New York, NY (March 21, 2008)—Neal-Schuman today announced the signing of a co-publishing agreement with the Public Library Association (PLA). Each volume in the new PLA Reader Series will be specifically designed to meet the professional information needs of a specific segment of the public library community in mind—-public library directors, youth librarians, managers, or trustees, for example. Each reader will include best practices, essential background information, practical wisdom, and targeted advice carefully selected and organized by PLA and Neal-Schuman.

The first four titles slated for publication in the PLA Reader Series include: The Public Library Association Reader for Library Directors, The Public Library Association Reader for Youth Librarians, The Public Library Association Reader for Library Trustees, and The Public Library Association Reader for Aspiring Library Managers.

Founded in 1976 by President Patricia Glass Schuman and Executive Vice President Jack Neal, Neal-Schuman is the leading independent, privately owned publisher of professional books for librarians, archivists, and knowledge managers. The company prides itself on close ties to the community it serves, boasting a large number of MLS degrees on staff and freelance and series editors from libraries and LIS programs around the country. Neal-Schuman President Pat Schuman served as ALA’s President from 1991-1992, and Vice President/Director of Publishing Charles Harmon was formerly head of ALA’s Information Services.

A division of the American Library Association, the PLA is the largest association of public library professionals in the world. Dedicated to serving the professional needs of public library staff, its publications emphasize practical how-to advice about library operations and topics of strong interest to PLA members.

“Partnerships like this one lie at the heart of our company mission,” said Neal-Schuman’s Charles Harmon. “By working with an established, influential organization like the PLA, we can be that much more responsive to the needs and concerns of information professionals working in every kind of library.”

In addition to PLA, Neal-Schuman is also a publishing partner for a number of other divisions of the American Library Association, including the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) with whom they have partnered on projects like Get Connected: Tech Programs for Teens by RoseMary Honnold (2007) and The Official YALSA Awards Guidebook (forthcoming in 2008). Co-publications with the Library Information and Technology Association (LITA) include Making Library Web Sites Usable (2007) and Using Interactive Technologies in Libraries (2007). Recent co-publications with the Medical Library Association (MLA) include The Medical Library Association Guide to Cancer Information (2007) and the much-anticipated 3rd edition of Bonnie Snow’s Drug Information: A Guide to Current Resources (2008). Neal-Schuman is also the exclusive distributor in the U.S. of Facet Publications, the publishing division of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) in the UK.

“Neal-Schuman is already a well-respected name among our membership, which makes them the ideal publishing partner for our titles,” said PLA spokesperson Kathleen Hughes. “Their reputation for providing information professionals with the tools and information they need is completely consistent with our own publishing goals. We’re looking forward to a relationship that best serves the interests of our membership.”

“The other benefit you can expect to see as a result of this partnership,” said Harmon, “is even better programming for the public library community in the Neal-Schuman Professional Education Network” —-a series of professional training webinars and audio seminars. “Public libraries have responded very enthusiastically to this new series, and this partnership will even better inform our offerings in the area.” For more information about the Professional Education Network, visit www.neal-schumanPEN.com.

In conjunction with the new partnership, Neal-Schuman has implemented a PLA standing order plan and is offering a charter discount for libraries that sign up before May 1, 2008. For more information, visit www.neal-schuman.com.

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Experts offer primer on leadership geared specifically to the needs of information professionals

A good knowledge of leadership—its theory and practice, is essential for both an individual’s career and the success of any enterprise. For people in professions founded on a philosophy of service, however—including information professionals in libraries, archives, and information centers world-wide—leadership is often an afterthought, say experts Sue Roberts and Jennifer Rowley. In the new book Leadership: The Challenge for the Information Profession, their goal is to get information professionals to think early and deeply about leadership and its practical impact.

“Our objective is to offer a set of concepts and models which will support the reader in thinking about and developing their own approach to leadership,” say the authors. “No other book offers such a comprehensive and topical perspective on leadership in the context of information services and the wider information industry.”

A companion volume to the widely acclaimed Managing Information Services (2004) by the same authors, Leadership is both an essential text for students of the information sciences and a practical guide for professionals at any stage of their career.

Espousing a philosophy that theory and practice should be closely intertwined, Roberts and Rowley begin by examining the most important theoretical perspectives on leadership, all the while encouraging the reader to assess their own leadership style and strengths through discussions on topics like leadership traits and styles, emotional intelligence, values, gender, communication styles, and personality.

Additional chapters pick up key aspects of leadership roles—from approaches to promoting change and innovation to the people skills of good leaders—team-building; development; empowerment; and communicating vision through mission statements, strategic goals, policies, values, and culture.

