Top Technologies Every Librarian Needs to Know: A LITA Guide

by Kenneth J. Varnum (Editor)

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 Varnum and his hand-picked team of contributors have done, showing library technology staff and administrators where to invest time and money to receive the greatest benefits. Their ideas will stimulate strategic thinking and help library staff make informed decisions about meeting user expectations and delivering services. 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 Elliott Jonathan Polak * "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 * "The Case for Open Hardware in Libraries," by Jason Griffey

Genres: Nonfiction, Librarianship, Library Science

131 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was OK -- book is 10+ years old so no sure how relevant or useful most the topics are -- cost-wise, smaller libraries may find many of the AR suggestions not useful or time/cost-prohibitive. QR codes are fine, I suppose -- how widespread are they, vs. social media marketing?? 🤔

[Lesley Looper · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, wish I’d picked it up and read it closer to publication. Wonder how a second edition would look.

[Rachel Sides · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps I should have rated the book higher, but it was not what I wanted or expected to read given the title. Some chapters indeed are relevant to every librarian, but sadly most are not. Don't read this is you are expecting a clue on how to budget your funding in the next couple of years. Read it if you are just looking to see some technologies that are being developed and how they could apply to libraries.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A number of new technologies are discussed in this book for consideration for implementation in libraries. I was particularly interested in the possible application of AR (augmented reality), smart glasses and discovery layers. It is a brief book and raises more questions than answers - notably about budgets that would be required for implementation - but it does provide ideas for pondering.

[Sarah K · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mixed feelings about this book, as with many books about technology. Some chapters were easy to comprehend; others were not. We read this book at work, and some ideas, while interesting, are just not practical for smaller libraries and concerns about things like privacy and cost were not addressed very much.

[Samantha Hines · Rating 4 out of 5]

good brief overview of top tech trends. Does what it says in the title. This would be a good annual series as I and many of the authors surmised that the trends would be dated even upon publication, let alone a year from now.

[Bill Sleeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of some new tools and some now standard resources. It is a fine resource for staff members who, for whatever reason(s), might not be keeping up as much as they might. As a LITA Guide the work serves its intended purpose well.

[Karla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was pretty disappointed in this book. It seemed that the ideas presented were either so simple that they were obvious or so complex that they were unusable. It was nice to discuss library related issues in our staff meetings though.

[Gwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewing for Information Today, May 2015 issue

[Lizzy Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed for Collection Management, vol. 40, no. 3

[Jacquie]

An interesting read, but not exactly what I had expected. But good and well-written.