A Rationale for Public and School Library Cooperation in Sierra Leone

This article explores the need for public and school library cooperation in Sierra Leone. Establishing a library service to meet user needs and keeping it relevant is one of the important tasks of professional librarians. In Sierra Leone, however, an increase in enrollment in schools, decreasing library budgets, and the information explosion have had grave consequences in the management of libraries, be they special, school, or public. If public and school libraries are to provide satisfactory services to the nation's young, there is every need for the establishment of greater public and school library cooperation.     

我国文献信息服务的发展概述

本文从服务理念、服务载体和服务模式三个方面概述了20年来我国文献信息服务的发展变化 ,并对今后文献信息服务的发展趋势进行了探讨。     

Continuing professional development as transformational learning: A case study

The case study explores librarians experiences of learning pedagogical skills. The innovative professional development course was designed to equip librarians with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to deliver learner-centred training. Unlike the traditional ‘one-size-fits all’ model of professional development, this particular model provided librarians with opportunities to collaborate with their colleagues, share experiences, and to reflect on their instructional practices. The study employed qualitative research methods within a case study framework. The transformative learning theory provides the theoretical lens through which to understand librarians' learning experiences. Data gathering techniques included document analysis, observation and individual semi-structured interviews. Ten participants were purposively selected. Findings from this study have shown that the participants changed their attitudes towards teaching and learning, became confident, and improved their instructional practices. The study concluded that meaningful adult learning experiences have the potential to transform librarians' professional practice. In addition, a contextually responsive professional development programme, adequately supported by library management, is likely to provide an effective continuing professional development model.     

A taxonomy for planning and designing smart mobility services

The development of smart mobility initiatives requires specialized and contextualized policies addressing the needs and interests of many stakeholders involved. Since the development of such policies is challenging, there is a need to learn from the experience of many cities around the world offering efficient and successfully adopted smart mobility services. However, in practice, the information provided about such initiatives is shallow and unstructured. To address this issue, we study the state of the art in mobility services, reviewing scientific publications and 42 smart mobility services delivered by nine smart cities around the world, and we propose a taxonomy for planning and designing smart mobility services. The taxonomy provides a common vocabulary to discuss and share information about such services. It comprises eight dimensions: type of services, maturity level, users, applied technologies, delivery channels, benefits, beneficiaries, and common functionality. The contribution of the proposed taxonomy is to serve as a tool for guiding policy makers by identifying a spectrum of mobility services that can be provided, to whom, what technologies can be used to deliver them, and what is the delivered public value so to justify their implementation. In addition, the taxonomy can also assist researchers in further developing the domain. By identifying common functionality, it could also help Information Technology (IT) teams in building and maintaining smart mobility services. Finally, we further discuss usage scenarios of the taxonomy by policy makers, IT staff and researchers.     

Requirements engineering for e-Government services: A citizen-centric approach and case study

Throughout the last decade, user involvement in e-Government service design has been virtually non-existent. Over time, e-Government experts began to realize that these services would benefit from a citizen-centric requirements engineering approach which has led to a demand for such an approach for this particular field. This article presents a citizen-centric approach towards user requirements engineering for e-Government services. It utilizes interviews and citizen walkthroughs of low-fidelity prototypes. A case study of a social support portal illustrates the approach and shows the need for repeated citizen inquiry, as the implementation of user requirements in low-fidelity prototype design is not always accepted by prospective end-users.     

Bibliographic control of medical illustrations--a case study in the development of a library subsystem: I. Project planning

The need to provide bibliographic access to a collection of original medical illustrations led the Library of the University of California, San Francisco, to search for a bibliographic control system and, not finding a satisfactory one, to develop one of its own, Part 1 of the report details the planning for such a development, including the need for bibliographic control of illustrations, the goals of the proposed system, design decisions and changes required, the type of system chosen, special subjects indexing needs, the required output, and staffing and budgetary needs.     

Scanning electron microscope hypsometry as a tool for evaluating the impact of surface treatments: A case study on sub-fossil bone

Abstract

Plaster of Paris field jackets are commonly employed for lifting fragile archeological and paleontological material during excavation. When the plaster has been applied directly to the object surface its removal poses a severe risk of damage and loss. This study documents the development of an experimental method to test the suitability of various techniques for removing plaster of Paris from sub-fossil bone. The use of digital microscopic elevation models, already in use in other disciplines, was tested as a method for quantifying surface loss resulting from conservation treatments. The study concludes that citric acid is not suitable for use in close proximity to sub-fossil bone. Air abrasion and laser ablation proved extremely damaging, but ultrasonic cleaning caused no detectable damage. This study has relevance to the removal of plaster of Paris from other materials, such as carbonaceous statuary. The analytical technique itself has a far wider application and is recommended for evaluation of all surface treatments that have the potential to cause loss on a microscopic scale.     

A case study: planning a statewide information resource for health professionals: an evidence-based approach

Question:

What is the best approach for implementing a statewide electronic health library (eHL) to serve all health professionals in Minnesota?

Setting:

The research took place at the University of Minnesota Health Sciences Libraries.

