EDITOR'S NOTES
Taking Out Your Library
by
Dick Kaser
Though we provide some general guidance to our writers each month and, as a result, there’s generally a strong coherence to our issues, it’s rare that a single issue holds together so well as this one does. Our authors and columnists were clearly all on the same page this month, offering plenty of good advice on the subject of serving your patrons wherever they are.
Returning to a longitudinal study published in CIL magazine 2 years ago, researchers Jamie Helgren and Zeth Lietzau observe that not much has actually changed in the library’s adoption of new technologies, except for the fact that libraries have embraced social platforms, especially Facebook. Do you want to know how to be more social or do you want to have a better presence on Facebook? Read this issue’s columns by Janet L. Balas and Donna F. Ekhart.
What’s the up-and-coming trend? Redoing the library website so it works with mobile devices. Do you want to know how to do that? Authors Tom C. Cutshall, Lindsay Blake, and Sandra L. Bandy tell you what they did and how you can be more mobile-friendly too.
For a rundown of why you should even care about mobile devices, their companion apps, and the “cloud” they are tied to, read the article by Nancy K. Herther and the columns by Terence K. Huwe and Marshall Breeding. And on a related note, who needs an iPad? Maybe you do! Naomi Eichenlaub (et al.) reports this month on iPad deployments in a university library setting. But if you’re looking for a magic bullet, a set of standards, or a best practice to move you forward in this rapidly evolving landscape, as columnist Daniel Chudnov admonishes, think again.
After your summer in the sun, it’s time to jump back into the fray of libraries in transition. Hope this issue helps you get motivated again. And don’t forget to join us at Internet Librarian and/or Internet Librarian International this fall.
Dick Kaser, Executive Editor
kaser@infotoday.com
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