Arrowhead Library System (ALS) has a long-standing commitment to maintaining a collection of current publication titles of interest to librarians, library staff and library trustees. The collection is housed at the ALS Headquarters in Mountain Iron, but all titles can be requested via the online catalog (if you have a borrower’s card from an ALS library) or via the statewide MnLINK catalog (if you have a borrower’s card from Duluth Public Library). If you have questions about borrowing titles from the ALS Professional Collection, feel free to call ALS staff! Here are the latest additions to the ALS collection:
Project Management in Libraries: On Time, On Budget, On Target
Carly Wiggins Searcy
ALA Editions, 2018
025.1 SEA 2018
A recent study showed that only 53 percent of projects come in on budget and only 49 percent on schedule. So what does it take to be an on-budget, on-time finisher? Successful project management may seem like a quixotic pursuit, but it doesn’t have to be. Searcy, a certified Project Management Professional as well as a librarian, takes readers through mastering the key skills that will make it happen: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and closing. Applying project management principles in a library-project context, this book provides to-the-point guidance on
- running effective and productive meetings by using a checklist approach;
- treating people fairly while openly sharing information;
- ways to simplify workflows by choosing the most suitable software program;
- how to write a project charter;
- the agile concept of self-organizing teams;
- identifying risks and planning for the downside;
- managing scope creep by maintaining realistic expectations; and
- using a checklist to close projects so they stay closed.
Library staff at all levels will be feel confident planning and executing projects with Searcy’s expert tutelage at hand.
Fundamentals of Collection Development and Management, 4th Edition
Peggy Johnson
ALA Editions, 2018
025.21 JOH 2018
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; and
- marketing, 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.
Promoting Individual and Community Health at the Library
Mary Grace Flaherty
ALA Editions, 2018
025.2761 FLA 2018
Though today’s consumers have unprecedented access to health information, its quality and veracity varies widely. Public libraries can play an important role in supporting library users in their health information seeking efforts. In this book Flaherty shows how to guide library users to high quality health information by relying on up to date, authoritative sources. She also demonstrates why taking the initiative to offer health promotion programming can be a valuable form of community outreach, serving community needs while increasing visibility. Library directors, programming staff, reference librarians, and health educators will all benefit from this book’s patron-centered stance, which features
- a historic overview of the consumer health movement and how it intersects with public libraries;
- guidance on finding and evaluating the best print, electronic, and app-based health information sources, with advice on keeping up to date;
- an in-depth look at collaborative efforts to provide and sponsor simple health-related activities in public libraries, spotlighting programs in action at libraries across the county;
- instructions on creating, planning, preparing, marketing, and evaluating a public library health program;
- discussions of important issues surrounding health information provision efforts, including patron privacy and liability concerns; and
- guidelines for public libraries’ role in public health efforts, including disaster preparedness.
Armed with this book’s expert advice and plentiful examples of successful initiatives, public libraries will feel empowered to make a difference in community members’ health and well-being.
Reference and Information Services: An Introduction, 4th Edition
Kay Ann Cassell and Uma Hiremath
Neal-Schuman, 2018
025.52 CAS 2018
Designed to complement every introductory library reference course, this is the perfect text for students and librarians looking to expand their personal reference knowledge, teaching failsafe methods for identifying important materials by matching specific types of questions to the best available sources, regardless of format. Guided by a national advisory board of educators and practitioners, this thoroughly updated text expertly keeps up with new technologies and practices while remaining grounded in the basics of reference work. Chapters on fundamental concepts, major reference sources, and special topics provide a solid foundation; the text also offers fresh insight on core issues, including
- ethics, reader’s advisory, information literacy, and other key aspects of reference librarianship;
- selecting and evaluating reference materials, with strategies for keeping up to date;
- assessing and improving reference services;
- guidance on conducting reference interviews with a range of different library users, including children and young adults;
- a new discussion of reference as programming;
- important special reference topics such as Google search, 24/7 reference, and virtual reference; and
- delivering reference services across multiple platforms
As librarians experience a changing climate for all information services professionals, in this book Cassell and Hiremath provide the tools needed to manage the ebb and flow of changing reference services in today’s libraries.
The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction, 3rd Edition
Neal Wyatt and Joyce G. Saricks
ALA Editions, 2019
025.54 SAR 2019
Everyone’s favorite guide to fiction that’s thrilling, mysterious, suspenseful, thought-provoking, romantic, and just plain fun is back and better than ever in this completely revamped and revised edition. A must for every readers’; advisory desk, this resource is also a useful tool for collection development librarians and students in LIS programs. Inside, RA experts Wyatt and Saricks
- cover genres such as Psychological Suspense, Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Mystery, Literary and Historical Fiction, and introduce the concepts of Adrenaline and Relationship Fiction;
- include everything advisors need to get up to speed on a genre, including its appeal characteristics, key authors, sure bets, and trends;
- demonstrate how genres overlap and connect, plus suggestions for guiding readers among genres; and
- tie genre fiction to the whole collection, including nonfiction, audiobooks, graphic novels, film and TV, poetry, and games.
