Digital Library and Information Science Books Index

Library and Information Science Books - Digital Book Index

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Play-and-learn libraries in govt schools gain popularity

RANCHI: Playing and learning in the library is a new method of teaching which is gaining popularity in various government primary schools in the state capital.

To spread the innovative idea to other districts, a dissemination workshop was held on Tuesday by the Room to Read India Trust, which is setting up these libraries. The trust in 2008 had established 50 libraries as a pilot project in government primary schools in Mandar block in collaboration with the Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC).

"Their work of setting up libraries has created wonders for children. It has also helped in changing the mindset of parents who are now encouraging their children to read and take books from libraries," said D K Saksena, state project director of JEPC.

However, the library is not restricted to school students alone, other students from the locality can also borrow books. "Knowledge is not limited to schools. It should percolate down to the community. Thus schools should be used as knowledge and information dissemination centres," said Saksena.

Parents are very happy with the progress of their sons and daughters. "People usually think that the standard of government schools is not up to the mark. But when I saw my daughter keen on going to school, I realized the usefulness. She herself started reading after returning from school. This was not there before," said a mother, Ashmina Khatoon.

"From 585 schools we need to move this mission to the rest 40,000 schools. We need more teachers and trainers for this," said Saksena.

The state manager for Room to Read, Sharique Mashhadi, said, "About 125 libraries will be set up in Latehar. We are trying to build up a strong community to help this mission."

Library Services through Cloud Computing

Library services through Cloud Computing from Erik Mitchell on Vimeo.

The History of Human Library

The History of The Human Library
Once upon a time in Copenhagen, Denmark. There was a young and idealistic youth organisation called "Stop The Violence". This non-governmental youth movement was self initiatied by the five youngsters Dany Abergel, Asma Mouna, Christoffer Erichsen, Thomas Bertelsen and Ronni Abergel from Copenhagen after a mutual friend was stabbed in the nightlife (1993). The brutal attack on their friend, who luckily survived, made the five youngsters decide to try and do something about the problem. To raise awareness and use peer group education to mobilise danish youngsters against violence. In a few years the organisation had 30.000 members all over the country.

In 2000 Stop The Violence was encouraged by then festival director, Mr. Leif Skov, to organise acitivites for Roskilde Festival. Events that would put focus on anti-violence, encourage dialogue and build relations among the festival visitors. And the Human Library was born, as a challenge to the crowds of Northern Europes biggest summer festival.

The reasoning behind the methodology
One of the main concerns of the inventors, Tobias Rosenberg Jørgensen, Sune Bang, Asma Mouna, Dany Abergel, Philip Lipski Einstein, Christoffer Erichsen and Ronni Abergel, was what would happen if people would not get the point? Or if the audience just simply did not want to be challenged on their prejudices?. Well given that there was a total of 75 books available, the conclusion made was that with so many different people, put together in a rather small space for a long time, they are bound to start reading each other. From the moment they ask the other book what their title is. And that will be the opening question of all books on the first day. And so it was to be. Before the first reader could take it a book, the talks where going on intensively and the feeling of something special was in the air. The policeman sitting there speaking with the graffiti writer. The politician in discussions with the youth activist and the football fan in deep chat with the feminist. It was a win-win situation and has been ever since.

Free to the world
The services of the Human Library has always been free to its public. From the very first event, up to this day. The same goes for new organizers that want to start working with the methodology. An idea with a potential and purpose such as this must be free for all and that is the philosophy of the inventors. Soon after the first event, Peter Wootsch of the Sziget Festivals Civil Island, staged an event in Hungary and after that another was introduced in Norway. In 2003 Mrs. Antje Rothemund the director of the Council of Europe´s European Youth Centre in Budapest, made the methodology a part of the human rights education program. Since then the Council of Europe has been the biggest supporter of the development and promotion of Human Library programs. Today a majority is hosted within the public library sector. Others are located in educational institutions, festivals, books fairs and other relevant settings.

Crucial partners in the development
One of the creators, Ronni Abergel, realising the potential of the idea, decided after the first event, to begin to work to promote the idea to potential new organizers. Since then he has travelled to many countries to organize launch events and present the idea to interested organisations and public authorities. One of the first organizations to take ear to the idea, was the Council of Europe. Without the support and dedication of the Nordic Minister Council and the youth directorate of the Council of Europe. This idea might never have had the chance to reach a global audience. Through the past six years the respective organisations have been crucial partners in the development of the Human Library. From supporting the production of the manual to helping with funding for launch events in different countries. From the very beginning Mr. Peter Wootsch of the Sziget Festival, Mrs. Antje Rothemund from the Council of Europe and Mr. Joachim Clausen from the Nordic Minister Council, have been tremendous allies of the Human Library.

Cost efficient acitivity
Further to having good partners to realise the project. The Human Library has another advantage to organizers around the world. Its not very expensive and can be organized no matter how big or small your budget is. The biggest ressource needed to facilitate a Human Library is time and idle hands to do the tasks. And due to this great quality it has been possible to stage events in a wide range of countries and with very little funding. This feature has made it possible to present Living Libraries in Romania, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Italy, Holland, Slovenia, Belgium, Portugal and Australia - to mention a few.

An idea with global appeal
The inventors quickly realised the global appeal and potential and since then have worked to promote the methodology to potential organizers. The goal is to make sure the Human Library reaches it full potential and is applied into use as much as possible in communities around the world. One of the first books in the original Human Library at Roskilde Festival, was the policeman Erik Pontoppidan (posing in the photo) from Copenhagen Metropolitan Police Department. His experiences and much more interesting information, can be found in our "guide" to organizers. Located in our ressources for organizers section you can also find templates for evaluations, marketing material and all what you need to get started with your Human Library.

Beijing First Human Library

IANS ( Leave a comment )
Beijing, Dec 27 (IANS) Ever thought what if you could interact with the protagonist of an interesting book? Well, booklovers in Beijing have been offered such an opportunity by a 28-year-old woman who always wished to be a librarian.

Li Xingning’s childhood dream came true this Christmas, when she opened a “Human Library” where books were real people. It was Beijing’s first human library, with dozens of readers and six “living books” exchanging their life stories and ideas, China
Daily reported.

In a human library, the books are real people engaging readers in a direct dialogue. And, a living book is the person who has chosen to be a representative of a certain group.

“Here we get to know people who have interesting life stories to share, and also understand who they are and why they live in a particular way,” said Li.

Li, an architect by profession, hoped her library would serve as an interactive platform to promote mutual understanding among people.

The human library concept originated in Denmark in 2000, and the idea has since spread around the world to over 45 countries. In China, such libraries have sprouted in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Yu, one of the living books, has been living a vagabond’s life for nine months, travelling from southwest China’s Yunnan province to Beijing, with little money and a guitar.

“I just want to tell them that once outside our comfort zone, we may find the beauty of life that we’ve never imagined before.”

The library also has an online version, where people from outside Beijing can share their stories.

Li said the “living books” were chosen as they followed their dreams. Every day one human book will be available in the library. But readers aren’t allowed to ‘the living book’ out.

First Mobile Library (MPLAD)

Shantaram Naik M.P. today handed over the keys of first mobile library to be allotted under Members Of Parliament Area Development Scheme (MPLAD) to N Shivdas of Goa Konkani Academy. The vehicle was built at the cost of Rs 14 lakhs.



In his brief speech made at a simple ceremony held at Betoda ,Ponda, Naik said that although MPLAD rules provided for giving of books to the beneficiaries, there was no provision for mobile libraries in the MPLAD guidelines. When Naik brought this fact to the notice of Shri M.S. Gill, the then Miinister who looked after the Department of MPLAD, he immediately ordered amendment of MPLAD guidelines.. as Gill himself liked the concept of a mbile library.

Naik said that many MPs will eventually take benefit of change in the rules but the mobile library allotted to Goa Konkani Academi is the first one in India to be allotted under MPLAD . He said although it is said that the reading habits of the people have declined yet, people read literature published through newspapers and magazines besides the daily news , although, they may not be reading novels and other heavy

literary works, as before. Naik said that a new generation resorting to e-reading is going to come up very soon. President of Goa Konkani Academy N Shivdas while giving his welcome address thanked Mr Naik for making extraordinary efforts in getting the mobile library allotted to the Academy Secretary of the Academy Gurudas Pilgaonkar, Addhoot Kamat, Hanumant Chpdekar, Ajay Buva, Uday Gudekar and Lotlikar and Edward Monteiro of Aero Coach Factory were present on the occassion. Executive Member of the Academy proposed a vote of thanks.

The History of Library

THE COLLECTION OF written knowledge in some sort of repository is a practice as old as civilization itself. About 30,000 clay tablets found in ancient Mesopotamia date back more than 5,000 years. Archaelogists have uncovered papyrus scrolls from 1300-1200bc in the ancient Egyptian cities of Amarna and Thebes and thousands of clay tablets in the palace of King Sennacherib, Assyrian ruler from 704-681bc, at Nineveh, his capital city. More evidence turned up with the discovery of the personal collection of Sennacherib's grandson, King Ashurbanipal.

The name for the repository eventually became the library. Whether private or public, the library has been founded, built, destroyed and rebuilt. The library, often championed, has been a survivor throughout its long history and serves as a testament to the thirst for knowledge.

