For nearly a decade now, librarians have discussed and deliberated ways, for the sake of convenience, to integrate internet-like searching into their own catalogs to mimic what academic library patrons have been using outside the library. Discovery tools and web-scale discovery services (WSDS) attempt to provide users with a similar one-stop shop…

In this article, the author discusses how the Berklee College of Music preserves its past and learns for the future. Though the library has received support from the college administration for the creation of an archive, it has been difficult for the interest in preserving the college's history to compete with more urgent needs, such as being able…

The 2009 "Horizon Report" called mobile technologies "an opportunity for higher education to reach its constituents in new and compelling ways." The report implied that academic libraries would find them to be the ideal tools for bringing reluctant researchers to the library, mainly for their convenience. It's not hard to see why--in 2008, mobile…

People live in an era of social, enterprise-oriented, and increasingly cloud-based technology; a dramatic shift away from stand-alone isolated silos that previously dominated. Computing systems can flourish today only when built to easily exchange data and services. An application that stands alone may provide practical functionality but may not…

Northern Michigan University (NMU) is a public 4-year undergraduate institution of higher education with an enrollment of approximately 9,500 students. The university's Division of Academic Information Services encompasses both the staff of the library, which includes authors Clumpner and Burgmeier, and the instructional technology areas, where…

Public libraries are redefining their roles in order to stay relevant to the needs of the communities they serve. Today, libraries are places where reading meets hands-on learning and where quietness coexists with voices and music. The latest advances in technology for children and teens, specifically, robotics sets and media-rich software, are…

Lafayette College is an undergraduate, private liberal arts and engineering school in Easton, Pennsylvania. In 2005, Lafayette rededicated its newly renovated library, complete with shared library/instructional technology facilities and a media studio. As originally envisioned, instructional technology (ITech) would have its own separate service…

Since the early 1990s, the Lloyd Sealy Library, where all four of this article's librarian-authors work in various capacities, has been providing the students and faculty of John Jay College of Criminal Justice with extensive electronic access to books and journals. In early 2009, the librarians at Lloyd Sealy decided to test a recent electronic…

The Orange County Library System (OCLS) began to offer basic technology classes in July 2000. The computers were funded through a grant awarded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Over time, the library staff noticed that the demand for the classes increased, so the offering of classes also increased. When the author arrived at OCLS, her…

India is a huge country with a population of more than 1 billion. In India, by tradition, education and learning are highly valued. In fact, India has one of the largest higher education systems in the world, with regard to the number of institutions. Education is a necessity. It is the most effective instrument with which to imbue people with the…

Technologists may find themselves alone on the bleachers trying to find supporters for the next "it" technology. Despite their enthusiasm, many times "it" ends up unused because a thorough evaluation was not performed prior to purchase. Before technologists lobby for approval or support of a new project, the author presents five questions for them…

In the summer of 2010, Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam started offering the world's first library in an airport. This article describes Airport Library which is no ordinary library. It holds more than 1,200 items, but it lends nothing. It operates 24/7, yet it's only staffed by volunteers for 2 or 3 hours a day. It offers just nine public-access…

This article proceeds from the position that obsession with technology is a distraction from librarians' true mission and explores how a constellation of emerging information technologies might empower librarians to reconsider their commitment to the technological treadmill and instead turn to a more humanistic orientation. This article presents…

Since technology is so expensive, making the wrong purchasing decisions can have severe financial consequences. The purpose of this article is to describe three technology decisions that failed to achieve their original intent. For each of the three, the author's discuss the expectations of the chief information officer, the vendor's sales pitch,…

UCLA, which has one of the top 10 research libraries in the country, has been using Taos software since 1996. However in 2001, Sirsi Corp. announced that it was freezing development on Taos software. As the associate university librarian for information technology at UCLA, the author relates that it was his responsibility to lead the way through…