Both insightful and comprehensive, this matchless guidebook will help librarians become familiar with many different fiction genres, especially those they do not regularly read, and aid library staff in connecting readers to books they’re sure to love.
Career Programming for Today’s Teens: Exploring Nontraditional and Vocational Alternatives
Amy Wyckoff and Marie Harris
ALA Editions, 2019
027.626 WYC 2019
Enrollment in vocational programs is on the rise and many high schools are introducing or restarting vocational preparedness components as part of their curricula. You already know that programming events for young adults can draw a big crowd, which means that right now is the right time to make sure your library’s lineup includes offerings that will help youth transition into successful adults. An essential resource for frontline library staff and administrators, this guide presents step-by-step guidance on designing, planning, and implementing career programming for teens, including career readiness workshops and an annual trade school fair. Drawing from their own successful efforts, the authors address
- the importance of career programming for teens in the library, illustrated using research-based evidence;
- advice for building a collection of print materials and digital resources to assist teens as they explore career options;
- ways that library staff can partner with local schools and other youth-serving organizations to help teens plan for their futures;
- how library staff can design and facilitate engaging career programming that teens and preteens want to attend, including detailed instructions for replicating the authors Fast Track Trade School Fair; and
- how to measure the outcomes of these programs and use teen feedback to plan additional programs.
This resource also includes interviews with library staff, school professionals, and teens who have attended this type of programming, providing additional examples for readers.
Academic Libraries for Commuter Students: Research-Based Strategies
Edited by Mariana Regalado and Maura A. Smale
ALA Editions, 2018
027.7 REG 2018
Did you know that more than 85% of U.S. undergraduates commute to college? Yet the literature geared to academic libraries overwhelmingly presumes a classic, residential campus. This book redresses that imbalance by providing a research-based look at the specific academic needs of commuter students. Edited by a team of librarians and anthropologists with City University of New York, the largest urban public university in the U.S, it draws on their ongoing research examining how these students actually interact with and use the library. The insights theyve gained about how library resources and services are central to commuter students academic work offer valuable lessons for other institutions. Presenting several additional case studies from a range of institution types and sizes, in both urban and suburban settings, this book provides rigorous analysis alongside descriptions of subsequent changes in services, resources, and facilities.
Topics include why IUPUI interior designers decided to scrap plans to remove public workstations to make way for collaborative space; how ongoing studies by University of North Carolina anthropologist Donna Lanclos shaped the design of the Family Friendly Library Room, where students may bring their children; ways that free scanners and tablet lending at Brooklyn College supports subway studiers; ideas from students on how best to help them through the use of textbook collections; using ACRLs Assessment in Action model to learn about student engagement and outcomes with library instruction at a community college; and guidance on enlisting the help of anthropology students to conduct interviews and observations in an ethnographic study.With its emphasis on qualitative research, this book will help readers learn what commuter students really need from academic libraries.
Representing the Rainbow in Young Adult Literature: LGBTQ+ Content Since 1969
Christine A. Jenkins and Michael Cart
Rowman & Littlefield, 2018
810.953 JEN 2018
Discussions of gender and sexuality have become part of mainstream conversations and are being reflected in the work of more and more writers of fiction, particularly in literature aimed at young adult audiences. But young readers, regardless of their sexual orientation, don’t always know what books offer well-rounded portrayals of queer characters and situations. Fortunately, finding positive role models in fiction that features LGBTQ+ themes has become less problematic, though not without its challenges.
In Representing the Rainbow in Young Adult Literature: LGBTQ+ Content since 1969, Christine Jenkins and Michael Cart provide an overview of the literary landscape. An expanded version of The Heart Has Its Reasons, this volume charts the evolution of YA literature that features characters and themes which resonate not only with LGBTQ+ readers but with their allies as well. In this resource, Jenkins and Cart identify titles that are notable either for their excellence—accurate, thoughtful, and tactful depictions—or deficiencies—books that are wrongheaded, stereotypical, or outdated. Each chapter has been significantly updated, and this edition also includes new chapters on bisexual, transgender, and intersex issues and characters, as well as chapters on comics, graphic novels, and works of nonfiction. This book also features an annotated bibliography and a number of author-title lists of books discussed in the text that will aid teachers, librarians, parents, and teen readers. Encompassing a wider array of sexual identities, Representing the Rainbow in Young Adult Literature is an invaluable resource for young people eager to read about books relevant to them and their lives.