Literacy Builds Libraries

Early collections may have surfaced from the Near East, but the ancient Greeks propelled the idea through their heightened interest in literacy and intellectual life. Public and private libraries flourished through a well-established process: authors wrote on a variety of subjects, scriptoria or copy shops produced the books, and book dealers sold them. Copying books was an exacting business and one in high demand, because a book's "trustworthiness" translated into quality. An Athenian decree called for a repository of "trustworthy" copies. Though the public library first appeared by the fourth century bc, the private library was more prevalent. Aristotle, for instance, amassed a large private collection. Ancient geographer Strabo said Aristotle "was the first to have put together a collection of books and to have taught the kings in Egypt how to arrange a library."

Form Dictates Function
Throughout most of the library's history, the term "book" referred to works written on papyrus and some parchment rolls. Beginning in the second century, stacked and bound wooden boards recorded literature, science, and technical information. These tablets, called codex, derived from a centuries-old practice of using wooden writing tablets for notetaking. These new, durable codices gradually replaced the fragile rolls. However, rolls continued to be used for archival-type documents. Parchment eventually replaced the wooden boards.
The new codex form impacted book storage. Codices were stored flat on the shelf and covers protected their leaves. The libraries had to find ways to house both rolls and codices. New libraries emerging in the Middle Ages in churches, schools, and monasteries concerned themselves only with the codex form.



While most modern libraries spend more time and money on collections than ornamentation, some institutions, such as the Library of Congress, still aspire to ancient standards of architectural splendor.

The Great Library

That library, of course, was the Great Library of Alexandria, a public library open to those with the proper scholarly and literary qualifications, founded about 300bc. When Egypt's King Ptolemy I (305-282bc) asked, "How many scrolls do we have?", Aristotle's disciple Demetrius of Phalerum was on hand to answer with the latest count. After all, it was Demetrius who suggested setting up a universal library to hold copies of all the books in the world. Ptolemy and his successors wanted to understand the people under their rule and house Latin, Buddhist, Persian, Hebrew, and Egyptian works - translated into Greek.

The library's lofty goal was to collect a half-million scrolls and the Ptolemies took serious steps to accomplish it. Ptolemy I, for example, composed a letter to all the sovereigns and governors he knew, imploring them "not to hesitate to send him" works by authors of every kind.

The Ptolemies engaged in some unorthodox acquisition methods. Some stories relate that they confiscated any book not already in the library from passengers arriving in Alexandria. Another story tells how Ptolemy III (246-222bc) deceived Athenian authorities when they let him borrow original manuscripts of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, using silver as collateral. Ptolemy kept the originals and sent the copies back, letting the authorities keep the silver. More traditional means included book purchases from the markets of Athens, Rhodes and other Mediterranean cities. Older copies were the favored acquisitions; the older the better, since they would be considered more trustworthy. At its height, the library held nearly 750,000 scrolls. There must have been duplicates since there weren't that many works.

Much of what is now considered to be literary scholarship began in the Alexandria Library. Funds from the royal treasury paid the chief librarian and his scholarly staff. Physically, books were not what we think of today, but rather scrolls, mostly made of papyrus, but sometimes of leather. They were kept in pigeonholes with titles written on wooden tags hung from their outer ends.

Fires and depredations during the Roman period gradually destroyed the Library. When Julius Caesar occupied Alexandria in 48bc, Cleopatra urged him to help himself to the books. Obliging, he shipped tens of thousands to Rome. Marc Antony was rumored to have given Cleopatra the 200,000-scroll collection of rival library Pergamum to replace Alexandria's losses.

Thanks to the Great Library, Alexandria assumed its position as the intellectual capital of the world and provided a model for other libraries to follow.


Rome's Vatican Library is one of the richest manuscript depositories in the world, with more than 65,000 manuscripts and more than 900,000 printed volumes. Most works are in either Latin or Greek.

When In Rome.
By the middle of the second century bc, Rome also boasted rich library resources. Initially comprised of some scattered private collections, holdings eventually expanded through the spoils of war. Even Aristotle's famed collection was among the bounty.

Julius Caesar dreamed of establishing a public library in Rome, but his vision was cut short by his assassination. After Caesar's death, Asinius Pollio acquired the requisite funds to make the dream a reality. The library was divided into two sections - one for Greek and one for Latin, serving as a model for subsequent Roman libraries. Great statues adorned the walls. Books, typically acquired through donations by authors and others, as well as through copying, were placed along the walls and readers consulted them in the middle of the room. This marked a distinct departure from the Greek model, where readers could only consult their books in an atrium away from the rest of the collection.

To serve as director of a library was a great honor. The role became a stepping stone for the ambitious government servant. Staffs consisted of slaves and freedmen, who were assigned to either the Greek or the Latin section. Pages fetched rolls from the systematically arranged and tagged bookcases and returned them. They usually transported the rolls in leather or wood buckets. Scribes made copies to be added to the collection and recopied damaged rolls, while keeping the catalog up to date. Libraries were typically open during standard business hours - sunrise to midday.

Rome had only three public libraries at the time of Augustus' death in 14ad: Pollio's, one in the Porticus of Octavia, and Augustus' on the Palatine Hill. When Trajan (98-117ad) dedicated his monumental column in 112-113, a library (sectioned into the traditional Greek and Latin chambers) was part of it. Much of the interior still exists today. The collection there grew to include some 20,000 volumes. Still, libraries remained the domain of the learned: teachers, scientists, scholars. Where were the masses to go? To the imperial baths, of course! At the baths, men and women, rich and poor could take a bath, meet with friends, play ball - and read a book. Libraries were added to the baths until the third century. A catalog of Rome's buildings from about 350ad enumerated 29 libraries in the city. But in 378, the historian Ammianus Marcellinus commented, "The libraries are closing forever, like tombs." As the Roman Empire fell, libraries seemed doomed to extinction.

Monasticism Transforms the Library

In the early 500s in Egypt, a man named Pachomius established a monastery and insisted on literacy among his monks. This was to have a long-lasting effect even after the Roman Empire split in two about 100 years later. Throughout the rest of the eastern empire, monastic communities emerged with small and mostly theological libraries.

Sparked by the spread of Christianity, the eastern half of the empire did much to foster the use of libraries. The capital city of Constantinople had three major libraries: the university library, the library for the royal family and civil service and a theological collection.

Even though libraries disappeared in the western empire due to invasion, lack of funds, and lack of interest, monasticism gave rise to an explosion of learning. In 529ad, Benedict established a monastery in Monte Cassino and established a rule by which the monks would live. Chapter 48 of this rule mandated: "Between Easter and the calends of October let them apply themselves to reading from the fourth hour until the sixth hour . . . From the calends of October to the beginning of Lent, let them apply themselves to reading until the second hour. During Lent, let them apply themselves to reading from morning until the end of the third hour, and in these days of Lent, let them receive a book apiece from the library and read it straight through. These books are to be given out at the beginning of Lent."

The Benedictines created libraries and the scriptorium became sacred. It soon became customary for monasteries to lend to other monasteries, giving birth to the inter-library loan. Charlemagne, who owned a robust library in Aachen in the eighth century, ordered every school to have a scriptorium. The road was well paved to invite the Renaissance and a new age for libraries.

Renaissance of Learning

As Europe emerged from the depths of darkness into the light of learning, its people began to look to the Greek and Roman artistic and literary classics for inspiration. Many aristocrats of the period were dedicated to developing their private libraries. Cosimo de Medici of the famous Florentine family established his own collection, which formed the basis of the Laurentian Library. Also in Italy, the Vatican Library opened in the 1400s. Accompanying the growth of universities was the development of university libraries, which, in some cases, were founded on the basis of a personal donation. For example, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, donated his large collection to Oxford University in the early 1400s.

Gutenberg's movable type innovation in the 1400s revolutionized bookmaking. Printed books replaced handwritten manuscripts and were placed on open shelves.


The Radcliffe Camera is part of Oxford's Bodlean Library, the second largest library in Britain.

The Golden Age

Throughout the 1600s and 1700s, libraries surged in popularity. They grew as universities developed and as national, state-supported collections began to appear. Many of these became national libraries.

In Britain, Sir Thomas Bodley rebuilt Humphrey's library at Oxford in the late 1500s. It was renamed the Bodlean Library and today ranks as the second largest in the country. The largest, of course, is the British Library, founded in 1759 as part of the British Museum. The earliest public library in the UK was associated with London's Guild Hall in 1425. A second opened in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1580. Neither of these still exists, but one established in 1653 in Manchester, England does. Once Parliament passed the Public Library Act in 1850, libraries began to spread throughout the nation.

In France, the national library in Paris known as Bibliotheque Nationale de France began in 1367 as the Royal Library of Charles V. Another significant library, famous for its influence on library management, is the Mazarine Library, also in Paris. Cardinal Jules Mazarin, chief minister of France during Louis XIV's minority, founded it in 1643.

Building on its Roman heritage, Italy boasted several renowned libraries, including Laurentian Library in Florence, Vatican Library in Vatican City, Ambrosian Library in Milan and National Central Library in Florence, based on the collection of Antonio Magliabechi, a scholar of the 1600s and 1700s.

On the Iberian peninsula, King Philip V established the National Library of Spain, Madrid in 1711. Portugal's National Library in Lisbon appeared in 1796.

