From the Forward by Michael Lesk: Google has now developed services far beyond text search. Google software will translate languages and support collaborative writing. The chapters in this book look at many Google services, from music to finance, and describe how they can be used by students and other library users. Going beyond information resources, there are now successful collaboration services available from Google and others. You can make conference calls with video and shared screens using Google Hangouts, Writing documents with small numbers of colleagues often involved delays while each author in sequence took over the writing and made edits. Today Google Docs enables multiple people to edit the same document at once. An ingenious use of color lets each participant watch in real time as the other participants edit, and keeps track of who is doing what. If the goal is to create a website rather than to write a report, Google Sites is now one of the most popular platforms. Google is also involved in social networking, with services such as Google+ Other tools view social developments over time and space. The Google Trends service, for example, will show you when and where people are searching for topics. Not surprisingly, searches for “swimwear” peak in June and searches for “snowmobile” peak in January. The Complete Guide to Using Google in Libraries, Volume 2: Research, User Applications, and Networking has 30 chapters divided into four parts: Research, User Applications, Networking, Searching. The contributors are practitioners who use the services they write about and they provide how-to advice that will help public, school, academic, and special librarians; library consultants, LIS faculty and students, and technology professionals.

Carol Smallwood's The Complete Guide to Using Google in Libraries, Volume 1: Instruction, Administration, and Staff Productivity explores how Google's suite of tools, from Google Docs (now Google Drive), Google Scholar, Hangout, Forms, and others made freely available to the Internet Community can be used by libraries to expand the role of digital operations in the management of library materials, to communicate with their patrons and collaborators, to exploit the resources on the Web, and many others. The book has 29 chapters organized into sections that focus on ways that Google’s suite of tools can be applied to address problems in a specific area of library concern. The section headings are: Library Instruction for Users; Collaboration within and among libraries; Library Administration; Collection Management; and Library Productivity. In each topical area, the chapters show how librarians are taking advantage of these tools to change the way that their library works. All of this without the burden of an additional bill to pay. Through these carefully selected case studies from real libraries, you will be able to learn about the surprising and powerful potential that exists through Google tools to improve library operations.

Google Earth is a research, mapping, and cultural exploration tool that puts the whole world in your hands, then hands over the tools to let you build your own world. The uses of Google Earth in academia, in libraries, and across disciplines are endless and each year more innovate research projects are being released. Since its launch, Google Earth has had an enormous impact on the way people think, learn, and work with geographic information. With easy access to spatial and cultural information, and with customizable map features and dynamic presentation tools, Google Earth is an attractive option for anyone wishing to host projects and to share research findings through a common online interface. This easy-to-read, practical guide: Demonstrates how Google Earth has been used as a resource for research Showcases library path finders, discovery tools, and collections built with Google Earth Discusses how Google Earth can be embedded into various library services Highlights effectives uses of Google Earth in specific-discipline education, and provide step-by-step sample classroom activities Introduces Google Earth features, data, and map making capabilities Describes Google Earth-related online resources After reading this guide, librarians will be able to easily integrate Google Earth’s many facets into their services and help teachers integrate it into their classrooms. Because so many librarians are educators and subject specialists, they can customize the learning outcomes for students based on the subject being studied. This book presents a cross-disciplinary overview of how Google Earth can be used in research, in teaching and learning, and in other library services like promotion, outreach, reference and very importantly collection and resource exploration and discovery. This comprehensive guide to using Google Earth is for public, school, academic, and special libraries serving from the elementary level through adult levels. Although articles have been written about specific subjects and specific library projects, this is the first published that offer a one-stop-shop for utilizing this online product for library-related purposes. Librarians reading this book will gain the Google Earth skills required to be able to not only use it themselves, but also teach others in how to use this online technology.

This revised and updated sixth edition of Reference and Information Services continues the book's rich tradition, covering all phases of reference and information services with less emphasis on print and more emphasis on strategies and scenarios. Reference and Information Services is the go-to textbook for MSLIS and i-School courses on reference services and related topics. It is also a helpful handbook for practitioners. Authors include LIS faculty and professionals who have relevant degrees in their areas and who have published extensively on their topics. The first half of the book provides an overview of reference services and techniques for service provision, including the reference interview, ethics, instruction, reader's advisory, and services to diverse populations including children. This part of the book establishes a foundation of knowledge on reference service and frames each topic with ethical and social justice perspectives. The second part of the book offers an overview of the information life cycle and dissemination of information, followed by an in-depth examination of information sources by type—including dictionaries, encyclopedias, indexes, and abstracts—as well as by broad subject areas including government, statistics and data, health, and legal information. This second section introduces the tools and resources that reference professionals use to provide the services described in the first half of the text.

Technical Services Quarterly declared that the third edition “must now be considered the essential textbook for collection development and management … the first place to go for reliable and informative advice." For the fourth edition expert instructor and librarian Johnson has revised and freshened this resource to ensure its timeliness and continued excellence. Each chapter offers complete coverage of one aspect of collection development and management, including numerous suggestions for further reading and narrative case studies exploring the issues. Thorough consideration is given to traditional management topics such as organization of the collection, weeding, staffing, and policymaking;cooperative collection development and management;licenses, negotiation, contracts, maintaining productive relationships with vendors and publishers, and other important purchasing and budgeting topics;important issues such as the ways that changes in information delivery and access technologies continue to reshape the discipline, the evolving needs and expectations of library users, and new roles for subject specialists, all illustrated using updated examples and data; andmarketing, liaison activities, and outreach. As a comprehensive introduction for LIS students, a primer for experienced librarians with new collection development and management responsibilities, and a handy reference resource for practitioners as they go about their day-to-day work, the value and usefulness of this book remain unequaled.

This comprehensive book covers the philosophy behind RFPs to prime readers to understand how to most effectively write them and provides instruction on navigating the submission process as it applies to multiple types of libraries. For many years, only large academic and public libraries and a few library systems regularly used RFPs. Now, smaller schools, public libraries, and library systems use RFPs as tools to select vendors for computer equipment, online systems, databases, and materials. Library consortia frequently use RFPs to select databases and integrated library systems. In this useful book, readers will learn more about the types and advantages of RFPs; the timelines and logistics for submitting RFPs; how to write different types of RFPs; how to evaluate vendor performance; the transfer process when a new vendor is selected; vendor perspectives; and RFP ethics. An appendix includes sample RFPs and evaluation materials, and a glossary defines language necessary to writing and understanding RFPs. This book is essential reading for librarians who need to select vendors to provide library materials including books, serials, and media in all formats as well as for those who are choosing integrated library systems, security and inventory systems such as RFID, computer equipment and software, online and streaming materials such as books and music, or services such as digitization.