NEW BOOK HELPS LIS PROFESSIONALS ANALYZE USER BEHAVIOR TO ENSURE THEIR SERVICES MEET USERS’ CURRENT NEEDS Monday, Dec 14 2009 

November 26, 2009 (New York, NY) –Librarians can improve strategic planning, programming, budgeting, and marketing by researching and anticipating what their users need. Above all, they can increase the number of satisfied users. And as rapidly changing technologies continue to cause new and noticeable shifts in information-seeking behavior, it is more important than ever for librarians and information professionals to stay a step ahead of their users’ ever-evolving needs. How to Give Your Users the LIS Services They Want, to be released in North America by Neal-Schuman Publishers on January 15, 2010, provides a practical, accessible guide to the tools, strategies, and services that every public, academic, and special library needs to successfully analyze and meet their users’ expectations.

Co-authors Sheila Pantry and Peter Griffiths divide the book into nine chapters, beginning with an introduction to important changes in modern user behavior. They cover a number of key services that today’s users need, and offer advice to help LIS professionals assess their current users, tailor existing services, and determine which new services to adopt. Next, Pantry and Griffiths examine the ways to categorize users to best predict future behavior and service expectations. They provide guidance on how to train users and influence their expectations, as well as tips for conducting user surveys and making sense of past behavior. The authors then explain how to improve strategic planning and budgeting through user behavior analysis, how to keep track of user needs, and how to use electronic social networks to help plan for future services. Pantry and Griffiths conclude with a discussion of the future of the library and the challenges and changes it is likely to face.

How to Give Your Users the LIS Services They Want is a crucial resource that will help any library or information professional provide the right services, meet users’ needs through effective user behavior analysis, and demonstrate their great value to individual users and their organization overall.

How to Give Your Users the LIS Services They Want
ISBN 978-1-85604-672-5. 2010. 6 x 9. 192 pp. $85.00

About the Authors
Sheila Pantry manages an independent information services consultancy and electronic publishing business. She has had a long and varied career in information management in a range of industry sectors.
Peter Griffiths is an independent information specialist and is the 2009 President of CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.

About Neal-Schuman Publishers and Facet Publishing
Facet Publishing titles are exclusively available in the United States through Neal-Schuman Publishers, a leading provider of library management, Internet, and information technology resources. Facet is the imprint of the prestigious Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (formerly the British Library Association). 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

EXPERTS OFFER GUIDANCE ON PRESERVING CULTURAL HERITAGE Monday, Dec 14 2009 

November 26, 2009 (New York, NY) – Records – through their formation, collection, maintenance, and use – are pivotal pieces in constructing a community and shaping collective memory. Community Archives: The Shaping of Memory, to be released in North America by Neal-Schuman Publishers on January 15, 2010, guides archives and records management professionals to effectively select and maintain the material evidence that best serves their communities.

Editors Jeannette A. Bastian and Ben Alexander assemble an experienced and insightful group of international contributors to provide content that is highly practical and broad in scope. Each of the book’s five parts covers the critical implications of capture, appraisal, and documentation through a collection of real life examples. Readers will find a special focus on recent advances in technology and the significant roles these new tools play in overcoming traditional obstacles and creating new virtual communities.

Community Archives: The Shaping of Memory begins by exploring an important community archives model, followed in Part Two by an outline of non-traditional recordkeeping across different communities, including oral traditions and memories. Part Three covers records loss, destruction, and recovery, including living archives and construction through collective memory. Part Four offers an in-depth look into the ways online communities and new technologies can build links between communities and their records, and includes examples of sound archives and blogs. The collection concludes with guidance for building a community archive and an examination of the archivist’s role in the community.

Community Archives: The Shaping of Memory is an essential resource for archivists, records managers, museum professionals, researchers, and academics in the archives and records community as well as to historians and sociologists concerned with community building.

Community Archives: The Shaping of Memory
ISBN 978-1-85604-639-8. 2010. 6 x 9. 224 pp. $89.95

About the Editors
Jeannette A. Bastian is Associate Professor and Director of the Archives Program Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Simmons College, Boston.
Ben Alexander is Assistant Professor, Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Science, The City University of New York.

About Neal-Schuman Publishers and Facet Publishing
Facet Publishing titles are exclusively available in the United States through Neal-Schuman Publishers, a leading provider of library management, Internet, and information technology resources. Facet is the imprint of the prestigious Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (formerly the British Library Association). 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

NEW BOOK EXPLAINS AND ASSESSES THE IMPACT OF ‘THE GOOGLE GENERATION’ ON COMMUNICATION, EDUCATION, AND SCHOLARSHIP Monday, Dec 14 2009 

December 9, 2009 (New York, NY)- The proliferation of information and communication technologies has produced a distinctive new group of users and scholars dubbed ‘The Google Generation’: those users born after the advent of the Internet and unaccustomed to a world without its ubiquitous information dissemination. The Google Generation: Are ICT Innovations Changing Information-Seeking Behavior?, to be released in North America by Neal-Schuman Publishers on February 1, 2010, explores the reasons why and extent to which younger users’ information seeking behavior is tied to search engines, and the potential impact this new user community may have on academic librarianship, higher education, and the entire research community.

