Blogger and consultant Lori Bowen Ayre gives Diane Ward’s new book high praise at Mentat.

She does the best job I’ve ever seen in explaining library applications for RFID with a strong focus on the benefits of using portable scanners for shelf reading and for locating misshelved material.

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Core LIS text is also a mainstay of reference desk, consumer health and health library collections
New York, NY (January 22, 2008)—Almost 30 years ago, frustrated that there was no textbook on the market he could use to teach his courses in health sciences librarianship at the University of North Carolina, Dr. Fred W. Roper decided to create his own. He teamed up with JoAnne Boorkman at the UNC Health Sciences Library and together they published the first edition of what has become the most widely adopted text in the field.

Now in its 5th edition, Introduction to Reference Sources in the Health Sciences will be released by Neal-Schuman Publishers and the Medical Library Association on March 14, 2008. It has become a must-have not only for medical, hospital, and health sciences libraries, but also for academic and public library reference desks and collection development departments. A useful guide for anyone doing health research, it covers research and health reference fundamentals and identifies the best and most authoritative print and online sources in the health sciences.

From the publication of the first edition in 1980 to the fourth in 2004, Introduction to Reference Sources in the Health Sciences has been praised by reviewers for its readability and comprehensive approach. Said Medical Reference Services Quarterly, “Few works serve as a solid framework for the field of health sciences librarianship or provide as many insights and detailed knowledge,” and Booklist called it “an excellent, comprehensive introduction to health-sciences reference sources and their use.” Doody’s Book Review Service said it was “essential for all health sciences libraries as well as academic and public libraries striving to maintain useful medical and consumer health reference collections,” and “both students and experienced reference librarians will find pearls in this excellent and timely work.”

The organization of Introduction to Reference Sources in the Health Sciences has remained consistent across editions, though chapter authors change, making for the dynamic mix of expertise and continuous process of reappraisal that has so distinguished this guide. Says Roper, who has retired as the book’s lead editor but has penned this edition’s Foreword, “The heart and soul of each of the editions to date . . . [are] the chapter contributors. We attempted to identify those individuals in the profession who had great expertise in the topics that needed to be covered. The list of contributors reads like a veritable who’s who of the profession and of the Medical Library Association.”

The first of the book’s three sections covers reference fundamentals—from the nature of reference work to the principles of collection development, organization, rotation, and management. The book’s second section, “Bibliographic Sources,” identifies core bibliographic resources for researching monographs, periodicals, and electronic databases (including indexing and abstracting resources); U.S. government documents and technical reports; and conference papers, literature reviews, and translations. In the third and final section, “Information Sources,” chapters identify the most essential medical dictionaries, handbooks and manuals; directories and other biographical sources; and a wide range of print and online sources for drug information (including drug interaction and alternative therapy information), consumer health information, and evidence-based medical research. Also included are authoritative sources for medical and health statistics, historical information, and grant details for healthcare professionals seeking funding.

Say editors Jeffrey Huber, Jo Anne Boorkman, and Jean Blackwell in the book’s Preface, “We hope this edition will help guide readers in navigating the maze of print and electronic health sciences resources and in the challenges of building and maintaining a current reference collection.”

Introduction to Reference Sources in the Health Sciences, 5th Edition
ISBN 978-1-55570-634-6. 2008. 6 x 9. 392 pp. $85.00

About the Editors
Jeffrey T. Huber (PhD) is Professor and coordinator of the Houston Master’s program and health sciences curriculum for the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman’s University. He is also Associate Director for Research at the Houston Academy of Medicine–Texas Medical Center Library and serves on the editorial board for the Journal of the Medical Library Association.

Jo Anne Boorkman (MS) is Head of the Carlson Health Sciences Library, UC Davis, where she also serves as coordinator for health sciences collections. She is an MLA Fellow, and a distinguished member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals. A Fellow of the Special Libraries Association, she is their representative to the Health and Biosciences Section of the International Federation of Library Association.

Jean C. Blackwell (MLS) is a Reference Librarian at the Health Sciences Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a member of the MLA and the AHIP.

About Neal-Schuman Publishers and the American Medical Library Association
Neal-Schuman Publishers is the leading provider of library management, Internet and information technology resources, and is the Medical Library Association’s co-publisher. Recent releases include The Medical Library Association Guide to Cancer Information and the much-anticipated forthcoming 3rd edition of Drug Information: A Guide to Current Resources. Founded in 1976, Neal-Schuman Publishers is based in New York City with offices in London, UK.

