In fall of 2011 the University at Buffalo Libraries circulation department undertook Six Sigma training for the purpose of overhauling its student scheduling process. The department was able to mitigate significant staffing budgetary reductions and resource reallocations and to overcome the unique challenges of scheduling student labor for a…

Through vision, leadership, and creativity, Salisbury University's Blackwell Library transformed its access services department structurally and philosophically to better position itself to meet, and strive to exceed, today's user needs and expectations. Restructuring and the introduction of new leadership and new ideas provided the foundation for…

Librarians are the ultimate information workers, with little they can count as done at the end of the day. Staying productive and motivated when there are no finished items that you have created at day's end can be difficult. For just this reason, David Allen, author and productivity expert, has proposed an information-worker-centric theory of…

Reference librarians are constantly balancing their reference duties against other duties, for example, collection development and departmental liaison. The author works as a reference librarian at Texas A&M University-Commerce Libraries in Commerce, Texas. The university has approximately 11,000 students, a large number of whom are…

Competition in the virtual reference market got really hot this past summer. Recent developments in virtual reference offerings suggest the market is much more dynamic than most people would have imagined a short time ago. With Google's acquisition of Meebo and its subsequent decision to shut down the chat widget service, many libraries scrambled…

A mission-critical system is one that is so intertwined with the operation of an organization that the organization can scarcely function without it. Just as in corporations, mission-critical library systems offer the capability to unlock talent and time. They are essential to the transformation of higher education and the learning environment. A…

Colorado school librarians are in the midst of a crisis. According to a 2009-2010 survey of public schools in Colorado, just 23% of elementary schools have an endorsed librarian, while 37% of middle schools and 32% of high schools report having an endorsed librarian. This report also shows how these percentages have dropped in just a two-year…

In the library context, they depend on sophisticated business applications specifically designed to support their work. This infrastructure consists of such components as integrated library systems, their associated online catalogs or discovery services, and self-check equipment, as well as a Web site and the various online tools and services…

Since getting books into the hands of her students was of utmost importance to her, this author began to look at areas that took away from the time she had to work with the students. In this article, the author offers suggestions on how to have a successful school library program, regardless of reductions in budget and/or staff. She mentions that…

As the solo school librarian in a modestly sized private school, the author is responsible not only for managing the school library, but also for many other things that come his way throughout the school year. Among the many balls the author has to keep in the air are budgeting, collection development, weeding, lesson planning, fundraising, and…

Two of the most time-consuming jobs in the library are taking inventory and keeping track of in-house uses of library material. Librarians have long been searching for more efficient solution for these two activities. New technology can be the answer to creating efficiency for libraries. In fact, if one is a SirsiDynix library, there is an easy…

This paper outlines the emerging trends for leadership in the knowledge era. It discusses these within the context of leading, creating and sustaining the performance development cultures that libraries require. The first step is to recognise that we all need to take leadership personally no matter whether we see ourselves as leaders or followers.…

Over the past few years a growing body of research has highlighted the potential for educational video games to foster highly engaged, effective learning in the classroom. These research reports from organizations such as the Federation of American Scientists, the National Science Foundation, and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop…

This article features the University of Liverpool's arts and humanities library, which applies a new search tool to improve the user experience. In nearly every way imaginable, the Sydney Jones Library and the Harold Cohen Library--the university's two libraries that serve science, engineering, and medical students--support the lives of their…

First offered to public libraries in 2004, downloadable audiobooks have grown by leaps and bounds. According to the Audio Publishers Association, their sales today account for 21% of the spoken-word audio market. It hasn't been easy, however. WMA. DRM. MP3. AAC. File extensions small on letters but very big on consequences for librarians,…