September 22, 2009 (New York, NY) – Today’s rapidly expanding information environment has produced a host of new Web tools and technologies that, when appropriately integrated, allow libraries to better serve and interact with their users. In Building Library 3.0: Issues in Creating a Culture of Participation, to be released in North America by Neal-Schuman on November 1, 2009, author Woody Evans offers concrete guidance to help librarians meaningfully implement an array of essential technologies and remain relevant in a more fully interactive digital environment, or “Library 3.0.”

Evans divides the book into three parts and begins with an introduction to the concept of Web 2.0, and how its fundamental tools and architecture can improve and expand library services. He also examines today’s users’ changing behaviors, needs, and expectations for an increasingly mobile information environment. The second part provides detailed explanations and steps for implementing important user-oriented tools. There is guidance for using folksonomies like tags and clouds, and best practices for setting up and managing profiles on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn. Evans also covers the ins and outs of mobile phones, Second Life, and the benefits and potential dangers of RFID technology and smart tags. The concluding part explores the ways in which these advances affect the fundamentals of good information architecture, and explains how good search practice, soft skills, and critical thinking must be applied to Library 3.0 technologies.

The book’s appendices include interviews with leading library professionals who have successfully implemented these technologies, as well as helpful tips and tricks for using them to connect with users and communities.

Building Library 3.0: Issues in Creating a Culture of Participation offers clear explanations and practical instruction to help librarians implement essential new technologies and stay relevant in an ever-changing field.

Building Library 3.0: Issues in Creating a Culture of Participation
ISBN 978-1-84334-497-1.
Chandos Publishing 2009.
6 x 9. 200 pp. $95.00.

About the Author
Woody Evans is a librarian at Tarrant County College in Arlington, Texas. He has worked for military, corporate, and academic organizations. He has written for American Libraries, Library Journal, Searcher, ONLINE, Information Today, and others. His current research interests include the cultural aspects of information seeking and evaluation.

About Neal-Schuman Publishers and Chandos Publishing
Founded in 1976, Neal-Schuman Publishers is based in New York City with offices in London, UK. Neal-Schuman is a leading publisher of professional and academic titles in all areas of library and information studies. Since June 2009, Neal-Schuman has also been the exclusive North American distributor for titles from the United Kingdom’s Chandos Publishing, a division of Woodhead Publishing Limited. Chandos books are a leading, highly practical source of authoritative information for professionals and researchers worldwide.

For More Information and/or Cover Art
Contact Sarah Eisenberg
sarah.eisenberg@neal-schuman.com
100 William Street, Suite 2004
New York, NY 10038
212-925-8650
www.neal-schuman.com

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Guide to using virtual tools is tailored to researchers’ needs

September 22, 2009 (New York, NY) –Virtual and e-research tools can significantly aid and improve research projects across a wide range of disciplines and domains. In Virtual Research Environments: From Portals to Science Gateways, to be released in North America by Neal-Schuman on November 1, 2009, author Robert Allan provides comprehensive instruction for building effective virtual research environments (VREs) that are designed to satisfy researchers’ driving motivations and practical requirements.

The book is divided into thirteen chapters and begins with an introduction to e-research tools and their functionalities, usability, and key technical components. Next, Allan explains best practices for creating, characterizing and managing data and digital information, and explores the essential collaborative tools, security guidelines, and different domains involved in virtual research.

Allan outlines VRE architecture and infrastructure, and explains how and when to implement specific components like grid resources, web services, desktop tools, and portals. Three real-life research projects from various disciplines are described in detail. Each one offers practical examples for appropriately applying different tools. The book concludes with the top ten e-research requirements, along with expert insight into the impact of e-research and its future development.

There are a number of helpful illustrations, tables, and charts, and the book’s appendices provide comprehensive lists of e-research portals, gateways, tools, services, and a complete glossary of key terms.
Virtual Research Environments: From Portals to Science Gateways provides research and information professionals with a host of practical and proven guidelines for organizing and deploying successful e-research projects.

Virtual Research Environments: From Portals to Science Gateways
ISBN 978-1-84334-562-6.
Chandos Publishing 2009.
6 x 9. 250 pp. $99.95.

About the Author
Robert Allan is the leader of the HPC and Grid Technology Group in the Computational Science and Engineering Department at STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory in the UK. He received a PhD in atomic physics at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and is a member of the Institute of Physics and the European Physical society.

