Library and information science literature: Research results

This paper reports the findings of a study on library fundraising in Pakistan. The review of literature revealed that no formal survey on this topic was carried out before. However, general library literature in the country mentioned the examples of donations and gifts received in libraries. An opinion survey of selected experts in the field of library and information science from various cities was conducted. Their interviews were also audio-recorded. The library leaders showed their opinions on the importance of various fundraising activities. A SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) of Pakistani libraries was also conducted. The respondents also expressed their opinions about which institution/group should start the process of library fundraising. According to respondents “there is a potential for library fundraising” in Pakistani society. The paper stresses that Pakistani librarians should be made aware of the importance and methods of seeking private money to improve their services.     

Succession Planning for Library Instruction

Detailed succession planning helps libraries pass information from one employee to the next. This is crucial in preparing for hiring, turnover, retirements, training of graduate teaching assistants in academic libraries, and other common situations. The authors of this article discuss succession planning for instruction programs in academic libraries. They provide strategies and tools for use and adaptation.     

美国“图书馆之友”募资活动的成效与启示

“图书馆之友”是图书馆争取社会援助,缓解经费紧张的有力组织。本文通过文献调研和案例分析,对美国“图书馆之友”的募资活动进行了研究,在此基础上设立了一个比较完善的“图书馆之友”募资活动的基本流程,从中总结出其募资的特点、成功举办的条件和存在的问题,并分别从宏观、中观、微观三个层次提出改善“图书馆之友”募资活动的具体措施。     

Creating Access to Oral Histories in Academic Libraries

Oral histories, a common form of documenting the past, are found in the collections of many academic libraries. As evidenced by a study of Georgia academic libraries conducted in 2007, no standard procedure exists to coordinate access to these materials. Establishing policies and procedures for collecting, acquiring, managing, and providing access to oral histories can greatly enhance their value and usability. Drawing on examples from the program instituted at Columbus State University (CSU), this article outlines a practical strategy that academic libraries, particularly small or medium-sized libraries, can follow as a guideline to ensure that oral histories are made available to the public. This article also raises awareness of the problems inherent in managing access to oral histories and presents some solutions to these problems in an effort to increase standardization among libraries.     

论高校图书馆系统的效益评价

指出图书馆系统的效益评价是图书馆工作科学化、计量化的基础和保证;阐述高校图书馆系统效益评价的概念及意义;论述图书馆系统效益评价的可能性和必要性;分析当前图书馆系统的效益评价模式;结合高校图书馆建筑和设备的投入成本和产出效益对图书馆系统的效益结构进行初步探索。     

Evaluating Academic Library Outreach to Determine Return on Investment for Student Success

Campus outreach is a key part of an academic library’s service mission. However, the literature demonstrates a lack of assessment around library outreach, particularly from an institution-wide or programmatic perspective. The University of Houston Libraries assembled a team to evaluate return on investment for the Libraries outreach activities in service of meeting student success goals. This article shares the methodology, results, and recommendations made as a result of this project, with implications for outreach programs at other academic libraries.     

Digital reference service: trends in academic health science libraries

Two years after the initial 2002 study, a greater number of academic health science libraries are offering digital reference chat services, and this number appears poised to grow in the coming years. This 2004 follow-up study found that 36 (27%) of the academic health science libraries examined provide digital chat reference services; this was an approximately 6% increase over the 25 libraries (21%) located in 2002. Trends in digital reference services in academic health science libraries were derived from the exploration of academic health science library Web sites and from digital correspondence with academic health science library personnel using e-mail and chat. This article presents an overview of the current state of digital reference service in academic health science libraries.     

Welcoming Spaces: Supporting Parenting Students at the Academic Library

Academic libraries serve many student constituents, but one often overlooked group is students who are parenting children. Students who, by necessity or volition, bring their children with them to the library have specific needs. Serving these students, who often have difficulty succeeding and graduating at college, should be a priority for academic libraries. Offering assistance can help this group focus on their studies, achieve their academic goals, and thus decrease universities' attrition rates. This article begins by drawing on anecdotal evidence, then reviews existing literature on parenting students. Next, it examines and analyzes policies on children in academic libraries at large American universities. Half of all academic libraries don't have clearly accessible policies, and some have policies that discourage bringing supervised children to libraries, while a few have welcoming policies and facilities. This research shows that academic libraries can still make progress to serve a key constituency. Finally, it offers solutions for how academic libraries can serve parenting students, given varying spatial and financial constraints, as well as diffusing potential concerns that might hold academic libraries back from serving this part of the academic community. This analysis could be supplemented by further inquiry and interviews with libraries on how their policies were developed and are being implemented or with parenting students on what they desire and need from the academic library.     

