How do public libraries function as meeting places?

How are libraries used as meeting places, and by whom? Through survey data, six categories of places are identified: the library as a “square,” as a place for meeting diverse people, as a public sphere, as a place for joint activities with friends and colleagues, as a metameeting place, and as a place for virtual meetings. Representative samples of the population in three townships in Oslo, each with a markedly different demographic profile, are surveyed. Multivariate regression analyses are performed to analyze why some people use the library for a range of meetings and others do not, as well as to examine variations in the use of the library for different kinds of meetings. Public libraries are shown to be used for a variety of meetings. Community involvement is more important than township and demographic variables in explaining variations in use of the library as a meeting place. Correlations between low income and low education and high use of the library as a meeting place were found, indicating that the library as a meeting place plays a substantial role in equalizing the possibilities of being an active citizen across social and economic differences. The study contributes to understanding the role of the public library in a multicultural context. The public library as a unique and complex meeting place has important implications for future librarianship.     

Public Library Use of Geographic Information Systems in the United States

Abstract

Public libraries are a source of information and resources for the local community, they also play a role in the use of technologies such as geographic information systems (GIS) in that regard. GIS uses maps as output mediums for displaying demographic or similar information, as well as for spatial comparison or spatially based analysis. This is useful for gaining knowledge as well as for decision making. This article reports research into the awareness and use of GIS-type systems in public library settings in hopes of better understanding the benefits, drawbacks, and limitations to use of systems such as these. Primary findings suggest that there continues to exist limited understanding of the capabilities of GIS technology in public libraries and therefore very little demand for it exists in public librarians and patrons alike.     

Building a retrospective collection in pharmacy: a brief history of the literature with some considerations for U.S. health sciences library professionals

This paper argues that historical works in pharmacy are important tools for the clinician as well as the historian. With this as its operative premise, delineating the tripartite aspects of pharmacy as a business enterprise, a science, and a profession provides a conceptual framework for primary and secondary resource collecting. A brief history and guide to those materials most essential to a historical collection in pharmacy follows. Issues such as availability and cost are discussed and summarized in checklist form. In addition, a glossary of important terms is provided as well as a list of all the major U.S. dispensatories and their various editions. This paper is intended to serve as a resource for those interested in collecting historical materials in pharmacy and pharmaco-therapeutics as well as provide a history that gives context to these classics in the field. This should provide a rationale for selective retrospective collection development in pharmacy.     

Information in a Networked World: the Nigerian Perspective

This paper identifies and recognizes information not only as a protean asset, but also as the ultimate powerhouse for any country. If information is power, then it follows that for Nigeria to go forward, it must be information-based and information-driven. In order to achieve this, however, the paper advocates that government should establish the basic, essential national information infrastructure. The paper also argues for Nigeria to be Internet-ready, as well as being Intranet- and Extranet-enabled, as a sine qua non for Nigeria's successful participation in the global economy. Details on Nigeria's information infrastructure and its weaknesses are described as well as plans for improving it. The paper also discusses the different types of information networks in Nigeria and the sectors of the economy that are already involved.     

Report of a book-buying tour of the Middle East and North Africa

This paper identifies and recognizes information not only as a protean asset, but also as the ultimate powerhouse for any country. If information is power, then it follows that for Nigeria to go forward, it must be information-based and information-driven. In order to achieve this, however, the paper advocates that government should establish the basic, essential national information infrastructure. The paper also argues for Nigeria to be Internet-ready, as well as being Intranet- and Extranet-enabled, as a sine qua non for Nigeria's successful participation in the global economy. Details on Nigeria's information infrastructure and its weaknesses are described as well as plans for improving it. The paper also discusses the different types of information networks in Nigeria and the sectors of the economy that are already involved.     

大学生竞争情报教育的现状与对策——基于内江师范学院竞争情报教育的现状分析

竞争情报是关于竞争环境、竞争对手、竞争态势及竞争策略的信息和研究。在全球化竞争条件下,高等院校创新人才的培养,尤其应该增强竞争情报技能的教育,以提升大学生的竞争情报意识和竞争能力。对信息与情报的认知度不高、对竞争情报技能的运用能力较差是目前大学生中存在的主要问题。基于内江师范学院大学生竞争情报能力的现状,影响大学生竞争情报教育的主要因素,一是图书馆与信息技术因素;二是图书馆与情报服务因素;三是大学生自身的因素。具体改进措施是：转变教学模式,增加竞争情报教育内容,开展多层次情报教育;注重实践教学,建立有效的教学评估体系;加强竞争情报学科建设,促进竞争情报教育发展。     