About Neal-Schuman Publishers and Chandos Publishing
Founded in 1976, Neal-Schuman Publishers is based in New York City with offices in London, UK. Neal-Schuman is a leading publisher of professional and academic titles in all areas of library and information studies. Since June 2009, Neal-Schuman has also been the exclusive North American distributor for titles from the United Kingdom’s Chandos Publishing, a division of Woodhead Publishing Limited. Chandos books are a leading, highly practical source of authoritative information for professionals and researchers worldwide.

For More Information and/or Cover Art
Contact Sarah Eisenberg
sarah.eisenberg@neal-schuman.com
100 William Street, Suite 2004
New York, NY 10038
212-925-8650
www.neal-schuman.com

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September 23, 2009 (New York, NY) – Improving student learning, teaching information literacy skills, serving as copyright specialist, managing technology, overseeing media center operations are a few of the diverse roles that school library media specialists can fill more effectively with a well-thought-out policy and procedure manual. The School Library Media Specialist’s Policy and Procedure Writer, to be published by Neal-Schuman on November 20, 2009, is a highly practical book and CD-ROM package to guide busy professionals through the ambitious, time-consuming, and often daunting task of creating and updating a comprehensive policy manual.

Author Elizabeth Downs brings together in both print and electronic formats over eighty carefully selected policies, procedures, and forms that cover all aspects of school library administration and can be easily adapted for all local or district priorities and needs. Each of the book’s six chapters includes an overview of the topic and a checklist of key policy components culled from over forty-five exemplary school library media centers across the country. The accompanying CD-ROM contains fully editable versions of all eighty policies, procedures, and forms to save school library media specialists from time-consuming research and reproduction work.

Downs begins with an introduction to the overarching goals and objectives for a school library program, including several sample missions statements, and explains how policies and procedures differ between school districts. The next chapter addresses administration, with sample policies for budgets, receipt of money, inventory, and annual reports, and is followed by a chapter that deals with developing policies for staff, teachers, students, and other individuals in the school library. Here, Downs provides policy examples for facilities use, scheduling, safety, disaster management, personnel management, and confidentiality of library records. The next chapter covers collection development and maintenance policies, including circulation, collection development, selection, reconsideration of challenged materials, weeding, and copyright. Shifting her focus to technology, Downs outlines “best practices” and crucial policies for Internet and acceptable use, Web publishing, and technology ethics. She specifically emphasizes the pressing need to integrate new policies that will address prominent emerging technologies such as social networks, Web 2.0 tools, and virtual libraries. The book concludes with an examination of acceptable use and accessibility, and covers policies for classroom use of video and music, equipment utilization and maintenance, production of materials, reading incentive programs, interlibrary loan, periodical storage and maintenance, and accessibility for students with special needs.

The School Library Media Specialist’s Policy and Procedure Writer offers a practical, efficient, and time-saving path to developing a complete and effective policy manual for every aspect of school library operation and management.

The School Library Media Specialist’s Policy and Procedure Writer
ISBN: 978-1-55570-621-0.
2009. 8.5×11. 350pp. $75.00.

About the Author
Elizabeth Downs holds a BS in Elementary Education from Florida State University and a PhD in Educational Technology and MEd in Educational Psychology from The University of Florida. Dr. Downs spent eight years as an elementary teacher in Palm Beach County, Florida, and is currently a professor in the Instructional Technology Program at Georgia Southern University, where she has taught since 1990.

About Neal-Schuman Publishers
Neal-Schuman Publishers is a leading publisher of professional books for librarians, archivists and knowledge managers. Founded in 1976, Neal-Schuman Publishers is based in New York City, with offices in London, UK.

For More Information and/or Cover Art
Contact Sarah Eisenberg
sarah.eisenberg@neal-schuman.com
100 William Street, Suite 2004
New York, NY 10038
212-925-8650
www.neal-schuman.com

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New York, NY (September 10, 2009) – Institutional repositories (IRs) have sparked an unprecedented transformation in scholarly communication and information dissemination. Starting, Strengthening, and Managing Institutional Repositories: A How-To-Do-It Manual, to be published by Neal-Schuman on November 30, 2009, is designed for anyone charged with starting or managing an IR.

Author Jonathan Nabe translates his expertise and extensive experience into a uniquely comprehensive guide for anyone who is developing, implementing or managing an IR. The book’s two-part organization gives the reader the option of using it as a handy reference or start-to-finish planning guide. Part one details the key components in IR development. It begins by addressing the librarian’s role, budgeting and staffing issues, and potential funding sources. Nabe explores the pros and cons of different institutional repository platforms, guidelines for policy writing and preservation, and proven marketing techniques. He gives sound advice for growing the IR’s collection with a specific focus on copyright, as well as proven methods for increasing outside use and assessment.

