"This book examines the application of tools and techniques in Libraries, Archives and Museums (LAM)'s literacy with an aim to improve skills and competency in achieving civic engagement and social justice and promoting social inclusion and civic participation"--

In achieving civic engagement and social justice in smart cities, literacy programs are offered in the society by three essential information service providers: libraries, archives, and museums. Although the library and museum services are documented in literature, there is little evidence of community-led library or museum services that make a full circle in understanding community-library, community-archive, and community-museum relationships. The Handbook of Research on the Role of Libraries, Archives, and Museums in Achieving Civic Engagement and Social Justice in Smart Cities examines the application of tools and techniques in library and museum literacy in achieving civic engagement and social justice. It also introduces a new outlook in the services of libraries and museums. Covering topics such as countering fake news, human rights literacies, and outreach activities, this book is essential for community-based organizations, librarians, museum administrations, education leaders, information professionals, smart city design planners, digital tool developers, policymakers engaged in diversity, researchers, and academicians.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused institutions to rethink traditional practices and consider new ways of learning and approaching students, faculty, and staff. Though not always embraced in the past, colleges and universities turned to online education in order to keep students enrolled as the health of students had to be prioritized. For institutions that may not have had health services on campus, such as community colleges, these needs called for more planning and options for referral of services. Education Reform in the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic educates individuals regarding the impact of COVID-19 on higher education institutions internally and externally and considers the lessons learned as well as what could be next. The book also presents solutions to the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic wrought on universities and colleges and looks toward using those solutions for future applications. Covering a range of topics such as student engagement, enrollment, and virtual spaces, it is an ideal resource for administrators, educators, mental health professionals, faculty, universities, and students.

We are living in a digital era in which most of our daily activities take place online. This has created a big data phenomenon that has been subject to scientific research with increasingly available tools and processing power. As a result, a growing number of social science scholars are using computational methods for analyzing social behavior. To further the area, these evolving methods must be made known to sociological research scholars. Opportunities and Challenges for Computational Social Science Methods focuses on the implementation of social science methods and the opportunities and challenges of these methods. This book sheds light on the infrastructure that should be built to gain required skillsets, the tools used in computational social sciences, and the methods developed and applied into computational social sciences. Covering topics like computational communication, ecological cognition, and natural language processing, this book is an essential resource for researchers, data scientists, scholars, students, professors, sociologists, and academicians.

The global economy and organizations are evolving to become service-oriented and driven by technology, and this is not just limited to commercial work. Further study on this evolution is required to fully understand the phenomenon. Emerging Technology-Based Services and Systems in Libraries, Educational Institutions, and Non-Profit Organizations covers IT-enabled creation, curation, representation, communication, storage, retrieval, analysis, and use of records, documents, files, data, learning objects, and other contents. It also acts as a forum for interdisciplinary and emerging topics such as socio-information studies, educational technologies, knowledge management, big data, artificial intelligence, personal information protection, digital literacy, other media, and technology innovation topics in their applications to libraries, as well as other areas such as education, information, government, and NGOs. Due to this, it is ideal for industry professionals, librarians, administrators, policymakers, higher education faculty, researchers, academicians, scholars, practitioners, instructors, and students.

Recent decades have seen a proliferation of cybersecurity guidance in the form of government regulations and standards with which organizations must comply. As society becomes more heavily dependent on cyberspace, increasing levels of security measures will need to be established and maintained to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. Global Perspectives on Information Security Regulations: Compliance, Controls, and Assurance summarizes current cybersecurity guidance and provides a compendium of innovative and state-of-the-art compliance and assurance practices and tools. It provides a synopsis of current cybersecurity guidance that organizations should consider so that management and their auditors can regularly evaluate their extent of compliance. Covering topics such as cybersecurity laws, deepfakes, and information protection, this premier reference source is an excellent resource for cybersecurity consultants and professionals, IT specialists, business leaders and managers, government officials, faculty and administration of both K-12 and higher education, libraries, students and educators of higher education, researchers, and academicians.

As educational institutions strive to prepare students for an unpredictable future, traditional models of teaching and learning face obsolescence. The digital age demands a large shift in educational approaches, necessitating creative solutions to equip students with the skills required to navigate an era defined by rapid technological advancements and societal complexities. It is within this context that Empowering Students and Elevating Universities With Innovation Centers unfolds, offering a detailed exploration into the pivotal role of innovation centers in reshaping the educational narrative. The educational crisis is further exacerbated by the disconnect between academic learning and the demands of the real world. As universities grapple with bridging this gap, innovation centers provide a transformative space where students can bridge theory with practical application. This book contends that the establishment of innovation centers is not just a strategic choice but a necessary response to the evolving needs of a globalized society. Through a critical lens, it scrutinizes the contemporary challenges faced by universities and argues that the integration of innovation centers is not a luxury but a necessity for institutions to remain relevant, competitive, and responsive to the demands of the 21st century.

The unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted individuals, families, communities, states, and countries in ways that were never expected. A closer study of how the pandemic affected different areas of individuals’ development and mental and physical health, while also offering best practices and therapies for contending with extreme changes in life, is necessary to successfully move forward. The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Child, Adolescent, and Adult Development delves into how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted schooling, relationships, and mental, physical, and developmental health as well as how it adversely impacted those with disabilities. This publication is beneficial to those in academic settings within a variety of disciplines including psychology, sociology, epidemiology, public health, among others, as well as for laypeople and educational institutions who are trying to work through the impact of the pandemic and to better comprehend the changes, aftermath, and best practices for progressing. Covering a range of topics such as creative art therapy and child abuse, this essential reference is ideal for researchers, academicians, practitioners, administrators, instructors, counselors, and students.

Nontraditional students are a rapidly growing population in universities and educational institutions. These students require specialized solutions and considerations as they face a number of difficulties traditional students do not. Further study is needed to truly comprehend this population’s needs and challenges and to develop and implement institutional-level changes to reduce their rate of attrition and increase their academic success. Meeting the Needs of Nontraditional Undergraduate Students has the potential to impact the field of adult higher education and nontraditional students by advancing and further honing already identified differences between nontraditional and traditional students. The book also considers tools and techniques to address these students’ requirements to meet their educational goals. Covering topics such as gender, stressors, and flexible learning, this reference work is ideal for administrators, school faculty, academicians, scholars, practitioners, instructors, and students.

The topic of urban life and the ambient in smart cities, learning cities, and future cities is a timely one, fitting as it does in the world today by responding in an interdisciplinary way across many areas of research and practice. It is essential for researchers to think about and engage with the notion of flourishing in increasingly challenging environments in smarter ways. Urban Life and the Ambient in Smart Cities, Learning Cities, and Future Cities expands upon explorations of urban life to the ambient. As such, perspectives are offered in this work on urban life in the context of smart cities, learning cities, and future cities, enriched by understandings of the ambient, infusing the interactions of people and technologies in 21st-century environments with increased awareness, at the moment. Covering topics such as ambient learning, smart homes, and extended realities, this premier reference work is an essential resource for students and educators of higher education, architects, urban planners, instructional designers, sociologists, city officials, community leaders, librarians, researchers, and academicians.