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Traditionally, libraries have served as storage spaces offering access to diverse physical collections. Today, following numerous social and technological changes, libraries are retooling their services, rethinking storage and reimagining their spaces. The transformation in information technology has had an enormous impact on users'research behaviour, which in turn demands new discovery environments. A conference of the IFLA Library Buildings and Equipment and the Acquisition and Collection Development Sections spotlighted libraries from around the world who are providing quality, adaptable and innovative library spaces and services meeting the changing needs of their users, their collections, their staff and their communities.

The Comprehensive Guide to Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery provides a tool kit for librarians and serves as an essential resource for medium to large libraries. The authors offer readers practical approaches on preparing for a disaster by creating a plan, responding to an emergency, and the intricacies of recovering from a disaster. An accompanying section features seven compelling, reality-based case studies from six university libraries that recovered from earthquake, fire, flood, or hurricane damage. The clearly organized text is further strengthened by photographs and a comprehensive appendix that includes an extensive bibliography, glossary, model disaster preparedness plan, a model RFP for selecting a disaster recovery vendor, as well as useful Internet sites and print resources. The book is filled with sound explanations and advice on every aspect of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery in libraries.

Libraries need to be open and inviting, yet safe for patrons, staff, and collections. How can you ensure your library is both accessible and secure? Security planning, part of disaster response and continuous operations planning, is the key to proactively addressing potential safety issues. Look over the shoulder of disaster expert Kahn as she walks through key safety and security issues step by step. This new book outlines hands-on plans to: # Identify potential security problems # Put prevention strategies in place # Create guidelines for libraries and staff in case something does happen # Minimize risk, whether to building, collections, patrons, staff, or computers Case studies, along with 20 checklists and 10 sample policies and forms, are the basis for organizing and evaluating security plans tailored to your institution. Library administrators, building managers, special collections and preservation staff, IT managers, and facilities directors at libraries and cultural institutions of all sizes and types can easily adapt the tools. Follow these proven strategies to keep problems small and manageable, and know what to do “in case of emergency.”

Libraries are licensing information resources in greater numbers then ever before.In order to negotiate and manage an ever-increasing number of licenses, libraries are either establishing Electronic Resource (ER) Librarian positions, or have been assigning these responsibilities to current staff. In both cases, few resources are available to acclimate new ER librarians to the diverse responsibilities associated with their position. An introduction and practical guide to the standard responsibilities ER librarians address daily. These include: knowing the rights libraries have as consumers of information under United States copyright law, understanding licensing terms and conditions, negotiating licenses to support the specific needs of the subscribing institution, and managing these resources once subscribed. Although every college and university is different, this book provides a framework within which the new ER librarian can learn the basics behind negotiating and managing their information resources effectively.Offers practical advice for the new electronic resources librarianEasy for the lay-person to understandUseful as a reference to specific terms, concepts, and issues related to electronic resource licensing

In Library Relocations & Collection Shifts, author, librarian, and move director Dennis C. Tucker explains how to develop an appropriate moving plan for a library of any type or size. A thorough revision of his classic, From Here to There: Moving a Library, the book provides coverage of all these topics and more: appointing a move director and committee; moving methods and strategies; customizing a moving plan for your library; planning and coordinating the move; handling books and periodicals; cleaning, fumigation, and deacidification; working with professional movers; and communicating with staff and the public. You'll also find information on using spreadsheets to shift periodical collections, a sample moving contract, a directory of useful resources, and suggestions for further reading. If your library is planning to move all or part of its collection, whether into a new facility or within the present one, Library Relocations and Collection Shifts is guaranteed to save time and reduce frustration.

Going Digital: Strategies for Access, Preservation, and Conversion of Collections to a Digital Format offers you succinct and analytic views of the problems and benefits of digital resources in the traditional academic library. Library administrators, collection managers, and librarians will learn the advantages and disadvantages of traditional and digital collections and the costs of providing local access or implementing remote access to digital collections. Originally presented at a series of five symposiums sponsored by the Research Libraries Group, the articles inGoing Digital will help you decide upon a cost-effective collection method that will meet the needs of your library, your patrons, and your budget.The chapters in this text are written by the nation's leading librarians who pose and answer questions about hardware and software needed for digital libraries, the costs involved, establishing and maintaining access to digital collections, copyright concerns, and long-term preservation problems. Going Digital gives you insight into factors that will help you decide what will best meet the goals of your library, such as: the advantages and disadvantages of preserving microfilm and digital conversion choosing the correct hardware and software for your digital preservation program the changes required from librarians when shifting from collection development to digital resources examining the selection process for collections from perspectives of access, public service, technological requirements, and preservation ways to improve access to traditional collections cost comparisons between digital and hard copy resources devising a technical plan for successful digital conversion of projects involving the user's wants when selecting collections for digital conversion and recognizing the central parts patrons play in the selection processIn light of the changing ways we receive and keep our information, Going Digital discusses new collection preservation criteria and suggests that access and informational values, not just deterioration, should be equal factors in selecting materials to be converted to digital form. Proving that digital collections are changing every facet of library operations, Going Digital shows you the most cost-effective way to begin a digital collection and how to choose what materials to digitize in order to provide your patrons with the information they want and need.