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…

Last fall, at the Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science in New York, Barbara Genco, collection development director at the Brooklyn Public Library, taught a course on collection development principles, theory, and practice. "Library Journal" asked her to distill her curriculum down to 20 talking points that address…

Social networking and other Web 2.0 technologies led the social whirl of the information industry. Publishers and librarians tried to keep their products and services relevant by mixing authoritative content with user involvement, but that was not enough. Enhancing interfaces, adding new forms of content, and making strategic acquisitions--all are…

If the resort city of Anaheim, California, home of Disneyland and its "imagineers," marked a departure from the urban reality of the typical American Library Association (ALA) annual conference, it was impossible, at this 2008 meeting, to avoid urgent library issues. How do libraries maintain their value and cultural presence as users…

The concept of intellectual freedom, and its presence or lack of presence in library education programs, is discussed. (KP)

The High John Library experience is reviewed including its areas of success and failure as well as some suggestions about what should be done differently should such a project be again undertaken. (NH)

A report to the profession on the status of the urban information specialist project at the University of Maryland is presented. (Author)

Despite setbacks and hazards, libraries today are a more vital and a more appreciated part of our lives than ever before. (Author/NH)

The importance of paraprofessional personnel in a university library is discussed. (PF)

Library schools must produce new generations of librarians and information specialists with a clear vision of the characteristics and potential of full information delivery systems. (Author/PF)

A report of trends, events and activities of libraries during 1973. (JB)

Statements exerpted from documents presented at the second regional hearing of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science held in San Francisco are included. (Author/KE)

The utility of the argument put forth in this paper relates to the planning for future information systems. Librarians must determine what sorts of epistomological or classification systems they can expect in the future and how they can be organized and serviced so they will interface with the past. (Author/NH)

Discusses two basic cultures within the library science field, one that emphasizes "soft-edged" traditional service and the other newer culture which has evolved around information technology and entrepreneurial drive. Topics include historical background; university pressures on library schools to be "tech-oriented";…

Despite obvious and fundamental differences, contemporary library issues strikingly familiar to those of the west also beset the Soviet library world--issues that so far have been bridged in only technical apolitical areas. Governmental insistence on the centrality of ideology to library service remains an international stumbling block.…