New Library and Information Science Titles : Information Technology

A library user can’t access an article. Your log in credentials won’t work. In the realm of electronic resources everything runs smoothly—until suddenly, without warning, it doesn’t. Invariably, systems will break down, but a trial and error approach to finding out what’s wrong is highly inefficient. This hands-on guide from two expert ERM librarians walks you through the essentials of troubleshooting. It outlines a methodical process that will help you identify the source of a problem even when it’s not obvious and take steps to reach a resolution. With the goal of developing a library-wide workflow in mind, this guide will teach you how to

-- familiarize yourself with the components of electronic resources, using flowchart diagrams of common access chains such as discovery services, knowledge bases, research guides, and library services platforms;
-- navigate the complete triage and troubleshooting workflow, illustrated through 14 in-depth examples;
-- recognize the symptoms of common access disruptions;
-- conduct efficient troubleshooting interviews;
-- manage help tickets and design problem reports that capture key information without overburdening the user;
-- create publicly available help pages for problems originating with users’ devices or computers;
-- communicate with vendors and IT personnel for speedy resolutions, providing dozens of clear definitions of library and technology terms that will help you minimize confusion; and
-- customize your own troubleshooting workflow chart for common use across departments and staff hierarchies.

Acting as a ready reference, this guide will equip you with the knowledge and skills to troubleshoot common ERM problems.

Plenty of resources offer you snippets of code and a variety of tutorials can show you the solutions to web development problems. But it’s much more valuable (and a better investment of your time!) to learn some core problem-solving skills. This book shares key rules and strategies that will empower you to become a confident coder and web developer, ready to think through whatever complications present themselves. Bengtson, an expert developer, describes 11 challenges typical of a library setting and ones he has faced himself. He then walks you through his thinking, with explorations of alternate approaches, as he works toward a solution. As you follow along, you’ll gain wisdom involving scenarios such as

-- integrating a reader app with Dspace;
-- tips when using a public API;
-- troubleshooting a Google Analytics Event hook in a new application;
-- building a database from a collection of CSV files;
-- collecting information from a university’s web pages to display in the library website; and
-- moving mass quantities of information to the next page of your app.

Armed with the conceptual foundation outlined in this book, you’ll be ready to meet the web development challenges you face in your library.

Futurists predict that in the next ten years the profession of “lawyer” will splinter into job titles like “legal process analyst” or “legal knowledge engineer.” And some in the field are already taking a proactive approach ⁠— in fact, more than two dozen law schools have developed innovation centers to explore artificial intelligence (AI) and the law. In a competitive marketplace, both firms and individuals need to familiarize themselves with the dazzling array of new products and enhanced features capable of improving efficiency. Written by leading practitioners and visionaries like Robert Ambrogi, this groundbreaking survey of current practices and future trends offers an incisive examination of the evolving roles for law librarians. Readers will learn how AI technology is changing law school curricula, lawyer practice, marketing, and other key aspects of the field through coverage of such topics as

-- the benefits of AI to law librarianship, including areas like legal research, contract review, compliance, and administration, and their associated risks;
-- four professional ethics rules that apply to the use or (non-use) of AI;
-- how lawyers and staff work side by side with AI, utilizing intelligence like RAVN ACE or FastCase to attack the drudgery of due diligence and document review;
-- surprising machine-learning insights from tokenizing, stemming, and lemmatizing the text of Shakespeare’s plays;
-- the potential for chatbots and new natural language processing products to improve access to justice; and
-- ways to develop sought-after skills through new technology departments, practice management groups, and legal innovation labs.

Reading this collection will give you a firm grasp of the innovations, tools, benefits, and risks of AI in law librarianship.