This timely new book provides an unprecedented, comprehensive analysis of the relationship between technology, age, and search behavior. Authors Barrie Gunter, Ian Rowlands, and David Nicholas identify the structure of the digital divide and the primary information search behaviors that set The Google Generation apart from its predecessors, namely Generations Y and X. They explain the vast differences between the pre-Internet and post-Internet media landscapes and the resultant effects on information access and distribution. The authors also detail how this younger generation’s rapid, widespread adoption of search engines, Web 2.0 tools, and social networks has created new forms of knowledge production, search, and acquisition, and how each has contributed to the emergence of digital scholarship. They conclude with important insights into the ever-growing convergence of technology, application, and consumption, and discuss the imminent roles that Google, the internet, and digital and social media will play in formal higher education.

The Google Generation: Are ICT Innovations Changing Information Seeking Behavior? is an important addition to the literature in the information and communication studies fields, and will be valuable to academic librarians, scholars, educators, and LIS and communications students.

The Google Generation: Are ICT Innovations Changing Information Seeking Behavior?
ISBN 978-1-84334-557-2.
Chandos Publishing 2010.
6 x 9. 200 pp. $95.00.

About the Authors
Barrie Gunter is Professor of Mass Communication and Head of the Department of Media Communications, University of Leicester, UK.
Ian Rowlands is a Reader in Scholarly Communications at the School of Library , Archive and Information Studies at UCL and an active member of the Centre for Publishing and CIBER.
David Nicholas is Professor of Information Studies and the Director of the School of Library, Archive and Information Studies at UCL. He is also the Director of the UCL Centre for Publishing and a Director of the CIBER research group.

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

NEW BOOK REVEALS THE INTERNET’S STRUCTURE EXPLAINS IMMINENT TRENDS Monday, Dec 14 2009 

The Internet is a critical part of everyday life and has sparked revolutionary change in information content, dissemination, and access. Understanding the Internet: A Glimpse Into the Building Blocks, Applications, Security and Hidden Secrets of the Web, to be released by Neal-Schuman in North America on January 10, 2010, provides a straightforward, jargon-free overview of the Internet’s fundamental structure, concepts, applications, and future developments.

Along with a team of international expert contributors, editor Kevin Curran covers the broad spectrum of the Internet’s underlying principles and key components. He divides the collection into twenty-eight chapters that span the gamut of topics needed for a holistic understanding of the web. Readers will find clear explanations of networking concepts, including mesh networking and wireless networks, as well as Web operating systems, RSS, and programming languages like Javascript, XML, and VoiceXML. Contributors also explore Web services, Web 2.0, and Hybrid Web applications, as well as mobile social software, adaptive mobile applications, and mobile web design. They discuss the current and future state of social media like podcasting, screencasting, and blogging, and examine significant security issues like cryptography, honeynets, spam e-mail, computer hacking, and more. The book concludes with a discussion of search engines including the invisible Web, vertical search engines, and web intelligence.

Understanding the Internet offers unprecedented insight into the essential protocol, varied uses, and growing number of web applications. This all-in-one guide will help all serious Web users better exploit the Internet’s expansive reach.

Understanding the Internet: A Glimpse Into the Building Blocks, Applications, Security and Hidden Secrets of the Web
ISBN 978-1-84334-499-5.
Chandos Publishing 2010.
6 x 9. 301 pp. $105.00.

About the Editor
Kevin Curran is a senior lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Ulster, UK. He has published over 300 research papers to date in the field of Internet and is the Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Ambient Computing and Intelligence.

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

WITH EIGHT ORIGINAL MODELS, NEW BOOK SHOWS HOW FACULTY-LIBRARIAN PARTNERSHIPS CAN CREATE ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES THAT IMPROVE STUDENTS’ INFORMATION LITERACY Monday, Dec 14 2009 

Collaboration is more than just a nice idea; it is essential to developing a comprehensive strategy for measuring student learning outcomes and for assessing and improving information literacy efforts. Framed in a highly practical context, Collaborative Information Literacy Assessments, to be published by Neal-Schuman on January 15, 2010, explores proven, effective methods to help faculty and librarians form closely-aligned partnerships and develop innovative and effective strategies for assessing information literacy in higher education.

Co-editors Thomas P. Mackey and Trudi E. Jacobson are educators whose previous works include Information Literacy Collaborations That Work (2007) and Using Technology to Teach Information Literacy (2008). They divide this collection into three parts, featuring chapters written by eight faculty-librarian teams that successfully worked together to develop assessment strategies. Part I: Business focuses on information literacy within the business and finance fields. The first chapter presents a model that is based on citation analysis as a way to evaluate and improve information literacy, and the second offers a holistic approach to embedding information literacy in an undergraduate business program. Part II: Social Science and Education includes three chapters in which author teams examine an integrated library component, collaborative curriculum interventions, and online assessment strategies. Part III: Humanities introduces three chapters that examine assessment endeavors using a self-assessment approach for writing courses, a holistic assessment in a writing program, and an assessment model in the core curriculum. In their preface, Mackey and Jacobson note that the best practices they’ve chosen “are portable to disciplinary perspectives and institutional contexts” beyond the ones highlighted in their book.

