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.     

From scraps to reams to mobile screens? An update on printing services in academic libraries

As a follow-up to their 2001/2002 study on printing services in academic libraries, the authors explore how the provision of printing services has changed over the last twelve years. This article explores how libraries are choosing to fund printing services as well as how technology, such as scanning and mobile devices, has changed the way printing services are provided. The results of the 2013 survey find a greater percentage of libraries are using a fee-based system for printing, and, while some technology is providing greater data and control for printing services, other technological advances are having unintended consequences for libraries’ printing infrastructure.     

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.     

Impact and Implications of a Library-Use Integrated Education Program

The reactions to a Graduate Council recommendation for the removal of professional librarians from scheduled duty at the reference desks are reported and the effects of its implementation on reference-related activities, such as bibliographic instruction, are explored. The genesis and development of a pilot program of course-integrated bibliographic instruction for the College of Education at Brigham Young University are described as is the impact the program has already had on the library. Plans for future directions of the program are discussed and the implications for the library are considered.     

Second Life: A Tool for Reference and International Understanding

The challenges that virtual reference staff volunteers in Second Life (SL) are facing are opportunities at the same time. There are a lot of differences between doing reference work in Real Life (RL) and in SL, but for the most part reference work in-world is quite the same as in the daily life of any reference specialist. In essence, that is. Of course new skills are needed, but this is just for now. In the end, working at a virtual reference desk, especially as one member on a team of international pioneers, is as exciting as it is new!     

e-Learning Object Portals: a new resource that offers new opportunities for librarians

e-Learning Object Portals are emerging as a new form of electronic information. Four portals most effective in providing health care information are identified: The Medical Library Association's Center of Research and Education (CORE), the Health Education Assets Library (HEAL), the American Academy of Medical College's MedEDPortal, and the Multimedia Education Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT). Various user groups such as librarians, educators, and students are discussed, as well as their reasons for using e-learning object portals. New roles for librarians in promoting and developing these portals are also reviewed.     

The development of information-education materials for systems of distance learning: “Protection of Intellectual Property,” an example of a course of study

The existing open-source object-oriented systems that can be used as an environment to upload and to store information-educational resources for distance learning (open-source LMS\LCMS: ATutor, Claroline, Dokeos, Sakai, and Moodle), are analyzed. The use of Moodle (a Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) as the environment for the learning portal of the Mendeleyev University of Chemical Technology of Russia () is justified. The capabilities of Moodle with regard to the development of information-educational resources are explored and educational materials are elaborated for a course of study, viz., “Protection of Intellectual Property,” e.g., theoretical materials, seminar and colloquia exercises, tests for interim and final control of student’s knowledge level, as well as the elements of a learning process management system for a course of study.     

Use and Management of a Hard Disk in the Reference Department

The intention of this article is to provide a summary of practical tips and useful guidelines on how to proceed when first using a hard disk. The basic setup of a hard disk drive is reviewed and examples for use in a medical reference department are given. A discussion of IBM's Fixed Disk Organizer program serves as an example in organizing the hard disk into subdirectories and utilizing various application programs such as word processors, spread sheets, graphics packages, communications software, and tutorials. Options for hard disk backup are included as well as an appendix that summarizes a number of DOS commands which are useful for managing files on the hard disk.     

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.     

Rummaging through dustbooks: An analysis of independent small presses

Conclusion Small presses are a colorful and wildly variegated lot. They offer materials on every imaginable topic to suit almost any taste and are springing up in towns and hamlets all over the country. New presses are being founded at a furious rate, though their ability to survive is as yet unknown. Clearly, many presses exist for other than purely commercial reasons. Our analysis suggests that only about a sixth of the 1700-odd publishers for which we have data are serious commercial enterprises; well over half, perhaps as many as two-thirds of them, exist for other reasons—personal interests, hobbies, or special causes.     

Finding the Natural Interface: Graduate and Public Education at One University Natural History Museum

University natural history museums are much like their public museum counterparts, yet they differ in some important ways including how they are funded and staffed and how they serve their parent institutions. These circumstances provide some unique opportunities for university‐based natural history museums but they also present challenges, especially for their public education goals. While there are surely a variety of creative solutions for resolving these dilemmas, this article explores how the graduate program at the University of Colorado Museum may be seen as an example serving as an interface between diverse facets of the Museum and its several audiences and constituencies. The usefulness of the program as a model and as a means of training and nurturing future museum professionals is discussed.     

