Library as place: results of a delphi study.

OBJECTIVE: An expert consensus on the future of the library as place was developed to assist health sciences librarians in designing new library spaces. METHOD: An expert panel of health sciences librarians, building consultants, architects, and information technologists was asked to reflect on the likelihood, desirability, timing, and impact on building design of more than seventy possible changes in the use of library space. RESULTS: An expert consensus predicted that the roles librarians play and the way libraries are used will substantially change. These changes come in response to changes in technology, scholarly communication, learning environments, and the health care economy. CONCLUSIONS: How health sciences library space is used will be far less consistent by 2015, as space becomes more tailored to institutional needs. However, the manner in which health sciences libraries develop and deliver services and collections will drastically change in the next decade. Libraries will continue to exist and will provide support for knowledge management and clinical trials, provide access to digital materials, and play a host of other roles that will enable libraries to emerge as institutional change agents.     

The Secret Power of Community Connections

The need for libraries to take a new approach to community relations and marketing is based on demographic changes taking place throughout the US.. and new basic competencies and skills required for people in the job market by the year 2000. By developiig their cultural awareness, community relations expertise and marketing skills, libraries and librarians can maintain and enhance their value as information centers and specialists. As a basic principl,e, developing and maintaining community connections can enhancc: almost every aspect of library service, including access, collection development, staff development and recruitment, programs imd services, awareness, funding, and evaluation. The future role of libraries and librarians depends on their ability to connect with their communities, develop their marketing savvy, and adapt to the changing information needs of their communities.     

基于用户馆体验视角的图书馆服务平台选择思考

[目的/意义] 传统的集成图书馆系统（ILS）正在被图书馆服务平台（LSP）所取代,国内许多高校图书馆致力于对ILS的评估和对LSP的考察。然而,LSP的产品多种多样,图书馆很难决定哪种LSP最适合他们。对目前LSP主流产品的市场格局、发展情况进行分析,旨在为计划由ILS转向LSP的高校图书馆决策提供参考。[方法/过程] 基于国外高校图书馆使用LSP的体验和感知,对市场上主要的图书馆服务平台进行分析、评估和总结。[结果/结论]由于ILS/LSP市场的整合,LSP供应商数量正在缩减,目前只有Alma、Sierra和OCLC WMS得到充分实施。此外,开源项目FOLIO的推出为图书馆提供了另外一种思路。但目前这种单一的整合性图书馆服务平台不是解决方案,基于平台由若干松散耦合的组件构成的图书馆生态系统,才是图书馆真正的下一代服务平台,自主创新,研发适合国内图书馆环境的下一代开放服务平台迫在眉睫。     

Developing a Cancer-Focused Library Survey — Assessing the Current Environment and Planning for the Future

The primary goal of this project is to understand how each National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center library, and all libraries that support cancer research, function within their institutions. Through an in-depth survey focused on three major areas (staff, content and tools procurement, and user services), the research team hopes to determine how a cancer-centric library can be successful in supporting quality patient care, research excellence, and education. Additionally, the survey will examine the necessary minimum staffing levels for librarians and information professionals based on organizational size and degree of research focus. The survey will seek out the new skills librarians will need to deliver optimal services. The survey will also explore how content libraries purchase reflects and maps to constituents’ current medical and research activities. Libraries within a research intense environment have a responsibility to align with researchers and health care professionals to provide resources and services that support their workflows. Cancer libraries need to be attuned to their institutions’ missions, whether that includes excellent patient care, research endeavors, or cutting-edge educational programs. The information gathered from the survey will provide data for this research team to define the vision and standards of excellence for a cancer specialized research library.     

The Changing Instructional Paradigm and Emerging Technologies: New Opportunities for Reference Librarians and Educators

As the next millennium approaches, libraries must change and evolve in the very near future in order to survive. Reference services can no longer stay behind a desk or wihtin a building's walls. Instead, reference librarians must examine their clientele, determine their unique information needs, and develop and market appropriate collections and services. The changing instructional paradigm in America's classrooms provides an opportunity for reference librarians to modify and expand their efforts to encourage information use and literacy for education faculty, student teachers, classroom teachers and administrators. This paper briefly discusses present day information seeking and library use by educators and then suggests new overtures to this library patron community.     

Electronic Document Delivery: A Survey of the Landscape and Horizon

The authors examine, based on a survey of users, the electronic document delivery methods currently in place as well as changes in the recent past and future developments. Interlibrary loan and document delivery staff from institutions across the United States were surveyed in order to ascertain what document delivery mechanisms are currently in place, how they are being used, and why. Findings from this study should lead to an increased awareness of electronic delivery options in libraries across the country and elucidate the dynamics involved at individual sites. This, in turn, will assist librarians in making decisions, based not only on their individual circumstances but on the experiences and trends found across a broad sampling of institutions.     

