Envisioning Future Academic Library Services

Edited by a thought leader with an international reputation, it brings together renowned authors from across the globe who are breaking traditional moulds and boundaries in a way that will have a profound impact on the way libraries and library services are conceptualized in the years to come. They represent the key links in the knowledge chain: authors, publishers, academics, community knowledge creators, librarians and institutions; the student perspective is also provided.

Volume 8 of the series Creating the 21st-Century Academic Library is focused on new services, directions, job duties and responsibilities for librarians in academic libraries of the 21st century. Topics include research data management services, web services, improving web design for library interfaces, cooperative virtual reference services, directions on research in the 21st-century academic library, innovative uses of physical library spaces, uses of social media for disseminating scholarly research, information architecture and usability studies, the importance of special collections and archival collections, and lessons learned in digitization and digital projects planning and management. Data management services are highlighted in the context of a consortium of smaller liberal arts and regional institutions who share a common institutional repository. Survey research plays a role in a number of chapters. One provides insight into how academic libraries are currently approaching web services, web applications, and library websites. A second survey is used to explore the role of librarians as web designers, and provides detailed information related to job titles, job duties, time percentages related to duties, and other duties outside of web design. Comments of those surveyed are included and make interesting reading and a deeper understanding of this new function in libraries. More generally, is a survey study exploring how librarians feel about the changes that are currently happening within the profession, as well as how these changes have personally affected their job duties and their current job assignments. Case studies are include one that features QuestionPoint in the context of a cooperative virtual reference service; another shows how research and scholarship can be disseminated using social media tools such as blogs, Twitter, ResearchGate and Google Scholar, among others; a other studies explore the importance of user engagement and buy-in before moving forward on digitization; and one shows how information architecture and usability emerge from the redesign of a public library website and whose successful completion involves user surveying, focus groups, peer site reviews, needs analysis, and usability testing. Two chapters deal with the changing legal context: the importance and understanding of copyright and author rights in the 21st-century academic library, and the basics Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). It is hoped that this volume, and the series in general, will be a valuable and exciting addition to the discussions and planning surrounding the future directions, services, and careers in the 21st-century academic library.

Leading the 21st Century Academic Library: Successful Strategies for Envisioning and Realizing Preferred Futures will explore the new roles and directions academic libraries are taking in the 21st century as a consequence of visionary leadership in exploring diverse futures.

Offering a broad overview of consequential changes in the landscape of reference services, this guide also provides practical guidance on how to meet the new challenges they present. For the past decade, librarians have been lamenting the demise of reference services. Encouraging recent research shows that reference librarians are actually in more demand than ever; however, nearly everything about reference has changed—from technologies, tools, and techniques to models of service. What are these changes, and how can the profession respond to and prepare for shifting priorities and user needs? In this volume, business librarians Diane Zabel and Lauren Reiter bring together a host of experts to answer these timely questions. Topics range from the education and training of professionals to meeting the needs and wants of employers. Covered are trends in chat reference, research consultations, do-it-yourself reference, tracking trends with user populations, assessment, and data-driven decisions about reference services. Grounded in the principle that, regardless of the evolutions in service, the user remains at the center of reference, this guide offers readers an exciting look at the future of this important public service.

This book is written to promote academic strategic management and envision future innovations for academic library resources, services and instructions in the digital age. It provides academic executives, consultants, instructors, IT specialists, librarians, LIS students, managers, trainers and other professionals with the latest information for developing trends of emerging technologies applied to student-centred and service-oriented academic learning environments. This book explores various fields where key emerging technologies may have great implications on academic library information technologies, academic library management, academic library information services, and academic library internal operations. Reflects most recent emerging technologies which might impact on library administrations, resources, services and instructions Draws a clear roadmap how and where to monitor emerging technologies which began to emerge under academic library environments Provides practical and realistic suggestions and solutions how to utilize emerging technologies in academic learning environments

Providing practical and theoretical chapters on academic library services for graduate students, this volume helps information professionals support this often-overlooked campus population to address their multiple roles and identities as students and as future faculty members or professionals. As more and more students attend graduate programs, many higher education institutions have established professional development programs to help graduate students learn the wide range of skills needed to be successful as both students and as future professionals or academics. To presuppose that graduate students are proficient library users is a mistake. Graduate students need and want help, and many libraries are now offering specialized services for this diverse population. Contributors to this edited volume provide case studies and practical advice on academic library services for graduate students that support their multiple roles on campus and address the complex social and emotional issues related to their other roles as parents, working adults, caretakers, and more. As academic libraries shift from functioning primarily as collections repositories to collaborating as key players in discovery and knowledge creation, value-added services for graduate students are even more central to libraries' changing missions. This book makes an important contribution to the ongoing professional conversation and is a useful tool for librarians who want to better support graduate students at their institutions.

At the heart of any discussion about the future of libraries is the future of librarians—and how well our instructional programs, especially the Master of Library Science (MLS) degree, prepare them for their careers. This book continues the critical conversations around preparing future librarians.