This book is for those moving their library beyond places to find information. Written by practicing public librarians and an academic librarian with an interest in public libraries, the book focuses on how public libraries can become more community centered and, by doing so, how they can transform both themselves and their communities. The authors argue that focusing on building community through innovative and responsive services and programs will be the best way for the public library to reposition itself in the years to come.

Foreword by Tracie D. Hall Community engagement isn’t simply an important component of a successful library—it’s the foundation upon which every service, offering, and initiative rests. Working collaboratively with community members—be they library customers, residents, faculty, students or partner organizations— ensures that the library works, period. This important resource from ALA’s Public Programs Office (PPO) provides targeted guidance on how libraries can effectively engage with the public to address a range of issues for the betterment of their community, whether it is a city, neighborhood, campus, or something else. Featuring contributions by leaders active in library-led community engagement, it’s designed to be equally useful as a teaching text for LIS students and a go-to handbook for current programming, adult services, and outreach library staff. Balancing practical tools with case studies and stories from field, this collection explores such key topics as why libraries belong in the community engagement realm; getting the support of board and staff; how to understand your community; the ethics and challenges of engaging often unreached segments of the community; identifying and building engaged partnerships; collections and community engagement; engaged programming; and outcome measurement.

A practical atlas of how librarians around the world are serving the dynamic academics that are today's graduate students. In four sections--One Size Does Not Fit All: Services by Discipline, Degree, and Delivery Method; Librarian Functions and Spaces Transformed to Meet Graduate Students' Needs; More Than Just Information Literacy: Workshops and Data Services; and Partnerships--readers will discover a plethora of programs and ideas gleaned directly from experienced librarians working at some of the top academic institutions, and explore the power of leveraging their library initiatives through partnerships with other university units. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, graduate students have comprised between 14 and 15 percent of all students enrolled in higher education since 2000, and are expected to exceed 3,300,000 students in 2020. While the traditional graduate student starting their fifth consecutive year of study still populates university campuses, graduate students also include seasoned professionals seeking an advanced degree to further career goals, career changers, international students, and online-only students. Each grad student comes with their own levels of expertise, challenging librarians to provide targeted help aligned with the expectations of their specific program of study. Transforming Libraries to Serve Graduate Students incorporates the experiences of librarians from across the United States, Canada, and Europe into thirty-four chapters packed with programs, best practices, and ideas readers can implement in their own libraries.

The library has always been an essential part of the collegiate experience, providing students with access to knowledge and literature. However, as virtual services and online learning become more prominent within collegiate environments, the ways students conduct research and access resources has been altered. Innovative Solutions for Building Community in Academic Libraries examines new methods librarians use to engage both on-campus and online users in library services, taking into account the significant impacts of online learning on students’ interaction with library resources. Focusing on various outreach practices, techniques of literacy instruction, and the utilization of library spaces, this research-supported book is a pivotal reference source for distance educators, program planners, academics, and library professionals interested in new ways to attract users to library services.

Put simply, there is no text about public librarianship more rigorous or comprehensive than McCook's survey. Now, the REFORMA Lifetime Achievement Award-winning author has teamed up with noted public library scholar and advocate Bossaller to update and expand her work to incorporate the field's renewed emphasis on outcomes and transformation. This "essential tool" (Library Journal) remains the definitive handbook on this branch of the profession. It covers every aspect of the public library, from its earliest history through its current incarnation on the cutting edge of the information environment, including statistics, standards, planning, evaluations, and results;legal issues, funding, and politics;organization, administration, and staffing;all aspects of library technology, from structure and infrastructure to websites and makerspaces;adult services, youth services, and children's services;associations, state library agencies, and other professional organizations;global perspectives on public libraries; andadvocacy, outreach, and human rights. Exhaustively researched and expansive in its scope, this benchmark text continues to serve both LIS students and working professionals.

Investigating how people and places are connected into the creative economy, this volume takes a holistic view of the intersections between community, policy and practice and how they are co-constituted. The role of the creative economy and broader cultural policy within community development is problematised and, in a significant addition to work in this area, the concept of ’place’ forms a key cross cutting theme. It brings together case studies from the European Union across urban, rural and coastal areas, along with examples from the developing world, to explore tensions in universal and regionally-specific issues. Empirically-based and theoretically-informed, this collection is of particular interest to academics, postgraduates, policy makers and practitioners within geography, urban and regional studies, cultural policy and the cultural/creative industries.