Three libraries form the national repository for Germany. The first, the German State Library in Berlin, was founded in 1661 by Friedrich Wilhelm. The second and third followed much later: the German Library in Leipzig, founded in 1912 and the German Library in Frankfurt, founded in 1946.

Catherine the Great founded the M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin State Public Library in St. Petersburg in the late 1700s. Russia's largest library, the Russian State Library in Moscow (formerly the Lenin State Library), was founded in 1862.


Beginning with John Harvard's 1638 donation of 260 volumes, the Harvard Library has grown to become the largest university library in the US, with more than 10,000,000 volumes.

The oldest library in America began with a 400-book donation by a Massachusetts clergyman, John Harvard, to a new university that eventually honored him by adopting his name. Another clergyman, Thomas Bray from England, established the first free lending libraries in the American Colonies in the late 1600s. Subscription libraries - where member dues paid for book purchases and borrowing privileges were free - debuted in the 1700s. In 1731, Ben Franklin and others founded the first such library, the Library Company of Philadelphia. The initial collection of the Library of Congress was in ashes after the British burned it during the War of 1812. The library bought Thomas Jefferson's vast collection in 1815 and used that as a foundation to rebuild.

It wasn't until waves of immigration and the philosophy of free public education for children that public libraries spread in the US. The first public library in the country opened in Peterborough, New Hampshire, in 1833. Philanthropist Andrew Carnegie helped build more than 1,700 public libraries in the US between 1881 and 1919.

Libraries may have changed over the years - no longer do pages carry scrolls in wooden buckets - but the need for a repository of knowledge remains.

World's First Library

Ashurbanipal created the world's first libary in Assyria, this libary known as The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal, named after Ashurbanipal, the last great king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, is a collection of thousands of clay tablets and fragments containing texts of all kinds (royal inscriptions, chronicles, mythological and religious texts, contracts, royal grants and decrees, royal letters, assorted administrative documents, and even what would be today called classified documents, reports from spies, ambassadors, etc.)
The collection written knowledge in some sort of repository is a practice as old as civilization itself. About 30,000 clay tablets found in ancient Mesopotamia date back more than 5,000 years. Archaelogists have uncovered papyrus scrolls from 1300-1200bc in the ancient Egyptian cities of Amarna and Thebes and thousands of clay tablets in the palace of King Sennacherib, Assyrian ruler from 704-681bc, at Nineveh, his capital city. More evidence turned up with the discovery of the personal collection of Sennacherib's grandson, King Ashurbanipal.
The Great Library of Alexandria, a public library open to those with the proper scholarly and literary qualifications, founded about 300bc. When Egypt's King Ptolemy I (305-282bc) asked, "How many scrolls do we have?", Aristotle's disciple Demetrius of Phalerum was on hand to answer with the latest count. After all, it was Demetrius who suggested setting up a universal library to hold copies of all the books in the world. Ptolemy and his successors wanted to understand the people under their rule and house Latin, Buddhist, Persian, Hebrew, and Egyptian works - translated into Greek.

The Hindu : Education : Q&A - Library and Information science

The Hindu : Education : Q&A - Library and Information science

50 Excellent Library Science Blogs Worth Reading

Library science, or library information science (LIS), might conjure up hermits in musty, dark rooms, cataloging index cards into towering file cabinets. But, that image is incorrect today, as library science now pertains to digital cataloging, social networking and a changing history in archival science. This list of 50 excellent library science blogs are worth reading for any contemporary library science professional.

Information Science and Systems
Bibliographic Wilderness: Jonathan Rochkind writes about library digital systems and services, metadata, cataloging, and the collective effort to help people navigate the ‘information wilderness.’
Catalogablog: This blog focuses on library cataloging, classification, metadata, subject access and related topics.
Cataloguing Aids: The author hopes that this blog can serve as an index for the Cataloguing Aids Web site.
Cataloging Futures: The metadata librarian at Princeton Theological Seminary writes this blog about cataloging.
Hey Jude: Judy O’Connell started this blog in 2006 to help her engage in social networking and to inform her work as a librarian with skills in information services.
Infomusings: A doctoral student at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill writes about her studies in Personal Information Management (PIM) and teaches the intro to library cataloging course.
Information Research – ideas and debate: A spin-off from the e-journal dedicated to informal publication of ideas and comment on current affairs in the information world.
The Cataloguing Librarian: The collections access librarian at Halifax Public Libraries writes this blog as a resource for herself and other catalogers.
The FRBR Blog: A blog following developments around FRBR, or Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records.
The Serials Cataloger: News, research, and other information of interest to serials catalogers.
Z666.7.B39: Musings related to metadata, cataloging, and the world of librarianship from the electronic resources cataloging coordinator at Princeton University Library.
OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) Blogs
025.431: The Dewey blog: “Everything you always wanted to know about the Dewey Decimal Classification system but were afraid to ask.”
HangingTogether: This blog is a place where some of the OCLC Research staff, particularly those individuals who support the RLG Partnership of libraries, archives, and museums, can talk about the intersections they see happening between these different types of institutions.
Hectic Pace: Andrew Pace, the executive director for Networked Library Services at OCLC, is the author of this blog.
Lorcan Dempsey’s Weblog: Lorcan currently works for OCLC as vice president, OCLC research and chief strategist.
OCLC Developer Network: This blog is about library Web services from the OCLC Web services group and its Developer Network.
Outgoing: Library metadata techniques and trends by Thom Hickey, OCLC’s chief scientist.
Q6: This blog is maintained by Jeff Young, software architect at OCLC.
WebJunction: WebJunction is an online community where library staff meet to share ideas, solve problems, take online courses – and have fun.
Weibel Lines: Ruminations on libraries, Internet standards, and “stuff that comes to mind” from a

100 of the best blogs a library science student can read.

By Rose Jensen

If you’re studying library science online, you’re in luck. There is a world of information available to you online, much of it in blogs. Follow this list, and you’ll find 100 of the best blogs a library science student can read. These blogs are written by students and educators.

1.InfoMuse: Kristina M. Spurgin from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill writes this blog about libraries and information science.
2.InfoEdiface: A Wayne State University student writes this blog about information architecture, library science, and technology.
3.CAS Library Blog: Here you’ll find Penn State’s blog for library resources in the communication arts and sciences discipline.
4.Librarian Way: This blog is written by Heather Ebey, a Master of Library and Information Science student at San Jose State University.
5.Libraries & Learning: This blog is written by Martha Whitehead of University of British Columbia Library for academic information specialists.
6.Librarian Web Chic: Karen Coombs is an Informational Technology and Instruction library at SUNY Cortland.
7.Confessions of a Mad Librarian: This blog is written by a soon-to-graduate LIS student.
8.Library Cog: Art Rhyno from the University of Windsor discusses library systems and more on this blog.
9.Library Automation: Read this project blog about library automation from the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University.
Information Science & Systems Check out these blogs to learn about information science and systems.

1.LibInfoSpace: Follow LibInfoSpace to get updated on library information systems and services.
2.Library Monk: Dan Greene shares his thoughts on library and information science and beyond on this blog.
3.Catalogablog: Read Catalogablog for issues in cataloging and more.
4.Serials Scene: Serials Scene discusses the acquisition and cataloging of print and digital serial publications.
5.Christina’s LIS Rant: Check out this blog about library and information science.
6.025.431: The Dewey Blog: Get a look into the Dewey Decimal Classifaction system on this blog.
7.Future4catalogers: This blog will help you understand what’s coming in cataloging.
8.Hey Jude: Judy O’Connell writes this blog about information science in the world of learning.
9.Metalogue: Follow this blog to learn about dew directions in cataloguing and metadata.
10.Online IT Degrees: This blog discusses the latest in library IT and integration.
11.Bibliographic Wilderness: Use this blog to learn about helping people navigate the information wilderness.
12.Z666.7.B39: Jennifer Bax’s blog is all about metadata and cataloging in the library.
13.Information Research: This publication offers ideas and debate on the information world.
14.Cataloging Futures: This blog discusses the future of cataloging and metadata in libraries.
15.Outgoing: Read Outgoing for library metadata techniques and trends.
16.The FRBR Blog: The FRBR Blog shares developments in functional requirements for bibliographic records.
17.Catalogue & Index Blog: Find news, events, and more for cataloguers on this blog.
18.Planet Cataloging: This blog offers an aggregation of key cataloging blogs.
19.WorldCat: Get a look into WorldCat with this blog.
20.The Serials Cataloger: This blog offers information of interest to serials catalogers.
21.oss4lib: Check out this blog, and you’ll get a look into open source systems for libraries.
22.The Cataloguing Librarian: Read The Cataloguing Librarian to find resources and information for cataloguers.
23.ASC Online: On this blog, you’ll find posts about information science and technology education.
24.Catalogue Blog: Read the Catalogue Blog for links, news, and information on cataloging, including unusual titles and quotations.
Librarian 2.0 Get a look into the next generation of librarians with these blogs.

