This article presents an interview with SirsiDynix CEO Gary M. Rautenstrauch and newly appointed VP of library relations Berit Nelson about some of the issues that have been roiling the ILS world and the company itself, among them the recent consolidation of SirsiDynix's offices, customer service, the state of library budgets, the rise of ebooks…

Self-service is a hit. From gas stations to banks to grocery stores--it has become table stakes for retailers who aim to satisfy an increasingly independent consumer. Libraries are no exception, and, in fact, with their card catalog past, they may well have been in the vanguard in enabling customers to find what they want on their own. Card…

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…

Librarians face a dilemma when it comes to copyright. On the one hand, if content providers disappeared, libraries and their patrons would suffer. By doing their part to eliminate copyright violations, they help keep publishers in business. On the other hand, they understand that "information wants to be free." They resent license agreements that…

Traditional library web products, whether online public access catalogs, library databases, or even library web sites, have long been rigidly controlled and difficult to use. Patrons regularly prefer Google's simple interface. Now social bookmarking and tagging tools help librarians bridge the gap between the library's need to offer authoritative,…

This discussion of the effects of library automation and networking on original catalog librarians describes personal experiences with the transition from a manual to an automated cataloging system at the Michigan State University Libraries, and presents recommendations for the future. (MES)

Libraries must increasingly accommodate bibliographic records encoded with a variety of standards and emerging standards, including Dublin Core, MODS, and VRA Core. The problem is that many libraries still rely solely on MARC and AACR2. The best-trained professionals to lead librarians through the metadata maze are catalogers. Catalogers…

An online community is a group of people who connect with one another over time and through space using the Internet as their primary medium. Online communities also act, albeit through text. They organize political action, introduce to-be spouses, and create new products and tools. This article discusses how one librarian used online communities…

When Valerie Allen decided she did not want to be a Montessori teacher any longer, she began work on her MLIS. Immediately she learned concepts she could apply to her new job as information specialist for the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN. While the LIS…

When Mary Ellen Icaza became Electronic Services Librarian at Montgomery County Public Libraries, she noticed that the readers' services information on the library web site was invisible, even to librarians. "And if staff can't find it," she says, "customers can't." She set out to help people find that material-and to turn a…

We should be grateful that Terry Reese had to work his way through college. As a work-study student, taught to do cartographic cataloging in the University, of Oregon's map library, he discovered the mental challenges libraries offered. Later he became Oregon State University (OSU)'s cataloger for networked resources and digital unit production…

The author of this article, a card-carrying member of the American Library Association (ALA), discusses her views on how difficult it is for some leaders to accept that this is the 21st century. She feels that people do not need to choose between blogs and printed text, because people can read both. She also feels that library shelves have room…

Reprints five articles originally published between 1933 and 1983 showing that the library field was ready to use technology: "People and Machines: Changing Relationships?" (S. Michael Malinconico); "Guilds or Technocracy?" (Margery C. Quigley); "The Librarian and the Machine" (Jesse H. Shera); "From the…

A survey of 83 academic public service librarians to ascertain the extent to which they were aware of, involved in, or affected by retrospective conversion projects found that the role of public service librarians in such projects is limited. A need for improved communication between public and technical services librarians is indicated. (13…

Discusses virtual libraries in corporate settings from the viewpoint of five special librarians. Highlights include competitive advantage, space and related collection issues, the use of technology, corporate culture, information overload, library vulnerability and downsizing, and the importance of service over format. (LRW)