How to give your users the LIS services they want /

Though written by British authors and imported from the UK, this book is a tremendous resource for all U.S. libraries, as most of them tend not to focus on market and user research and could benefit-and become even more central to their communities-by doing so. Beginning with a detailed investigation of the users of various types of LIS services, Pantry and Griffiths (coauthors, Your Essential Guide to Career Success), both information management specialists, provide a wealth of ideas that will allow public, academic, and special librarians to explore their particular user groups. The authors aim to help librarians better understand the variety of users they have, learn about their users' behaviors and needs, and communicate more effectively with them. They advocate thoughtful responsiveness to build loyalty and make the information service central to the community, and they argue that ongoing knowledge about users must inform service decisions and strategic planning so that libraries can continue providing agile, responsive services in the future. VERDICT This highly recommended work should be a popular primer for providers and students of information services and is essential for the professional collections of public, academic, and special libraries.-Candice Gruver Kail, Columbia Univ. Lib., New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.