The National Broadband Plan (NBP) recently announced by the Federal Communication Commission visualizes a significantly enhanced commitment to public computing centers (PCCs) as an element of the Commission's plans for promoting broadband availability. In parallel, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has…

Public libraries have long supported the literacy goals of public schools in their communities by providing access to printed and electronic resources that enhance learning and teaching. This article describes an ongoing collaboration between the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's BLAST outreach program and the Pittsburgh Public Schools that has…

Nearly two years ago, the Center for an Urban Future published "Branches of Opportunity," a report documenting that New York City's public libraries have become more vital than ever, and are serving more New Yorkers in more ways than ever before. This new report provides an exhaustive analysis of the libraries' capital needs and offers a…

The Do It Yourself (DIY) section is an essential and well-used part of the public library's collection and must be kept up-to-date to remain valuable, since tools, materials, and building codes are always changing. Current economic decline has increased the topic's popularity as homeowners choose to remodel rather than buy, or attempt to make…

The libraries featured in this article--all projects competed between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010--harmonize with and expand into their communities. Today's library is more than the mere sum of its parts. As evidenced by these 125 public library projects and 12 academic buildings, the thinking these days is for the library to harmonize with…

This article outlines Public Library Association (PLA) 2010 annual conference to be held in Oregon Convention Center, Portland on March 23-27. The days quickly fill up with the picks of over 100 programs as well as valuable "talk tables" and special events. The well-organized schedule, divided into eight broad tracks (e.g., technology,…

It is not surprising that the Library of Congress would be defined as our national monument of art given the scale of the project, its federal sponsorship, and its posture as a public library with access to all Americans. Paralleling the assumption of the Library of Congress as not merely a building for housing books but a ritualistic center of…

With the recession, library budgets have been hit hard just as demand keeps climbing, a paradox that creates a resource gap for even the best-off libraries. Short term, the recession has library leaders scrambling to find ways to close the money gap and keep core services alive. Long term, it has them thinking about how to stabilize their…

In 2008 and 2009, the Edmonton Public Library (EPL), where the author works as an information professional, completed a $6 million CDN (about $5.7 million) RFID conversion project with the installation of automated check-in and sorting equipment at six of its 17 service points. The sorters currently handle about 55% of EPL's system's total…

This study aims to identify the career movement patterns of librarians, analyze factors influencing their career movements, and compare differences in such factors between librarians and chief librarians. Findings showed that the jobs with the highest retention rate were those in public libraries, that library automation system developers showed…

In Japan, only a few public libraries provide e-mail reference services. To help public libraries start e-mail reference services, the authors investigated reference questions received by libraries via e-mail and traditional face-to-face services. The authors found that research questions are more frequently observed among e-mail questions and…

Technology makes it possible to redefine libraries and make them relevant to the public once again. But how good are the digital services offered by public libraries today? The digital services department team of the Pode project at Norway's Oslo Public Library has spent the last 2 years investigating the possibilities available in order to…

In this article, the author presents the results of "Library Journal's" 2010 budget survey. The overall trend in FY10 indicated that 72 percent of survey respondents said their budget had been cut, and 43 percent had staff cuts. Among libraries serving populations above one million, these figures were even more acute, with 86 percent reporting…

With their explosive sales and widespread availability over the past few years, e-books have definitively proven that they're here to stay. In this sequel to her best-selling book of the same title, expert Polanka dives even deeper into the world of digital distribution. Contributors from across the e-book world offer their perspectives on what's…

The purpose of this study was to describe the methods--including practices, policies, and roles--used by public and academic library staff in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Racial and Ethnic Approach to Community Health (REACH) intervention that proved successful in reducing or eliminating several diabetes-related health…