1.Librarian.net: Jessamyn West shares her thoughts on the growing field of library science technology on this blog.
2.NexGen Librarian: On NexGen, you’ll find a forum for librarian and information professionals with a fresh perspective.
3.Alliance Virtual Library: Check out this blog to learn about libraries on Second Life.
4.Life of Books: This blog is dedicated to the future of libraries in the digital age.
5.iLibrarian: iLibrarian shares news and resources on Library 2.0 and the information revolution.
6.David Lee King: David Lee King blogs about the future of digital technology in library science.
7.University Online: Adrienne discusses library technological innovation.
8.Information Literacy Meets Library 2.0: Read about the intersection of Library 2.0 and information literacy on this blog.
9.Transforming Scholarly Communication: Find resources about scholarly electronic publishing efforts online on this blog.
10.Thing-ology Blog: LibraryThing’s blog discusses tags, libraries, and related issues.
11.The Search Lounge: In this librarian’s blog, you’ll find helpful information about the search engine industry.
12.Exploded Library: Check out this blog for information overload, search techniques, and more.
13.Michael E. Casey: Michael Casey offers a library 2.0 perspective for the next generation library.
14.InfoTangle: Read InfoTangle to get a look into Web 2.0 for librarians.
15.Lorcan Dempsey’s Weblog: Lorcan Dempsey discusses libraries, services, and networks.
16.blogwithoutalibrary: Amanda’s blog focuses on user experience in libraries.
17.Libraries Interact: This blog focuses on making libraries more interactive.
18.Pop Goes the Library: This blog discusses pop culture and libraries.
19.The Shifted Librarian: The Shifted Librarian writes to make librarians more portable.
20.Bibliotheke: This blog allows you to watch libraries evolve.
21.Annoyed Librarian: The Annoyed Librarian offers rants about the state of librarianship.
Information Literacy These blogs will educate you in information literacy.

1.Formist Informations: Here you’ll find a French-speaking blog about libraries and information literacy.
2.Information Literacy Weblog: Read this blog to find relevant information and resources for information literacy worldwide.
3.Information Literacy Librarian: This blog offers an exploration of information literacy instruction theory and practices.
4.The Information Literacy Land of Confusion: Learn about the confusion in information literacy from this blog.
5.Open Stacks: Open Stacks promotes information access and literacy for all.
6.Information Literacy Weblog: Written by three professors, this blog shares news about information literacy worldwide.
7.The Lateral Literal Librarian: Get a look into topics including information literacy, technoliteracy, and biblioliteracy on this blog.
Technology Learn about the latest library science technology with these blogs.

1.The Digital Librarian: This blog offers commentary about digital services through digital libraries.
2.Connecting Librarian: This librarian connects new ideas and technologies with library service.
3.Libraries and Their Impact on the Digital Divide: Read this blog to find out how libraries have an impact on the digital divide.
4.Tame The Web: Read about current technology uses in libraries from this blog.
5.Blyberg: Blyberg is written by and for library geeks.
6.Weibel Lines: This blogger shares thoughts on libraries and Internet standards.
7.Information Wants To Be Free: Read Meredith Farkas’ blog to learn about social software in libraries.
8.Inquiring Librarian: Inquiring Librarian shares thoughts on librarianship, technology, and how they come together.
9.VALIS: This blog focuses on search, Web 2.0, and online information tools.
10.Phil Bradley’s Blog: On Phil Bradley’s blog, you’ll find links and news for librarians about search engines, design, and more.
11.Schooliblit: Schooliblit offers links and information about media centers, information literacy, technology in education, and beyond.
12.Closed Stacks: This blog shares writings on the state of information in the age of technology.
13.Librarian in Black: Find the latest news for tech savvy librarians on this blog.
14.Digital Reference: This teaching librarian blog discusses communication reference in the digital age.
15.The Invisible Web Weblog: Learn about information on the invisible web from this blog.
16.InSilico: This blog from Princeton is about digital libraries and metadata.
17.Library Technology Musings: Read this blog about ideas and solutions in technology for libraries.
18.Loomware: On this blog, you’ll learn about information and technology in academic libraries and beyond.
19.Library Web Chic: Library Web Chic offers a resources for librarians in web design and technology.
Resources These blogs will connect you with useful resources.

1.Librarian Activist: On this blog, you’ll find resources for becoming active in issues surrounding libraries.
2.Keeping Legal: This blog offers resources for legal issues affecting the information profession.
3.Library Juice: Library Juice discusses the intersection of libraries, politics, and culture.
4.Stephen Gallant Review: Stephen Gallant offers a look at reading for librarians and information specialists.
5.Cataloguing Aids: With this blog, you’ll be able to find cataloguing aids, reminders, and links.
6.AbsTracked: AbsTracked offers links in law, libraries, reference, and more, which are immensely useful for university students.
7.Threnody for the Public Domain: On this blog, you’ll learn about the current state of copyright and other related issues.
8.A Librarian’s Guide to Etiquette: Find out how to be a polite librarian on this blog.
9.The Resource Shelf: Check out the Resource Shelf for news, search tips, and more for information professionals.
10.banned librarian: The banned librarian blog is written for librarians who support social justice.
11.A Librarian at the Kitchen Table: On this blog, you’ll find out how librarians can build community as advocates.
12.Union Librarian: Read this blog to stay on top of news about library unions.
13.Cybrarians: Find information about resources related to library and information science on this blog.
News Read these blogs to stay up to date on news that matters for library science students.

1.Information Community News: Stay aware of current events in the information community on this blog.
2.It’s all good: Find out about things that impact libraries and their users on this group blog.
3.Library Bytes: Get bits and pieces of news about libraries and new technologies from Library Bytes.
4.Unshelved: Unshelved offers news and comic strip entertainment for librarians.
5.Library Stuff: Use this blog to stay on top of important resources for professional development as a librarian.
6.LISNews: On this collaborative blog, you’ll learn about current events and news in library and information science.
7.LIScareer News: Find news about careers in library information science on this blog.

50 Well Read Librarian Blogs

Friar's Balsam50 Well-Read Librarian Blogs
Our 50 Well Read Librarian Blogs offer an inside look at the inner workings of libraries. Many of our posts are written by librarians in the business or information technology graduates who are interested in updating library services for the 21st century. They are informative, well written, unique, and often funny. Our top blogs offer an inside look at such items as library technology, a day in the life of a librarian, issues and conflicts within the organization, and much, much more. These are the best of the best.


