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PDF or Epub: "Service design is a process that examines the relationship between those who use a service and the service environment. By focusing on and making improvements to the points at which users interact with other people or the environment, service design enables an organization to run smoothly, provide the best service to its users, and reduce the kind of situations that that can generate complaints. It has been effective in traditional customer-centric industries like retail and hospitality and is now seeing use in areas like healthcare, public services, and educational services. Even as it leads to improvements in services and spaces, service design maximizes limited resources and increases accountability, and many of these benefits bear directly on the processes and spaces designed for learning."

"Academic libraries that choose to emphasize services that are relevant in a digital world strike the authors as the most likely to find fertile ground." Academic libraries that choose to emphasize services that are relevant in a digital world strike the authors as the most likely to find fertile ground. They would be entering a realm of many opportunities; a realm characterized by rapid and discontinuous shifts. These institutions would be well advised to begin the process now. The trend-line is clear and the shift to a digital environment has tremendous momentum. Libraries cannot afford to wait until the smoke has cleared and the digital revolution is complete to take action. First the risk of being subordinated to more nimble entities within (and perhaps outside of) the academy is significant. Libraries will be hard pressed to reclaim lost territory once others fulfill these roles successfully. Second, the shift to a predominantly digital environment began more than a decade ago, shows no sign of slowing, and is creating a cascade of associated changes.

An interesting opinion piece on the future of the LMS.  Try reading this and replacing "LMS" with "library database" ... what would that look like? 

Presentations from U of Minnesota on variety of topics, including iPads in Classrooms, Active Learning Classrooms, and Collaborative Writing.

Free online book (HTML / browser-based) about learning research.  See in particular Chapter 6: The Design of Learning Environments.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Information and Library Science celebrated the ending of its 80th anniversary year by taking a forward look at the future of our field and its graduates. The Information Professionals 2050 (IP 2050) Conference brought in information and library science leaders who discussed key issues related to future visions, skills and values. Themes of the day included the areas of the 1) Information Industry, 2) Libraries and Archives, 3) Education and 4) Information Trends. The contributors are thought leaders of our profession and included: * Marshall Breeding, director for Innovative Technologies and Research, Vanderbilt University Libraries * Anne Caputo, executive director, Dow Jones' Learning and Information Professional Programs * Bonnie Carroll, president, International Information Associates * Mary Chute, deputy director for Libraries, Institute for Museum and Library Services * Lorcan Dempsey, vice president and chief strategist, OCLC * Michael Eisenberg, professor and dean emeritus, University of Washington School of Information * Buck Goldstein, University entrepreneur in residence and professor of practice, Department of Economics University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill * William Graves, senior vice president, Academic Strategy at Ellucian * Elizabeth Liddy, dean and trustee professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies * Charles Lowry, executive director, Association for Research Libraries * Joanne Marshall, alumni distinguished professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill * Nancy Roderer, director, Johns Hopkins University Welch Medical Library * Roger Schonfeld, director of research, Ithaka * David Silver, associate professor, University of San Francisco * Duncan Smith, co-founder, Novelist (EBSCO Publishing) Moderators included, * Susan Nutter, vice provost and director of Libraries, North Carolina State University * Sarah Michalak, university librarian and associate prov

"The report summarizes and provides analysis based on the experience and impressions of senior administrators and deans from a range of institutions including research universities, small colleges, and community colleges."

Cloud computing comes in several different forms and this article documents how service, platform, and infrastructure forms of cloud computing have been used to serve library needs. Following an overview of these uses the article discusses the experience of one library in migrating IT infrastructure to a cloud environment and concludes with a model for assessing cloud computing.