The National Forum on Information Literacy,Inc. http://infolit.org

The purpose of this column is to highlight information literacy activities that are occurring in organizations and institutions outside of libraries. Academic libraries have done much to advance information literacy in postsecondary institutions. Yet, much activity is also occurring outside of academic libraries in relation to information literacy. This column will feature some of those organizations and activities so that academic librarians may share information with them and develop new partnerships that will further advance the goals of information literacy.     

高校图书馆数字资源的使用成效--对中山大学研究生样本的观察

随着数字资源建设投入的持续增长,高校图书馆需要明确、客观有力的事实和数据证明其数字资源建设对学校长期战略目标的支持。文章通过文献调研梳理图书馆数字资源使用成效评估的相关问题,从学业成就、学术成就、信息素养能力与职业能力等4个方面构建研究生视角下的高校图书馆数字资源使用成效评估维度,探究研究生图书馆数字资源使用频率与其使用成效之间的关联。来自中山大学研究生样本的观察表明:研究生的数字资源使用频率与其使用成效各维度间均存在显著的正相关关系;硕士研究生、博士研究生在图书馆数字资源使用成效上存在显著性差异;图书馆数字资源的使用成效受到学科影响。面向不同类型用户,高校图书馆数字资源使用成效具有多种表现形式,需要从定性与定量角度,综合采用多种方法加以描述和测评。高校图书馆还应关注影响研究生对图书馆数字资源使用成效的感知与体验的因素,并围绕这些因素改进数字资源的建设与服务质量,进一步促进数字资源价值的实现。     

天津高校数字化图书馆联盟投资效益分析的几个问题

介绍有关图书馆效绩评估的理论和实践,讨论电子出版物的大量使用为图书馆统计分析带来的新问题。重点分析天津高校在应用联合图书馆系统、电子资源建设、中文图书库本建设、服务体系建设及工作人员能力培养五方面的投资效益。探讨电子资源的投入产出,提出在电子资源拥有量、使用率和论文出产率之间存在着正相关关系。     

Digital services in academic libraries: present and future

Abstract

With the development of digital technologies, academic libraries tend to prove a broad scale of digital services for faculty members and students. This column describes challenges for some common digital services in academic libraries and suggests potential collaborating strategies that might enhance the promotion of such services.     

Academic Libraries and Copyright: Unveiling Inadequacies of Current Law Through the Analysis of Processes Included in Quality Management Systems

Most information resources that make up university library collections are copyrighted works, which means that conflicts between such rights and the activities of libraries are common. The development of the digital setting has affected both sectors. On the one hand, it has led to changes in copyright legislation; on the other, it has affected the services provided by libraries, as they adapt to the new needs of users and to the characteristics of digital information. This paper aims to discover where the main points of collision between the two sides lie, and to what extent they are adequately resolved by the present legislation governing copyright. To this end we use a list of the main processes of academic libraries taken from quality manuals of a sample of Spanish university libraries. The results make manifest that the evolution of both sides is not yet balanced, and important maladjustments interfere with an adequate provision of services in academic libraries. Some are resolved through new legal proposals, but for many others there is no proper solution in sight.     

Prevailing Practices for Libraries on MySpace

Abstract

This paper is a study of academic libraries with sites at MySpace. From a selection of academic libraries with MySpace sites, the author brings to light the most common types of information and styles used to attract and inform patrons.     

