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Vol. 43 No. 5 — June 2023

The world is, indeed, full of threats—some of which are existential, as security expert Steve Albrecht points out in his article on cybercrime. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have the opportunity to take the appropriate security measures, which he itemizes in a series of questions to ask your IT folks.

I think Terence Huwe also gets it right in his column this issue when he observes that, in a world of massive datasets, finding anything in a digital library is really all about metadata. Tag it so that it can be found, and the users will not only come, but will want to get actively involved.

Of course, another way to make information findable is to structure it within the increasingly familiar and intuitive context of a website. That’s what librarians Elizabeth Jones and Kara Oxendine did at the University of North Carolina–Pembroke when they used LibGuides CMS to integrate their library resource guides into a more navigable user experience. Their case study is one of two in this issue on improving website performance. 

In the second, Michael Crane of the U.S. Air Force Academy’s McDermott Library shows how he used testing and observation to make website improvements that significantly increased students’ engagement with the library website and improved their success in carrying out research tasks.

In the EDTECH feature, consultant and school librarian Nancy Lambert makes her argument for why offering a digital collection is now mission-critical for even small libraries and schools. She shares her expertise on how to select a platform, understand the cost, budget the expense, and rationalize the initiative within the context of library ideals and professional values.

While the headlines today may be filled with many fears about the impact of technology on our society, I found great hope for the future in these stories of librarians working relentlessly to get the technology right.

Dick Kaser, Executive Editor
kaser@infotoday.com