U.S. Depository librarians in reality and myth: A framework for a future government information program

How do the librarians in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) plan to perform a role in the electronic environment? Depository librarians must meet the challenge of changing how they think about government information libraries and their mission in order to provide citizen access services in an electronic environment. The new mission is to connect the user with information at the time of need, to instruct citizens in gaining access to government information, and to develop networking applications and programs that will help to put valuable content in the information infrastructure. If the FDLP and depository libraries are to prepare to perform that role, librarians need to take stock of their technological environment, deal with the political realities, and be critical of FDLP ideals that have taken on mythological proportions. A framework for the future of the FDLP can be built if depository librarians take advantage of the new communication technology. Depository librarians can use this technology to develop partnerships and networks of depository libraries, government agencies, commercial publishers, organizations of information professionals, and citizens. In turn, depository librarians could form the virtual associations needed to develop new dissemination programs; create user interface software; consolidate lobbying efforts to develop a nationwide electronic information policy; and provide community information networks with national links. Finally, communications technology could enable depository librarians to form a consortium of depository libraries to manage a government information dissemination library program.     

The New National School Library Standards: Implications for Information Literacy Instruction in Higher Education

This paper explores the new American Association of School Libraries (AASL) National School Library Standards relative to the information literacy pipeline as K-12 students reach university-level learning environments. Shifts in the standards, and therefore eventual shifts in this pipeline, are examined. The new school library standards integrate standards for learners, school libraries, and school librarians. This paper will focus exclusively on the standards for learners, as this is where the primary crossover between high schools and academic libraries takes place. Potential implications and future directions for academic librarianship, especially relative to information literacy instruction, are discussed.     

学术图书馆发展的趋向分析与思考

从信息环境的网络化、用户需求的知识化、馆藏资源的同质化等方面分析了学术图书馆面临的环境巨变。通过调研国内外学术图书馆发展现状,阐述了目前学术图书馆发展的主要特征,如馆藏资源向纯数字化发展,信息服务向嵌入式知识化发展,信息组织向关联化、语义化和集成化发展,原生信息资源纳入机构知识资产管理范畴,数字图书馆员在科学数据监管中应运而生,SoLoMo成为创建下一代移动图书馆服务的理念。指出学术图书馆的发展趋向是成为以用户为中心的知识服务中心,应构建用户驱动型的知识服务范式、构建全能型的知识管理范式、构建智慧型的图书馆物理场所。同时也指出,为适应未来发展的需要,学术图书馆要倍加重视科技人员的信息需求、以用户为中心的业务布局、信息技术的应用、馆际间的协作共享和馆员素质能力的提升。     

Recommended core collection of Web sites for hospital libraries

Core lists of recommended resources have long been used as selection tools for collection development in hospital libraries. However, hospital librarians now rely on the Internet for access to up-to-date information to supplement materials available within their libraries. Many libraries now either maintain a library Web page or provide input for their institution's Web page. The difficulty is determining what sites to include on their page. This article is a basic guide to recommended links for hospital libraries. It is intended as a starting place for hospital librarians who wish to create (or add to) a Web page of good links to be used for answering reference questions, or as a list for library users. The list is available as a link from the Sharp Health Science Library Web page where it will be updated at least annually. Links will be checked on a regular basis.     

The academic library: Structure,space, physical and virtual use

This mixed-methods study aims to characterize the appropriate structure of the academic library in the information age according to the perceptions of the faculty members who use the library and the academic librarians operating it. Two main issues were addressed: centralization versus decentralization, and the provision of physical versus virtual services. The study population included members of the faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences in three academic institutions in Israel and academic librarians working in these institutions. Qualitative data was collected through interviews with 20 faculty members and 15 librarians, while quantitative data was collected through questionnaires filled by 191 faculty members and 50 librarians in the above-mentioned institutions. Analysis of these data reveal that faculty members generally prefer a concentration of materials—rather than decentralization—and they show a similar preference toward a faculty library model, a combined faculty/departmental library model, and a central library model. Similarly, the academic librarians prefer either faculty or combined faculty/department libraries, but their preference toward a central library model is lower than that of the faculty members. The decentralized, departmental library model was the least favored by both groups. In addition, our findings indicate that both the faculty members and the librarians appreciate the virtual services that the library provides as well as its physical presence, although fewer faculty members than librarians perceived the latter as an important role of the library. Taken together it appears that the preferred model for the academic library in the information age is of large, multidisciplinary libraries that contain materials from a variety of fields and provide comprehensive virtual services.     

