Libraries, Access, and Intellectual Freedom is a comprehensive guide to the key intellectual freedom "hot buttons" and the legal issues involved. This unique book offers a practical approach to developing, promoting, and implementing intellectual freedom policies that work.

This up-to-date volume of topical School Library Connection articles provides school librarians and LIS professors with a one-stop source of information for supporting the core library principle of intellectual freedom. School librarians continue to advocate for and champion student privacy and the right to read and have unfettered access to needed information. Updated and current information concerning these issues is critical to school librarians working daily with students, parents, and faculty to manage library programs, services, and print and digital collections. This volume is an invaluable resource as school librarians revisit collection development, scheduling, access, and other policies. Library science professors will find this updated volume useful for information and discussion with students. Drawing on the archives of School Library Connection, Library Media Connection, and School Library Monthly magazines—and with comprehensive updates throughout—chapters tackle privacy, the right to read, censorship, equal access to information, and other intellectual freedom issues. New laws and legal and ethical opinions continue to appear and help inform the daily response school librarians have to current issues. This volume updates all included articles with current legal thought and opinion. Intellectual freedom expert April Dawkins offers practical advice and commentary throughout.

As libraries transition into the digital age, they encounter a pressing challenge: outdated information systems hinder their ability to meet the diverse needs of patrons. Traditional library management systems struggle to cope with the demands of modern users, resulting in inefficient resource allocation, limited accessibility, and disjointed user experiences. This disconnect between antiquated systems and evolving user expectations poses a significant barrier to libraries striving to remain relevant in an increasingly digital world. Improving Library Systems with AI: Applications, Approaches, and Bibliometric Insights presents a comprehensive solution to this pressing problem. By integrating modern digital tools and technologies, libraries can revolutionize their information systems, enhancing accessibility, efficiency, and user satisfaction. This book offers practical insights and strategies for modernizing library services and operations, from digitizing physical resources to implementing advanced search algorithms and data analytics. Librarians, administrators, and technology providers will find invaluable guidance on navigating the complexities of digital transformation and maximizing the impact of their efforts.

Richard E. Rubin’s book has served as the authoritative introductory text for generations of library and information science practitioners, with each new edition taking in its stride the myriad societal, technological, political, and economic changes affecting our users and institutions and transforming our discipline. Rubin teams up with his daughter, Rachel G. Rubin, a rising star in the library field in her own right, for the fifth edition. Spanning all types of libraries, from public to academic, school, and special, it illuminates the major facets of LIS for students as well as current professionals. Continuing its tradition of excellence, this text addresses the history and mission of libraries from past to present, including the history of service to African Americans; critical contemporary social issues such as services to marginalized communities, tribal libraries, and immigrants; the rise of e-government and the crucial role of political advocacy; digital devices, social networking, digital publishing, e-books, virtual reality, and other technology; forces shaping the future of libraries, including Future Ready libraries, and sustainability as a core value of librarianship; the values and ethics of the profession, with new coverage of civic engagement, combatting fake news, the importance of social justice, and the role of critical librarianship; knowledge infrastructure and organization, including Resource Description and Access (RDA), linked data, and the Library Research Model; the significance of the digital divide and policy issues related to broadband access and net neutrality; intellectual freedom, legal issues, and copyright-related topics; contemporary issues in LIS education such as the ongoing tensions between information science and library science; and the changing character of collections and services including the role of digital libraries, preservation, and the digital humanities. In its newest edition, Foundations of Library and Information Science remains the field’s essential resource.

A revitalized version of the popular classic, the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, Second Edition targets new and dynamic movements in the distribution, acquisition, and development of print and online media-compiling articles from more than 450 information specialists on topics including program planning in the digital era, recruitment, information management, advances in digital technology and encoding, intellectual property, and hardware, software, database selection and design, competitive intelligence, electronic records preservation, decision support systems, ethical issues in information, online library instruction, telecommuting, and digital library projects.

Libraries as Dysfunctional Organizations and Workplaces expands the "dysfunctional" concept in the professional and academic LIS discourse by exposing the internal problematics of libraries, especially at the social and organizational levels. Including contributions written by LIS professionals and scholars, the book demonstrates that although many libraries do well at attending to users and managing external information they often fail at taking care of their own employees and addressing internal workplace issues. Acadia and the contributing authors explore the problem of dysfunctional libraries so that the LIS profession can come to terms with the systemic dysfunction in their institutions and begin solution-oriented progress toward new and sustainable functionality. The book analyzes the dysfunctional nature of modern libraries, while simultaneously proposing solutions to reduce and alleviate dysfunction. Through theory and application, it takes an explicit practice-based approach with the intent to inform and explain dysfunction as experienced in the library workplace at individual and structural levels and perspectives. Libraries as Dysfunctional Organizations and Workplaces brings the dysfunction discourse to the attention of LIS academics and scholars so that further theoretical and empirical research can proceed from and subsequently be addressed in library and information schools. The book will also be essential reading for librarians and LIS students currently working or preparing to work in public, college, and university libraries.

This indispensible volume includes the most up-to-date intellectual freedom guidelines, policies, and interpretations of the Library Bill of Rights.

In this provocative book, librarianship experts discuss the major ethical and legal impications that reference librarians must take into consideration when handling sensitive inquiries and questions dealing with confidential material.

This thorough treatment of collection development will serve school library educators and students as well as practicing school librarians, providing quick access to information that is both immediately useful and helpful as unforeseen situations arise. Our digitally rich world changes quickly and contains more information resources than ever before; as a result, school librarians are tasked with the enormous challenge of curating a diverse, high-quality, and up-to-date collection for teachers, students, and administrators to use. This new edition of The Collection Program in Schools gives school librarians the tools to develop and maintain a collection in a constantly changing environment, often with reduced budgets; and to ensure that students can use virtual libraries and have access to all modern media and learning resources. The book logically progresses in its coverage of national and state policy concerns to community needs to the process of collection building and maintenance. Topics covered include key education trends affecting collections, such as digital textbooks and other non-print resources, instructional improvement systems, STEM priorities, and open education resources; the use of school libraries as makerspaces; media type considerations for a range of users; Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards; and the principles of curation: acquisition, description, organization, promotion, evaluation, and maintenance. This guide is ideal for use in many graduate-level school librarian preparation courses, including classes on school library collection development and school library management.