High Tech, High Touch illustrates technical solutions that really work, inspired by effective customer service strategies used by businesses. These are unique technology solutions—based on digital libraries, portals, e-mail notifications, and database interfaces to the web—to solve everyday public library problems.

Today's customers are a hard bunch to crack. Time-strapped, screen-addicted, value-savvy, and socially engaged, their expectations are tougher than ever for a business to keep up with. They are empowered like never before and expect businesses to respect that sense of empowermentùlashing out at those that don't. Take heart: Old-fashioned customer service, fully retooled for today's blistering pace and digitally connected reality, is what you need to build the kind loyal customer base that allows you to surviveùand thrive. And High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service spells out surefire strategies for success in a clear, entertaining, and practical way. Discover: ò Six major customer trends and what they mean for your business ò Eight unbreakable rules for social media customer service ò How to effectively address online complainers and saboteurs on Yelp, Twitter, TripAdvisor, and other forums for user generated content ò The rising power of self-serviceùand how to design it properly ò How to build a company culture that breeds stellar customer service High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service reveals inside secrets of wildly successful customer service initiatives, from Internet startups to venerable brands, and shows how companies of every stripe can turn casual customers into fervent supporters who will spread the word far and wideùonline and off.

In High Tech and High Touch, James E. Coverdill and William Finlay invite readers into the dynamic world of headhunters, personnel professionals who acquire talent for businesses and other organizations on a contingent-fee basis. In a high-tech world where social media platforms have simplified direct contact between employers and job seekers, Coverdill and Finlay acknowledge, it is relatively easy to find large numbers of apparently qualified candidates. However, the authors demonstrate that headhunters serve a valuable purpose in bringing high-touch search into the labor market: they help parties on both sides of the transaction to define their needs and articulate what they have to offer. As well as providing valuable information for sociologists and economists, High Tech and High Touch demonstrates how headhunters approach practical issues such as identifying and attracting candidates; how they solicit, secure, and evaluate search assignments from client companies; and how they strive to broker interactions between candidates and clients to maximize the likelihood that the right people land in the right jobs.

Used in library schools worldwide, this standard text provides students with a thorough understanding of technical services. Updated and expanded, the eighth edition further emphasizes the rapidly changing environment in which technical services are conducted. The book covers all aspects of the field—from acquisitions to managing the cataloging department—with five new chapters. "Technical Services Issues" includes material related to physical space needs; "E-resources Issues" examines how the growth of e-materials impact technical services work; "Copy Cataloging" reflects the ever increasing need to be more efficient and also to save limited funds for technical services activities; "Overview and Decisions" addresses the issue of why and how the local OPAC has become a gateway to the universe of knowledge; and "Processing Materials" covers the activities involved in making sure items that go into a library's collection are properly identified as belonging to the library and where the item is physically located in the collection. All other chapters have been extensively rewritten and updated to reflect 2010 technical service functions and activities. Complete with helpful illustrations, statistics, and study guide questions, this text is a must for library and information science students!

Covering every essential topic ranging from circulation and literacy instruction to reference and security, this benchmark text provides an up-to-date, broadly based view of library public service and its functions. Supplying essential, foundational reading for students of library public services as well as an up-to-date overview for practitioners who wish to refresh their knowledge or acquaint themselves with a new area of responsibility, this book's broad and solid coverage will benefit anyone concerned with developing or maintaining the public face of the library. A revision and expansion of Libraries Unlimited's Introduction to Library Public Services: Seventh Edition, this edition has new chapters covering such topics as e-resources, collections, print and other media, and facilities and funding. Additionally, every chapter has been substantially updated and reorganized to better reflect the role of technology in library services today. The book begins with background information on public services in libraries and an analysis of the library's public service philosophy. Then, the authors delve into staffing and assessment of services, moving logically to major functional areas of public services—reference, instruction, document delivery, circulation and reserves, collections, programming, safety and security issues, and facilities and funding. Real-life anecdotes from public, academic, and school libraries illustrate principles and concepts throughout the book. For each topic, the authors detail its role and philosophy, and offer key points to remember, references, and lists for further reading.

This unique annotated bibliography is a complete, up-to-date guide to sources of information on library science, covering recent books, monographs, periodicals and websites, and selected works of historical importance. In addition to compiling an invaluable list of sources, Bemis digs deeper, examining the strengths and weaknesses of key works. A boon to researchers and practitioners alike, this bibliography Includes coverage of subjects as diverse and vital as the history of librarianship, its development as a profession, the ethics of information science, cataloging, reference work, and library architecture Encompasses encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories, photographic surveys, statistical publications, and numerous electronic sources, all categorized by subject Offers appendixes detailing leading professional organizations and publishers of library and information science literature This comprehensive bibliography of English-language resources on librarianship, the only one of its kind, will prove invaluable to scholars, students, and anyone working in the field.

Including 66 focused snapshots of outreach in action, this resource reflects the creative solutions of librarians searching for new and innovative ways to build programs that meet customer needs while expanding the library’s scope into the community.