In Part two, Nabe emphasizes the importance of shared access through six real-life IR success stories from institutions including Cornell University, Colorado State University, Texas State University, University of New Mexico, University of Nebraska, University of Illinois, and Macalester College. Each example highlights best practices that can be adapted and applied to any institution of all types and sizes, and experienced coordinators and staff relay vital lessons for planning, budgeting, marketing, platform selection, and content acquisition.

The latest in Neal-Schuman’s newly redesigned two-color How-To-Do-It series, Starting, Strengthening, and Managing Institutional Repositories insures that novice and experienced IR coordinators alike can avoid reinventing the wheel leaving more time to foster the unique nature of their program so it flourishes and meets users’ needs.

Strengthening, and Managing Institutional Repositories: A How-To-Do It Manual
ISBN: 978-1-55570-689-0.
2009. 8.5 x 11. 210pp. $85.00.

About the Author
Jonathan Nabe has implemented and served as the Coordinator of institutional repositories at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and the University of Connecticut. He is currently the Collection Development Librarian for Science and Technology at SIUC. He has also held positions at Brandeis University and SUNY Stony Brook. Nabe has also worked for the Forest Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. He holds a B.S. in Zoology from SIUC, and a MSLIS from the University of Illinois.

About Neal-Schuman Publishers
Neal-Schuman Publishers is the leading provider of library management, Internet and information technology resources, including the highly acclaimed “How-To-Do-It” series. Founded in 1976, Neal-Schuman Publishers is based in New York City with offices in London, UK.

For More Information and/or Cover Art
Contact Sarah Eisenberg
sarah.eisenberg@neal-schuman.com
100 William Street, Suite 2004
New York, NY 10038
212-925-8650
www.neal-schuman.com

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Interlibrary Loan (ILL) and document delivery services are critical parts of modern library service, but they often involve high costs and long task lists that can overwhelm busy librarians who already juggle multiple roles and tight budgets. In Document Delivery and Interlibrary Loan on a Shoestring, to be published by Neal-Schuman on November 30, 2009, author Emily Knox outlines the best procedures, time-management skills, and technologies to help professionals successfully implement or improve ILL and document delivery services.

While the manual’s nine chapters provide best practices and guidelines that will aid even the most established ILL professionals, Knox’s jargon-free, expert guidance is specifically geared toward smaller-to-medium sized libraries. She begins with the current working definitions of interlibrary loan and document delivery, and explains how to adapt existing best practices to suit a smaller institution’s needs. The next chapter offers solutions for prevalent budget, staffing, and time-management issues that often challenge smaller libraries. There is a guide to copyright law and the necessary steps for complying with borrowing and lending regulations, along with an overview of various national, state, and local codes that govern interlibrary loan, including the just-updated National Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States.

Knox then shifts the focus to policy development, with guidance for crafting interlibrary loan policies that are cost-effective, efficient for users and staff members, and preserve high customer service standards. Document Delivery and Interlibrary Loan on a Shoestring includes specific advice for streamlining lending and borrowing policy-writing and optimizing workflow. The two concluding chapters highlight different technology systems that work for libraries of all different sizes and budgets. Knox outlines comprehensive management solutions and their many benefits for libraries with larger budgets, and offers a number of highly practical alternatives for using widely available office technology and open source products to electronically receive and track ILL and document delivery transactions.

Chapters include references and related resources, and the book’s appendices feature time-saving templates for ILL forms and policy examples, along with the Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States.
Document Delivery and Interlibrary Loan on a Shoestring helps even the smallest institutions overcome budgetary constraints, limited resources and inadequate training, and provides the time-management skills and technical ingenuity that will help transform Interlibrary Loan and document delivery service into an efficient and organized operation.

Document Delivery and Interlibrary Loan on a Shoestring
ISBN: 978-1-55570-678-4 .
2009. 6 x 9. 230pp. $65.00.

About the Author
Emily Knox is a doctoral student in the Department of Library and Information Science at the School for Communication and Information at Rutgers University. She was the Associate Director and Reference Librarian at the St. Mark’s Library of the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York City for five years. Knox received her received her MSLIS from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2003.

About Neal-Schuman Publishers
Neal-Schuman Publishers is a leading publisher of professional books for librarians, archivists and knowledge managers. Founded in 1976, Neal-Schuman Publishers is based in New York City, with offices in London, UK.

For More Information and/or Cover Art
Contact Sarah Eisenberg
sarah.eisenberg@neal-schuman.com
100 William Street, Suite 2004
New York, NY 10038
212-925-8650
www.neal-schuman.com

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