Special Academic Libraries and the Millennial Patron

ABSTRACT

Special academic libraries are in the unique position to blend the innovative and user focused services of academic libraries with the niche collections of special libraries when serving their Millennial student population. Millennials are a highly researched generation, but special libraries may have not updated their services to reflect the needs and expectations of this rising generation. Maine Maritime Academy's Nutting Memorial Library serves as a case study of methods in which special academic libraries can incorporate Millennials' expectations of library spaces, services, and collections in sustainable ways.     

Information needs and gathering patterns of academic social scientists,with special emphasis given to historians and their use of U.S. Government publications

This paper addresses the information needs and gathering behavior of historians and other members of the academic social science community. In addition, it looks at the competitive information environment and views libraries as one of many providers. The existing research is fragmentary and, by far, too incomplete to be useful to librarians in developing collections and services to meet the information needs of historians and to accommodate their preferences for information gathering.The paper suggests the need for further research, identifies factors to take into account in formulating appropriate research designs, and offers research models worthy of replication or further exploration. Without a more extensive research base, a number of library and information programs and services may well be based on a misunderstanding of the current and future information needs and gathering strategies of possible client groups.     

(1) U.S.A.

The authors of this study assess the attitudes and perceptions of academic librarians at three university libraries in China regarding library services for international students and scholars. The study directs particular focus on librarians at Shaanxi Normal University in Xi’an, Fudan University in Shanghai, and Wuhan University of Technology, China, and follows logically upon a study conducted in 2008 that explored the perceptions of international students at two Chinese universities regarding the effectiveness of library services and collections for their research needs. In particular, this study documents information about Chinese academic librarian perceptions regarding services for international students and attitudes toward future outcomes. The ultimate goal of the study is to lay a foundation for developing strategies for improving library services and resources for international students and scholars in Chinese academic libraries in particular, which in turn can serve to improve services for international students world-wide. The results support the assumption that academic librarians in China are strongly interested in improving services for international students and scholars while continuing to face challenges and trying to find ways to fulfill the information needs of international students and scholars.     

The Four-Year Liberal Arts College Library:

Much of the professional literature is devoted to major university and research libraries. Consequently, less information is available about the staffing, services, budgets, collections, and facilities of smaller academic libraries. This study addresses that need and offers an initial statistical and demographic profile of the four-year liberal arts college library.     

What Qualifications and Skills are Important for Digital Librarian Positions in Academic Libraries? A Job Advertisement Analysis

As academic library functions and activities continue to evolve, libraries have broadened the traditional library model, which focuses on management of physical resources and activities, to include a digital library model, transforming resources and services into digital formats to support teaching, learning, and research. This transition has affected professionals' roles and activities due to new required skills. This study examines qualifications and skills required of professional positions involved in digital resources, services, and technologies as changing aspects in academic libraries. Data was collected from job advertisements for digital library positions posted in College and Research Libraries News during the nine years from 1999 to 2007. The study verifies shifts in staffing needs and required qualifications with digital focus on collections, services, and technology applications in academic libraries. The results confirm that a digital librarian is an emerging position in academic libraries. LIS educational implications and further investigations to validate the results are suggested.     

高校图书馆特藏资源推广研究

在阐述特藏资源推广必要性的基础上,结合国内外实例探讨行之有效的措施和途径,包括举办展览、主动融入课程教学、特藏资源数字化、特藏参考咨询、举办专题研讨小组或培训、特藏资源深层揭示与出版等,目的是更好地推动特藏资源的挖掘和利用,充分发挥其在用户学习、教学及科研中的重要作用。     

共享有限资源：Minitex模式的发展

介绍和分析美国明尼苏达州的Minitex馆际借阅系统30年来的发展历史。该系统的独特之处在于：将明尼苏达州、南达科他州、北达科他州的200多家图书馆连成为一体，利用各参与图书馆的资源为三州的学者、公众、政府机构和专业图书馆提供馆际借阅、文献传递、集团采购等服务。这一图书馆网络不仅使得所有参与图书馆的馆藏得到了更充分的利用，而且为资源相对有限的中小型图书馆提供了更强大的服务能力。Minitex模式对国土大、人口多、图书资源紧缺的国家和地区如中国来说特别具有启示意义。     