For More Information
Contact Matt Wilson
(matt.wilson@neal-schuman.com)

100 William Street, Suite 2004
New York, NY 10038
212-925-8650
www.neal-schuman.com

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Nuts-and-bolts primer includes ready-to-use templates and tools
New York, NY (January 14, 2008)—In 1995, Mary Stanley, then a public services librarian at Indiana University (IUPUI), found herself thrust into an acting HR manager slot without an ounce of relevant training or a minute’s worth of experience. What she did have were questions—lots of them.

Now, with more than ten years of HR experience, Stanley has authored Managing Library Employees: A How-To-Do-It Manual, which answers all the questions she had back in 1995, as well as some she didn’t know to ask at the time. To be published by Neal-Schuman publishers on March 17, this new book is an ideal nuts-and-bolts primer for occasional, new-to-management, and future library HR professionals. Stanley’s guide also gives readers dozens of useful HR tools in the form of ready-to-use templates, sample documents, letters, and checklists.

Organized in a Q&A format that aids quick reference, Managing Library Employees answers the questions that anyone handing HR duties in any kind of library will have. How do you write a job description? What kinds of questions should I ask in the interview? How do you increase job satisfaction and motivation? How do you set up a 403(B) or a 401(K) plan? What are the legal implications of disciplining or terminating a problematic employee? How do we handle a Reduction in Force (RIF)?

Says Stanley, “Being a successful HR manager requires a change in perspective. Coworkers and employees become the manager’s internal customers, and need to be treated like other customers: with respect, care, fairness, and objectivity. Managing Library Employees aims to help the reader cultivate this new outlook and handle challenges with confidence.”

Stanley begins by defining basic HR terms and providing a general overview of the current state of both the field of human resources overall, and library human resources in particular. She then describes the demographics of today’s library workforce and discusses emerging trends—including the increasingly strategic role played by HR managers within the organization; the HR challenges specific to academic, public, special, and school libraries; and the problem of anticipated staffing shortages.

Thereafter, the book focuses on practical how-to concerns. From the basics of hiring and firing, compensation and benefits packages, training, evaluation, recruitment and retention, and the role of unions and collective bargaining—to “hot topics” like conflict resolution, attracting minorities to librarianship, the “graying” of the library workforce, technologies useful for HR tasks, and the growing use of part-time or contractual employees—Managing Library Employees covers the full range of essential HR functions in libraries. Throughout, Stanley emphasizes legal concerns: an entire chapter is devoted to employment law and others touch on topics including sexual harassment, designing lawful disciplinary procedures, and identifying problem areas before they turn into lawsuits.

Managing Library Employees: A How-To-Do-It Manual
ISBN 978-1-55570-628-9. 2008. 8½ x 11. 190 pp. $59.95

About the Author
Mary J. Stanley is Associate Dean at the IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis) University Library and Director of Human Resources. During her library career, she has worked in public, academic, and special libraries.

For More Information
Contact Matt Wilson
(matt.wilson@neal-schuman.com)

100 William Street, Suite 2004
New York, NY 10038
212-925-8650
www.neal-schuman.com

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Understanding of New Web Technology will Help Librarians Improve Services

New York, NY (January 7, 2007)—Whether or not you agree with the New York Times’ recent assessment that today’s librarians are getting hipper and more cutting edge, it is true that success for the most effective libraries and information professionals often relies on their willingness to embrace new technologies—including the newest—a rapidly growing cluster of social software technologies collectively known as “Web 2.0.”

In Web 2.0 for Library and Information Professionals, a new book to be published by Neal-Schuman on February 4, 2008, author, instructor and speaker Ellyssa Kroski explains—in non-technical terms—what defines Web 2.0, why it’s important for libraries, and how information professionals can harness it “to converse, communicate, and collaborate with library users as never before.” Unique to Kroski’s account are case studies and real-world examples of academic, public, special, and school librarians using the technologies to improve their service to patrons.

With a background in both information technology and library science, Kroski’s writing has quickly earned her a reputation for cogent analysis of these emergent tools and their implications for libraries. In Web 2.0 for Library and Information Professionals, she looks at the most widely used Web 2.0 tools—from blogs, RSS feeds, wikis, virtual worlds, podcasting, mashups, and photosharing, to social bookmarking, cataloging, and networking sites like MySpace and Facebook.

The book begins with a Foreword by the influential Tame the Web blogger, Michael Stephens, followed by an overview and history of Web 2.0. Each of the subsequent 16 chapters covers a different Web 2.0 tool—its purpose, functionality, features, and usage statistics. Kroski also considers specific applications for each tool, most of which are freely available on the Web; where multiple options are available, she outlines the pros and cons of the different types of solutions. Dozens of screenshots show these applications in action, and a plethora of site recommendations and suggestions help readers navigate the tools online as part of the learning process. The appendix of Resources for Web 2.0 Discovery alone is worth the price of admission, with listings of every application readers will need to become truly Web 2.0-literate—including Flickr, LibraryThing, Del.icio.us, Remember the Milk, HousingMaps, Second Life, Digg —and many more.

