News & Noteworthy

LITA guide spotlights the top technologies every librarian needs to know

LITA guide spotlights the top technologies every librarian needs to know

For Immediate Release
Tue, 05/13/2014

Contact:

Rob Christopher
Marketing Coordinator
ALA Publishing
312-280-5052

rchristopher@ala.org

CHICAGO — While it’s inspiring to ponder the libraries of the 22nd century, it’s a lot more practical to think ahead to the next five years. That’s just what editor Kenneth J. Varnum and his hand-picked team of contributors have done in “The Top Technologies Every Librarian Needs to Know: A LITA Guide,” published by ALA TechSource, showing library technology staff and administrators where to invest time and money to receive the greatest benefits. The ideas in this book will stimulate strategic thinking and help library staff make informed decisions about meeting user expectations and delivering services. Sure conversation starters and informative for any library, chapters include:

  • “Impetus to Innovate: Convergence and Library Trends,” by A.J. Million and Heather Lea Moulaison;
  • “Hands-Free Augmented Reality: Impacting the Library Future,” by Brigitte M. Bell and Terry Cottrell;
  • “Libraries and Archives Augmenting the World,” by William Denton;
  • “The Future of Cloud-Based Library Systems,” by Steven Bowers and Elliot Jonathan Polak;
  • “Library Discovery: From Ponds to Streams,” by Varnum;
  • “Exit As Strategy: Web Services as the New Websites for Many Libraries,” by Anson Parker, VP Nagraj, and David Moody;
  • “Reading and Non-Reading: Text Mining in Critical Practice,” by Devin Higgins;
  • “Bigger, Better, Together: Building the Digital Library of the Future,” by Jeremy York;
  • “The Case for Open Hardware in Libraries,” by Jason Griffey.

Varnum is the Web systems manager at the University of Michigan Library, where he manages the library website and the development of new features and functionality. He has worked in a range of library settings, including large and small academic, corporate, and special libraries. He led the University of Michigan’s implementation of Summon using the Summon API in a Drupal site in 2010. An active member of the library technology world for 19 years, he is also the author of “Drupal in Libraries,” volume #14 of THE TECH SET®.

The Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), a division of ALA, educates, serves and reaches out to its members, other ALA members and divisions, and the entire library and information community through its publications, programs and other activities designed to promote, develop, and aid in the implementation of library and information technology.

ALA Store purchases fund advocacy, awareness and accreditation programs for library professionals worldwide. Contact us at (800) 545-2433 ext. 5418 or editionsmarketing@ala.org.

American Library Association