Accessibility Best Practices,Procedures, and Policies in Northwest United States Academic Libraries

Academic libraries are responsible for providing accessible copies of collection materials to individuals facing a variety of accessibility needs. Accessibility needs differ from user to user, often making each request an individualized service. However, do academic libraries have a responsibility to embrace a Universal Design for Learning approach to their acquisitions process? Do academic library workers need to establish policies as part of the procurement process? This research surveyed academic libraries at institutions similar to Boise State University in size, graduate program offerings, and within the same region to help answer the questions: how academic libraries in the Northwest United States establish practices, policies, procedures, and workflows to meet these needs, and: how do academic libraries currently meet these needs when providing streaming media services, and other collection materials, to users with accessibility needs?     

Collaborative strategies for low-use research materials

Librarians are often fond of proclaiming that they are developing digital libraries. The clear evidence however is that the better strategy is to design services to “deliver digitally.” A brief overview of current, past, and future publishing trends will reveal data key to any understanding of evolving policies for preservation of a nation's intellectual output. These data highlight that academic libraries, at least, are presenting homogeneous collections of digital serials. Together with the budget pressures to maintain serial collections, the result is a lack of collecting diversity of the intellectual publishing of interest to academe. Presently, academic libraries in Australia are committing between 30% and 40% of their acquisitions budgets to digital resources. Yet, this cannot buy more than 10% of the published serials output. The availability of serial information will become more and more constrained in the very near future as the range of print serial titles shrinks in accordance with institutional buying power.CAVAL Collaborative Solutions is a consortium of Victorian university libraries and the State Library of Victoria. Established 25 years ago, it enables libraries to pursue projects together. CAVAL created the CARM Centre in 1997 to house one million volumes in state-of-the-art environmental conditions and fire suppression. The CARM Centre is unique in that it is a true collaborative collection of little used research materials. Ownership of materials is relegated to the CARM Centre. Simultaneously, each member takes on ownership of the CARM Centre's total collection. This results in a collection with no duplication, a no-discard policy, and an expectation for 250 or more years or functional service. Moreover, it provides individual libraries with a means of rationalizing collections and the ability to avoid capital expenditures. There are many implications for the member libraries as well as to the library system in Victoria and beyond.     

Public Libraries in the Eyes of the LGBTIQ Community: The Case of Croatia

ABSTRACT

The achievement of social justice, which implies the development of collections and the design of services for different user groups, is an objective present in the mission of public libraries. Since the 1950s, Croatian public libraries have been continuously developing collections and services for different user communities. However, one user community has remained largely unrecognized – LGBTIQ people. Therefore, the aim of the research presented in this paper is to examine the importance of the role of public libraries in the life of the LGBTIQ community in the Republic of Croatia. With a sample of 259 respondents, information behaviors, attitudes and experiences of LGBTIQ people in relation to public libraries have been examined via an online survey. In particular, this study explored the extent to which members of public libraries differ from non-members. The obtained results should contribute to a better understanding of the information needs and behavior of members of sexual minorities and help bring this group of users closer to (Croatian) public libraries by ensuring that libraries more adequately respond to their needs.     

分报告四：斯坦福大学图书馆考察报告

文章是作者访问斯坦福大学图书馆的,小结报告,概述了斯坦福大学图书馆工程分馆的发展战略和现状,介绍了斯坦福大学图书馆富有特色的服务内容,包括在线集成书目检索系统、参考咨询服务、学科导航服务、社会科学数据与软件服务、集成跨库检索系统、教学参考书预留系统、服务插件等等,文章还分析了斯坦福大学图书馆的学科馆员制度。     

Determining research data services maturity: The role of library leadership and stakeholder involvement

As technology and the stewardship of research data continue to improve, academic libraries have made progress in establishing themselves as hubs and leaders for research data services on campus. They have been called on to assure cross-campus collaboration and support to develop a united service to meet their community's needs. However, evidence as to how libraries play a crucial role in leadership, whether other stakeholders' involvement makes a difference, and if so, how that involvement makes a difference is not well-documented. The findings of this study add empirical evidence in supporting the value of library's leadership and stakeholder engagement in developing research data policy and services. The secondary analysis of the survey data found that libraries tend to offer more extensive services when they take primary responsibility for developing the policy and service. It also found that the more internal stakeholders involved in developing the policy and service, the higher level of service maturity the libraries offer. Partnership with external stakeholders leads to more comprehensive and deeper services.     

