The Library Catalogue as Social Space: Promoting Patron Driven Collections, Online Communities, and Enhanced Reference and Readers’ Services

Emphasizing the advantages of working together and exploring the future of library services in an online, socially connected world, this exciting book shows how all public library professionals can take advantage of our strongest community and information tool-the library catalogue.

This book is a guide to the library catalogue that all public library professionals will find enlightening and useful. Its technical services perspective provides a different point of view as compared to traditional public library literature, which is often written by frontline professionals. For example, it poses and examines this thought-provoking question: should library catalogues be considered the primary gateway to the library’s information, rather than the library website?

Author and collection access librarian Laurel Tarulli examines next-generation or social catalogues, discussing the theories and concepts behind them, their impact on core library services, and their potential in shaping future libraries and library services. Geared toward frontline and backroom staff, this book helps readers understand next-generation catalogues and see the collaborative opportunities that are possible between the frontline and backroom. Written to be much more than a one-time read, this resource book provides practical ideas for beneficial collaboration and implementation of social features in library catalogues.

An index of key concepts and terms

A foreword written by Barbara Tillett, chief of the Policy and Standards Division at the Library of Congress