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…

The web site is a library's most important feature. Patrons use the web site for numerous functions, such as renewing materials, placing holds, requesting information, and accessing databases. The homepage is the place they turn to look up the hours, branch locations, policies, and events. Whether users are at work, at home, in a building, or on…

In the face of seismic shifts in technology and social organization, librarians and library staff face changing roles. A focus on competencies--the skills, knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes that are involved in a job--can help the library profession keep its footing as well as help librarians stick to values. When well done, they can define a…

Librarians, like patrons and researchers, are caught between traditional library service models and the promise of evolving information technologies. In recent years, professional conferences have strategically featured programs and presentations geared toward building a mobile agenda and adapting or adopting services to meet new demands of mobile…

In a time when information self-service and enhanced competition have sent libraries of all types into an oftentimes desperate search for a renewed sense of purpose, a fundamentally important question takes center stage: How can libraries connect with the deepest aspirations of their service communities? This article describes a new library…

America's subprime mortgage crisis of 2007 spiraled into a global financial crisis in 2008. For much of the year, attention was riveted on the presidential primaries. A worsening economy made the election somewhat anticlimactic, but everybody rejoiced with the choice of the first "international" President. With stocks tumbling and major firms…

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…

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…

The standalone PDA seems to be dying, but the prominence of smart phones and similar devices are opening new doors for ebooks. The digital music and ipod phenomena bode well for what could happen with e-text publishing, with content and hardware easier to use just as new open standards are beginning to emerge. Mobile, portable, wireless, handheld,…

Anyone who hires Loft Bell is getting two librarians: one who enthusiastically does the job, and another who develops new ideas, secures grants to fund them, and swiftly puts the ideas into action. There's nothing that makes a job more attractive to Bell than the freedom to try out new things. Jenny Levine, Internet development specialist at…

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…

In recent years, the Internet has become a digital commons of commerce and education. However, accessibility standards have often been overlooked online, and the digital equivalents to curb-cuts and other physical accommodations have only rarely been implemented to serve those with print disabilities. (A print disability can be a learning…

This article observes that it's not hard to understand why Google creates such unease among librarians. The profession, however, can't afford to be myopic when it comes to Google. As inescapable as it is, Google is not the Internet. And as the web evolves, new opportunities and challenges loom larger for libraries than who's capturing the bulk of…

This article is about Jeff Trzeciak, the tech hotshot at the Wayne State libraries. He oversees instructional technology for the entire campus community, library technology services (with over 1000 workstations and 30 servers), digital library services, and the help desk. It is clear he loves his work. His passion, though, is creating online…

Examines how librarians are customizing their services and collections for handheld computing. Discusses the widest adoption of PDAs (personal digital assistants) in libraries that serve health and medical communities; PDA-friendly information pages; the reference focus; journals and databases; lending materials; publicity; use of PDAs by library…