A Citation Analysis of ETD and Non-ETD Producing Authors

This work takes advantage of the current status of the development of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) at the University of Louisville to reexamine a previous study that compared ETD and non-ETD producing authors' use of the professional literature. As with the previous study, this effort found no noticeable difference in the two groups of doctoral students' referencing behavior. This review of 100 dissertations and their 13,926 references confirmed the previous work's conclusions that doctoral students' publication format is not reflective of their library research. These findings suggest that librarians need not amend their efforts in response to academia's on-going development of ETDs and that differences between ETD and non-ETD authors are unrelated to their utilization of library resources.     

Best Practices for Integrating E-books in Academic Libraries: A Literature Review From 2005 to Present

Library Journal's 2011 Ebook Penetration and Use in U.S. Libraries Survey testifies to e-books’ increasing popularity in academic libraries. This review tracked literature published from 2005 that focused on academic librarians’ best practices for acquiring, cataloging, maintaining, and promoting e-books at their institutions. Some of these practices include implementing trial accesses, considering institutional requirements, providing an e-book presence in the library catalog, monitoring usage statistics, and utilizing the library Web site for promotional efforts.     

Outside the library: Early career researchers and use of alternative information sources in pandemic times

Presents findings from a study into the attitudes and practices of pandemic-era early career researchers (ECRs) in regard to obtaining access to the formally published scholarly literature, which focused on alternative providers, notably ResearchGate and Sci-Hub. The study is a part of the Harbingers project that has been exploring the work lives and scholarly communication practices of ECRs in pre-pandemic times and during the pandemic, and utilizes data from two rounds of interviews with around 170 ECRs from the sciences and social sciences in eight countries. Findings show that alternative providers, as represented by ResearchGate and Sci-Hub, have become established and appear to be gaining ground. However, there are considerable country- and discipline-associated differences. ECRs' country-specific level of usage of the alternative providers is partly traceable to the adequacy of library provisions, although there are other factors at play in shaping ECRs' attitudes and practices, most notably convenience and time saving, as well as the fact that these platforms have become embedded in the scholarly dashboard. There is a dearth of evidence of the impact of the pandemic on ECRs' ways of obtaining scholarly papers.     

Book Reviews

This article is a presentation and analysis of the 2012 budget narrative of the King County (Washington) Library System, the winner of LJ/Cengage's 2011 Library of the Year Award. The author's narrative analyzes both the language and character of this important budget document, demonstrating its place in the appropriate library function of building its relationship with its various constituencies.     

Librarianship and Information Science in the Maghreb 1966–1999: An Annotated Bibliography

This work is an annotated bibliography that consists of articles, books, conference papers, dissertations, reports, etc. published in various library and information science forums on the subject of librarianship in the Maghreb. The goal of preparing this work is to provide a list of citations with abstracts that librarians, library students, and library scholars can use to perform research within this subject area and further the body of knowledge. The research methodology that was used to find these citations involved searching the database versions of ERIC, Dissertations Abstracts Online, and Library Literature within the online public access catalog of the Auburn University library system. It also involved searching the online databases of Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA), British Education Index, andEducation Abstracts within the DIALOG database as well as the respective print versions of these resources. While this work is by no means an exhaustive critique of the entire Maghrebi library and information science literature, it does strive to be comprehensive in terms of its country-by-country analysis of librarianship and information science within the region. In providing a citation for a non-English language work, the English equivalent of the title of that work will be given next to the non-English title.     

Bibliographical control in South Africa

This work is an annotated bibliography that consists of articles, books, conference papers, dissertations, and reports, etc. published in various library and information science forums on the subject of librarianship in Islamic East Africa. The goal of preparing this work is to provide a list of citations with abstracts that librarians, library students, and library scholars can use to perform research within this subject area and further the body of knowledge. The research methodology that was used to find these citations involved searching the database versions of ERIC, Dissertations Abstracts Online, and Library Literature within the online public access catalog of the Auburn University library system. It also involved searching the online databases of Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA), British Education Index, and Education Abstracts within the DIALOG database as well as the respective print copies of these resources. While this work is by no means an exhaustive analysis of the entire East African library literature, it does strive to be comprehensive in terms of its country-by-country breakdown of librarianship within the region. Islamic East Africa for the purposes of this work incorporates the nations of Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, and Tanzania. In providing a citation for a non-English language work, the English equivalent of the title of that work will be given next to the non-English title.     