Ugandan health libraries in the 21st century: key initiatives and challenges

This article is part of a series in this regular feature which looks at new directions in health science libraries. This paper highlights new initiatives aimed at ensuring health libraries can contribute to the development of Uganda in the 21st century and the challenges facing libraries. It stresses that for libraries to be successful they need to form networks and collaborations for resource sharing; take advantage of the benefits of information technology; computerise their library systems; as well as invest in the development of staff. The paper highlights the main challenge facing the library service as inadequate funding both from government for public‐funded health libraries and the private sector (for privately funded health libraries). The paper concludes that, despite the bottlenecks brought about by inadequate funding, Ugandan health libraries have taken positive steps to support health research and education, as well as patient care, not just for Uganda, but for the whole of the East African region. J.M.     

电子商务活动中的信息管理规范

本文讨论了电子商务活动对信息管理的要求以及在网络环境下建立信息管理规范的重要性、规范的含义等问题 ,重点分析了信息管理规范的结构及功能 ,强调建立信息管理规范的基础仍然是现实生活     

Introduction: Traditional Media and the Internet: The Search for Viable Business Models

This research critically examines the debate and issues surrounding theory and practice concerning regulation and advertising self-regulation with the aim of understanding more fully the implications for the future of coregulation, as well as for coregulating broadcast advertising. Regulatory reform in the United Kingdom, including the creation of the Office of Communications (Ofcom) as a unified regulator for the communications industry, has led to contracting out the regulation of broadcast advertising to an industry coregulator. As a result of a critical examination of theory and practice, important theoretical and managerial implications are made regarding effective interfacing with public and consumer bodies as well as approaches to issues of media convergence. Such analyses and implications are important for understanding better the potential for effectiveness and viability of coregulation as well as for evaluating the likelihood of returning to statutory regulation.     

提升科技博物馆展教结合水平的五大对策与建议

展览、教育作为博物馆的主要公共文化服务形式,得到了越来越多机构的日益重视。但由于科技博物馆在历史、观念、人才等方面的影响和制约,仍存在发展偏差和不足,其中最突出的是机构在理念上重展轻教,在实践中有展少(无)教或以展代教、展教分离等。本文将聚焦展教分离问题展开探讨,并就如何提升科技博物馆的展教结合水平,提出五大对策与建议。     

Day,R. (2007). (Ed.). Bicycle highway: Celebrating community radio in Ireland: Participation and multiflows of communication

The evolving history of Roma Radio is not unlike other attempts to engender media support for underserved audiences. This essay employs Radio C as an example (a) to understand ethnic minority populations and the challenges they face in maintaining a strong cultural identity, (b) to explore the advantages and disadvantages of radio as a medium for unifying the Roma culture in Eastern Europe, and (c) to suggest a framework for radio and Gypsy cultures in other areas of the world as well as for other nomadic or diasporan cultures.     

Scholarly journals in the late 20th century

The scholarly journal has remained largely unchanged in purpose and structure during its three-century evolution. Current forces within the publishing industry, technology sector, the academy, and the related research environment are prompting rapid change in scholarly communication. Economic models for journals reflect both the unique challenges of the publisher as well as these broader environmental forces. Several constructs are described, followed by a preliminary report on an experimental project, PEAK (Pricing Electronic Access to Knowledge), which explores models for journal pricing and products. PEAK and other innovative projects that challenge traditional journal models may serve as both catalysts for change as well as prototypes for the scholarly journals of the early 21st century.     

英国低幼儿童的阅读推广服务研究

选取"阅读起跑线""确保开端计划""暑期阅读挑战""享阅(俱乐部)"4个全国性低幼儿童阅读推广项目为例,透视英国低幼儿童阅读推广服务的发展。采取文献调研、案例分析的方法,深入剖析英国低幼儿童阅读推广的特点与发展的动力。英国低幼儿童阅读推广的特点:以家庭为基本单元;以公共图书馆为主要阵地;以客观调研为活动开展的依据;以消除贫困,保障儿童基本阅读权益为目标;以为入学做准备为主要目的。"阅读改变一切,多早开始也不为过""快乐阅读最重要""投资早期阅读,收益巨大"是英国低幼儿童阅读推广秉持的重要理念。政府部门、学会/协会、慈善组织、图书馆及保健中心分别扮演着发起者、组织者、资助者、推动者的不同角色,彼此之间形成了多元合作、协同发展的阅读推广体系,共同推动低幼儿童阅读的发展。     

