Public Library Administration Transformed: Developing the Organization and Empowering Users

Public libraries have historically faced challenges as viable units in local government. As society struggles with issues related to the scope and effectiveness of government, librarians must ask, “How and why will communities support public libraries in the 21st century?” Public Library Administration Transformed covers public library administration in a comprehensive and detailed manner

Chapters cover:

administrative functions of the librarypublic financeadministrative lawlibrary governancehuman resourcesleadershipstrategic planningprogram management and evaluationmarketing and public relationsintergovernmental relationscooperative government
The discipline of public administration develops skills that are vital to successful libraries. Grounded in the context of public administration, this book provides a framework for future library services, focusing on effective public sector skills, organizational and service innovation, information technology, readers, and the full range of library constituents.



Suitable for use in public library classes, exam copies are available to qualified instructors of such courses upon request.

After 15 years in academic libraries focusing on electronic resources, Karen Starr spent the next 26 years working in library development and for library consortia as a consultant and director. She retired in 2016 as Nevada’s deputy state librarian. Karen teaches in the University of Nevada, Reno’s public and school librarian certification program. She served as president of the Library & Information Technology Association and chair of ALA's International Relations Round Table. As an ALA/Fulbright Library Fellow, she taught at the National Library School of Norway in 1989/90. Karen’s research interests focus on library development, public administration, technology and information policy.

Patrick Ragains is Business and Government Information Librarian Emeritus at University of Nevada, Reno and is an instructor in the university’s public and school librarian certification program. Ragains is editor of The New Information Literacy Instruction: Best practices (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, coedited with M. Sandra Wood) and The New Information Literacy Instruction That Works: A Guide to Teaching by Discipline and Student Population (Neal-Schuman, 2013). His practice and research interests focus on information literacy instruction in business and the social sciences, intellectual property, supporting entrepreneurship, government information, and the history and organization of public libraries in the United States.