GENERAL SESSION

Information delivery via the Internet has changed dramatically since 1991. Wiggins's presentation provides an overview of recent developments in information delivery with an emphasis on the explosive growth of the World Wide Web, and offers comments on a number of areas that pose significant challenges for users of the Internet.     

Off-Site Storage from a Cataloging Point of View

This article focuses on the challenges faced by the serials cataloging staff at Texas A&M University Libraries following a decision to move materials to an off-site storage facility. The process of cataloging review developed by serials cataloging staff to address these challenges is described in detail. More specifically, the process that deals with the preparation of the collections for off-site storage, with emphasis on the unique problems created by serials that have been cataloged under pre–Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition (AACR2) rules is described.     

Exploring Patron-Driven Access Models for E-journals and E-books

This session presented two librarians' experiences with patron-driven access models. With an emphasis on collaboration, the librarians explained how pay-per-view and just-in-time acquisitions models are changing how users access information in an era of constrained budgets. The presenters shared strategies and decision-making methods with the audience, as well as the benefits and challenges of these models.     

Challenges of Off-Site Library Storage Facilities

SUMMARY

This session presented several case studies of libraries facing challenges following a decision to move materials to an off-site storage facility. The presenters described the entire process of moving materials to an off-site location: from planning and selecting materials to organizing the collection off-site, with an emphasis on the unique problems created by serials. All three presenters shared strategies and decision-making methods with the audience.     

Strategies for Cataloging Historical Serials

The challenges the cataloger of historical serials faces are many and they come from all aspects of the cataloging process. For those who primarily catalog contemporary materials, these issues can be particularly daunting. The object of this article is to examine some of the more commonly experienced issues with emphasis on how to address them in a practical sense. The article is organized by broad functional categories: types of material, iterations, bibliographic data, and name authority control.     

Stewardship and usefulness: Policy principles for information-based transparency

This paper is a conceptual and empirical exploration of the tensions inherent in the drive to increase openness and transparency in government by means of information access and dissemination. The idea that democratic governments should be open, accessible, and transparent to the governed is receiving renewed emphasis through the combination of government reform efforts and the emergence of advanced technology tools for information access. Although these initiatives are young, they already exhibit daunting complexity, with significant management, technology, and policy challenges. A variety of traditional and emerging information policy frameworks offer guidance, while diverse research perspectives highlight both challenges to and opportunities for promoting information-based transparency. Early experience with Data.gov, a central component of the U.S. Open Government Initiative, suggests that two fundamental information policy principles, stewardship and usefulness, can help guide and evaluate efforts to achieve information-based transparency.     

Understanding the Relationship Between the Librarian and the Academic

This article presents the findings of a small study that examined the relationship between academic librarians and their academic colleagues in a number of institutions in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. There is an abundance of literature outlining how librarians should collaborate with their academic colleagues but less emphasis on what librarians are doing in practice. This research explores the collaborative aspect of this relationship with a focus on information literacy training. Research findings look at factors which encourage and inhibit collaboration and challenges librarians face in achieving successful collaboration.     

关于图书馆学基础研究的若干思考

当代中国图书馆学基础研究的不足,在于对专业活动基础研究缺乏全面的认识,影响了专业活动的健康发展.需要关注当代环境下图书馆社会职能的科学认定,清晰界定当代图书馆专业活动的范畴,切实加强对图书馆创新工作方法的归纳与提炼.这是中国图书馆学基础研究面临的挑战,也是学科和事业发展的需要.     

Crossing culture in children’s book publishing

Conclusion Children’s books are cultural products that face unique challenges when crossing cultural boundaries. Among these challenges are the translation into a new language, the cost of the translation both in terms of money and content, and the culture of the destination market. The main consumers of translations of children's books are currently developed countries such as France, Germany, and Italy. Less developed countries such as China and Korea, though, are experiencing a growth in their children's book markets. Although international boundaries are becoming less defined in today's market place and although there is an emphasis on multiculturalism within the United States, more children's books are licensed for translation in foreign markets than in the domestic American market. American publishers need to feel more secure in their ability to publish translations of children's books profitably. Only then will American children be able to have this important tool to help prepare them for a growing international environment.     