Top Five
1.librarian.net: Jessamyn is a librarian who works in rural Vermont. She is a library technologist who offers articles on a wide variety of library related issues.
◦Why We Love It: This site has been around since 1999 and is a favorite of many readers and leaders in the library profession. Who are we to argue with them?
◦Favorite Post: Privacy and library data: email, IPs and &c.
2.Information Wants to be Free: Blogger Meredith is an adjunct member at San Jose State University's School of Library and Information Science. She writes about the tools librarians use to help serve their patrons.
◦Why We Love It: The blog posts are well written, enjoyable to read, and lengthy. It covers a variety of topics within the field and it does so with wit and grace -- this is a great site for librarians and students alike.
◦Favorite Post: Ebooks and Libraries: A Stream of Concerns
3.Stephen's Lighthouse: Stephen's Lighthouse helps to illuminate library industry trends and new advances in innovation. The blogger writes from a perspective of true knowledge, as he has visited over a hundred libraries in many different countries throughout his life.
◦Why We Love It: This is an intelligent site that offers great information on library services, trends, innovation, technology, and everything in between.
◦Favorite Post: Books are Our Brand? Wish they weren’t . . .
4.Free Range Librarian: Free Range Librarian offers insight into librarianship, writing, and everything in between. The blogger is a director of the Cushing Library at Holy Names University in Oakland, California.
◦Why We Love It: This is just a great site for those looking to learn a little bit more about what goes on behind the scenes of a library.
◦Favorite Post: Slowly, slowly run, o horses of the night
5.Annoyed Librarian: The Annoyed Librarian offers scathing musings on libraries and everything else in this hard-hitting blog. It's tag line is "Fighting Libraries in Oakland," but it offers much more in the way of content as well.
◦Why We Love It: This is something different. You feel it the first time you look at the excerpts of articles on the site. The writer has a voice, a belief system, and they aren't going to compromise for anyone.
◦Favorite Post: Five Ways Lady Gaga is Not a Librarian
The Rest of the Best
•A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette: A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette has a tag line that states a polite librarian is a good librarian. It actually just offers funny advice for overstressed librarians to get a good laugh out of.
•Academic Librarian: The Academic Librarian blog offers topics on libraries, history, rhetoric, poetry, philosophy, and more from a philosophy and religion librarian at Princeton University.
•ACRLog: ACRLog is a blog dedicated to providing information from (and for) academic and research librarians. This is a well-run site with a load of information and detailed postings to boot.
•Alice in InfoLand: Blogger Alice writes about both the reality and illusion within the realms of school and library life. She also takes a look at 21st century information distribution as well.
•Book Frontiers: Lydia is a librarian who reviews books on her blog. Her blog is all about literature that she comes across as a school librarian.
•Bowllan's Blog: Bowllan's Blog is a part of the larger School Library Journal website. Many of the posts involve ways in which books can help educate the masses to become better people.
•Closed Stacks: The Closed Stacks blog is a collaborative website written by a variety of different librarians. It's meant to entertain, educate, and enlighten its readers.
•Cool Librarian: The blog covers such topics as search engines, databases, directories, and other such library-related topics she loves to blog about on her site.
•David Lee King: The blogger offers insight into library websites and digital technology in this interesting blog. He covers management, marketing, planning, and much else.
•DIY Librarian: DIY Librarian offers a variety of posts about librarianship and other related topics. Stories include dogs in libraries, conferences, a day in the life of a library day, and much more.
•Eclectic Librarian: Blogger Anna is a university librarian who offers insight into serials, database cataloging, and electronic resources within libraries, among many other topics.
•Hey Jude: Blogger Judy is on the editorial board for School Libraries Worldwide. She writes about school and library-related issues on her blog.
•iLibrarian: The blog contains information on topics such as design, simplifying cataloging, marketing, e-books, library data, and much more.
•In the Library with the Leadpipe: In the Library with the Leadpipe offers some lengthy, funny, and witty commentary on things related to librarianship. This is a solid site.
•Judge a Book by its Cover: Judge a Book by its Cover offers some hilarious articles and pictures that have to do with book covers. The blogger worked in library services for many years and uses this knowledge to create a great website on truly bad book covers.
•Law Librarian Blog: A blog about the intersection of information services and the law. For those law-minded individuals, this is a great site for information on congressional bills, libraries, jobs, and news.
•Librarian Avengers: Librarian Avengers comes from Erica, a librarian who holds a master's in information science. She offers articles on a variety of topics on librarianship and beyond.
•Librarian By Day: This blog is all about libraries coming into the 21st century intact, more technologically advanced, and better for it.
•Librarianing: The blogger is a project coordinator and virtual reference librarian for a nonprofit organization. She offers some crazy posts on the subject matter.
•Librarians are Weird: "Librarians are weird, but in a good way" is the tag line for this blog. The main focal points of the site are usually video/film/television related, such as topics on reviews and media literacy.
•Librarians Matter: Blogger Kathryn offers up an all-encompassing blog that deals with libraries, technology, being a mother, and everything and anything in between.
•LISNews: LISNews offers stories on everything relating to libraries, librarians, and technology. This is an all-encompassing site for those interested in the subject matter all the way up to those working in the profession.
•Love the Liberry: Blogger Amy offers pretty crazy stories about being a librarian in this blog. This is a funny and witty spot for those looking to see what a day in the life actually feels like.
•Peter Scott's Library Blog: Peter Scott's Library Blog gives information on new technologies in library services, writing, librarian surveys, and much more.
•Planet Cataloging: Planet Cataloging is all about cataloging and metadata and is maintained by two bloggers. If you're into that kind of stuff, this site is definitely for you.
•Practically Paradise: Practically Paradise offers insights into being a librarian, library services, and much more in this small yet informative blog.
•School Librarian in Action: The blogger is a school librarian, teacher, writer, and literacy advocate. School Librarian in Action offers topics on digital story telling, young adult novels, librarian conferences, and much more.
•Tame the Web: Tame the Web offers musings on libraries, technology, and people. It comes from a blogger who is an assistant professor in library and information science at San Jose State University.
•The Batty Librarian: The blogger is a library manager currently working and residing in England. She writes posts for the information professional.
•The Blah, Blah, Blah Blog: The Blah, Blah, Blah Blog offers insight into library services. Topics include how to deal with conflict, technology conferences, library workforce, book repair, and many, many more.
•The Days and Nights of the Lipstick Librarian: The Days and Nights of the Lipstick Librarian definitely has its own voice. There's some great information here on being a librarian, and many of the posts are funny and feel like they were written from the heart.
•The Digital Librarian: The blog gives musings on the intersection between library services and technology.
•The Food Librarian: The Food Librarian offers posts from a librarian who moonlights as a chef by night. There are recipes galore here!
•The Laughing Librarian: The Laughing Librarian offers tidbits and stories about librarians and the like with a humorous slant to them. It's a bold site that offers some great humor for its readers.
•The Original Library Trading Cards: The Original Library Trading Cards offers a site for librarians. It's actually a great place to go to see the different types of librarians and what they do each day at work.
•The Shifted Librarian: Blogger Jenny writes about making libraries "more portable." She delves into information technology and ways in which people can get books and such information more quickly and easier.
•The Society for Librarians* Who Say "&#(^@$*#&*@#": While this site does contain some adult language, it's an interesting spot for library workers, specialists, technicians, students, interested parties, and more to learn about the field.
•The Travelin' Librarian: The Travelin' Librarian offers blog posts from a technology innovation librarian for the Nebraska Library Commission. For more than 15 years, he's trained librarians in technology, and this knowledge comes through in his blog.
•The Unquiet Librarian: Blogger Buffy offers insight into what it's like to be a modern school librarian. There are some really interesting articles here.
•Thoughts of a [wannabe] librarian…: The blog offers musings on how to become a librarian. There's more content here, as well, with technology issues and library services as main focal points of the blog.
•Unshelved: The blog offers a weekly comic strip and covers library-related issues as well. There are book reviews offered, too.
•Uol Library Blog: The Uol Library Blog provides information on staff and the goings on of the University of Leicester Library. It's become a place, though, for workers and those interested in library services to go to get their fill of the day's news.
•Virtual Dave...Real Blog: The blogger is a professor at Syracuse University's School of Information Studies. He covers issues within the spectrum of librarianship and technology for the reader.
•Walt at Random: Blogger Walt is a librarian who's been active in the field for much of his life. He calls his blog the library voice of the radical middle, and it fits that description aptly.
•Yalibrarian: Yalibrarian offers articles on library jobs, public libraries, online libraries, librarians, and much else in this small yet informative blog.

BOOK Buddies

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Indexing

This is to provide basic information on indexing as a freelance career, and to list resources for further information. There is a wealth of information on indexing, including books, workshops, and training courses. This file can only provide a brief orientation and a list of resources for study. As you read it, remember that the broad, general statements are not universal laws; there are many ways to approach indexing, and people doing indexing do not fit all the broad statements in every respect. We will be happy if this file tells a non-indexer a useful way (not the best or only way) to think about the work before deciding to try to do it. We know that many (perhaps most) will realize after a time that they don't fit the rules of thumb either. If you do decide to pursue this challenging, rewarding and important work, please seek out the many other wonderful resources available; stay in touch with the field and other indexers through ASI, never stop learning and improving your skills and understanding. We hope you find this file useful. We welcome your comments.

L. Pilar Wyman (pilarw@wymanindexing.com) and Larry Harrison.

What is indexing? Who does indexing? How is indexing done? Can't a computer do the indexing?
What skills or education do indexers need? How do indexers get clients? How much are indexers paid? How do indexers price their services?
What kind of annual income can I expect from indexing? How can I learn to index?


When I tell people that I am working on an index to a book, they tend to hang their heads in sorrow. I tell them that compiling an index for a book is a lot more fun than writing a book could ever be, a relaxing jaunt from A to Z compared with a jerky stop-start trek without maps.
— Craig Brown, Times Saturday Review, 21 July 1990

1. What is indexing?
According to the British indexing standard (BS3700:1988), an index is a systematic arrangement of entries designed to enable users to locate information in a document. The process of creating an index is called indexing, and a person who does it is called an indexer. There are many types of indexes, from cumulative indexes for journals to computer database indexes. This discussion concentrates on the back-of-the-book index, found in nonfiction books.

Indexes are among those necessary but never spectacular products of hard as well as skilled work that can sometimes make the difference between a book and a good book.
index review in Books Ireland, February 1994

The chief purpose of an index is distillation, and in performing that task it can manage to suggest a life's incongruities with a concision that the most powerful biographical stylist will have trouble matching.
Thomas Mallon, New York Times, 10 March 1991

The ocean flows of online information are all streaming together, and the access tools are becoming absolutely critical. If you don't index it, it doesn't exist. It's out there but you can't find it, so it might as well not be there.
Barbara Quint, ASI San Diego Conference, 1994

2. Who does indexing?
In the United States, according to tradition, the index for a non-fiction book is the responsibility of the author. Most authors don't actually do it. While a few publishers have in-house indexers, most indexing is done by freelancers, often working from home, hired by authors, publishers or packagers. (A packager is an independent business which manages the production of a book by hiring freelancers to accomplish the various tasks involved, including copyediting, proofreading and indexing.) More often, the indexer is hired by the publisher, and the fee is deducted from the money due the author. If a packager hires the indexer directly, various payment arrangements can be made.

Indexing work is not recommended to those who lack an orderly mind and a capacity for taking pains. A good index is a minor work of art but it is also the product of clear thought and meticulous care.
Peter Farrell, How to Make Money from Home

3. How is indexing done?
The indexer usually receives a set of page proofs for the book (images of the actual pages as they will appear, including final page numbers), often at the same time as final proofreading is being done by someone else. The indexer reads the page proofs, making a list of headings and subheadings (terms to appear in the index) and the location of each pertinent reference. After completing the rough index the indexer edits it for structure, clarity and consistency, formats it to specifications, proofreads it and submits it to the client in hard-copy form, on disk, by modem, or by email. Since the indexer is very late in the production process, there can be unreasonable time pressure.

As to how to index, what goes on between the ears, that's a subject for books, courses, workshops and lifelong learning from experience.

Less time is available for the preparation of the index than for almost any other step in the bookmaking process. For obvious reasons, most indexes cannot be completed until page proofs are available. Typesetters are anxious for those few final pages of copy; printers want to get the job on the press; binders are waiting; salesmen are clamoring for finished books surely you can get that index done over the weekend?
Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed.