Local publications

The notable documents for 1994/1995 reflect a growing local concern for safety and for crime of all types—domestic violence, hate crimes, prostitution, etc.—as well as a continuing interest in health care, poverty, housing, and disaster planning for the nation. Increasingly, municipal governments are seeking creative ways, such as privatization, tax reactivation, and tourism to raise revenues for improving needed social services for the disadvantaged, and maintaining basic core services. Significantly, many local governments are increasingly contracting out for research, calling upon private companies and university researchers to gather data and information needed for effective planning rather than relying on in-house researchers and planners. Data at the local level have also been sorely lacking in a number of areas and local governments are seeking alternative ways to obtain needed statistics.The document order numbers for obtaining microfiche copies of the publications listed below are included, when available, as the last element of the citation. Contact the Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., Urban Documents Program, Box 5007, Westport, CT06881-5007, for more information. OCLC numbers, when available, are also provided.     

Making sense of autoimmune and rheumatic disorders at the reference desk

This paper discusses concepts and terminology of some aspects of the autoimmune and rheumatic disorders as related to medical reference work. Details of anatomic, biochemical, and pathologic processes are not discussed. Knowledge of the specific terminology involved in this area may help to ensure a good approach to developing prudent strategies for database searching of the medical literature and, therefore, is reviewed. MeSH thesaurus terms are shown and textword synonyms are presented that provide tools for thorough searching techniques. Commonly used medical jargon as well as older terminology for this area is also explained. Examples of specific search strategies are illustrated.     

Collaborative Batch Creation for Open Access E-Books: A Case Study

When the National Academies Press announced that more than 4,000 electronic books would be made freely available for download, many academic libraries expressed interest in obtaining MARC (Machine Readable Cataloging) records for them. Using cataloging e-mail distribution lists, volunteers were recruited for a project to identify and upgrade bibliographic records for aggregation into a batch that could be easily loaded into catalogs. Project organization, documentation, quality control measures, and problems are described, as well as processes for adding new titles. The project's implications for future efforts are assessed, as are the numerous challenges for network-level cataloging.     

The Problems of Tertiary Publishing in Africa and Implications for Training and Education of Library and Information Professionals

Trainees in the library and information profession in Africa depend on textbooks that are written for an environment other than Africa because of the dearth of textbooks suited to the local environment. There are very few books that attempt to focus on Africa and none of these books can really be used as a basic text for teaching. This has greatly affected the training of library and information professionals in Africa as the trainees are exposed to the situations in Europe, America and Asia which are generally not relevant to the African environment. Several factors have been identified as responsible for the lack of African library and information science textbooks, including the relatively young age of the profession resulting in a low number of professionals in Africa that have the required expertise to write textbooks. The attitude of publishers to tertiary textbooks is another limiting factor, as they are not likely to make a profit given the small number of trainees in the continent. In short, publishers regard such a venture as non-profitable because of the limited market. Another problem is the lack of interest on the part of professional associations in the continent to promote the writing of textbooks. In order to ameliorate these problems, it is recommended that professionals in the continent should participate in team authorship, by drawing from a pool of expertise, with a view to writing relevant textbooks. Also, there is a need for professional associations and the relevant international agencies to promote the publishing of textbooks. Finally, there is a need for retired information professionals in the continent to form a consortium of marketing outfits for the purpose of marketing and distributing textbooks on the African library and information profession throughout Africa.     

Cultural memory and the cultural legacy of individualism and community in two classic films about labor unions

On the Waterfront and Salt of the Earth are read as epideictics for the experiences of directors Elia Kazan and Herbert Biberman testifying before the House Committee on Un-American activities (HUAC). These films are self-conscious studies of the directors' principles in which union struggles serve as the vehicle for narrative analogies that express differing philosophies about a key tension in the American identity–that between individualism and community. Because these films represent the creation of meanings at two different synchronic sites within the culture, they offer opportunities to inspect how their messages are historically and culturally determined and how they are like, or unlike, the cultural memory of our own time. This rhetorical approach to reading cultural memory investigates the diachrony of contexts, requiring the rhetorical critic to act not only as an archaeologist of the moment of production, but also as a historian of the circulation of texts, and as a contemporary social moralist. Such a multi-layered approach is necessary for understanding the different cultural options and cultural force of On the Waterfront and Salt of the Earth.     

Issues with criteria to create blacklists: An epidemiological approach

Screening criteria are a vital part of society, medicine and publishing. In this paper, a new framework, based on epidemiological principles, is developed to assess the effectiveness of criteria that are used to detect predatory behavior, or to assess whether a journal or publisher is predatory, and create blacklists. Applying epidemiological measures such as specificity, sensitivity, prevalence rates, the likelihood ratio, posterior and prior probabilities and odds, as well as Bayesian analysis, we elaborate on the false discovery rate and work towards assessing the likelihood that an entity is in fact predatory when screening criteria are used. We applied the framework to three different prevalence cases: a low prevalence rate where all journals are screened for predatory behavior assuming Jeffrey Beall's criteria are used; a higher rate when only open access journals are assessed; the highest rate where only Walt Crawford grayOA journals were screened for deceptive publishing practices. In all cases, we found a very high false discovery rate even when using reasonable values for the sensitivity and specificity rate for Beall's screening criteria.     

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.     

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.