New Directions for Academic Libraries in Research Staffing: A Case Study at National University of Ireland Galway

ABSTRACT

New research needs, global developments and local shifts in emphasis are demanding a broader range of interactions by librarians with researchers and are challenging previous staffing structures. Research has a higher institutional profile and academic libraries have responded by creating new roles and staffing models, with stronger linkage across campus as partners rather than supporters. Particular circumstances at National University of Ireland Galway have shaped its Library's staffing configuration for research. These include the emergence of digital scholarship across campus, opportunities offered by a new research building, the growing importance of archives and the publication of a new institutional strategy. Significant reductions in staffing and budget are influential too. Distinctive features in the revised staffing model are organization by function instead of subject, prioritization of engagement with digital scholarship, distributed management of archives and special collections, and a particular emphasis on contribution across multiple teams. This case study reports early gains and challenges.     

公共图书馆创客大赛活动的现状、问题与改进策略

为助力公共图书馆应对开展创客大赛活动面临的挑战、充分发挥公共图书馆在推动社会创新中的作用,本文立足我国银川、长沙、广州、杭州、武汉等地公共图书馆创客大赛活动开展现状,分析现有实践中存在的创客教育高端化与偏科化、活动资源对外依赖度高、各地活动孤立发展等主要问题,进而提出重视创新思维与基础能力的培养、加强活动与资源建设的协同发展、深化馆际交流与合作等建议。     

高校博物馆藏品征集策略完善路径研究——以陕西省高校博物馆为例

近代博物馆源起于高校,并逐渐形成了一套较为完备的藏品管理体系。我国高校博物馆是博物馆体系的重要组成部分,但在藏品征集方面的受关注度远低于社会公共博物馆,高校博物馆藏品征集工作出现了藏品来源渠道少、监管松、经费不足等问题。本文拟以陕西省高校博物馆为例,通过分析其藏品征集现状,针对藏品征集中存在的问题,尝试对高校博物馆的藏品征集策略进行完善,为新时期中国高校博物馆的藏品征集工作提供一些思考。     

Nonprint Formats: A Survey of the Work and Its Challenges for the Cataloger in ARL Academic Libraries

ABSTRACT

Today's emphasis on developing nonprint-format collections in academic libraries mirrors advances in information technology. More new than old, these formats impact not only library planning, policy, and budgets, but also the training and the work of those who select, catalog, process, house, access, and circulate them. Results of this 33-item survey of nonprint catalogers in ARL academic libraries describe their demographic and professional background, their position, staffing for nonprint cataloging and processing, formats collected and bibliographic access provided, training and competency in and responsibilities for cataloging, work organizational and technical challenges, and career aspects.     

(3) The Canadian Library Scene

Africa has not been a huge success story in the 20th-century library and information world. What, if anything, can the rest of the developing world learn from the African experience? In many countries library and information services are more highly developed than in any countries of Africa. But others share many of the handicaps of library and information services development which characterize African countries. For librarians and information workers from such countries, the African experience may be quite close to home and it may offer some useful lessons.

This paper attempts to outline the state of library development in Africa at the turn of the century in the context of the challenges and opportunities presented on the one hand by the world-wide developments in information technology, and on the other by the hoped for African Renaissance. Six promising responses to these challenges and opportunities are presented.

Africa is a large and diverse continent. In this paper it is not possible to give a historical perspective on library development in Africa. Given limitations of the author's experience, the emphasis is on Anglophone Africa and on the countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and on public, university and national libraries.     