Most valuable of all is Kroski’s expert compilation of advice and best practices from early-adopting libraries, which will help readers avoid common pitfalls and get started quickly without reinventing the wheel. Case studies—like the one describing the University of Georgia’s decision to start 21 subject-specific blogs, or the Ann Arbor District Library’s use of Google Gadgets to personalize patrons’ experience of the library Web site and catalog—are the 1000-watt light bulbs that will help readers see the possibilities of Web 2.0 for their own libraries.

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Neal-Schuman is proud to be represented at this year’s ALISE Conference by Charles Harmon, Vice President and Director of Publishing, and by Kathryn Suárez, Vice President of Finance and Business Development. We hope to see you in Philadelphia!

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New book-CD-ROM toolkit offers hundreds of hours of quality programming for the lapsit set

New York, NY (January 11, 2008)—Once a rarity, programs for infants, young toddlers, and their caregivers have become a staple in many public libraries. Research demonstrates the importance of pre-literacy activities for babies’ cognitive development, and the popularity of lapsit programs is a clear indication of their value to parents. Like everything, however, putting together and promoting such programs—and doing so on a schedule that meets community demand—takes time, resources, and know-how.

In 1995 Linda Ernst provided the know-how, outlined the resources necessary, and saved children’s librarians hours of time with a popular primer on lapsit services that School Library Journal declared “one of the most valuable resources” on the topic. In 2001 Ernst authored an acclaimed companion volume full of program ideas and suggestions that School Library Journal praised as “an essential tool for busy librarians trying to serve their youngest customers.”

In Baby Rhyming Time, to be published by Neal-Schuman on April 14, 2008, Linda Ernst has done it again—but this time with dozens of complete, ready-to-use programs that make it easier than ever to plan, promote, and roll out infant-toddler services. The first of Ernst’s books to include a companion CD-ROM, Baby Rhyming Time also offers video recordings of successful programs plus hundreds of time-saving, print-ready templates, scripts, lyrics, forms, props, displays, and posters that can be adapted and easily reproduced for use in any library or classroom.

As in her two earlier volumes, Baby Rhyming Time offers the very latest information on brain research and language acquisition and lays out the implications for age-appropriate programs—programs that will stimulate cognitive, emotional, and social development. Says Ernst, a children’s librarian in public libraries for over 30 years, “Research demonstrates how important very early childhood can be. Exposure to activities like rhymes, actions, and simple stories during these crucial months can have a significant impact on how easily a child ventures into the world of reading.”

With practical tips on everything from the space used to the best materials and where to get them, Baby Rhyming Time is a practical guide to the logistics of both rhyming time programs for infants (age 0-12 months) and story time programs for young toddlers (age 12-24 months). In addition to detailed annotations for hundreds of books that she personally recommends (helpfully organized by theme and by title), Ernst offers suggestions for a wide range of activities featuring music, games, puppets, balls, flannel boards, bubbles, and more.

Throughout, Ernst emphasizes the importance of sensitivity—to the perspective of the caregiver, who learns as much from lapsit programs as the child—and to the unique needs of different types of families—including bilingual families, families headed by teenagers or grandparents, and families with special needs children. In a discussion of ways the library as a whole can support early literacy, Ernst looks at facilities, collections, staffing, partnerships, and possible funding sources.

Ernst also addresses topics that have attracted great interest in recent years, including the use of sign language to communicate with the preverbal child, using movement to encourage brain development, and the importance of play. In every chapter, she offers dozens of useful print and electronic resources. Innovative and practical, Baby Rhyming Time is the ideal guide to serving the library’s youngest patrons and will be of interest, too, to educators in child care centers, Head Start programs, and preschools.

Baby Rhyming Time
ISBN: 978-1-55570-540-4.
2008. 8½ x 11. 183 pp. $59.95

About the Author
Author previously of the acclaimed Lapsit Services for the Very Young (1995) and Lapsit Services for the Very Young II (2001), and a children’s librarian for over 30 years, Linda L. Ernst currently works for the King County Library System in Washington. A popular trainer and workshop presenter and a former chair of the Early Childhood Programs and Services Committee for the Association for Library Service to Children, she was awarded the Washington Library Association’s Children’s and
Young Adult Services Award for Visionary Library Service to Youth in 2004 and was chosen to serve as a member of the 2007 Caldecott Award committee.

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