Librarianship and Information Science in the Maghreb 1966–1999: An Annotated Bibliography

This work is an annotated bibliography that consists of articles, books, conference papers, dissertations, reports, etc. published in various library and information science forums on the subject of librarianship in the Maghreb. The goal of preparing this work is to provide a list of citations with abstracts that librarians, library students, and library scholars can use to perform research within this subject area and further the body of knowledge. The research methodology that was used to find these citations involved searching the database versions of ERIC, Dissertations Abstracts Online, and Library Literature within the online public access catalog of the Auburn University library system. It also involved searching the online databases of Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA), British Education Index, andEducation Abstracts within the DIALOG database as well as the respective print versions of these resources. While this work is by no means an exhaustive critique of the entire Maghrebi library and information science literature, it does strive to be comprehensive in terms of its country-by-country analysis of librarianship and information science within the region. In providing a citation for a non-English language work, the English equivalent of the title of that work will be given next to the non-English title.     

Books are silent ambassadors: The Noma award for the translation of Japanese literature

Summary Now more than ever good translations are proving to be vitally important to fulfilling Shoichi Noma’s mission of advancing good relationships between cultures. With the emergence of dozens of world-class Japanese writers, the translators of Japanese literature have acquired a new significance and a new importance. No longer are they required to simply handle the language like an exotic and precious commodity but they must prepare a writer’s work to compete with literature from around the globe and let others understand the issues at their very heart of the Japanese people. Indeed, the selection committee’s choice of Murakami’s Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is an apt example of how literature at its very best can span cultural divides to promote mutual understanding of very complicated and important world issues. Written for Japanese to help them understand the devastation of war, it is a rare and timely book that confronts Japan’s experience head on. Ironically, Noma’s idea that books are silent ambassadors, an idea born from agony and defeat, so many years later is helping the world come together towards a unified vision of peace and understanding. “Literature has been described as a means of exchange between the hearts of people. Literary translation, then, is the building of bridges so that all peoples of the world can interact in this way.” Ye Weiqu, Chinese Institute of Social Studies.     

Introduction

ABSTRACT

The authors discuss their experience in organizing a library for a community of Benedictine monks in central Italy. An initial assessment of the monastery's resources suggested that both global and immediate access to bibliographic records was feasible and that the librarians could begin cataloging offsite. Decisions about classification schemes and software were made with sensitivity to the international makeup of the community, historical and national library practices, financial limitations, and perceived computer literacy within the community. Unanticipated problems emerged with respect to classification, human resources, time lags and distances, yet overall access to the collection has been enhanced by addressing these problems.     

Librarianship and Information Science in The Sahel 1966–1999: An Annotated Bibliography

This work is an annotated bibliography that consists of articles, books, conference papers, dissertations, reports, etc., published in various library and information science forums on the subject of librarianship in the Sahel.The Encyclopaedia Britannica Online defines the term Sahel as an English translation of the Arab termSahil which refers to the semi-arid region of western and north-central Africa extending from Senegal to The Sudan. The Sahel for the purposes of this work consists of the region of West Africa and the nations of Gambia, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. Nigerian library literature will be given a full and separate treatment in two subsequent articles.While this work is by no means an exhaustive analysis of the entire Sahelian library, literature, it does strive to be comprehensive in terms of its country-by-country breakdown of librarianship within the region. In providing a citation for a non-English language work, the English equivalent of the title of that work will be given next to the non-English title.     

