Abstract

Walking into a library to borrow a book has an expiration date. With digital loans, we will not be going to the library for books, but we still may go for a recommendation or an experience of shared reading. Knowing what our users are looking for, discussing and recommending, and using that information to offer a more personalized reading service, is vital for the future of ebook streaming services. Librarians need readers to create book collections that improve the user’s experience, and need to do our best to create an affective bond between the reader, the book and the library that brought them together.

Abstract

For the first time there is a full-year report (of 2015) of ebook lending from Spanish public libraries, and the outcome does not seem entirely satisfactory. Although it is a short period of time in which to attempt to ascertain the success or failure of ebook lending, data reveals that the service must be improved. The low volume of titles, the lack of a joint catalogue, use of prohibitive DRM, and some other use conditions are even more restrictive than those for traditional print books, and all of this ultimately penalizes the readers’ experience. Librarians are sceptical about the viability of a the current ebook lending model for obvious reasons. These problems are not specific to Spanish public libraries. It is clear to the author that ebook lending is needed, but must follow different rules; the author advocates promoting and improving the visibility of public domain works and abandoning, if only temporarily, other onerous content that hinders other services.

Abstract

The Spanish city of Burgos hosted the VI National congress of public libraries and the Europeana conference, October 9-11, 2012. The events shared venues and registrants under the theme of "Public library: individual memory, global heritage". Building the European memory requires the involvement of citizens and Europeana is working hard to achieve it. The difficulties encountered by public libraries attempting to become involved in the project are described, pointing out some of the things they can do to integrate local memory into the larger repositories.

Abstract

Web 2.0 convergence with the mobile web is shifting the very nature of the Internet. Local multimedia holdings generated in a mobile-networked society often don’t fit with library catalogs. Their methods of diffusion and discovery move away from those associated with the traditional library and into social networking and new devices. Local archive-building in this new context requires content fitted to the new devices, skilled people to interact with them, and libraries that understand new forms of information demand and consumption. In order to find its place in this context, the library must combine its traditional role as a dynamic agent specialized in providing access to bibliographic resources with a new role as an advocate for informal web content.

Abstract

The generation of new multimedia content that facilitates contact with mobile devices is a pending task for cultural agents. From the perspective of the public library, we take augmented reality as an example and the video game industry as a reference to demonstrate some possible actions.

Abstract

The public library and the promotion of reading is still an indissoluble tandem, meaning the library has a large responsibility for the promotion and dissemination of authors and their works. The goals of these cultural activities must be explicit and clearly defined, and must offer an added value as a public service with social impact. They do not have to follow the commercial trends or maintain the conventional formats, which sometimes are obsolete. Are current activities in the public library as useful for traditional readers as for the so-called digital natives? Are we prepared to offer activities that are attractive to young people today? In this society, characterized as the knowledge, global, multicultural, digital, 2.0 society, are public libraries able to defend their policies to promote reading?

Abstract

Technological innovation requires major adjustments in organizations, companies and public services. To understand the transformation of libraries it is vital to understand the transformations in access to information and education. Both public and academic libraries, are becoming learning and socialisation areas where information and digital literacy are becoming a highlight in their daily activity.

Abstract

The public library has to be considered as a transversal service cross-linked not only to cultural, but also to social, educational and economic policies. It is a service immersed in numerous social processes of the community. In consequence, public library projects have to be connected to and carried out in cooperation with other municipal policies. This new concept for public libraries implies a consideration of the types of professional profiles required for its successful development. The purpose of this text is to reflect on the needed professional profiles. In public libraries, we cannot talk about just one profile of competencies, but several profiles differentiated according to the different workplaces. As a consequence, we need to talk about the knowledge and skills specifically associated with a profile. This text also considers the benefits of working in public libraries with multidisciplinary teams of information professionals, cultural/community coordinators, social workers, educators, etc.

Abstract

This reflection focuses on the role of the public library in providing leadership to the social construction of cultural needs and values and offering services beyond the concrete demands of the users, and on how ignorance of the library’s potentialities limits the demands made on the public library. The need for a coherent public library project is defended as essential to obtaining the cultural leadership of our community.

Abstract

The main issues covered at the seminar “New paradigms in the management of public libraries: library and social development”, held at the Cultural Office of the Spanish Embassy in Caracas (Venezuela) are discussed, highlighting two key issues: the contrast between American and European models of library systems, and the growing importance of the “multiauthority” concept.