for national curricula in the U.S. and Australia. In Australia, school librarians have been invited guests to provide input into the integration of digital/information literacy across curriculum areas. Conversely, U.S., school librarians crashed the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose meta-synthetic ideas and knowledge asset management approaches to build a comprehensive strategic framework for Beijing City in China. Design/methodology/approach: Methods include a review of relevant literature in both English and Chinese, case studies of different types of support frameworks in…

The use of interactive web technologies on public library web sites in the United States has been a topic of much discussion in recent years, and a shift in certain types of user services is underway. Terms like "Web 2.0" and even "Library 2.0" have become common in library literature and at conferences as those on the early…

Over the past several decades, millions of digital objects of significant scientific, economic, cultural, and historic value have been published and distributed to libraries and archives on removable media. Providing long-term access to these documents, media files, and software executables is an increasingly complex task because of dependencies…

According to the preface, "in light of the growing multicultural population in the United States, twenty-first-century library services will require culturally competent librarians." For years AASL has been addressing cultural issues in its official journal, "Knowledge Quest". This collection brings together articles that touch…

This address will provide an overview of the societal and economic pressures that are driving change in post industrial economies and their schools, review the characteristics of selected societies such as Australia, USA and Hong Kong, summarise the current trends in information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their impacts on learning…

Over the past decade, policy discussions about public access computing in libraries have focused on the role that these institutions play in bridging the digital divide. In these discussions, public access computing services are generally targeted at individuals who either cannot afford a computer and Internet access, or have never received formal…

Formed in 1996, Internet2 is a not-for-profit advanced network consortium led by the U.S. research and higher education community. Its goals are to provide leading-edge network capabilities and to facilitate the development, deployment, and use of revolutionary Internet technologies. Starting with 34 universities, Internet2 has grown to more than…

Modern academic libraries have a great number of information resources available online in the form of electronic catalogs, books, journals, and subject subscription databases. To determine whether users can easily retrieve the information they are seeking, academic librarians conduct usability testing of their libraries' Web sites. There has been…