The study Reimagining the Library of the Future investigates the various models of public buildings and civic space through the lens of the library. It takes a critical look at the history, present, and future transformation of this significant building typology that has recently emerged as a redefined community place, social condenser, and urban incubator for knowledge generation, storage, and sharing. In particular, the library has evolved as a vibrant and vital member of community development and as a basis for outreach efforts. This book presents 40 recent public and academic libraries from around the world, with over 200 images. As the survey of precedents shows, the historical cases have informed the design of the recent libraries and the continuous development of the building type over time. Well-designed libraries are now in abundance, and the wider view of this study includes mediatheques and learning centers. The selection of contemporary projects focuses on urban libraries in Europe (Germany, Italy, Austria, Netherlands), the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan, and China.

Academic libraries are in the midst of significant disruption. Academic librarians and university administrators know they need to change, but are not sure how. Bits and pieces of what needs to happen are clear, but the whole picture is hard to grasp. Reimagining the Academic Library paints a simple straightforward picture of the changes affecting academic libraries and what academic librarians need to do to respond to the changes would help to guide future library practice. The aim is to explain where academic libraries need to go and how to get there in a book that can be read in a weekend. David Lewis provides a readable survey of the current state of academic library practice and proposes where academic libraries need to go in the future to provide value to their campuses. His primary focus is on collections as this is the area with the greatest opportunity for change and is the driver of most library cost. Lewis provides an accessible framework for thinking about how library practice needs to adjust in the digital environment. The book will be useful not only to academic librarians, but also for librarians to share with presidents and provosts who a concise source for understanding where and how to focus their expenditures on libraries.

This volume of Advances in Library Administration and Organization will focus on the future of library spaces. Libraries are dealing with unprecedented changes on several fronts and these factors understandably impact physical library space. Looking toward the future what changes can we expect to see in how libraries use space?

As more associations struggle with limited professional development funding, the opportunities for library and information experts to advance their skills are being examined in a more effective and cost-efficient manner. Revolutionizing the Development of Library and Information Professionals: Planning for the Future examines the future of library professional development by investigating the aspects that make these development events worthwhile. This book is essential for library association personnel, educational institutions, and management personnel in large library systems to aid in determining future trends in professional development opportunities for their staff.

This book introduces a new wellbeing dimension to the theory and practice of learning space design for early childhood and school contexts. It highlights vital, yet generally overlooked relationships between the learning environment and student learning and wellbeing, and reveals the potential of participatory, values-based design approaches to create learning spaces that respond to contemporary learners’ needs. Focusing on three main themes it explores conceptual understandings of learning spaces and wellbeing; students’ lived experience and needs of learning spaces; and the development of a new theory and its practical application to the design of learning spaces that enhance student wellbeing. It examines these complex and interwoven topics through various theoretical lenses and provides an extensive, current literature review that connects learning environment design and learner wellbeing in a wide range of educational settings from early years to secondary school. Offering transferable approaches and a new theoretical model of wellbeing as flourishing to support the design of innovative learning environments, this book is of interest to researchers, tertiary educators and students in the education and design fields, as well as school administrators and facility managers, teachers, architects and designers.

This thought-provoking collection will challenge librarians at every kind of institution to start planning today for the library of tomorrow.

This publication focuses on the past, present, and future impact of school librarians. The contributors are recognized leaders within the information profession with expertise in school libraries, and they chronicle international issues in professional education, scholarship, organizations, and the innovations of practitioners –information that appeals to a global audience of professional educators, practitioners, and students involved in school libraries. The book is divided into three parts with each chapter contributed by an individual who has made significant contributions to the profession. Part 1 focuses on the history of school libraries and children’s literature. Part 2 provides a perspective on the current trends and opportunities for professional development and scholarship for school librarians, and Part 3 offers views on the ways school librarians will interact with students and teachers in the future. Readers will find authoritative information about the education, professional associations, scholarship, and innovations that are occurring internationally, and they will be inspired to perpetuate the legacy of school library advocacy established by Dr. E. Blanche Woolls. The book will appeal to a global audience of professional educators, practitioners, and students involved in school libraries.

This book provides practical information and insights to library administrators and building plan team members at academic and public libraries who are considering or starting a library expansion or reconfiguration of existing space. Building a new library or expanding or renovating an existing building brings up a host of questions and concerns, not the least of which involves the future of the library. This book addresses those issues in light of an overarching positive vision of libraries and their evolving purposes and roles in the 21st century. This guide identifies and addresses all of the steps in the building process, including preparing the request for proposal (RFP), selecting the right architect for the job, developing a financial contingency plan, and managing stakeholders' expectations. The book presents both the perspectives and experience of library administrators and management personnel as well as the insights of accomplished library architects and designers. It provides thorough, practical, and current guidance in a process that library administrators often find daunting and "risk immersive." Reading this book is like sitting down with a knowledgeable, impartial consultant before beginning a major renovation project—a tremendous asset for library administrators as well as architectural firms.

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.

Libraries today provide a wider variety of services, collections, and tools than at any time in the past. This book explores how reference librarianship is changing to continue to help users find information they need in this shifting environment.