Methods:

In January 2008, the authors began planning a statewide eHL for health professionals following the five-step process for evidence-based librarianship: formulating the question, finding the best evidence, appraising the evidence, assessing costs and benefits, and evaluating the effectiveness of resulting actions.

Main Results:

The authors identified best practices for developing a statewide eHL for health professionals relating to audience or population served, information resources, technology and access, funding model, and implementation and sustainability. They were compared to the mission of the eHL project to drive strategic directions by developing recommendations.

Conclusion:

EBL can guide the planning process for a statewide eHL, but findings must be tailored to the local environment to address information needs and ensure long-term sustainability.     

Development of a clinical information tool for the electronic medical record: a case study

Question:

What is the process of developing a clinical information tool to be embedded in the electronic health record of a very large and diverse academic medical center?

Setting:

The development took place at the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Library System.

Method:

The clinical information tool developed is a search box with subject tabs to provide quick access to designated full-text information resources. Each subject tab offers a federated search of a different pool of resources. Search results are organized “on the fly” into meaningful categories using clustering technology and are directly accessible from the results page.

Results:

After more than a year of discussion and planning, a clinical information tool was embedded in the academic medical center''s electronic health record.

Conclusion:

The library successfully developed a clinical information tool, called Clinical-e, for use at the point of care. Future development will refine the tool and evaluate its impact and effectiveness.     

Development of methodologic tools for planning and managing library services. II. Measuring a library's capability for providing documents

A method of measuring a library's capability for providing the documents its users need has been developed. The library is tested with a representative sample of such documents to determine how long would be required for users to obtain these documents. Test results are expressed in terms of a Capability Index, which has a maximal value of 100 only if all the sample documents are found "on shelf." Specific tests employing samples of 300 documents have been developed that are appropriate for academic and for "reservoir" biomedical libraries. Realistic field trials have demonstrated that these two tests are practical to administer and that test results are adequately reproducible. When strict comparability is not important, a library can test itself. In assessing a reservoir library, test results are supplemented by data on its typical processing time for interlibrary loan requests. Currently these tests are being used in a national survey. The general method is applicable to other types of libraries, provided appropriate test samples are established. If their limitations are clearly understood, these "Document Delivery Tests" can be valuable tools for planning and managing library services.     

Developing of methodologic tools for planning and managing library services: 3. Standardized inventories of library services

A standardized procedure was developed for eliciting those details of a library's service policies that are important to its users and for recording the data by checking appropriate categories on a form. This inventory procedure covers the entire spectrum of user services and accommodates a wide range of policies. The inventory was originally designed for use by trained interviewers in largescale surveys of academic medical libraries. However, it is also suitable for other kinds of libraries, and the Interview Guide and Checklist can be used for a self-survey by library staff. In addition to survey use, the inventory has a variety of educational, administrative, managerial, and research applications. A method for weighting the categorical inventory data to reflect the relative desirability of different policies makes it possible to calculate scores indicating how a library's policies compare with those of an "optimal" library. An analogous inventory of the services a library provides to other libraries was developed for surveying major backup resources in the medical library system.     

The development and evaluation of a small ready-reference library collection for a rural practice: a case study.

A demonstration core collection of twenty-four ready-reference sources and five journals was selected cooperatively by a solo practitioner in rural Menifee County, Kentucky, and the University of Kentucky Medical Center Library Field Librarian to fit the ready-reference and current awareness information needs of a primary care solo rural practice in eastern Kentucky. The collection selections were systematically assessed by the physician to determine their utility in filling the practitioner's information needs with regard to his particular situation in terms of medical experience and level of training, available library and educational resources, and the type of health problems seen in his practice. This assessment showed that the Rural Demonstration Library Collection completely filled the information needs of the physician 66% of the time materials were consulted and filled his immediate information needs either completely or partially 82% of the time the collection was searched. This demonstration has shown that, under a specific set of circumstances, a librarian and a solo rural practitioner can effectively work together in identifying health sciences materials which fit the information needs of a solo rural practitioner. It suggests that cooperation between a librarian and a physician is important in meeting information needs.     

Utilizing syllabi to support access services and beyond: A case study

New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Library receives copies of all course syllabi to provide a number of services to faculty and students related to acquisitions, access, collection development, subject liaison, and library instruction. Access services and acquisitions staff, as well as subject liaison librarians, work together using specific workflows to ensure that subject-relevant materials are selected and purchased on an ongoing basis and access needs are met by course reserves or the learning management system. Additionally, the library works closely with the NYUAD Bookstore, which also receives textbook orders, to ensure that students have access to all required and supplementary materials on the first day of classes.     

The college textbook as a tool for collection evaluation,analysis, and retrospective collection development

The search for effective methods of predicting book and journal use has been a central concern of acquisitions librarians. This paper suggests the application of citation analysis to the college textbook as a means of evaluating, analyzing, and developing book collections in small and medium sized academic libraries. Arguments for the relevance of textbook citations are presented, and a study of the references found in 25 texts in five separate disciplines indicates that the titles cited go far beyond basic checklists in number and depth and that many of these titles will not be included in smaller academic library collections developed according to traditional methods.