“游学阅读”:图书馆体验式阅读模式再造——以沈阳师范大学“I-Share暑期游学阅读”活动为例

[目的/意义] 以沈阳师范大学图书馆开展的"暑期游学阅读"活动为例,构建高校图书馆体验式阅读推广新模式。[方法/过程] 调研高校图书馆体验式阅读推广现状,从活动方案、活动流程、激励措施和活动成效等方面详细介绍沈阳师范大学图书馆首期"I-Share暑期游学阅读"活动。在总结活动经验和得失的基础上,提出游学阅读推广活动的几点思考。[结果/结论] 游学阅读推广方式更为立体、互动性更强,是假期阅读推广的有效手段,是体验式阅读推广的新模式。     

美《图书馆杂志》2003年度公众购书调查与业务拓展对策

美国《图书馆杂志》2003年对公共图书馆购书情况进行了调查，结果表明，购书的品种、方式和经费预算都发生了变化，图书馆流通由纸质图书的借阅逐渐转向了E-book借阅，客户在家就能接受图书馆的远程在线服务。充分显示了数字化时代图书馆的优越性。     

高校图书馆卓越绩效评价研究

文章剖析了当前我国高校图书馆评估体系的主要问题,指出高校图书馆必须尽快从对"量"的关注转变为对"质"的重视上来;探微了卓越绩效对高校图书馆评估的价值,尝试在高校图书馆评估中按"卓越绩效评价准则"导入卓越绩效评价模式,构建一种更加实用的高校图书馆卓越绩效评估体系,并培育起"崇尚质量、追求卓越"的高校图书馆质量文化和行业精神。     

Fostering entrepreneurship in Omani academic libraries: Examining the present and pioneering future opportunities

This study evaluated the entrepreneurial culture in Omani university libraries and analyzed the benefits and difficulties that come with it. The main aims was to examine the resources and guidance offered by these libraries for creating an entrepreneurial culture as well as the perceived challenges faced by library staff and students. The study also tried to identify effective programs and top practices from other academic libraries that might be applied to the Omani context.A combination of semi-structured interviews with staff members from five libraries and surveys given to students in 10 libraries were used to accomplish these goals. The results of this study showed that the Sultanate of Oman's academic libraries actively support entrepreneurial culture and are aware of their potential as centres for its diffusion. They do, however, face challenges, such as a dearth of competent workers in the field of business and a lack of pertinent collections to support the entrepreneurial culture. The study also emphasized the need for Omani academic libraries to improve the services they offer in the area of entrepreneurship and spread knowledge of its significance, particularly in light of the nation's sustainable development aspirations.By contributing to understanding entrepreneurial culture within the context of Omani academic libraries, this research provides valuable insights for library professionals, educators, and researchers. It identifies current challenges and opportunities and shares successful initiatives from other academic libraries, emphasizing the significance of fostering an entrepreneurial mindset in academic libraries to promote innovation and contribute to the overall advancement of the library industry and information institutions in the Arab world.     

What Does it Take to Make Discovery a Success?: A Survey of Discovery Tool Adoption,Instruction, and Evaluation Among Academic Libraries

Discovery tools have been widely adopted by academic libraries, yet little information exists that connects common practices regarding discovery tool implementation, maintenance, assessment, and staffing with conventions for research and instruction. The authors surveyed heads of reference and instruction departments in research and land-grant university libraries. The survey results revealed common practices with discovery tools among academic libraries. This study also draws connections between operational, instructional, and assessment practices and perceptions that participants have of the success of their discovery tool. Participants who indicated successful implementation of their discovery tool hailed from institutions that made significant commitments to the operations, maintenance, and acceptance of their discovery tool. Participants who indicated an unsuccessful implementation, or who were unsure about the success of their implementation, did not make lasting commitments to the technical maintenance, operations, and acceptance of their discovery tool.     

Academic Library Leadership in South West Nigeria and Recession: An Exploratory Study

ABSTRACT

Academic libraries in developing countries are underfunded and require transformational leadership to manage the resultant changes and ensure organizational effectiveness. This study attempts to identify the prevalent leadership styles in academic libraries in South West Nigeria using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. The study reflected that the library managers portrayed mostly a mix of transformational and transactional leadership styles. The library budget, equipment, and acquisition were most affected by recession. The library leaders preferred a mixture of investment and retrenchment (cost controlling) strategies to cope with recession. Leadership assessment using transformational model for coaching and recruitment is recommended for libraries.