Managing Interlibrary Loan Staff in Distributed Work Environments

Abstract

Virginia Commonwealth University has interlibrary loan staff members who work in a variety of locations. A review of library and business management literature and an informal survey of interlibrary loan managers was conducted to assess the extent and practices for managing interlibrary loan and document delivery staff members who work in separate locations. Data was collected to highlight common problems and challenges faced by managers who deal with this situation, and to consider the best practices used by the managers. The practices of interlibrary loan managers were very similar to those of managers found in management literature, indicating that library managers, particularly in interlibrary loan, can benefit from reading business management sources regularly.     

Batter Up: Classifying Pre-World War II Baseball Cards Using Dewey Decimal

Abstract

Within cataloging non-book items, literature on sports cards is limited and not rooted in academic research. Sports cards provide valuable statistical information and evidence of lineups. This article addresses the gap by examining Jefferson Burdick’s The American Card Catalog. Known as the Dewey Decimal system of trading cards, the Catalog is the preeminent resource for collecting pre-World War II cards. This article expands upon Burdick’s work and guides librarians through the building of a class number for individual sports cards. The result incorporates classification methods to support user search, and highlights the historical value of cards within library collections.     

Ethical Considerations in Classification Practice: A Case Study Using Creationism and Intelligent Design

This article re-visits a scenario from 1987: a university president required a library director to reclassify some materials into a science classification. The author looks at the prominence of the Code of Ethics of the American Library Association in the general library literature and in classification and cataloging practice literature. The issue of censorship is also discussed. The author then reviews classification for Creationism and Intelligent design and some decision-making processes one could use when deciding on the professional ethics of such a request, concluding that in some cases the ethical action might indeed be to go ahead with the reclassification.     

Volunteers in public libraries: Issues and viewpoints

A review of the American Library Association's 1971 Guidelines For Using Volunteers in Libraries is given as background to a discussion of public library volunteers. Opposing and supporting viewpoints towards volunteer use as expressed in the library literature are presented. The nature of the literature is examined, with special emphasis afforded to the purpose, methodology, and conclusions of research studies. The author concludes that, while the literature on public library volunteers has increased in volume over the past decade, little useful research‐oriented reporting has been undertaken. The author suggests that the topic merits further investigation and research.     

Trading Spaces Mentoring Program: The Melding of Talent and Opportunity

A mentoring program for all of Utah's library workers is helping libraries grow and succeed. Best practices for running a library mentoring program in your area are given. [Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Public Library Quarterly for the following supplemental resource: application to receive mentoring]     

Collection Building of School Libraries in Kuwait: Censorship or Selection

Lester Asheim's famous piece Not Censorship but Selection published in 1953 is still valid in characterizing the spirit of the censor versus the selector. As information control and censorship differ from one place to another and from time to time, the Kuwaiti school library scene's practices of collection building in both the public and private education schools reflect this old age practice and its features. The conflict between selection and provision on one hand and prevention and censorship on the other is very clear in schools; as schools are responsible for providing access to information.     

Pseudoscience and Selection

Abstract

The notion of pseudoscience, as coined by philosopher Karl Popper, is discussed in the context of its application to library science and its implications for selection. Popper's demarcation criterion is described. The literature on pseudoscience and libraries, which accepts Popper's demarcation criteria, is summarized and critiqued. The received view of a rigid distinction between pseudoscience and science is found wanting. The new sociology of scientific knowledge and constructivism is described and advocated as an alternative to the received view of science, and the notion of ‘boundary work’ is suggested as an alternative to demarcation. It is concluded that constructivism is a non-elitist, democratic, and client-centered guide to selection.     

Hurry Up,Please. It's Time—State of Emergency

This article explores the ethics of preservation, both as they have been traditionally established and as they might apply to current and future digital preservation efforts. The first part of the article reviews the literature of the past two decades to see how the preservation community has defined the ethical dimensions of its work, as well as developed guidelines to support an ethical practice. The second part considers digital preservation and the ways it both extends and complicates established ethical tenets. Digital preservation challenges the library community to revisit fundamental preservation practices and responsibilities. Our ability to come to consensus on these issues will be critical for the public's continued trust in our roles as stewards of the cultural record.