EDITOR'S NOTES
Spending in Order to Save
by
Dick Kaser
There’s no denying that libraries have had a tough year … or two. Recent industry surveys have shown that, to cope with budget pressures, librarians are making difficult choices. Whether or not they’ve personally had to close branches or cut their staff (and some have had to do both), ever resourceful librarians are adjusting their strategies in order to make ends meet.
Sometimes this has meant cutting collections or deciding which set of resources is good enough to meet most requests. Some have dumped print completely and gone digital. Some have eliminated redundant providers. And some have turned to technological solutions to assure their ongoing ability to meet demand, which, ironically enough, is swelling.
Whatever situation your library confronts this year, the CIL Buyer’s Guide can help you achieve your goals.
Not only does it contain listings for a variety of vendors offering the kinds of services you may be considering this year, but we’ve commissioned a set of helpful, how-to articles to assist you in the following:
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Determining whether you need “It” at all
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Figuring out whether you can do it yourself
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Leveraging the technology you already have
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Getting your co-workers to back your priority initiative
From evaluating how to implement a radio frequency identification materials handling system to figuring out how to reach out to your users via RSS, the articles in this issue span a wide range of concerns and provide a good set of options.
Sometimes you have to spend money to save money. This issue of CIL is dedicated to helping you make prudent and economical choices to get your library through these difficult economic times.
Dick Kaser, Executive Editor
kaser@infotoday.com
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