Indexers are in effect trying to provide answers to a host of unasked questions. Indexers therefore need to work as if their audience is present. But there are two snags: first, in most cases they do not know who this audience will be; second, in most cases they do not receive any feedback as to whether their judgments have been successful. From a communicative point of view, there is probably no more isolated intellectual task than indexing. The twilight howl of the indexer might well be Is there anybody there?
David Crystal, editorial, The Indexer, April 1995

4. Can't a computer do the indexing?
The short answer is no. Computers can easily construct a concordance (a list of words or phrases and where they appear), but this is not an index, and is not very useful to someone looking for information. The so-called automatic indexing software programs now appearing on the market are simply not up to the task of indexing a book. Book indexing involves a little bit of manipulating words appearing in a text, which computers can do, and a lot of understanding and organizing the ideas and information in the text, which computers cannot do and will not do for many years to come. An example of the difference is that a book on protective gloves for occupational use might have a chapter discussing surgical gloves, how they get punctured and how they are tested for integrity, but might never use the word holes. Yet a user of the book would expect to find this word in the index and be directed to the appropriate chapter. The indexer handles dozens or hundreds of such issues in every book.

Where the text is already on computer disk, the indexing features of word processing programs can ease the handling of page numbers and sorting, but the real indexing work is still done by the human. Powerful dedicated software is also available for personal computers to aid the professional indexer in constructing, sorting, editing and formatting the index, whether from hard-copy text or computer files. Many indexers use one of the programs listed on the Indexing Software page.

Automated indexing was never intended to produce back-of-the-book indexes. As Indexicon demonstrates so well, back-of-the-book indexes cannot be automatically generated.
Nancy Mulvany and Jessica Milstead, review of Indexicon, Key Words, Sep/Oct 1994

5. What skills or education do indexers need?
Many publishers and packagers don't ask for specific degrees or credentials unless they are looking for someone with subject matter expertise for a technical book. (See question 10 for more about courses on indexing.) Skills needed to learn indexing include excellent language skills, high clerical aptitude, accuracy and attention to detail. Once you are indexing professionally, you will find that self-discipline, curiosity, tolerance of isolation and love of books are necessary to keep going. In addition to all this, of course, there are the business and marketing skills needed to succeed as a self- employed professional. Clients take their cue from you: if you behave in a professional manner, most of them treat you accordingly.

Whoever the indexer is, he or she should be intelligent, widely read, and well acquainted with publishing practices also levelheaded, patient, scrupulous in handling detail, and analytically minded. This rare bird must while being intelligent, levelheaded, patient, accurate, and analytical work at top speed to meet an almost impossible deadline.
Chicago Manual of Style, 13th ed.

I wonder whether there is any profession in which a knowledge of one's tongue is of the slightest use.
T.E. Lawrence, on winning 1st place in English Language and Literature in the Senior Oxford Local Exams, 1906

6. How do indexers get clients?
Most people start by sending letters and résumés to publishers. Find their addresses in Literary Marketplace, Writer's Market and Books in Print, available in your library. It may take hundreds of letters to get a first indexing job. Experienced indexers say they get most jobs through recommendations from satisfied clients and networking, although some still come from marketing efforts. Now, many people interested in indexing are pursuing the apprenticeship model, working with an established indexer to build skills and experience. The three best ways to get work? Network, network, network.

7. How much are indexers paid?
That's the wrong question. (I know, I wrote the question, but that's the way it's usually asked.) A freelance indexer is running a small business; as a businessperson, you are not paid, you set prices and charge for a service. You are not an employee; you are an independent contractor. This is an important distinction because of how it changes your thinking. It's also very important for tax purposes, but that's off the subject. Try questions 8 and 9.

8. How do indexers price their services?
The two most common ways of quoting book index prices are per page and per entry. Different publishers prefer different methods, and indexes for different media (databases, periodicals, etc.) also are priced differently. All the different ways of quoting prices can be reduced to a fee per hour. While experienced indexers come to know what rates per page or per entry they can afford to accept, beginning indexers would be well-advised to focus on the hourly fee when figuring their bids. This enables new indexers to decide what kinds of work are best for them, and to track improvements in skill, efficiency and income as they become experienced.

If you are starting out as a freelance indexer, you won't be able to get the same fee as an indexer with 10 years of experience. This does not mean inviting exploitation by unscrupulous clients. Remember, if you are qualified as an indexer, you are producing a professional product, and you should be fairly compensated. Set yourself a rock-bottom hourly fee for run-of-the-mill indexing, the lowest figure you should ever accept, and stick to it. Remember, no one says you have to take what the prospective client is offering. No one says the client has to pay what you charge. Both parties are free to negotiate or go elsewhere. It is your responsibility to set the fee you charge for indexing, and negotiate to get it.

Indexers need to charge for their services according to the time they expect to spend on the work. On the other hand, many clients want a predictable price since they are under budget constraints. These clients will not pay by the hour, especially if they don't know your work. How do you quote your prices to get your hourly fee?

If the client opens the discussion by saying she wants the index done for $1,200, or for a certain amount per indexable page, a fixed bid is called for. (Pricing per page is a type of fixed bid; it can be agreed to in advance even if an exact page count is not known.) Fixed bids are good for the client but risky for the indexer. The indexer must be familiar with the book before a reasonable bid can be given, because of wide variations in words per page and complexity of material. The expected number of entries per page or in the whole index should also be specified, since this is a key factor in the time spent doing the index.

Publishers in some fields (medicine, for example) want to ensure a detailed index, so they use pricing by the entry. As long as both parties are clear on exactly what constitutes an entry and how they are counted, this has the advantage of compensating the indexer for extra time spent on complex material. Again, the expected number of entries per page should be specified.

No matter how the bid is to be figured, start with the hourly fee to make sure you are being compensated according to your set rate. First, estimate how many hours it will take you to do the index, including editing, proofing and preparing final copy. This estimate is crucial. Actually indexing a representative sample of the book is helpful here, and estimating skills should improve with experience. Then multiply by your hourly fee to get the total amount you expect for indexing the book. If the client wants a lump sum bid, you are done.

To prepare a bid or price quote for a client who uses per-page pricing, divide your total estimate by the page count. To prepare a price quote on a per-entry basis, figure the total number of entries in the book and divide this into the total estimate. In summary, use one of the following methods, where $FEE is the total fee, PAGES the indexable page count of the book, and ENTRIES the total number of entries in the book (ENTRIES is average entries per page times the number of pages):

Fixed price = $FEE

Per-page rate = $FEE / PAGES

Per-entry rate = $FEE / ENTRIESIf the client has a price or rate in mind, work the numbers backward to figure the hourly fee resulting from the client's number before deciding whether you can afford to accept it.

When someone offers you an indexing assignment at $12 per hour, take note of the advice from Dr. Wellisch in the next quote; you could do almost as well at McDonald's!

An hourly indexing fee should always be at least four times the wage one can earn by flipping hamburgers at a fast-food emporium.
Dr. Hans Wellisch, Indexing from A to Z

Hourly rates in 1993 started at $20 to $25 per hour and went up from there.
Nancy Mulvany, Indexing Books

9. What kind of annual income can I expect from indexing?
Here are some important factors which affect your income from indexing or any other independent service business:

1.How you set your prices.
2.How much you want to work.
3.How skilled you are at finding enough good clients to keep busy.
4.How skilled, and fast, you are at indexing.
5.How much your business expenses are.
In short, your income depends on your motivation and your business skills as well as your indexing skills. There are indexers who treat it as a relaxing, part-time business; there are indexers who work long hours and support themselves in nice middle-class style as a result. Most probably fall in between. You have to decide what you are looking for.

You need to spend time learning how to start and run a business as well as learning to index. Books and magazines on home-based business and entrepreneurship have lots of ideas and advice applicable to freelance indexers. Seminars and workshops on business skills and sales technique can be quite useful, but be careful with your money. Talk to graduates before signing up.

Suppose we look ahead to the future, finding that after gaining some experience, you reach a speed and skill level where the combination of rates paid by clients and the time you spend doing the work results in a good hourly rate. What hourly rate might you expect? ASI regularly surveys freelance and in-house indexers to find out what salaries and fees are being paid. The latest survey is available on this website, in the Members Area. If you are an ASI member, you may view and download the survey. In case you don't have access to this information, bear with me as I discuss the mechanics of estimating your self-employment income without using a specific rate.

To estimate your annual income from indexing, multiply your hourly rate by the average number of work hours in a year. Forty hours per week times 52 weeks a year is 2,080. Wait! If you want to index full-time, you need to consider all the time your business takes besides actual indexing. Writing letters and making calls to get work, rushing to the FedEx office before they close, billing, doing your tax return, shopping for supplies, backing up your computer files, meal breaks and occasional holidays and vacations (remember those?) are all unpaid time. Don't forget idle time between jobs; it takes several years of building a client base for most indexers to get full-time work. If you plan to put 40 hours per week into your business, then allowing for all the above within the 40 hours results in a rule of thumb of about 1,200 hours per year of actual paid indexing work.

OK, multiply your hourly fee by 1,200. That's your gross revenue. But remember, this is a business; your actual income is much less. To figure hourly income, self-employment taxes (currently 15.3%) and federal, state and local income taxes come off the top, plus the cost of your supplies, utilities, ASI membership dues and the amortized cost of your office equipment. (See Schedule C of Form 1040 for calculating business taxes, expense deductions and amortization.) A good rule of thumb is to take at least 50% off the rate.

