In April 2010, the New York State Board of Regents challenged the library community to rethink the State's vast array of library services to ensure that they are aligned with modern expectations and the expanded functions needed in today's society, operate with improved efficiency, and are prepared for the future as an essential and vibrant part…

The link between access to better libraries and students' achievement has long been proven. But to residents in the Asante Akyem North Municipality, the benefits libraries offer remain illusory because of limited access. Using cross-sectional research design, the article examines staffing, collections, funding, library facilities, user…

This paper analyzes the relation between public, education-related infrastructure and the quality of education in schools. The analysis uses a case study of the establishment of two large, high-quality public libraries in low-income areas in Bogotá, Colombia. It assesses the impact of these libraries on the quality of education by comparing…

With the Poetry Center at San Francisco State University, the author has begun to build an open-access digital repository for poetry chapbooks. The repository is essentially a chapbook exchange: a place for poets to share their current works. Users are invited to share their chapbooks via upload and as such gain access to the chapbook repository.…

The Friends of the Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) had a legacy website that was remotely hosted and maintained by a volunteer. They wanted a more significant presence on PPLD.org and an easier interface with which to update information. The developers decided to create a new Friends site in Drupal, using RWD, CSS3, and HTML5. The plan was to…

Current national and international research indicates the summer break can negatively affect students' reading achievement. To counter this effect, our primary school with a range of students worked in collaboration with our local public library to plan and implement a summer reading programme. The purpose of the programme was to increase…

For the Spring 2015 semester of the Public Library Management course, students were given digital badges along with grades for their coursework. For each topic's corresponding assignment, students received a traditional grade and those achieving at least an A- received a digital badge that represented the skill or knowledge demonstrated. By using…

This chapter examines the parallel histories and visions of public libraries and land-grant universities' Cooperative Extension in providing lifelong learning opportunities; it illustrates how partnerships between organizations can enhance the vibrancy of adult education in the context of learning cities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated with vivid clarity how important it is for people to have digital literacy skills. From the workplace to the classroom and beyond, being able to use digital tools effectively is fundamental to success. To succeed in this rapidly changing environment, workers need broad-based digital problem-solving skills that…

This paper describes the design of an innovative educational experience that took place during the summer of 2011 with a cohort of library science students at Appalachian State University. This group of students, working online in their own virtual public libraries, engaged in an extended epistemic game that required the participants to undertake…

This article describes a multi-method research project examining the use of various freely available online collections and projects, such as Project Gutenberg, the Internet Archive, and Creative Commons-licensed ebooks, by public libraries. This research begins with the questions: what are libraries doing with freely available materials? Are…

Public libraries play an important part in the development of a community. Today, they are seen as more than store houses of books; they are also responsible for the dissemination of online, and offline information. Public access computers are becoming increasingly popular as more and more people understand the need for internet access. Using a…

In the United States, individual states have different means of determining and distributing funding. This influences library service and access to information particularly as it pertains to critical Internet access. Funding and service trends have changed, especially as it relates to public libraries, with some modifications working to their…

The Teacher & Principal School Report series showcases the results of a national survey of more than 4,700 public school Pre-K-12 educators on critical issues affecting schools and districts across the country. With two in-depth reports, Scholastic has explored equity in education as well as literacy, each with a special look at factors from…

Many previous reports demonstrate that there is a significant need to drive innovation in adult learning and that there can be advantages to entering the market. There are 36 million low-skilled adults in the U.S. who can benefit from new approaches to learning. The effects of low rates of literacy, numeracy, and basic skills are widespread.…