Finally, the authors look at potential strategies for leadership development and give practical advice for those seeking to develop management and information competencies.
Ideal for use in LIS graduate programs, every chapter begins with an outline of learning objectives and ends with a summary and conclusion. Every chapter also includes review questions, an illustrative case study, and “challenges” that pose dilemmas—difficult situations in which there are no sure-fire correct responses, but which will help readers think about and prepare for practical, real-world situations. Every chapter also includes extensive resources (both print and electronic) for additional learning.

Published by Facet Publishing in the U.K., Leadership: The Challenge for the Information Profession will be distributed in the U.S. by Neal-Schuman Publishers.

Leadership: The Challenge for the Information Profession
ISBN 978-1-85604-609-1.
2008. 6 x 9. 248 pp. $110.00.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Sue Roberts is University Librarian at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Jennifer Rowley is Professor of Information and Communications at Manchester Metropolitan University. Roberts and Rowley have collaborated previously on Managing Information Services (2004). Roberts is also co-author of Developing the New Learning Environment (2006).

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Quick course in fundamentals will help libraries increase circulation, draw in users

Given the rapidly increasing popularity of graphic novels, youth services staff in public and school libraries aren’t asking whether or why they should offer them—they are simply grappling with the enormously complex questions of what and how. For example, purchasing options have multiplied rapidly, and the same content is frequently available in multiple editions and bindings. There are limited series, trade editions, digests, chronological and other special collections, and a wide range of formats and trim sizes to choose from. A librarian interested in supporting such a popular phenomenon, but who is not also an avid reader, may well have difficulty recognizing what is worth adding to a library collection.

In The Librarian’s Guide to Graphic Novels for Children and Tweens, author David Serchay combines the avid enthusiasm of a collector with the professional know-how of a youth services librarian, providing expert information on buying, recommending, cataloging, and shelving of graphic novels.

Serchay begins with a short introduction to the basics, defining key terms, explaining what graphic novels are, how they evolved from comic books, how comics are made, and how the history of comics (outlined briefly) informs the interests of today’s readers. He describes the most common genres (superheroes, science fiction and fantasy, horror, nonfiction) and tackles the issue of diversity, considering how women and ethnic groups have been portrayed in comics over time. A chapter on manga explains the history and primary genres of graphic narratives in Asia and looks at their impact on graphic novels in the United States.

In the second part of the book, Serchay offers a practical guide to building a graphic novel collection, identifying the leading publishers (both mainstream and independent) as well as key distributors, retailers, and leading review publications plus enough resources (in print and online) to allow readers to keep up with future trends and grow their collection over time. A chapter titled “So Much to Choose From: Deciding What to Purchase” helps collection developers steer clear of redundancies and inappropriate content, and an included appendix that lists hundreds of titles appropriate for children and “tweens” up through the age of 15 (helpfully arranged by title, series, and character) will let them put together a list of core titles in minutes.

The book’s final section, “Managing, Promoting, and Maintaining a Graphic Novel Collection,” addresses cataloging options, cutter and title choices, processing, preservation, replacement, weeding, and shelving. It includes a creative array of suggestions for promoting the collection as well as a discussion of the challenges specific to managing graphic novel collections—from theft and vandalism to complaints from the handful of people who still think that comics don’t belong in the library.

“There have always been books that have unfairly been given the stigma of ‘junk literature,’ or ‘lowbrow works,’” says Serchay, “where librarians were encouraged not to buy them and children were encouraged to read them only until they were ready for ‘a real book.’ Graphic novels are just getting over that stigma, but before them it was the Goosebumps and Baby-sitter’s Club books, and before that it was the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew titles. Interestingly, all four have recently come out in graphic novel form.”

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Neal-Schuman congratulates author and editor Jeffrey T. Huber on his appointment as director of University of Kentucky School of Library and Information Science.

Among his many honors and accomplishments, Huber is co-editor of the just-published Introduction to Reference Sources in the Health Sciences, Fifth Edition.

For more information on Huber’s new position, visit the University of Kentucky’s Web site.

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Neal-Schuman Publishers congratulates editor Patrick Ragains on winning ACRL’s Ilene F. Rockman Publication of the Year Award for his book Information Literacy Instruction that Works. Given annually, the award “recognizes an outstanding publication related to instruction in a library environment”.

The formal presentation of the award will take place at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA, on Sunday, June 29 at 1:30 PM.

Previous winning titles published by Neal-Schuman include Motivating Students in Information Literacy Classes in 2005 and Information Literacy Instruction in 2004.

For more information about the award, click here.

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School Library Journal reviews The Best of History Web Sites in its latest issue.

Designed to assist teachers and librarians in their search for worthwhile and appropriate sites for students and classroom materials, this copious volume surely succeeds.

Info Career Trends has reviewed two Neal-Schuman titles in its latest issue.

Fundamentals of Information Studies

In this broad and informative work, the authors provide a solid background…

Management Basics for Information Professionals

It comprises the management class I wish I would have had in library school, and is recommended for any information professional who has found him- or herself in a management role.

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