Thirty years ago, the only person in a library looking for an electrical outlet was a blue-smocked cleaning person who had to plug in a vacuum cleaner with a very long cord. Now, hordes of patrons outfitted with amp-devouring laptops and cell phones expect and need the library to offer an endless supply of electricity. The overall demand for…

People keep writing articles about how valuable libraries are, even with ebooks and the Internet. What people are overlooking is that the reason libraries are having such fits dealing with a changing environment is not that libraries are unrecognized as fountains of value, it's that libraries are so valuable that they attract voracious new…

User experience (UX) is about arranging the elements of a product or service to optimize how people will interact with it. In this article, the author talks about the importance of user experience and discusses the design of user experiences in libraries. He first looks at what UX is. Then he describes three kinds of user experience design: (1)…

Though some libraries thrived in 2009, many more took a beating, and the fiscal crises that have struck many states and thousands of municipal governments in 2010 increase the odds that the effects of the new Great Recession will be felt over the long term. The decline in payroll and collections budgets have led to a loss of expertise and key…

Since the early 1990s, Carl Malamud has made it his business to return to the public what is rightfully theirs: free access to public information. Despite legislation that mandates such access to government information, some categories of information have been excluded, notable among them court opinions (with the exception of the U.S. Supreme…

With all the new advances in library technology--including metadata, social networking, and Web 2.0, along with the advent of nonlibrary and for-profit digital information companies like Wikisource and Google Print--librarians have barely had time to reflect on the nontechnical implications of these innovations. They need to take a step back and…

According to "Library Journal's" latest annual book-buying survey of public libraries, e-service is at the heart of current efforts to maximize library use through more, and more direct communication with patrons. Nearly four out of five respondents report offering some sort of e-service to facilitate these conversations. This article presents…

Libraries are not so unlike market giants Netflix, Amazon, and Pandora. Despite their significantly different business models and missions, they share an interest in facilitating the search for information, including what to read, view, and listen to next. Librarians, too, want their patrons to be able to use their tools to make connections among…

As question answering services in the commercial sector proliferate, libraries are innovating with new forms of electronic reference (e-reference). The Library of Congress' Collaborative Digital Reference Service (CDRS) extends worldwide. Discussion includes reference service developments; "reclaiming" users; growth of library interest…

A recent library school graduate, Corey Harper was nominated by his colleagues at the University of Oregon (UO) because of the key role he played in implementing digital collections. Along with technical expertise, says Watson, he brought with him "[an ability to] balance idealism with expediency, the striving for perfection with the need to…

Eva Miller has a knack for creating order out of disorder. She single-handedly brought Oregon's virtual reference service, Answerland, live in just under 90 days, says Rivkah Sass, now director of the Omaha Public Library. Miller created its web site, designed the graphics, developed marketing materials, and recruited and trained librarians--all…

In this article, the author presents an interview with Brewster Kahle, leader of the Open Content Alliance (OCA). OCA book scan program is an alternative to Google's library project that aims to make books accessible online. In this interview, Kahle discusses his views on the challenges of getting books on the Web, on Google's library…

Some people learn better through viewing and listening, and some people simply do not like to read. In this society, there seems to be a move away from text, or, at least text as people have defined in the past. Moreover, mobile devices such as laptops, PDAs, and cell phones make video and audio incredibly easy to imbibe. So how do libraries…

Focuses on possibilities for providing reference service to remote users of digital collections. Discusses international digital reference networks; factors that limit global electronic reference service; and drawbacks of e-mail and use of real-time interactive technologies for the reference encounter. Highlights some pioneering projects. (AEF)

Virtual reference services seem a natural extension of libraries digital collections and the emphasis on access to the library anytime, anywhere. If patrons use the library from home, it makes sense to provide them with person-to-person online reference. The Library of Congress (LC), OCLC, and several large library systems have developed and…