Libraries in the African Renaissance: African Experience and Prospects for Survival in the Information Age

Africa has not been a huge success story in the 20th-century library and information world. What, if anything, can the rest of the developing world learn from the African experience? In many countries library and information services are more highly developed than in any countries of Africa. But others share many of the handicaps of library and information services development which characterize African countries. For librarians and information workers from such countries, the African experience may be quite close to home and it may offer some useful lessons.This paper attempts to outline the state of library development in Africa at the turn of the century in the context of the challenges and opportunities presented on the one hand by the world-wide developments in information technology, and on the other by the hoped for African Renaissance. Six promising responses to these challenges and opportunities are presented.Africa is a large and diverse continent. In this paper it is not possible to give a historical perspective on library development in Africa. Given limitations of the author's experience, the emphasis is on Anglophone Africa and on the countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and on public, university and national libraries.     

Opportunities for faculty‐librarian collaboration in an expanded dentistry curriculum

With the increased emphasis on evidence based practice, developing information literacy skills earlier in health care education programmes is widely accepted. However finding opportunities for relevant teaching can present challenges, often leading to a lack of integration. In this paper, guest writers Sean Stone and colleagues from Indiana University discuss their involvement with an expanded dental hygiene curriculum in the University School of Dentistry. This expansion has provided the opportunity to plan integration of information and oral health literacy instruction and evidence based practice across the new curriculum, and provide transferable skills for any major. In particular, the paper addresses the developmental work the health librarian team engaged in from course design, delivery and assessment to improve student preparedness for evidence based practice. H.S.     

RYT

Abstract

From pilot project to mainstream reference service, this article chronicles the HELIN consortium's history with commercial virtual reference (VR) software and details its decision to switch from a centralized service to individually supported instant messaging (IM) reference services across its institutions. The authors discuss the development and implementation of their virtual reference service with emphasis on assessing its success using both commercial VR software and freeware IM applications at its different member institutions. Lessons learned, the pros and cons of offering collaborative virtual reference, and the challenges of integrating emerging technologies into library services are addressed as librarians seek to develop best practices for offering reference service in an increasingly virtual world.     

北美图书情报教育发展新动向分析

社会信息化的发展、人才市场竞争加剧使图书情报教育面临挑战,必须通过改革创新以适应发展的需要。在调研的基础上,总结、分析北美图书情报教育发展的新动向,涉及培养目标的提升,教育层次的多样化,模块化的课程体系,开展面向广泛领域的科研以促进教学发展以及重视开展实践性教学、加强学生综合能力培养等方面。目的是为我国图书情报教育改革创新提供借鉴。     

Open access policy implementation: first results compared

Open Access policy implementation is a tough job. Policy pioneers have faced considerable challenges in meeting their own aims and achieving recognized success. Professionals charged with implementing policy typically need several years to accomplish significant progress. This is a study of first results from a small but significant number of cases with an emphasis on variety and on defining a methodological standard. All cases have been reconstructed through documents and interviews. The most salient issues of policy implementation are investigated comparatively, namely (i) the matching infrastructure that a policy requires; (ii) the issue of capturing content and scholarly compliance; (iii) how to provide access to the content and foster usage; (iv) and the benefits offered to authors. As the author is pivotal to any open access solution, this provides a comparative perspective for delineating a policy research agenda.     

Exploring Dialectical Tensions of Leading Volunteers in Two Community Choirs

Leaders of volunteers face different challenges than leaders of paid employees due to different motivations and reward expectations. After synthesizing previous research applying dialectical theory to group members or leaders, this study examines the dialectical tensions that leaders of volunteers experienced and the communication they used to manage those tensions as reported by both the leaders and the volunteers. A constant-comparison method was used to analyze observations and interviews of members and leaders of two community choirs. The findings suggest that leaders of volunteers face eight dialectical tensions representing three broad categories: (a) task and relationship; (b) process and outcome; and (c) internal and external. Leaders negotiated these dialectical tensions through communication strategies including use of humor and appeals to artistic spirituality. These strategies represent hybridization and dualistic discourse rather than a monologic emphasis of one course of action over another.