Locating Refugees

War, political persecution, and human rights abuses all drive millions from their homes. Some qualify for asylum as refugees, often after spending years in camps and intermediary locations before attaining asylum. The United States has been criticized for taking in relatively few refugees as well as for playing a role in the conditions that lead people to seek asylum. Once in the United States, though, how are refugees constructed in community discourses? Is an international or local frame more prominent? The United Nations established World Refugee Day to bring attention to the problems refugees face. This study tracks US coverage of World Refugee Day, analyzing it both quantitatively and qualitatively, to determine how refugees as people and as a political issue are constructed in the US press. Discursive features and measures of framing are discussed as indicators of journalistic practices of newsmaking and localization.     

Reward or persuasion? The battle to define the meaning of a citation

The history and development of the Science Citation Index (SCI) is an example of the power of users in defining and influencing the development of a new technology. The SCI was developed as a tool for the historian of science for the purpose of tracing the history of ideas, but it was appropriated by users for purposes for which it was unintended – as a tool for evaluating the literature, individuals, institutions, and countries. The development of a citation tool gave rise to a debate over what is actually measured by citations. The citation‐as‐reward camp views citations as indicators of quality and impact, whereas the citation‐as‐persuasion camp views citations as no more than rhetorical devices. While neither view can fully explain how authors use citations, citation‐as‐reward prevails as the dominant interpretation.     

The Education of Serials Catalogers

The proliferation of online searching as well as its relative decline in cost has been both a boon and a bane for undergraduate use of journal literature. Preliminary working bibliographies for brief research papers can be constructed in a shorter period of time allowing more time for the creative, cognitive process which is the reason for the exercise in the first place. Dispersion of citations indicates a higher percent of the relative literature searched. However, the stationary level of the student's familiarity with the subject at hand counteracts these benefits to a far greater degree than most might wish to admit. Lack of analytic selection from the citations produced by the search as well as initial errors in qualifying limitations placed on the search (such as period of publication, for example) further exacerbate this problem.     

民国图书馆学家柳诒徵的阅读推广思想研究

民国时期图书馆学家柳诒徵任江苏省立国学图书馆馆长长达20年,先生以传播文化、牖启民众为阅读推广理念,以藏书建设作为阅读推广基础,完善规章制度作为阅读推广的保障,编制书目作为阅读推广的工具,开展参考咨询举办展览等学术交流活动作为阅读推广的手段。先生对图书馆服务方式进行了大刀阔斧的变革,极大地促进了省立国学图书馆的阅读成效,为现今的阅读推广提供了坚实的理论基础。虽然民国时期还没有阅读推广这样的概念,但是柳先生在国学图书馆进行的实践活动,对当下图书馆开展阅读推广工作具有一定参考价值。     

Information objects are hot,documents are not: the use of identifiers in online publishing

The role of the Digital Object Identifier in allowing users to access required information with the minimum of effort and then to link to other relevant information is discussed. Its application to a commercial service at a high level of granularity, www.BlackwellSynergy.com , the online journal website of Blackwell Publishing Ltd, is described. The paper covers services for the user such as deep linking and discovery, services for the publisher such as viral marketing tools as well as a definition of an information object, and a possible future for the DOI.     

传统受控词表的SKOS描述规范及应用指南

依据我国情报检索语言的权威理论和构建标准,参考中国分类主题词表、汉语主题词表、中图法、军用电子分类表的编制说明或规范,以及已有的国内外研究成果,以sKoS标准文本的定义为准绳,将情报检索语言的理论和构建规范与SKOS的建模规范对应起来,从易于共享和实现的角度,对中文叙词表及分类法中各项语义元素的SKOS描述进行了具体的规定或建议,并通过示例介绍了该规范的具体应用方法。     

Turning Silence into Speech and Action: Prison Activism and the Pedagogy of Empowered Citizenship

Based on almost 50 years of combined experience as prison activists and prison teachers, the authors offer three case studies of prison activism and pedagogy in action. The first case study, by Hartnett, details the “artistry of agency” as enacted in poetry workshops in prison and in public poetry events, thus illustrating artistic communication. The second, by Wood, examines how friendship becomes political in the epistolary communication between free and imprisoned correspondents, thus addressing interpersonal communication. The third, by McCann, addresses web-based communication as a tool for advocacy for condemned prisoner/activists on Texas’s death row, and hence political communication. Taken as a whole, the three case studies celebrate different communication strategies as avenues of enlightenment and empowerment while offering powerful arguments for abolishing the prison–industrial complex.