A smart library is an information center with networks of many libraries and their services in a larger informational ecosystem around the globe. The Libraries are adding new, digital resources and services while maintaining most of the old, traditional resources and services. Now the role of libraries, information services, the relationship between a library and users is changing significantly. Traditional services of a library are modified and enhanced in an online environment. The proposed book emphasizes the importance for a library to be flexible to changing needs and to adopt new technologies rapidly. With the emergence of new technologies, the traditional library, acting as a medium for sharing information, needs an integral refinement in its processes. This transformation will bring in efficiency and minimize human error in the processes with the help of smart gates, material location finders, and smart check-out booths to automate the processes of controlling access, locating items as well as issuing/returning of materials. The smart library focuses on the use of technology in a library and is designed to be a very collaborative learning environment, where participants are encouraged to contribute ideas and information. Smart library improves traditional and non-traditional library services, improve users' library experience and enhance opportunities for students learning. Libraries are facing increased expectations from users, and challenges of developing technologies including Web 2.0, Web 3.0, ebooks, digitations, and a problem of archiving digital content. Webbased technology provides users and information professionals with powerful and flexible tools for information dissemination.

Libraries are experiencing major changes concerning the role of technical services. Technical services librarians also are being challenged about their relevance and role, sometimes revealed by a lack of understanding of the contribution technical services librarians make to building and curating library and archival collections. The threats are real: relocation from central facilities, the dramatic shift to electronic resources, budgetary constraints, and outsourced processing. As a result, technical services departments are reinventing themselves to respond to these and similar challenges while embracing innovative methods and opportunities to advance librarianship in the twenty-first century. Library Technical Services provides case studies that highlight difficult realities, yet embrace exciting opportunities, such as space reclamation, evolving vendor partnerships, metadata, retraining and managing personnel, special collections, and distance education. Written for catalog and metadata librarians and managers of technical services units, this book will inspire and provide practical advice and examples for solving issues many libraries are facing today.

Academic libraries cater to the diverse needs of scholars, scientists, technocrats, researchers, students, and others personally and professionally invested in higher education. Due to advancements in information and communication technologies (ICT), the vision and mission of academic libraries are changing in developing countries. Challenges of Academic Library Management in Developing Countries provides the latest theoretical frameworks and empirical research into academic libraries, investigating concerns such as illiteracy, budgeting, software development, technical training, and others. In particular, this book will be of use to professionals and researchers working in the field of library and information science who are looking for new methods and best practices in the management of effective academic libraries. This book is part of the Advances in Library and Information Science series collection.

"Institutions of higher education and academic libraries are not the traditional organizations they once were. They are subject to a variety of forces, including shifting and changing populations, technological changes, public demands for affordability and accountability, and changing approaches to research and learning. Academic libraries can no longer establish their excellence and ground their missions, visions, and strategic directions using the old means and methods. Leading Change in Academic Libraries is a collection of 20 change stories authored by academic librarians from different types of four-year institutions. Librarians tell the story firsthand of how they managed major change in processes, functions, services, programs, or overall organizations using John Kotter's Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major Change as a framework for examining change at their institutions, measuring their successes and areas for improvement, and determining progress. In five sections--strategic planning, reorganization, culture change, new roles, and technological change--chapters discuss tackling common challenges such as fear, anxiety, change fatigue, complacency, unexpected changes of leadership, vacancies, and resistance; look at the results of their tactics; and provide effective practices they found. Each section ends with a thorough analysis of the stories within and the most effective tips for leading that kind of change. Leading Change in Academic Libraries can help you establish flexible, nimble, and collaborative decision-making processes, and facilitate the transition from legacy collections-based libraries to forward-looking service-based libraries"--from the ALA website.

Keep up-to-date with the latest in innovative electronic information services! The Changing Landscape for Electronic Resources: Content, Access, Delivery, and Legal Issues focuses on the effects and challenges of providing electronic resources for libraries. The authors are librarians and other professionals with practical experience in current issues and developing trends. With this book, you will learn about technical, legal, and resource sharing developments that will contribute to the future distribution of global information in libraries. This book shows how libraries using electronic resources can reduce costs and save transaction time for large and small public libraries as well as academic libraries. It also reveals recent initiatives related to open source software and core standards for resource sharing and interlibrary loal, such as the Bath profile and the NISO Circulation Interchange Protocol (NCIP). Special features of this timely book include figures, diagrams, references, and Web sites. This book contains the wisdom and experience of professionals applying electronic resources to: interlibrary loan systems copyright and licensing open source software international data standards scholarly publishing The Changing Landscape for Electronic Resources will help you avoid many of the potential pitfalls of managing electronic content in the evolving modern library. This book will help you prepare for a future in which electronic access improves the range, speed, and quantity of cost-effective information services for patrons and resource-sharing partners.

It is no secret that the world of libraries has rapidly evolved into an environment which will soon be largely digitized. However, this digital shift has brought with it a unique set of challenges and issues for scholars and librarians to handle. Recent Developments in the Design, Construction, and Evaluation of Digital Libraries not only addresses the challenges with digital libraries, but it also describes the recent developments in the design, construction, and evaluation of these libraries in various environments. This cutting-edge resource compiles research from a wide array of specialists into a unified and comprehensive manner. Librarians, researchers, scholars, and professionals in this field will find the reference source beneficial in order to deepen their understanding of this continually growing field.

This book shows how philanthropy can be a primary force in the transfer of technology in transitional societies. It demonstrates the necessity of retraining of people and how this endeavor is as important as the technology itself. It is essentially about Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia, with somewhat smaller emphases on Russia, Romania and South Africa. It chronicles, explains, and analyzes western assistance efforts in Eastern Europe between 1989 and 2000 in the context of the political and economic events of the period, with particular emphasis on the activities of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Factors that made transfers more or less successful and the role of social institutions and human factors will be highlighted. Significant illustrations include the creation of a small enterprise sectors, MBA programs, economic programs, and new markets and financial institutions. The material provides the reader with a clear understanding of how institutions for economic education emerged in Central and Eastern Europe, what role of US foundations and academic institutions played, and what the interplay with local personalities involved.