Since launching its first website in 1997, the Arapahoe Library District (ALD) has constantly looked at ways to review and renew this vital tool for patrons. This article focuses on the process of redesigning the ALD website--the steps taken and decisions made in order to create a site that incorporates interactive elements and patron input and…

Eighteen scholarly papers and twelve abstracts comprise the content of the fourteenth annual Brick and Click Libraries Symposium, held annually at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future face of librarianship.…

Social media now offer a fresh opportunity to enliven the learning process. But to gain traction, they will have to prove their relevance. Librarians are quite vocal in advocating for the preservation of human interaction around digital media; one might say that it is their charge to be certain that the human factors within digital libraries are…

Regular readers of "Computers in Libraries" are aware that social networks are forming increasingly important linkages to professional and personal development in all libraries. Live and virtual social networks have become the new learning playground for librarians and library staff. Social networks have the ability to connect those who are…

A large elementary school broken into ten small units serves as the nucleus of an inner-city community in Hartford, Connecticut, providing not only education but a library, social services, cultural facilities, and meeting rooms. (Author/MLF)

Typical critical patterns for studying children's literature, defined in this study as a written text intended for a reader up to the age of 14, make it difficult to chart generic change across a large corpus of texts. Traditionally, criticism of children's literature focuses on cherry picked archetypes, exemplars, and the standout extraordinary.…

Presents a draft of a statement articulating the American Library Association's goals for the White House Conference on Library and Information Services in the areas of libraries' social value, library funding, literacy programs, outreach policies, national planning, and access to information. (FM)

Describes the institute library's social science collections, periodicals, user services (bibliographic, photocopy, press library, documentation, and translation) and offers recommendations for improvements in library service, collection development, and future programs. Objectives of the institute and role of foreign policy are noted. Eleven…

This examination of the concept of leadership in the context of a large science-engineering library focuses on the importance of communication as it explores relevant social and political factors from an administrative perspective. The paper begins with an overview of the services and collections of the science-engineering library. The nature of…

This brochure explains the benefits and challenges of community learning centers, lists some examples of specific school-community alliances, offers suggestions for promoting school-community partnerships, and provides sources for more information. School- community alliances highlighted involve public schools teaming with public libraries, social…

Presents a study of the popular documentation and communication centers in Brazil which have developed to preserve the history of the struggles of the lower classes and to act as popular information services that fill information needs not met by traditional libraries. Social, economic, and political issues in Brazil are outlined. (Contains 10…

Accreditation standards for professional schools offering social work degrees mandate curriculum content that provides students with skills to analyze, formulate, and influence social policies. An important source of analytical thinking about social policy is the "grey" literature issued by public policy organizations, think tanks,…

Twitter. Facebook. These names stir up feelings, opinions, and experiences in just about everyone. As these services rise in popularity, libraries have begun to use them to reach out to patrons. Some libraries use Twitter but not Facebook. Some use Facebook but not Twitter. Some use both Facebook and Twitter, while others use neither. Yes, the…

Bibliographic classification is culturally bound. This research examines the classification systems created for social libraries in the first half of the nineteenth century in the United States. Social libraries are defined as institutions that have voluntary membership and are dependent on membership fees. Seventeen classified catalogs were…

This annotated bibliography cites 150 books, articles, and government publications about education in Arab countries. Items cited were published in 1978 and examine education for all age groups and ability levels. The material is presented under 68 headings including Arab writing, Arabic language, biology, education, educational administration,…