Amid growing isolationism after World War I, the American Library Association transferred its wartime programs to train librarians in Europe and promote the American model of public libraries. Working in collaboration with American philanthropists and members of the French library community, ALA established a permanent library school in Paris that…

Games and other forms of play are used in today's libraries to attract underserved patrons, to introduce patrons to other library resources and services, and to facilitate engagement between library patrons. While many perceive gaming as a new library service, gaming services have been part of librarianship since the nineteenth century through…

The impacts of the Internet on library services and information usage since the advent of the World Wide Web have been significant, changing patron expectations for libraries, the ways in which libraries can reach patrons, the amount of information available, the job requirements of librarians, and the roles that libraries can play in their…

Collaboration in the digital domain offers an opportunity to provide enhanced digital services and extended reach to the community. This article adopts a service-oriented perspective through which it considers environmental drivers for digital library collaboration; discusses emergent collaborative partnerships across UK educational institutions,…

The field of library and information science (LIS) continues to struggle with the issue of diversity and inclusion. As we are perpetually working to increase racial and gender diversity in the profession, the definition of diversity continues to broaden to include socioeconomic status, education, language, literacy, age, sexual orientation,…

Public libraries are heavily affected by political and policy-making processes that shape the funding, activities, and roles of libraries in society, with the explosion of information policy decisions in the past two decades significantly increasing the responsibilities of libraries while also increasing limitations on their activities. Research…

Jane Maud Campbell's career demonstrated her commitment and passion for library services with immigrants and minorities as one of the first advocates for multiculturalism in librarianship. She began her career working in the Newark Public Library and soon was employed as the librarian of the Passaic Public Library. She was the first woman employed…

Presented as the keynote address at the Library Research Seminar, University of Maryland, October 7, 2010, this essay identifies and explores three agendas ever appropriate for study, the pursuits of which are especially needed now. They are as follows: to (1) explore the historical dimension of library topics, (2) revive study of the institution…

Wayne A. Wiegand, F. William Summers professor of library and information studies and professor of American studies, Florida State University, retires this year. For more than three decades, Wayne's sustained involvement with librarianship reenergized the profession's historical studies and brought new conceptual frameworks to the debate.…

Eleanor (Edwards) Ledbetter, who served immigrant populations in Cleveland throughout most of the Progressive Era and the Great Depression, was one of the first librarians to advocate for multiculturalism (then called cultural pluralism) as opposed to Americanism. In providing multicultural and multilingual library services for immigrants,…

As has been described in the editorials of the past two issues, "The Library Quarterly" has changed in appearance and content to better reflect contemporary research on library-related issues. As the newly dubbed "History of the Book" editor, Karen Nipps is excited that the cover article segment of the journal is being expanded…

Library scholars and practitioners have frequently reflected on the various factors that in combination make up a hospitable library, but there has been little theoretical synthesis of the notion of the library as a place of hospitality. The hospitality industry provides a rich vein of theoretical material from which to draw definitions of…

The ability of academic libraries to produce timely and effective responses to various environmental changes constitutes a major challenge for them to enhance their survival rate and maintain growth in competitive environments. This article provides a conceptual model as an analytical tool for both improving current services as well as creating…

In recent years, many technological interventions have surfaced, such as virtual worlds, games, and digital labs, that aspire to link young people's interest in media technology and social networks to learning about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) areas. Despite the tremendous interest surrounding young people and STEM education,…

This essay challenges traditional assumptions about the small-town American public library and the roles it has played in its community. Conventional thinking and professional rhetoric grounded on a "user in the life of the library" perspective identifies the public library as a neutral agency "essential to democracy" that…