This is a useful, instructive, and well-designed research volume for its region, one that should have a place in all archival practice reference libraries as well as in classrooms dedicated to training the next generation of LAM professionals. As we move through the 21st century, collaboration will be ever more necessary to sustain cultural heritage institutions of all types. This book provides a roadmap of how to do so successfully.

Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture

Botticelli, Cloonan, and Mahard, all of the Simmons School of Library and Information Science, examine the impact of digital technology on the convergence of libraries, archives, and museums in the 21st century. The editors have gathered 14 case studies, grouped into five sections, that show possibilities, analyze successes, and guide transitions in situations ranging from closing a site to dispersing a collection. The appendices provide questions and list interviewers; the volume concludes with a bibliography. This book can be a guide for people already working in libraries, archives, and museums, as well as those who wish to consider a role in the sharing of cultural resources. This compact volume is both current- and future-based, showing ways to share and innovate in the field. Recommended.

— Patricia Hogan

Booklist

[Libraries, Archives, and Museums Today] provides readers, especially academic librarians, with a survey of the current trends of libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. The book showcases these institutions and provides snapshots of how they function in constantly evolving environments. The volume also provides readers with a contemporary understanding and appreciation for what makes cultural institutions successful while also spotlighting examples of when they face transition and sometimes fail. . . . [The] book will be of value for archivists, librarians, museum curators, and staff working in university and cultural heritage contexts. The volume will also be useful for graduate students taking courses in special collections or archives at schools of information and library science. The helpful case studies provide literary glimpses into how LAMs collaborate with each other, engage users, and use technology to improve access to information.

College & Research Libraries

A light in the darkness, Botticelli, Mahard, and Cloonan's timely collection will help everyone from aspiring students to current information professionals understand the challenges that libraries, archives, and museums have faced over the past few decades, while exploring potential solutions to our shared information problems. With their engaging prose, positive outlook, and rich research data, the authors encourage us to celebrate our commonalities, embrace our differences, and prepare for a new future of communication, collaboration, and innovation across libraries, archives, and museums.

Paul F. Marty Ph.D., Professor, School of Information, Florida State University

Using over a dozen case studies, the authors illustrate how the interests of library, archives, and museums have converged over the last three decades, leading to new opportunities for collaboration and innovation. Libraries, Archives and Museums Today offers readers a rich array of stories about adaptation and transformation of cultural heritage institutions in the digital age.

Karen F. Gracey, Associate Professor, School of Information, Kent State University