So, multiply your hourly income (about 50% of your hourly rate) by how many hours you can work per year (1,200 while you are getting established, based on a 40-hour week). If this is not enough for you to live on, don't quit the day job yet. Most indexers start indexing as a part-time moonlighting effort, supporting themselves with another job. Once they are sure they want to do this kind of work full-time, and clients are paying well and keeping them so busy it is hard to get everything done, they can make the decision to try full-time indexing.

Once you are well-established, idle periods and time spent marketing diminish, resulting in more paid work hours. You can eventually reach 2,000 hours per year, if you are willing to work more than 40 hours per week. In addition, a very good indexer who works fast can make a higher hourly rate for a given page rate, because it takes fewer hours to do the work. Money magazine recently published an article on successful home-based businesses which quoted one experienced freelance indexer who says he averages $50,000 per year. Some indexers are skeptical; others say this is possible after a few years if you work hard and find the right clients.

Wealth ... is more accurately measured in what you enjoy than in what you possess.
Jean Aspen, Arctic Son

10. How can I learn to index?
A local college or university with a Library Science or Information Science department may offer indexing courses. Many people take the indexing correspondence courses (Basic Indexing and Applied Indexing) offered by the US Department of Agriculture. Assignments are graded by indexing professionals and a certificate of completion can be provided.

If you are considering ASI membership, take note of the excellent self-paced course offered to ASI members. Available on interactive CD-ROM, this comprehensive course includes many practical exercises and self-assessments. A certificate of completion can be obtained by taking the optional exams.

Look at the Indexing Courses and Workshops web page for more information about all these options. Before you invest money in an expensive course, check out some books on the subject to gauge your interest and aptitude.


Indexing cannot be reduced to a set of steps that can be followed! It is not a mechanical process. Indexing books is a form of writing. Like other types of writing, it is a mixture of art and craft, judgment and selection. With practice and experience, indexers develop their own style as do other writers. The best we can do as teachers of indexing is to present the rules and offer guidance.
— Nancy C. Mulvany, Indexing Books

Index learning turns no student pale,
Yet holds the eel of science by the tail.
— Alexander Pope, The Dunciad

Librarynd Information Technicians Terminlogy Sources

American National Standard Dictionary of Information Technology (ANSDIT)
http://www.ncits.org/tc_home/k5htm/ANSDIT.htm

Information Technology Glossary and Computer Terminology
http://www.2400hrs.com/glossary/index.htm

NetLingo : The Internet Dictionary
http://www.netlingo.com/inframes.cfm

WhatIs.com
http://whatis.techtarget.com/

Information and Library Science: A Guide to Information Sources
http://library.albany.edu/subject/guides/infosciguide.html

Information and Library Science: A Guide to Information Sources
http://library.albany.edu/subject/guides/infosciguide.html

Library Language
http://www.lib.ohio-state.edu/guides/liblanggd.html

Library and Information Science Resources: Encyclopedia and Dictionaries
http://library.scsu.ctstateu.edu/libencs.html

Glossary of Academic Information Technology Terms
http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/glossary.shtml

Information Literacy Glossary
http://www.ycp.edu/library/ifl/glossary.html

LiveOffice Email-Related Technology Terms
http://www.liveoffice.com/glossary.asp

Traditional Knowledge Digital Library TKDL

The concept of applying intellectual property rights to traditional knowledge has been getting more publicity in recent years. With international disagreements about the patenting of “traditional knowledge,” like Yoga, there are legitimate concerns presented by this concept. India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) created a Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) as a resource for documenting traditional knowledge, like the traditionally known medicinal properties of plants. Representatives from 35 countries attended the conference to discover the Library’s successes, and understand how to apply a similar system to their own country. The TKDL is an effort to provide patent offices with resources to understand India’s traditional knowledge. Indeed, having as much information as possible at one’s fingertips is essential to drafting, examining, and understanding patent applications/patents. The information in the Library is intended to act as a “bridge” between the ancient Sanskrit information, and patent examiners at international offices—a bold goal. So far, EPO, Indian, German, UK, US, Canadian, and Australian examiners have access to the information stored in the library. The intention is to allow these examiners to better understand the historical knowledge and to prevent complex and expensive opposition procedures. The Indian government estimates (in their press release) that the cost of opposing a granted patent at the international level can cost between $200,000 and $600,000. The TKDL contains around 226,000 medical formulations; opposition proceedings for all of these formulations would be prohibitively expensive. ...................understand more

Research Topics LIBRARY and Information Science

Where to find Ideas about topics to research and write
1•Professional organizations often post their Research Agenda on their Web site.

2•Read the suggestions for further research at the end of most scholarly articles

3•Check search engines such as Google, www.google.com, using terms such as academic, library, research, agenda.

This listing is not exhaustive or complete. Almost all of the topics mentioned can be developed in many ways.

1.Academic library as an essential service on a campus during emergencies such as fire and severe weather (rain, snow, floods)

2. Accreditation and the role of the academic library in undergraduate, graduate, and other teaching programs (adult, community, distance education)

3.Acquisition and deployment of technology in the library environment

4. Adaptive equipment technology for supporting handicapped persons in the library environment

5. Administration and leadership of interlibrary loan departments, consortia, cooperatives, networks

6. Advances in search engine technology and their impacts on libraries

7. Analyses and your libraryÂ’s use of an analysis, e.g., cost-benefit analysis, gap analysis, customer-satisfaction analysis, needs analysis, root cause analysis, SWOT analysis, what-if analysis)

8. Art work display in the academic library to promote spirituality or to support liberal arts and the humanities among students/faculty

9. Articulation of an information policy for a campus

10. Bar codes and RFID tags: types, library and special collection applications, use in library asset tracking

11.Benchmarking as a means to achieve outcomes; your libraryÂ’s use of benchmarking and the results, problems, opportunities
Campus community's perception of the library as a hospitable environment for reading, study, and research

12.Challenge of providing library services with shrinking resources; doing more with what you have to improve programs, services, and collections

13.Challenges and opportunities in migrating to Web-based information services

14.Challenges of implementing technology, including deployment, training, upgrading
Change management in the library environment for organizational renewal

15. Changing nature of circulation in numbers and ways to stimulate print and media circulation

16 Changing nature of library space requirements to meet student and collection requirements

17 Changing nature of reference questions in type and number

18 Changing role and value of union lists with the availability of electronic full-text journal databases

19 Changing role of the librarian from collection development specialists to specialists who develop pathfinder guides (subject, topic) to harness the Internet's unstructured free-form information

20 Clientele expectations as exacerbated by e-business practices: effect on library's business practices, business alliances and partnerships, vendor relationships, one-to-one relationship management with patrons

21 Clientele expectations: librarians generally view our customers/patrons through the prism of our collections. What are effective strategies for flipping this to see our collections through our customer's eyes?

22 Collaboration opportunities (or reports of such collaborations) with other educational/cultural institutions such as colleges and universities, historical societies, museums, professional or trade associations, public schools K-12, social agencies, etc.

23 Collection development strategies for academic programs
Common culture created/supported/enhanced by the academic library on campus

Communications plan as a tool for developing community relations to connect with faculty and administrators, e.g., how to write, how to use, how to budget for expenditures for advertising, etc.

Consortia delivery systems for continuing education, books and journals, technical support services, training

Cooperative purchasing and shared collections between and among libraries

Coping with tight budgets by eliminating the overlap between print and electronic subscriptions

Copyright issues with interlibrary loan and electronic reserves

Core collections for children's literature in a higher education library that supports a teacher education program of instruction

Core digital resources for small and/or medium size libraries (academic, public, special)

Core technology and/or emerging technology trends in the library environment

Cost or time study of library programs, services, and collections, including description of the methodology and outcomes at your library

Cost-drivers and the criteria for selecting cost drivers for various library activities, e.g., automation, communications, facilities and physical plant, human resources, public services, public and community relations, technical services, technology

Dealing strategies and outcomes for the difficult patron in the library environment

Describing and giving examples that illustrate the difference between adequate and excellent library service(s)

Developing a written library business plan that addresses business/technical goals, platform/storage technology requirements, and infrastructure topology

Developing an annual academic agenda for the library, including benchmarks and performance measures

Difference between serving students as customers (providing them a product) and serving students as learners whose job is to learn how to use the library

Digitization of local collections and its impact on scholarship in the library

Discussion of information literacy as an educational reform for utilizing technology in the curriculum

Discussion of one or more challenges and/or opportunities in some area of librarianship or information science

Effective allocations strategies for collection development among academic and non-academic units in an academic, public, or special library

Effective budgeting strategies linked to outcomes

Effective library support for distance education programs; strategies for equalizing access to library resources for on-campus students and distance education learners

Effectiveness of state and federal library grant programs (or any single program)

Efficiencies achieved through consortium/consortia affiliation

Electronic library reserves, e.g., part of the OPAC or through commercial software such as Blackboard

Electronic resources and their impact on the academic library as the social and intellectual heart of the campus

Electronic resources and their impact on the academic library: library visits, reference service, and circulation

Ethics of information

Evaluating a library and useful performance measurements for evaluation

Evaluating the effectiveness of bibliographic instruction with a focus on the student and/or teacher

Fund raising and development programs for libraries

Game theory’s “prisoner’s dilemma” applied to academic library problems or situations

Good faith communication as an essential component for strong employee relations

Hub library networks

Human resource requirements have changed in the academic library. Describe how staff retooling is happening, costs, opportunities, challenges since this is not a downsizing strategy; rather, it is a strategy to allow the library to be responsive to changes in its environment
Identifying the "sizzle" in the library's programs, services, and collections

Impact of demographic and cultural changes on library services

Impact of full-text databases on interlibrary loan services

Impact of library budget shifts toward electronic resource access

Implementing a new integrated information system in the library environment

Implications for the library as accreditation shifts from an emphasis on library resources to information literacy

Integrated information Systems offer advantages and disadvantages.

