Libraries are critical learning spaces and may play a significant role in intercultural education initiatives, particularly in Sweden where the national curriculum ascribes central functions to libraries for learning activities. Unfortunately, the ways in which teachers and librarians may collaborate to leverage mutual resources is not fully…

This article describes the roles of librarians in a research library, particularly in the digital era. Librarians' roles vary from the custodian of resources to providers of a diverse nature of activities ranging from collection development, organization of knowledge, information services, preservation and conservation, and management. Librarians…

As knowledge brokers, librarians are living in interesting times for themselves and libraries. It causes them to wonder sometimes if the traditional tools like the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system can cope with the onslaught of information. The categories provided do not always seem adequate for the knowledge-discovery habits of…

This article features Naturita Community Library (NCL), winner of "LJ"'s 2011 Best Small Library in America Award, sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The library is the largest straw bale library in America. It sits on the western slope of the Rockies, across the Uncompahgre Plateau from the county seat in Montrose,…

Backups are a modern fact of life. Every organization that has any kind of computing technology (and that is all of them these days) needs to back up its data in case of technological or user errors. Traditionally, large-scale backups have been done via an internal or external tape drive that takes magnetic tapes (minicassettes, essentially) and…

What is the common goal of our school? Why is this important? How does this build community? What are Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and where does the library media program fit in? All these questions swirled in the author's head during the first few months they were opening their new middle school. She had been hired as the school…

Academic libraries by nature serve as spaces for communities of learners to gather. Careful design and marketing of spaces to meet specific needs, staffed by experts to facilitate and guide such learning, enhance the impact of "library as place." In this article, the author shares two examples of collaborations that have resulted from partnerships…

As another year draws to a close, the author reflects on the trends in play related to library technologies and attempts to anticipate their trajectory going forward. The library economy has not necessarily achieved full recovery from the recent downturn. Nevertheless, the author expects that investments in technology will expand next year. For…

When an institutional program review determined the Hillsborough Community College Libraries Web site was out-of-date, lacked resources, and was in desperate need of a makeover, the authors embarked upon a redesign project. The article describes the challenges and considerations that contributed to the authors' decision-making and design…

The implementation of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts affords school librarians and their planning committees an opportunity to reinvigorate their roles in the school as curators of the school library collection, innovators in the use of instructional technology, and leaders in instructional planning. By focusing on these…

Using the "point oh" naming system for developments in librarianship is attracting debate about its appropriateness, basis and syntax and the meaning and potential of Library 2.0. Now a new term, Library 3.0, has emerged. Is there is any significant difference between the two models? Using documentary analysis to explore the terms, the…

In the fall of 2010 the author received an e-mail informing her that she has been selected as a Gale/Cengage New Leader, which was a true honor. Not only would she be joining four dynamic school librarians from around the country at the School Library Journal Summit on the Future of Reading, she was also being paired with a mentor to navigate her…

As 21st century librarians, we have made apt adjustments for reaching out into the digital world, but we need to consider the students who still use library services within our walls. We can use available handheld, mobile technologies to help patrons too shy to approach the desk and free library staff to bring reference service directly to patrons.

In 2005, a record breaking 26 named tropical storms including 13 hurricanes ravaged the Gulf Coast of the United States. In response to the devastation of hundreds of schools, the Laura Bush Foundation swiftly created The Gulf Coast School Library Recovery Initiative to help school libraries become fully functional and to offer the needed print…

Bookstores, record stores, libraries, Facebook: these places--both physical and virtual--demonstrate an established and essential purpose as centers of community, expertise, convenience, immediacy, and respect. Yet as digital, mobile, and social shifts continue to transform culture and interactions, these spaces and places transform, too.…