Understanding User-Librarian Interaction Types in Academic Library Microblogging: A Comparison Study in Twitter and Weibo

This research examined the ways in which academic librarians and users interact when using social media tools such as Twitter and Weibo as well as end-users' and librarians' perceptions of the types of interaction through social media. The study conducted an analysis of 1600 microblog posts sampled from twenty university library Weibo (Chinese Twitter) sites and twenty library Twitter sites in English-speaking countries. The results were compared using Chi-Square analysis. Results indicated that at present academic librarians in English-speaking countries use post information relevant to the library (news and events) and respond to information/research inquiries. And academic librarians in China are likely to use Weibo to communicate with users and to disseminate library news. Given the lack of previous research on how social media such as micro-blogging in general facilitates communication between librarians and library users in academic libraries between in English-speaking countries and China, this study provides valuable information concerning librarians' and end-users' interactions of information/knowledge sharing activities, which will enable libraries to be better positioned to promote user engagement through SNS usage.     

Rave new world: Librarians and electronic acquisitions

This paper focuses on the role of librarians in the technological environment of the future. The accessing and collecting of information generated by electronic means and distributed by new electronic media and the attendant challenges presented to acquisitions and collection management librarians are discussed here. Librarians will experience changes in expectations of products and services of vendors and publishers. Vendors and publishers will make changes in what they offer to libraries to stay competitive in an age of electronic information exchange and delivery. Acquisitions librarians will find themselves straddling two worlds, the traditional and the electronic, to meet the information needs of contemporary library users.     

The Professor-Librarian: Academic Librarians Teaching Credit-Bearing Courses

Many academic librarians have ideas or opportunities for teaching information literacy courses for the library, outside the scope of their regular positions. Some additional librarians are asked to consider teaching credit-bearing courses for other departments at their institutions, based on graduate degrees they hold in fields besides library science. Academic librarians who face either option are often asked to provide detailed information on how colleagues at other institutions handle arrangements: payment, coverage of library services while they are teaching, and proving their suitability for teaching in a given subject area. Unfortunately, the data available on their work is both scant and scattered. The authors surveyed librarians at 350 academic libraries across the United States to gather and analyze data on these and numerous related aspects of librarians’ teaching for departments outside the library. They also collected and analyzed comprehensive background information on these “professor-librarians.”     

Boundary Spanners and Serials Deselection

Periodic serials deselection projects are an economic necessity, especially for academic libraries that serve predominantly undergraduate institutions. The dialogue between teaching faculty and librarians accompanying the serials deselection process may be an important learning experience for both, especially if thc library uses subject specialist librarians as "boundary-spanners," a concept explored in the essay. Nonetheless, even the most skillfully conducted cancellation program will reduce a library's ability to support scholarship and impair the working relationship bctween the library and its teaching faculty.     

A Critical Phenomenology of Whiteness in Academic Libraries

This exploratory qualitative study examines how whiteness functions in the field of library and information science (LIS) within higher education institutions. Utilizing a critical phenomenological approach, three questions guided the inquiry: (1) How is whiteness embodied by academic librarians, (2) What perceptions do academic librarians hold that contribute to the maintenance or disruption of habits of whiteness in libraries, and (3) How and where is whiteness embedded within academic library settings and the field of LIS?The aim was to begin understanding whiteness in libraries as an experientially-grounded and systemically reproduced phenomena. Four academic librarians participated in semi-structured interviews that explored participant identity and experiences with race, specifically whiteness, in their professional lives. Data were analyzed using a cyclical coding approach resulting in six themes. This research may contribute to a better understanding of the way libraries function as racial projects and can assist librarians in seeing the importance of adopting critical reflexivity as a tool for recognizing and disrupting systemic habits of white normativity in libraries.     

Acquisitions in the nineties: Surviving the fragmenting future

Articles forecasting the effects of automation on libraries have only recently begun to recognize the impact technologies external to the library will have on the acquisition function and librarians in all parts of academic libraries. Although the technologies appear to be fragmenting the acquisitions process within and external to the library, these technologies offer options that will dramatically change how libraries serve their clientele. At this time, these options may preclude traditional organizational design. Acquisitions librarians and their peers in all library departments must explore and learn about these technologies and the information they can provide, and actively participate in the design of new services.