Identify these and expand on the pros and cons of library managers supporting single management systems since one size rarely fits all needs, uses

Intellectual property and copyright. Analysis of the libraryÂ’s role in assisting in understanding intellectual property in a college or university environment

Intellectual property and copyright. Collection development and intellectual property and copyright in terms of topics such as what primary and secondary resources should the library own, best book and journal titles on the topic, identification of commercial databases featuring the topic

Intellectual property and copyright. Collection development in terms of topics such as what primary and secondary resources should the library own, best book and journal titles on the topic, identification of commercial databases featuring the topic

Intellectual property and copyright. Create a summary or annotation of the best websites, or legal research guides, or colleges/universities that have a position devoted to this topic, or list of blogs, or newsletter

Intellectual property and copyright. For intellectual property and copyright, create a summary or annotation of the best websites, or legal research guides, or colleges/universities that have a position devoted to this topic, or list of blogs, or newsletter.

Intellectual property and copyright. Listing and summary of the major cases in the area of intellectual property and copyright argued in front of courts, such as the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals, etc.

Intellectual property and copyright. Listing and summary or annotation of the major cases in the area of intellectual property and copyright argued in front of courts, such as the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals, etc.

Intellectual property and copyright. The libraryÂ’s role in assisting in understanding intellectual property in a college or university environment.

Interlibrary loan of specialized materials such as audiovisuals, CDs, DVDs, VHSs, items from e-subscriptions, legal materials, medical materials

Interlibrary loan service enhancement through use of technologies such as Ariel, Illiad, BlackBoard, or other open-source software

Interlibrary loan statistics used for acquisitions (books, journals, digital, audiovisual materials) or collections management (discarding materials)

Internet-based services, products, technologies and their impact on library management, service, and utilization: challenges and/or methodology to meet patron needs as libraries migrate to a digital/virtual environment

Knowledge management and its application for developing a learning organization

LibrarianshipÂ’s changing definition: In 2001, Steven L. Baker is credited with writing that librarianship is the discipline that promotes an integrated approach to preserving, identifying, capturing, evaluating, retrieving, and sharing the significant knowledge and information assets of society. In 1964 Louis Shores wrote that librarianship is the profession dedicated to the preservation, dissemination, investigation, and interpretation of the knowledge most significant to mankind.
Libraries and life-long learning: what this means and steps to take to bring about

Library as place and access mechanisms to repositories of collections whereas large research libraries continue to struggle with providing print-centric and digital access to information

Library implications of the growing power of information technology to transform the means of research, teaching, and scholarly communication

Library in higher education as an economic engine (agricultural stimulation, company/corporate creation and development, human capital development of hundreds of thousands of people, stimulation and enhancement of the lives of people within its sphere of influence)

Library instruction and training for students and faculty who are remote to the campus

Library presence in spaces such as the campus portal, Facebook, iTunes, learning management systems such as Blackboard, MySpace, etc.

Library search tools in environments such as learning management systems (e.g., Blackboard) or social network infrastructure

Library services for disabled persons: facilities, equipment, funding, staffing

Library services for virtual high schools, virtual colleges and universities, home schooled students

Library services in a linguistically
diverse community

Library staff as emergency responders, e.g., organizing and running resident information centers during storms and emergencies

LibraryÂ’s value to society in digitalizing unique collections

LibraryÂ’s value, strengths, and shortcomings in an electronic society?

Library's changing role in the information economy

Library's effective learning environment and its importance (e.g., research, socializing in the use of information resources, promotion of a common culture, safe and relatively quiet study hall, a social sphere for meeting people and being seen, etc.). Many librarians have focused on collections and information technology to the exclusion of the many other positive things that take place in an academic library)
Literacy programs in the library environment

Management and operation of information systems

Marginalization of the library (academic, public, special)

Marketing of library services, i.e., positioning the library as a destination for research, learning, and friends

Maximizing the value of (new, emerging) information technology in the library environment

Measuring the quality of library services

Metrics for evaluating library performance and services and when to use them -- such as input and output measurements, quality assurance measurements, impact and outcome measurements – should both qualitative and quantitative components be included and how

Mobile library services (problems, challenges, opportunities, technology) through using smart devices with small screens such as laptops, Pocket PCs, BlackBerrys, Palms, and data-enabled cell phones

Models of library service through the use of computers, networks, and the Internet

Open-access data/collections and its value for providing context to local collections

Outsourcing of services (cataloging, janitorial, reference, serial check-in, etc.)

Pareto's 80-20 rule applied to library problems and situations, and application of Chris AndersonÂ’s The Long Tail (2003) as a statistical concept applies to library collections

Position paper on a controversial topic, e.g., do we need academic libraries? or that libraries of the future were distinguished from one another only by their ownership of sole copies of locally-produced digital content not accessible elsewhere since books and journals were accessible digitally via fee databases and content publishers

Programming to attract students to the academic library (art exhibitions, book swaps, comfortable furniture, expresso bars, hosting campus meetings and conferences, lectures, poetry readings)

Providing academic library services in an environment where faculty are increasingly teaching a curriculum that draws less and less on library resources

Quality assurance, efficiency studies, and best practices – how they impact the library

Ranganathan’s (1931) fifth law of library science is “A library is a growing organism”; explain the meaning today as libraries become part of growing networked organisms such as OCLC

Renovating the library specifically to enrich its atmosphere to attract students

Restructuring access on Web pages to the libraryÂ’s programs, services, and collections on the basis of frequency-of-use rather than library organizational structure or alphabetical arrangement

Rethinking the academic library's functions not to provide print collections but for its media center and computer labs for access to digital environment

Revenue opportunities for libraries, e.g., advertisements on computer screens

Role of consortium membership for expanding access and resources

Role of electronic text-based collections with multimedia content

Role of the homepage as “The” platform for delivering library programs, services, and collections

Role of the library as an information resource in globalization

Role of the library as an information resource in promoting human rights

Role of the library in the ubiquitous computer (information technology) environment

Search engines: how those that charge allow those that pay to rise to the top
Search engines: making the libraryÂ’s Web pages (page titles, descriptions, article summaries) more friendly for indexing and retrieval
by Google and Yahoo!

Shared storage facilities

Significance and strategic value of written procedures and standard operating procedures (SOP) for library operations

Strategic communicationÂ’s plan for enhancing the role of the library in its parent organization

Strategic planning in the library environment

Strategic role of the library on the college/university campus

Strategies and applications for bring bibliographic instruction into the classroom using Web-based resources

Strategy for libraries to evolve as a modern technological workplaces (staff skills and training issues)

Student acceptance of print vs. electronic resources and observations regarding students being willing to wait for digital resources that may be temporarily unavailable, such as the server is down, rather than use print indexes, abstracts, or journal articles

Students in the academic library: client, customer, or patron and the difference it makes in how we refer to our users and community of student/faculty scholars

Successful outsourcing activities: what they are, why they were successfully outsourced

Survey of consortia across the country: what they do, how they are organized, who belongs

Survey of libraries for emergency or disaster plans, e.g., fire, weather (hurricane, snow, tornado), flood, etc. (Model paper is by Kalyan, S., Xue-Ming Bao, and Marta M. Deyrup. "Academic Libraries' Emergency Plans for Inclement Weather," Library Administration and Management 15(4), 223-229, 2001.)

Survey of students and faculty as part of a quality assessment program
Survey of where students turn when they have a paper to write and what type(s) of resources they use

SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) analysis methodology and interpretation for an academic, health science, public, or special library
Three fundamental problems that libraries must solve in the next five years (identification of those problems and how to approach?)

Trends (administration, budget, collections, customer service, staffing, staff supervision and management, technology)

Use of specific electronic resources (e.g., Dow-Jones, Gale Resources, etc.) in support of an academic program

Value and importance of library websites and importance to be as simple as Google to navigate

Value and ongoing usefulness of book collections in the library in face of trends toward electronic collections

Value or significance of remote access to the library's electronic resources (academic, municipal, public libraries)

Value proposition statement for libraries: what it is and how it is best determined and articulated

Virtual reference: what it is, how to do it, examples, types of questions
Web-based bibliographic instruction

White paper on a topic, such as outcomes assessment, future of cataloging, interlibrary loan, e-journal usage, fines for students and faculty, etc.

Wireless connectivity: its transformative impact on the academic library

Writing a plan (action plan for some activity, advertising plan, communications plan, gap analysis and customer service quality plan, marketing plan, strategic plan, technology plan) for an academic library

by Arthur W. Hafner