Know Your Crowd: A Case Study in Digital Collection Marketing

Digitized special collections and institutional repositories present unique challenges to libraries struggling to identify marketing strategies that will entice patrons to these services. These collections, which do not have the same mass appeal as full-text articles or author book readings, still must attract use. This case study explores an academic library’s attempts to actively market its digital special collections. They advertised their collections via published marketing materials, a library services fair, and a photography contest. The results were that high-quality, intense, marketing for a general population does not work for specialized digital collections because the subject areas are too narrow for general interest. The scope of the audience was also misplaced since the collections had a greater market outside the university than with the local students. The authors looked at digital special collections that were successful to see what worked to market collections to outside users. They found that collections that were connected to external resources that were affiliated with different interest groups were successful with minimal marketing. The method of linking collections to Wikipedia was identified as a simple and effective method that was more effective than linking the collection to more niche sites. The authors conclude that academic libraries should utilize more focused, community-connecting approaches in order to engage the specialized patrons of digital special collections.     

Renovating Special Collections Facilities

ABSTRACT

Special collections play an increasingly important role in university libraries. As library collections move to digital formats and collections are similar from one library to another, special collections are one of the ways in which libraries can build a distinct identity. Because of their unique nature, special collections must be permanently retained because of their artifact value and need specialized storage conditions with appropriate levels of security. Library administrators will increasingly face the need to provide expanded space for special collections as well as improving storage conditions to ensure that unique and valuable materials are preserved for research in the future.     

Difficult Library Patrons in Academe

Summary

Difficult patrons have been considered primarily from the perspective of the problem behaviours they present in libraries. Many have attempted to define the problem patron and to provide advice and develop guidelines for frontline public service staff. To understand the difficult patron in academic libraries we need to answer three questions-How well do we know our patrons? Do we unwittingly create difficult patrons through our failure to appreciate their needs? Do we regard patrons as difficult because the way they use libraries and conduct their information research does not match our idea of how it should be done? The answers to these questions suggest that we need to reconceptualize both our patrons and the services we provide. Library staff need to see difficult patrons not as problems but as challenges to the service ideas and standards we hold. A paradigm shift is necessary if we are to reconstruct our beliefs about our patrons, their information seeking behaviours, and the services we provide to meet their needs. Some strategies for developing the skills of library staff to work effectively with difficult patrons are presented.     

关于《信息网络传播权保护条例(草案)》的修改建议

条例草案所称之“公共图书馆”,应改为“公益性图书馆”,以便包括公共、教育和科研系统的图书馆在合理使用制度下,保证读者对馆藏文献的网上借阅需求。信息网络传播权不应偏离其立法目标,去取消图书馆馆藏作品数字化的权利。公益性图书馆信息网络传播豁免条款是有其理论依据和合理性的。     

高校图书馆用户服务的创新发展趋势研究

[目的/意义]总结近年来高校图书馆在转型与发展的进程中,用户服务所呈现出的变化趋势,以期为这方面工作的开展和理论研究提供参考。[方法/过程]主要采用文献调查法和案例分析法,探讨高校图书馆用户服务体系的再构建和用户服务的发展趋势。[结果/结论]为适应信息化社会的到来,高校图书馆积极调整其职能定位,不断探索用户服务的新模式和新手段,并在此基础上重新构建用户服务体系,在这一进程中,用户服务在理念、机构、模式、内容、亮点、营销、合作等方面呈现出明显的变化趋势。     

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.     

近年来图书馆用户服务发展的十大层面

近年来,随着信息技术的迅猛发展和信息环境的巨大变化,图书馆用户需求和信息行为发生了极大的改变。为了有效地满足用户不断变化的信息需求,国内外图书馆界纷纷探索用户服务的新模式和新手段。最近几年国内外图书馆用户服务得到突出发展的10个层面包括：“以用户为中心”的人本服务理念、基础服务、免费服务、“信息共享空间”建设、下一代OPAC、学科服务、信息素养教育、开放存取、个性化服务、休闲娱乐服务等。