About the Book
Volume 8 of the series Creating the 21st-Century Academic Library is focused on new services, directions, job duties and responsibilities for librarians in academic libraries of the 21st century. Topics include research data management services, web services, improving web design for library interfaces, cooperative virtual reference services, directions on research in the 21st-century academic library, innovative uses of physical library spaces, uses of social media for disseminating scholarly research, information architecture and usability studies, the importance of special collections and archival collections, and lessons learned in digitization and digital projects planning and management. Data management services are highlighted in the context of a consortium of smaller liberal arts and regional institutions who share a common institutional repository. Survey research plays a role in a number of chapters. One provides insight into how academic libraries are currently approaching web services, web applications, and library websites. A second survey is used to explore the role of librarians as web designers, and provides detailed information related to job titles, job duties, time percentages related to duties, and other duties outside of web design. Comments of those surveyed are included and make interesting reading and a deeper understanding of this new function in libraries. More generally, is a survey study exploring how librarians feel about the changes that are currently happening within the profession, as well as how these changes have personally affected their job duties and their current job assignments.
Case studies are include one that features QuestionPoint in the context of a cooperative virtual reference service; another shows how research and scholarship can be disseminated using social media tools such as blogs, Twitter, ResearchGate and Google Scholar, among others; a other studies explore the importance of user engagement and buy-in before moving forward on digitization; and one shows how information architecture and usability emerge from the redesign of a public library website and whose successful completion involves user surveying, focus groups, peer site reviews, needs analysis, and usability testing.
Two chapters deal with the changing legal context: the importance and understanding of copyright and author rights in the 21st-century academic library, and the basics Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
It is hoped that this volume, and the series in general, will be a valuable and exciting addition to the discussions and planning surrounding the future directions, services, and careers in the 21st-century academic library.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Chapter 1 An overview of research data management in regional libraries in North Carolina
Mark Stoffan
Chapter 2 The future of library web services
Vincci Kwong
Chapter 3 QuestionPoint at the City University of New York: providing cooperative virtual reference services within and beyond a large academic institution
Robin Brown, Beth Evans, Courtney Walsh
Chapter 4 Becoming the library? Research librarians and the future of academic libraries
Rebecca Parker
Chapter 5 Physical library spaces and services: the uses and perceptions of humanities and social sciences undergraduate students
Sanjica Faletar Tanackovic, Boris Badurina, Kornelija Petr Balog
Chapter 6 The role of academic reference librarians in copyright
Eduardo Graziosi Silva
Chapter 7 Disseminating scholarly output through social media
Angel Borrego
Chapter 8 Information architecture and usability as new fields for librarians
Christopher Ewing
Chapter 9 Intentional synergy: the new librarian as co-learner
Topher Lawton
Chapter 10 Libraries and student privacy in the digital age: the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Jennifer Wondracek
Chapter 11 Librarians as web designers
Jenny Brandon
Chapter 12 Change-making in the new librarianship
Le Yang, Li Fu
Chapter 13 Archives and special collections in the digital world
Katherine M. Crowe, Steven Fisher
Chapter 14 Lessons learned: a case study in digital collection missteps and recovery
Joy Marie Perrin
Index
About the Editor and Contributors
About the Author :
Bradford Lee Eden is Dean of Library Services at Valparaiso University. He is editor of OCLC Systems & Services: Digital Library Perspectives International; The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances;Library Leadership & Management, the journal of the Library Leadership & Management Association (LLAMA) within the American Library Association; and The Journal of Tolkien Research, a new, open-access peer-reviewed journal. He is also on the editorial boards of Library Hi Tech, Advances in Library Administration and Organization, and The Journal of Film Music. He has a masters and Ph.D. degrees in musicology, as well as an MS in library science. His two books Innovative Redesign and Reorganization of Library Technical Services: Paths for the Future and Case Studies (Libraries Unlimited, 2004) and More Innovative Redesign and Reorganization of Library Technical Services (Libraries Unlimited, 2009) are used and cited extensively in the field. His recent books include Middle-earth Minstrel: Essays on Music in Tolkien (McFarland, 2010); The Associate University Librarian Handbook: A Resource Guide (Scarecrow Press, 2012); Leadership in Academic Libraries: Connecting Theory to Practice (Scarecrow Press, 2014), and The Hobbit and Tolkien's Mythology: Essays on Revisions and Influences (McFarland, 2014).
Review :
As the eighth publication in the series on Creating the 21st-Century Academic Library, this volume looks at how academic libraries are changing through new jobs and services. It contains 14 papers that present a combination of case studies, original survey research, and thought pieces. A wide range of topics are covered, from web services, web design, the use of social media, virtual reference services, data curation, special collections, and institutional repositories. Like the other volumes in this series, it is international in nature with contributors representing five nations: Australia, Brazil, Croatia, Spain, and the U.S. Standout chapters include one that discusses librarians as change agents and another that looks at the future roles of academic librarians to support research. This collection will be of interest to academic librarians who are struggling to find their place within the ever-changing nature of higher education today and tomorrow.
[The book] will provide an examination of special collections in the 21st century and a specific case study on digitization that may inform a library’s digitization program. The topics are current and the writing is clear and easy to understand. Academic librarians thinking about how their role might evolve in the near term will find this book to be a useful tool and conversation starter…. I would recommend this book to libraries that are currently exploring new roles, services, and directions on their campus, and would highly recommend this book to those that are exploring a topic covered in a given chapter within the book. The chapters…will provide worthwhile perspective and additional information on a topic of concern. Front-line librarians and managers in content areas will find relevant information about their specialty, and library administrators will find the book useful as an overview of current work in emerging areas of interest.
