The study is based on survey data from 40 academic libraries and looks closely at how they monitor, assess and act to maintain or improve their reputation with key stakeholders such as students, alumni, faculty and college administration. The report gives extensive data on library public relations practices and on surveying and monitoring techniques and looks at public relations expenditures and strategies to improve the library reputation. The study looks at the dimensions of the library patron surveying and opinion monitoring effort and also at how academic libraries monitor the internet to assess the library’s reputation in cyberspace. The report also looks at the use of focus groups and with relations with organizations that rate colleges and libraries.

This report looks closely at how public libraries monitor and asses their public reputations and market their services to the broader public. The study looks closely at how public libraries study and assess their reputation with their constituency reach out to them in the library, over the internet, and through all the means available to them. The study presents detailed quantitative data on public library spending on public relations, as well as their use of internet sites and tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and other sites to engage their audience. The study also presents its findings on a communications and website strategy and traditional means of reaching out such as children’s storytelling, theatrical and musical events, library newsletters, library friends’ groups, book sales, contests and other means of reaching out and engaging the public. In addition, the report presents detailed data and commentary on library use of focus groups and surveys. Data in the report is broken out by size of library budget, size of service area, per capita income of service area and other criteria.

Reputation is becoming an imperative business function that influences strategic decisions including the direction of a business plan and how an organization should be communicating with its stakeholders and publics. It is crucial for an organization to measure public relations outputs and outcomes as well as measuring established and developing relationships. Reputation Management Techniques in Public Relations is a critical scholarly resource that examines public relations strategies, such as employing media plans, determining communication channels, setting objectives, choosing the right promotional programs and message strategies, budgeting and assessing the overall effectiveness of a company’s public relations strategy. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics, such as brand and customer communications, corporate social responsibility, and leadership, this book is geared towards practitioners, professionals, and scholars seeking current research on reputation management.

A pronounced move from print subscriptions to electronic resources in all types of libraries has fundamentally impacted the library and its users. With the influx of resources such as e-journals; e-books; index, abstract, and/or full-text databases; aggregated databases; and others, the shift to electronic resources is rapidly changing library operational and organizational procedures. Electronic Resource Management in Libraries: Research and Practice provides comprehensive coverage of the issues, methods, theories, and challenges connected with the provision of electronic resources in libraries, with emphasis on strategic planning, operational guidelines, and practices. This book primarily focuses on management practices of the life-cycle of commercially acquired electronic resources from selection and ordering to cataloging, Web presentation, user support, usage evaluation, and more.

Have changes such as cloud computing, search engines, the Semantic Web, and mobile applications rendered such long-standing academic library services and functions as special collections, interlibrary loans, physical processing, and even library buildings unnecessary? Can the academic library effectively reconceive itself as a virtual institution? Stielow, who led the library program of the online university American Public University System, argues most emphatically that it can. His comprehensive look at web-based academic libraries synthesizes the changes wrought by the Web revolution into a visionary new model, grounded in history as well as personal experience. He demonstrates how existing functions like cataloging, circulation, collection development, reference, and serials management can be transformed by entrepreneurship, human face/electronic communicator relations, web apps, and other innovations. Online education can ensure that libraries remain strong information and knowledge hubs, and his timely book Shows how the origins and history of the academic library have laid the foundation for our current period of flux Identifies practices rooted in print-based storage to consider for elimination, and legacy services ready to be adapted to virtual operations Discusses tools and concepts libraries will embrace in a networked world, including new opportunities for library relevance in bookstore/textbook operations, compliance, library/archival/museum functions, e-publishing, and tutorial services Offers a thorough examination of the virtual library infrastructure crucial for an online learning program, with a special look at the particular needs and responsibilities of online librarians Looks at the evolving relationship between higher education and copyright, and posits how educational technology will bring further changes Bursting with stimulating ideas and wisdom gleaned from first-hand experience, Stielow’s book presents a model for offering outstanding higher education library services in an increasingly online environment.