Each chapter includes a detailed literature review, a model for practical implementation, a discussion of the partnership process, and an examination of assessment data. The teams also share guidance for overcoming a variety of collaborative obstacles and challenges, and report on how their assessment process significantly improved student learning outcomes.

Mackey and Jacobson provide section introductions that summarize each chapter and recommend how to apply the assessments in different arenas. There are tables and figures throughout the book to help reinforce the practical implementation of each model. And if readers wish to email the contributors with follow-up questions, the contact information is right here.

Through a clear and practical set of proven, real-life strategies, Collaborative Information Literacy Assessments will help librarians and faculty form effective partnerships to initiate or improve their own information literacy efforts.

Collaborative Information Literacy Assessments
ISBN: 978-1-55570-693-7. 2010. 6 x 9. 270pp. $85.00.

About the Co-editors
Thomas P. Mackey, Ph.D., is the Associate Dean at the Center for Distance Learning at Empire State College, SUNY in Saratoga Springs, New York. He has published articles in such journals as Computers & Education, The Journal of General Education, College Teaching, The Journal of Information Science, and The Journal of Education for Library and Information Science.
Trudi E. Jacobson, M.L.S., is the Head of User Education Programs at the University at Albany, SUNY. She coordinates and teaches in the undergraduate Information Literacy course program. She has published articles in a number of journals, including The Journal of General Education, College & Research Libraries, portal, Journal of Academic Librarianship, Research Strategies, College Teaching, and The Teaching Professor. She is the editor of Public Services Quarterly.

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

NEW BOOK DEMONSTRATES HOW WEB 2.0 CAN EXPAND ACCESS TO ARCHIVES AND BETTER SERVE USERS Wednesday, Dec 9 2009 

Expert author offers tips and techniques for expanding reach through key social media strategies!

In order to remain relevant and serve the growing generation of native Web 2.0 users, archives and local history organizations must take advantage of the ever-growing range of low-cost Web 2.0 tools that allow their users to discover and interact with collections through their preferred modes. Web 2.0 Tools and Strategies for Archives and Local History Collections, to be published by Neal-Schuman on January 3, 2010, is a highly practical, jargon-free guide to help organizations with archival and historic manuscript collections successfully use social media to share their activities and collections on the Web. Anyone working in archives, special collections departments, historical societies, local history collections in public libraries, or museums will find clear guidance to successfully integrate Web 2.0 into their unique professional environments.

Author Kate Theimer divides the book into twelve chapters, beginning with an introduction to Web 2.0’s key concepts. She also provides advice for making a smooth transition from a Web 1.0 to a Web 2.0 organization, and includes a thorough review of important technical and administrative planning issues. The next six chapters cover all the major Web 2.0 services—blogs, podcasts, image-sharing sites like Flickr, video-sharing sites like YouTube, micro-blogging and Twitter, wikis, and social networking sites like Facebook. For each tool, there is an overview of its crucial functionalities, a detailed analysis of its implementation requirements, and a thoughtful discussion of its current uses across a range of archives, historical societies, and special collections. Theimer also addresses four additional Web 2.0 tools, including mashups, widgets, online chat, and Second Life.

She then shifts the focus to cover methods for measuring and evaluating outputs and outcomes, along with helpful suggestions and best practices for documenting results. Theimer then reviews important management and policy concerns, with advice for getting institutional buy-in, dealing with copyright issues, defining tasks and assigning workloads, creating policies, planning for preservation, learning what your users want, and publicizing your efforts. She concludes with guidance for finding the right balance between traditional archival principles and the opportunities of the new Web.

There are sample screenshots, illustrations, and checklists throughout the book, as well as sidebar Q&A’s with organizations that have successfully utilized Web 2.0 tools, including the Library of Congress, Florida State Archives, Seattle Municipal Archives and many more. The appendix provides a number of useful resources available on Web 2.0 in general, as well as recommendations for further reading on each tool.
Web 2.0 Tools and Strategies for Archives and Local History Collections provides archives and collections professionals with an essential resource to help them demystify Web 2.0, implement both existing and new Web tools, and spark new ideas about how to be part of the new interactive web.

Web 2.0 Tools and Strategies for Archives and Local History Collections

ISBN: 978-1-55570-679-1. 2010. 6 x 9. 300pp. $79.95.

About the Author
Kate Theimer is the author of the popular ArchivesNext blog (www.archivesnext.com), as well as a frequent speaker at conferences and workshops on issues related to the use of Web 2.0 technologies by archives and historical organizations. Kate holds a Master of Information degree with a specialization in archives and records management from the University of Michigan and a Master of Arts from the University of Maryland, and has held positions at the National Archives and Records Administration, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Historical Society of Washington, D.C.

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