The exploding popularity of smartphones and other mobile devices provides a unique opportunity for libraries to help bridge the digital divide. These devices are often discussed in the context of affluent populations and academic libraries, yet the demographics of mobile internet users are much more diverse than this, and the potential for mobile library services is correspondingly broad.
In this issue of Library Technology Reports, Andromeda Yelton shows how libraries can build on the breadth of this population to help bridge the digital divide and provide even greater access to information. Yelton breaks down the demographics of mobile internet users, provides examples of how different libraries are reaching out to these populations, and suggests what the future may hold for this trend. Read More »
 There’s no question that the role e-books and e-readers in libraries is increasing rapidly. For this issue of Library Technology Reports, Sue Polanka has compiled an expert-authored series of articles that provide librarians with strategies, best practices and case studies for meeting the unprecendented legal, technological, and vendor challeges that come with e-book purchasing.
Topics Include: Read More »
Libraries have begun a transformation from physical materials to electronic media, and the so-called next-generation catalog is emerging before our eyes. This issue of Library Technology Reports analyzes five different academic libraries to better understand their investments, detailing the outcome thus far and drawing conclusions about the next-generation catalog.
Topics Include: Read More »
 This issue of Library Technology Reports, conceived and coordinated by the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Research and Statistics, focuses on the evolution and current state of public-access technologies in public libraries from the infrastructure, services, and resources perspectives. This issue brings together longitudinal data, key issues, trends, and best practices that will provide library staff with tools for planning, advocacy, and service enhancements. Read More »
 Libraries are delivering an ever-increasing proportion of their services through the web, a trend that seems certain to continue. In order to guide purchases and appropriately distribute services and staff time, it’s essential that libraries and librarians accurately track the usage of their websites and online resources. In this issue ofLibrary Technology Reports, Kate Marek offers a practical guide to web analytics tools, explaining what librarians need to know to implement them effectively.
Topics include: Read More »
 For the last four years, Breeding has conducted an online survey to measure satisfaction with multiple aspects of the automation products used by libraries. In this issue of Library Technology Reports Breeding and Yelton take a deeper look at the survey data, including an expansion of findings based on the 2010 iteration, an examination of trends seen across the four years, and additional analysis not previously published. The survey data have been extended with additional fields that provide the opportunity to separate the findings into categories that show some interesting trends not otherwise apparent. Brief interpretive narratives help place the data in context. Read More »
 With WordPress, you can give patrons easy access to your library’s digital content . The software is free, and, with good planning, you don’t need expensive training or extensive technological expertise to maintain your site. Authors Kyle Jones and Polly-Alida Farrington, along with several librarian contributors, deliver a richly illustrated, practical guide for using WordPress as a tool for managing digital content, from basic set-up to customization with plugins.
Topics covered in this issue include: Read More »
 What evidence would provide a good indication that the day had come for your library to focus concerted efforts on mobile services? If nearly all Americans owned cell phones? Maybe if a large percentage of those phone owners demonstrably used their device to access the internet? Perhaps if smartphone sales began to approach sales of PCs? If major information service providers were shifting their focus from the desktop to mobile devices? If the trend turned away from mobile devices mimicking the functions of desktop computers, and instead desktops began to emulate mobiles? Maybe if there was evidence that traditional desktop connectivity wasn’t reaching people who could be reached on their mobile devices?
If so, then that day is today. Read More »
Web scale discovery services are a tool with major potential to transform the nature of library systems. These services are capable of searching quickly and seamlessly across a vast range of local and remote content and providing relevancy-ranked results in the type of intuitive interface that today’s information seekers expect. Read More »
 Just as our users’ reading and intellectual pursuits have extended into new media, our intellectual freedom concerns as librarians have long ago expanded well beyond the realm of book censorship alone. As libraries increasingly move beyond provision of print material and into their expanding roles as providers of digital resources and services, intellectual freedom concerns have been magnified as they apply to a range of complex new issues.
--Angela Mayock, assistant director of the
Office for Intellectual Freedom at the American Library
Association, from the Introduction to Privacy and Freedom of Information in 21st-Century Libraries Read More »
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