Learn the skills needed to update and manage a reference department that efficiently meets the needs of clients today—and tomorrow! Managing the Twenty-First Century Reference Department: Challenges and Prospects provides librarians with the knowledge and skills they need to manage an effective reference service. Full of useful and practical ideas, this book presents successful methods for recruiting and retaining capable reference department staff and management, training new employees and adapting current services to an evolving field. Expert practitioners address the changing role of the reference library worker and how longstanding traditions and practices can be re-evaluated and re-applied. The information in this book is ideal for librarians and students of library studies looking to take their skills to the next level. Reference departments continue to evolve as the number of applicants qualified to run them declines. Managing the Twenty-First Century Reference Department: Challenges and Prospects explores the dynamics of leadership and management as well as a variety of other characteristics needed in a Head of Reference. It recognizes the increasing need for visionary leaders who can deal with shrinking budgets, soaring costs, expensive electronic resources, and high user expectations and provides you with practical advice on finding, training, and keeping these individuals. In addition to the training and recruitment techniques documented in this book, you will find extensive information on: setting and achieving goals creating and maintaining a positive work environment how to deliver quality services how to improve job satisfaction for library staff problem solving strategies the importance of communication making your reference department task- and employee-centered Managing the Twenty-First Century Reference Department: Challenges and Prospects also provides an inside look at Oregon State University’s Valley Library’s new management model. The library’s information professionals detail this new model’s current function, potential hazards, and multiple advantages. The user-friendly information documented in this chapter and in the book as a whole makes Managing the Twenty-First Century Reference Department: Challenges and Prospects an essential read for any librarian or student of library studies looking to meet the demands of an increasingly technical field.

This practical guide teaches failsafe methods for identifying important materials by matching specific types of questions to the best available sources, regardless of format. Information on more than 300 sources has been updated to provide you high quality information.

This book responds to an request by the U.S. Army to study the applicability of commercial multimedia technologies to command, control, communications and intelligence needs on future battlefields. After reviewing Army's needs and discussing relevant commercial technologies within the context of a generic architecture, the book recommends approaches for meeting the Army's needs. Battlefield potential is illustrated, andâ€"drawing on lessons learned from the private sectorâ€"a technology management strategy consisting of specific recommendations to the Army is provided. The key to future benefits is for the Army to accommodate the rapid changes taking place in the commercial world of multimedia technologies.

Specifies the top resources in major subject areas and genres and shows students how to approach the reference transaction by matching specific types of questions to the best available resources regardless of format.

Search skills of today bear little resemblance to searches through print publications. Reference service has become much more complex than in the past, and is in a constant state of flux. Learning the skill sets of a worthy reference librarian can be challenging, unending, rewarding, and-- yes, fun.

Since 1939, the U.S. government, using the National Defense Stockpile (NDS), has been stockpiling critical strategic materials for national defense. The economic and national security environments, however, have changed significantly from the time the NDS was created. Current threats are more varied, production and processing of key materials is more globally dispersed, the global competition for raw materials is increasing, the U.S. military is more dependent on civilian industry, and industry depends far more on just-in-time inventory control. To help determine the significance of these changes for the strategic materials stockpile, the Department of Defense asked the NRC to assess the continuing need for and value of the NDS. This report begins with the historical context of the NDS. It then presents a discussion of raw-materials and minerals supply, an examination of changing defense planning and materials needs, an analysis of modern tools used to manage materials supply chains, and an assessment of current operational practices of the NDS.

Worldwide development of agriculture and industry creates burgeoning demands on natural resources. Management of the rivers and the surrounding landscape is one of the important tasks for today and for the foreseeable future. Lessons learned from centuries of management (and mismanagement) have been distilled into principles and practices which form the subject matter for this book. It provides both a global perspective and an entrée to the special problems associated with management of transboundary rivers.