When dealing with First Amendment free speech issues in the context of public libraries, courts have merely cited the supposition that constitutional public forum analysis leads to the conclusion that the public library is a limited public forum for the purposes of First Amendment analysis. By focusing narrowly on the issue of whether Internet…

Soon after AskALibrarian, Florida's Statewide Virtual Reference Desk, began to offer Chat Reference to the public in 2003, a Quality Assurance Workgroup was established to ensure that the service patrons received would be friendly, accurate, and adequate. To make certain that best practices were used in answering the real time questions, two…

The role of the public library in encouraging reading and using ICT in the reading development process has been included in a number of Government reports during the 1990s and 2000s in the UK. Following the successful implementation of the People's Network many public libraries are developing ways of using ICT in reader development. In Wales, as…

This article reports on one aspect of a Laser Foundation-funded research project that tested different models of e-book delivery and offered guidelines for developing e-book collections in UK public libraries. An e-book collection was offered to library users (primarily, users relying on a mobile library service) on Personal Digital Assistant…

Over the years, the Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML) has experimented with various continuous improvement initiatives. Some projects fizzled owing to the universal killers of grand ideas such as inertia, inconsistent implementation, lack of buy-in, "flavor of the month" attitude, and the all-time favorite: if they ignore this idea it…

The Saint Paul Public Library and its Friends collaborated to create an identity program as part of its public relations efforts. The work started with a team made up of the library's key administrators and its Public Relations and Communications office, plus Friends' staff and the Friends Board's Public Awareness Committee. In this article, the…

Presents an overview of libraries and related services for Palestinian Arab Children in the Haifa and Galilee regions of Israel and on the West Bank based on interviews with librarians and educators between 1993 and 1996. Covers funding, organization, collection development, censorship, staffing, and programming. (MMU)

The book has made the transition to the digital age; that much is certain. However, the jury is still out on what form or forms the book of the future will take and how libraries will adapt. This article is a look at the impact of digital books on public library acquisitions, including available formats, purchasing considerations, functional…

Library transformation requires a cohesive vision and execution. Beyond excellent management, organization, technical deployment and collection development, success of the public library as a sense of place requires additional dimensions. This includes attention to the details of environment, presentation, ambiance, graphics, customer service and…

In this article, the author shares her experience during her practicum for her master's in library science wherein she had the opportunity to work in a school library that was moving toward combining with a local branch of a public library. Combining the public and school libraries meant integrating these two related yet distinct missions, or at…

The United States is home to about 1.3 million organizations that fall under the IRS's 501(c)(3) classification of "[tax]-exempt organizations," known informally as nonprofits. A nonprofit is defined as a formally incorporated nongovernmental organization that operates in the public interest, rather than in order to make a profit. Its income, in…

In this chapter, the authors take a broad perspective on how to analyze issues of technology and equity for youth in the United States. They begin with "access" as a starting point, but consider not only whether diverse groups of youth have digital media available to them but also how that access is supported or constrained by…

The method called CREW (Continuous Review, Evaluation, and Weeding) integrates material selection and acquisition, cataloging and processing, and circulation and reference into one ongoing routine that assures that all the necessary indirect services are accomplished in an effective way. This revision of the original guide, published in 1976,…

The Public Libraries Survey (PLS) is conducted annually by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) through the Federal-State Cooperative System for Public Library Data (FSCS). The 1993 fiscal year survey file includes 8,929 public libraries in the 50 states and the District of Columbia identified by state library agencies. A total of…

This paper presents survey research on the job satisfaction of student library employees in the Akron Summit County (Ohio) Public Library system. Approximately 100 (50% return) student employees were questioned about several dimensions of their employment experience including respondent gender, length of employment, previous job experience, hours…