Social software lets libraries show a human face online, helping them communicate, educate, and interact with their communities. This nuts-and-bolts guide provides librarians with the information and skills necessary to implement the most popular and effective social software technologies: blogs, RSS, wikis, social networking software, screencasting, photo-sharing, podcasting, instant messaging, gaming, and more. Success stories and interviews highlight these tools ease-of-use and tremendous impact.

As social technologies continue to evolve, it is apparent that librarians and their clientele would benefit through participation in the digital social world. While there are benefits to implementing these technologies, many libraries also face challenges in the integration and usage of social media. Social Media Strategies for Dynamic Library Service Development discusses the integration of digital social networking into library practices. Highlighting the advantages and challenges faced by libraries in the application of social media, this publication is a critical reference source for professionals and researchers working within the fields of library and information science, as well as practitioners and executives interested in the utilization of social technologies in relation to knowledge management and organizational development.

This work skeptically explores the notion that the internet will soon obviate any need for traditional print-based academic libraries. It makes a case for the library's staying power in the face of technological advancements (television, microfilm, and CD-ROM's were all once predicted as the contemporary library's heir-apparent), and devotes individual chapters to the pitfalls and prevarications of popular search engines, e-books, and the mass digitization of traditional print material.

Search skills of today bear little resemblance to searches through print publications. Reference service has become much more complex than in the past, and is in a constant state of flux. Learning the skill sets of a worthy reference librarian can be challenging, unending, rewarding, and-- yes, fun.

Libraries as social and service-based institutions are constantly seeking innovative and effective ways to meet the needs of their users and maintain relevance amidst alternative information sources. They are constantly adjusting to meet the needs of users, contribute to the personal development of users, and alight with national development. All of these have placed a burden on libraries to engage in sustainable practices both to increase their capacity to drive current developmental endeavors and to sustain future relevance. Global Perspectives on Sustainable Library Practices provides a rich and robust knowledge resource that brings together diverse sustainable library practices that will revamp library operations towards optimally meeting the current objectives of libraries as a developmental institution as well as sustaining value for future operations and service transactions. Covering topics such as access efficacy, green space development, and library service delivery, this premier reference source is an essential resource for librarians, library administrators, educators and administration of both K-12 and higher education, students of library sciences, pre-service teachers, researchers, and academicians.

The speedy development of information communication technology, electronic libraries, digital libraries, availability of e-resources and collective demand of library users has changed the scenario of libraries and library professionals. Today all the users find the instant and desktop based library and information services. But only few institute libraries provide that type of services to their end user. This study highlights that out of 56 central universities in India only few universities are concentrate on web-based library resources and services to their end users. This paper also discusses the information availability in the websites like library URL, OPAC, e-resources, open access resources etc.

The social sciences have made fundamental contributions to the understanding of the economic, political and social life of nations in the past century. Social science libraries now have an important role to play in the context of the information society as significant sources of academic and social knowledge. This work provides information on the development and use of digital resources in the social sciences emphasizing best practices; an articulation of some of the problems presented to providing these resources; and a view to the use of these resources to support sustainable development.

Written in a warm and personal style, Working in the Virtual Stacks presents an exciting future for librarians, already upon us today!

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 11th International C- ference on Asian Digital Libraries (ICADL 2008) held in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2008. The objective of this conference series is to provide a forum for presentation of high-quality research in the ?eld of digital libraries. ICADL 2008 provided an opportunity for digital libraries researchers and practitioners in the Asia Paci?c area and beyond to gather to explore ideas, exchange and share experiences, and further build the research network in this region. ICADL 2008 was a truly international event, with presenters from 21 countries. A total of 63 papers were accepted for inclusion in the proceedings: 30 full papers, 20 short papers, and extended abstracts of 13 posters. Submissions were subject to a rigorous, blind peer-review process. The research topics cover the spectrum of digital libraries, including multimedia digital libraries, usab- ity and evaluation, information retrieval, ontologies, social tagging, metadata issues, multi- and cross-language retrieval, digital preservation, scholarly p- lishing and communities, and more. Additionally, three tutorials were o?ered in association with the conference by Andreas Rauber (Vienna University of Technology), David Bainbridge (University of Waikato), and George Buchanan (Swansea University).