In the face of rapid change and an ever-widening constellation of challenges, it’s crucial for library leaders to pull back to the question of “why?” Plotting a sustainable way forward depends upon recommitting ourselves to our underlying values, such as customer service and community-building, while fostering the improvements that change makes possible. With passion, patience, and fortitude, libraries can stride confidently into the future. In this book, noted speakers and consultants Bignoli and Stara speak directly to library directors, managers, administrators, and technology staff, offering concrete guidance on setting or resetting strategic priorities. Taking an interconnected and specific approach to planning for and strengthening the library environment as a whole, their book - discusses why libraries should embrace change as a fundamental part of library life; - explores how to harness rapid change to provide more responsive, user-centered library service; - addresses the ways in which libraries straddle the physical and the digital, in areas such as service provision and collections, illuminating how they overlap and can be improved using similar philosophies; - presents both a comprehensive overview of library technologies as well as related team and change management advice, all grounded in user experience principles; - shows how the concepts of sustainability and flexibility apply to physical space planning and design, from furniture selection and arrangement to infrastructure; and - provides sound guidance on project management, problem solving, preparing for future challenges, personal reflection and self-care, and other leadership topics.

Useful, useable, desirable: like three legs of a stool, if your library is missing the mark on any one of these it's bound to wobble.

Library leaders can ensure their institutions stay ahead of rapid change and increasing service expectations with the strategies, tools, and holistic approach presented in this book.

In this book, the author attacks these and other pressing issues facing today's academic librarians. Her trailbrazing strategies centre on keeping the customer's point of view in focus at all times to help you to integrate technology to meet today's student and faculty needs.

"This book provides tips and best practices for developing better library signage and provides guidance for creating a signage strategy"--

In times of rapid change, it is easy for managers to become so absorbed by daily demands and decisions that they lose perspective on the change process as a whole. A practical approach to managing the change process.

Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors: International Perspectives on Library Management presents a series of conversations with the directors of major academic and research libraries. The book offers insight, analysis, and personal anecdote from leaders in the library field, giving a unique perspective on how the modern library operates. Readers will learn about the most up-to-date trends and practices in the LIS profession from the directors of 24 internationally acclaimed academic and research libraries in Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, and the UK and USA. This is the first book focusing on leaders and managers of library institutions to offer a global outlook. Facing the need to respond to the expectations of changing populations that librarians strive to serve, this book aims to develop a new understanding of the core values of academic and research libraries, and asks how librarians can innovate, adapt, and flourish in a rapidly shifting professional landscape. - Presents conversations with library leaders from 24 major institutions - Offers a global perspective on the operation and management of libraries - Discusses the director's impact on institutional structures and future landscapes - Gives insights based on first-hand experience

"In this book, academic librarians examine how their libraries are responding to the changing needs of students to provide support in key areas such as advancing the quality of learning, fostering inclusion, and driving down costs"--

Since the 1990s, internationalisation has become key for institutions wishing to secure funding for higher education and research. For the academic community, this strategic shift has had many consequences. Priorities have changed and been influenced by new ways of thinking about universities, and of measuring their impact in relation to each other and to their social goals. Debates are ongoing and hotly contested. In this collection, a mix of renowned academics and newer voices reflect on some of the realities of international research partnerships. They both question and highlight the agency of academics, donors and research institutions in the geopolitics of knowledge and power. The contributors offer fresh insights on institutional transformation, the setting of research agendas, and access to research funding, while highlighting the dilemmas researchers face when their institutions are vulnerable to state and donor influence. Offering a range of perspectives on why academics should collaborate and what for, this book will be useful to anyone interested in how scholars are adapting to the realities of international networking and how research institutions are finding innovative ways to make North–South partnerships and collaborations increasingly fair, sustainable and mutually beneficial.

This primer offers a thorough introduction to electronic resource management for librarians with little or no knowledge of these specialized materials. Libraries today face rising costs, contract issues, changing formats, and technical complexities when it comes to electronic resources. This instructional guidebook will prepare you for managing every aspect of your virtual "stacks." From evaluating resources, to negotiating and licensing, to staff training and mastering authentication software, you'll learn everything you'll need to know to fund, procure, and organize your digital collection. The work offers step-by-step guidance for overseeing collection development of electronic resources with a special focus on activities revolving around the life cycle of the materials, such as identifying and evaluating appropriate resources; managing the knowledge base, link resolver, discovery layer, and administrative accounts for each resource; and gathering and analyzing usage statistics and other assessment data. Content includes a chapter on communicating with authors, funding sources, publishers, and libraries regarding digital rights and access to texts. The book concludes with a look at the future directions of electronic resource management.