Today's Web-savvy users often bypass traditional library catalogs for more interactive, tech-friendly interfaces. Help your library stand out within the crowded landscape of information providers with Marshall Breeding's new, highly practical guide to interactive next-generation library catalogs. Learn how to give your users access to a wide selection of print and electronic content with this jargon-free, step-by-step guide. Breeding outlines the important functions and features of next-gen catalogs, briefs you on all of the available commercial and open source software, and helps you select which products are right for your library's next-gen catalog. You'll learn to lay the groundwork for practical implementation, integrate the catalog into your existing technological environment, address a multitude of common implementation issues and concerns, and assess the impact of your Catalog so you can demonstrate the change you led. There is a thorough glossary with definitions for all key terms, and as with all the Tech Set guides, material is presented in a manner that is both accessible to non-technical professionals and useful for systems librarians.

Viewing digital libraries as sociotechnical systems, networks of people and technology interacting with society.

This book offers everything you need to know about selecting and implementing the best integrated library system (ILS) for your library, whether you purchase and install it yourself or hire a consultant to assist you. This is the book you've been waiting for. Integrated Library Systems: Planning, Selecting, and Implementing is an all-inclusive guide to acquiring a new ILS. Detailed and practical, the book covers every step of the process, from cost-benefit analysis, to evaluating software, writing the request for proposal, and implementation and training. You'll learn about different types of integrated library systems—standalone, turnkey, hosted, software-as-a-service (cloud computing), and open-source—and how to assess your facility and staff to find the best fit. The book also covers evaluation of software and hardware; third-party add-ons, such as RFID; and writing successful budget proposals and justification statements. There is even specific, headache-saving advice on working with sales reps, such as the warning not to ever accept the statement: "The vendor will not be held accountable to the contents of the RFP." Even if you're working with a consultant, this book will help you understand the process and make informed decisions.

First published in 1991, Library automation has advanced at such a rapid pace within the last few years that librarians who have been limited by either budget or hardware constraints are today able to automate at least some library functions. Even though presentations at meetings describing individual efforts have been published in the literature, there has not been a comprehensive text discussing the status of integration at all levels of library management as it exists today. The Integrated Medical Library addresses this need by presenting the results of a survey of automated systems currently used in medical libraries as a basis on which to discuss various methods for integrating these systems. This includes serials, cataloging, circulation, acquisitions, internal database management systems, external database search procedures, and management and financial control. The book emphasizes current practices and procedures and proposes methods for libraries to improve their performance and services. Part I defines an integrated online library system and describes the study design and analysis of results. Part II describes commercially available integrated online library systems currently used by medical libraries. Part III discusses the specialized integrated online library systems of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the Swedish Planning and Rationalization Institute for the Health and Social Services. Part IV describes ad hoc integrated functions currently used by medical libraries, while Part V discusses the various means of integration.

Examine some of the most recent developments in bibliographic control! Electronic Cataloging: AACR2 and Metadata for Serials and Monographs is a collection of papers about recent developments in metadata and its practical applications in cataloging. Acknowledged experts examine a wide variety of techniques for managing serials and monographs using standards and schemas like MARC, AACR2, ISSN, ISBD, and Dublin Core. From the broadest introduction of metadata usage to the revisions of AACR2 through 2000, this book offers vital analysis and strategy for achieving Universal Bibliographic Control. Electronic Cataloging is divided into three parts. The first is an introduction to metadata, what it is, and its relationship to the library in general. The second portion focuses in more on how metadata can be utilized by a library system and the possibilities in the near future. The third portion is very specific, dealing with individual standards of metadata and elements, such as AACR2 and MARC, as well as current policies and prospects for the future. Information covered in Electronic Cataloging includes: an overview of metadata and why it is important to the cataloging community Universal Bibliographic Control: what has succeeded so far in cataloging and how metadata will evolve the step-by-step process for creating an effective metadata repository for the community the inherent problems that accompany cataloging nonprint research materials, such as electronic serials and the Web metadata schemas and the use of controlled vocabularies and classification systems standards of metadata, including MARC, Dublin Core, RDF, and AACR2, with emphasis on the revisions and efforts made with AACR2 through 2000 an overview of the ISSN (International Serials Standard Number) and its relationships to current codes and metadata standards, including AACR2 and much more! Electronic Cataloging is the undertaking of three pioneers in library sciences: Sheila S. Intner, Sally C. Tseng, and Mary L. Larsgaard, who co-edited Maps and Related Cartographic Materials: Cataloging, Classification, and Bibliographic Control (Haworth, 2000). With illustrations, references, additional reading lists, and case studies, this research tool offers you tips and strategies to make metadata work for you and your library. No one currently involved in information cataloging should be without this book!