Follow the blueprint in this book to launch a library DIY community history digitization program—one that provides the access and fosters engagement with patrons to sustain the program over time. Internet technologies have enabled anyone to tell their story—and to find out their own unknown story. Libraries are seeing increased interest in community and family history and in genealogy, as well as heightened demand for access to personal and community history materials in digital format. The opportunity exists for libraries to benefit their communities by providing these in-demand, digitized historical materials optimized for researchers at the individual level. Digitizing Your Community's History: The Innovative Librarian's Guide provides you with step-by-step directions for launching a DIY digitization program for personal and community historical materials. It covers the process of setting up a digitization program, training customers to use the equipment, best practices for storing digitized material, and tips for engaging the community in local history, such as ideas for exhibiting materials and programs for genealogy and family history. Just as importantly, the author addresses how to explain the benefits of programs like these to library stakeholders and supplies recommendations on sustaining library community history programs through access and engagement. The book also provides supplemental materials that include templates and programming ideas, lists of recommended software and apps, and recommended specifications for equipment and for file storage.

An incisive history of the controversial Google Books project and the ongoing quest for a universal digital library Libraries have long talked about providing comprehensive access to information for everyone. But when Google announced in 2004 that it planned to digitize books to make the world's knowledge accessible to all, questions were raised about the roles and responsibilities of libraries, the rights of authors and publishers, and whether a powerful corporation should be the conveyor of such a fundamental public good. Along Came Google traces the history of Google's book digitization project and its implications for us today. Deanna Marcum and Roger Schonfeld draw on in-depth interviews with those who both embraced and resisted Google's plans, from librarians and technologists to university leaders, tech executives, and the heads of leading publishing houses. They look at earlier digital initiatives to provide open access to knowledge, and describe how Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page made the case for a universal digital library and drew on their company's considerable financial resources to make it a reality. Marcum and Schonfeld examine how librarians and scholars organized a legal response to Google, and reveal the missed opportunities when a settlement with the tech giant failed. Along Came Google sheds light on the transformational effects of the Google Books project on scholarship and discusses how we can continue to think imaginatively and collaboratively about expanding the digital availability of knowledge.

Many libraries across the country have found ways to create wonderful digital collections, and this book shows you how you can too.

This guide presents information on planning and managing microfilming projects, incorporating co-operative programmes, service bureaux and the impact of automation for library staff with deteriorating collections.

This essential guide covers the basics of planning to safeguard your library's digital assets—library catalog and circulation data, online resources, etc.—by taking advantage of cloud-based storage. Natural and human-made disasters, whether large-scale or as simple as accidental damage to an electrical circuit, can disrupt library operations and services by blocking access to the essential computer systems upon which we all rely. This book gives readers the basics of emergency planning and disaster preparedness for library digital assets, providing librarians with recovery planning tools and tips for making cloud-based disaster plans work for their libraries. Written by an expert with close to two decades' experience in library environment technology, Planning Cloud-Based Disaster Recovery for Digital Assets will help staff at libraries of all types make contingency plans for emergencies big and small. Readers will learn how thoughtful contingency and recovery plans can greatly mitigate damages caused by any number of unforeseen disasters and how cloud-based storage can serve to store and protect their library's digital assets. By following the book's recommendations to achieve digital redundant back-up, multiple access points, and larger storage capacity, a library can stay operational on the Internet despite emergencies that force building closures. Also included are appendixes of checklists for disaster planning and for evaluating cloud vendors as well as a comprehensive bibliography.

This new and extensively revised second edition offers an international perspective on archives management, providing authoritative guidance relevant to collections-based repositories and to organizations responsible for managing their own institutional archives. Written in clear language with lively examples, Archives: Principles and practices introduces core archival concepts, explains best-practice approaches and discusses the central activities that archivists need to know to ensure the documentary materials in their charge are cared for as effectively as possible. Topics addressed include: core archival principles and conceptsarchival history and the evolution of archival theoriesthe nature and diversity of archival materials and institutionsthe responsibilities and duties of the archivistissues in the management of archival institutionsthe challenges of balancing access and privacy in archival servicebest practice principles and strategic approaches to central archival tasks such as acquisition, preservation, reference and accessdetailed comparison of custodial, fonds-oriented approaches and post-custodial, functional approaches to arrangement and description. Discussion of digital archives is woven throughout the book, including consideration of the changing role of the archivist in the digital age. In recasting her book to address the impact of digital technologies on records and archives, Millar offers us an archival manual for the twenty-first century. This book will be essential reading for archival practitioners, archival studies students and professors, librarians, museum curators, local authorities, small governments, public libraries, community museums, corporations, associations and other agencies with archival responsibility.

Two authors with more than 40 years of combined library experience tap into their wealth of knowledge about discovery and user experience, sharing proven methods for setting up, promoting, and teaching their own discovery systems. Discovery systems are the new one-stop search model for libraries, but simply implementing the software doesn't ensure that it will meet your users' search needs. This book looks at how discovery systems are actually used by examining the findings of several user experience (UX) studies, providing data and observations that will inform your decisions about selecting, implementing, and enhancing this software. This book provides library practitioners who choose, administer, and interact with discovery systems with insight for establishing or fine-tuning a discovery system. You will understand how the use and effectiveness of the top discovery systems compare to more traditional databases and web resources, get insight into the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the best-selling discovery systems, and examine the UX research findings of the authors on student response and faculty response. You'll also learn about key configuration options that help or hinder search success with these systems and affect content selection, linking software setup, and interlibrary loan processes. The book concludes with recommended best practices for promoting discovery systems, including web design, placement on the library's website, getting coworkers on board, and PR ideas.