Professional Media

As libraries compete with Netflix, Barnes and Noble, and Starbucks, they must use branding to remain visible in a saturated market. While creating a brand may seem like a daunting task (e.g., developing a logo, tagline, colors, typeface, signage, name tags, and library cards), Doucett (director, Curtis Memorial Lib., Brunswick, ME) has drawn an easy-to-follow road map. Besides clarifying the distinctions between marketing and branding, she advises on who to include in the branding process and explains how to do a brand audit (very helpful!) and write an honest tagline. She also offers tips for working with outside help and outlines common pitfalls. Doucett saves the best for last: Appendix A provides examples of library brands and tells their stories of the branding process; Appendix B is a word list to help your library find a unique tagline (a great resource to get the creative juices flowing!). Other pluses are suggestions for success, frequently asked questions, and end-of-chapter exercises. Highly recommended for professional collections.—Carrie Scarr, West Fargo P.L., ND

Every library professional—from new graduates seeking a first job to retirees looking for new challenges—can find something useful in this latest guide from Gordon, author (The NextGen Librarian's Survival Guide) and LJ Computer Media columnist. She covers a range of nontraditional careers, including working for vendors and cultural institutions, setting up shop independently (e.g., as a consultant or information broker), performing information work such as knowledge management or competitive intelligence, working in information technology outside of libraries, and filling nontraditional roles within libraries. Each chapter presents various careers with an emphasis on transferable skills, along with personal accounts from practitioners explaining what they do, how they got there, what they like about their jobs, and more. Gordon presents both the rewards and challenges of alternative library careers clearly and provides sound advice for exploring options and breaking into new fields. Two other recent books on information careers—G. Kim Dority's Rethinking Information Work and A Day in the Life: Career Options in Library and Information Science, edited by Priscilla K. Shontz and Richard A. Murray, cover some similar ground, but neither title is an adequate substitute for this one. Highly recommended for graduate and professional collections.—Janet A. Crum, Oregon Health & Science Univ. Lib., Portland

This beginner's manual will help library staff learn how to create appealing displays with simple and inexpensive materials to promote their library's collection and increase circulation. The text reveals the trade secrets of displays, discusses how to understand library users, covers display locations, and shows how to build and maintain them. The final chapter is devoted to display ideas. Photographs abound throughout and illustrate the concepts being explained. Assignments at the end of each chapter reinforce those concepts. End notes list further reading for specific topics. The authors work at the Denver Public Library (DPL), and Christiansen has over ten years of retail merchandising experience. LaPerriere was also charged with library merchandising at the opening of the Schlessman Family Branch of DPL. Recommended for public librarians new to merchandising.—Marie Bruni, Huntington Memorial Lib., Oneonta, NY

In the past decade, government documents have undergone an electronic metamorphosis, and documents librarians have been challenged to adhere to their historical mission of providing government information and access to the people while re-interpreting that mission in terms of technological innovation. This volume's 16 chapters deal with various aspects of this challenge, including access to diverse populations, special concerns regarding geographic information, collection development, digital preservation, Government Printing Office (GPO) cataloging practices, local bibliographic control and processing, government information as part of reference and information literacy programs, and, finally, the difficulties of managing local, state, and international government information. Barbara Miller and Barbara J. Mann's "Government Information Instruction in the Information Literacy Environment" provides an understanding and examples of integrating bibliographic instruction with government information and literacy competency standards. Hui Hua Chua's chapter on collection development has insights for the selection and collection of electronic resources that extend beyond its concentration on government information. Editor Morrison has served as past chair of the American Library Association's Government Documents Round Table (GODORT), authored numerous scholarly works on government information, and is an associate librarian at Indiana University, Bloomington. Essential for academic and depository libraries, highly recommended for all libraries.—Margaret Sylvia, St. Mary's Univ. Lib., San Antonio