COUNTER Release 5: What’s New and What It Means to Libraries

A new release of the COUNTER Code of Practice, Release 5 (R5), was recently published and becomes the standard that publishers and content providers must comply with when they deliver the January 2019 usage data to their customers. This article provides an overview of what’s new in R5, draws some comparisons to the previous code of practice, and discusses the implications for librarians.     

Academic Libraries: “Social” or “Communal?” The Nature and Future of Academic Libraries

The apparent death of academic libraries, as measured by declining circulation of print materials, reduced use of reference services, and falling gate counts, has led to calls for a more “social” approach to academic libraries: installing cafés, expanding group study spaces, and developing “information commons.” This study compares these social models with the traditional academic library, whose spirit is best understood as “communal.” It argues that this communal spirit is unique and greatly valued by academic library users. Efforts to create a more social academic library threaten this communal spirit and may do more harm than good.     

The “Big Deal”: A Survey of How Libraries Are Responding and What the Alternatives Are

The library's mission is to support the information and educational needs of its users. E-journal “Big Deals” offer libraries one method of maximizing the resources available to their users, but, with libraries now experiencing flat or decreasing budgets, these Big Deals present budgetary difficulties for libraries. They also remove collection development decisions from the control of the libraries themselves. Some libraries have canceled their Big Deals, resulting in problems. This article presents the results of an online survey of libraries regarding these bundled journal packages.     

Libraries and Consortia: What Will Libraries Pay For?

This article discusses affordability of member dues in library consortia and what services consortia can provide to increase their value to libraries.     

The Future of Public Libraries—Anything Is Possible

This essay is about how libraries have changed and are changing in their intent and the services they provide as they respond to transformations in technology, work, and the purposes of education. Libraries have moved from emphasizing the importance of reading, which is still a given, to programming and offering services that help citizens find new work rules filled with creativity and collaboration. The Dokk1 library in Arhus, Denmark, and the author’s own Anythink Libraries are examples of institutions that have made huge strides in the development of the new public library that meets the needs of its citizens amid the complexities of new or substantially redefined terms for happiness and success.     

The Public Library and the Problem of Hospital Libraries for Patients–The Case of Israel

ABSTRACT

Providing information to the health consumer is one of the main tasks of our modern information society. This information falls into two categories: medical information, and supportive information such as literature and poetry. This article discusses the problematic situation of libraries and of information for patients in Israeli hospitals, and raises the question of the public library being a possible solution to help people in need get the information they are entitled to. The conclusions are based on a survey conducted in 1994. The results are rather disappointing: only 26.3% of the hospitals have library services for patients; most of them are managed by volunteers who have no training in professional librarianship. Also, in terms of book acquisition policy, library activities, and criteria for lending books, most of the results indicate that much needs to be done to improve the situation and help the health consumer receive information and support through the library. As it is clear that the situation in hospitals is not going to change in the near future, it is suggested that the public library serve as a helping resource outside the hospital and by that action it would not only contribute to society but expand its functions and strengthen its position in the community.     

“What Is Bought Is Cheaper Than a Gift”: The Hidden Burdens of Gifts-in-Kind and Policies to Help

Abstract

Accepting donations has been a fundamental aspect of librarianship for years. The world’s greatest collections, from Carnegie Libraries to the Library of Congress, have been built by the generosity of others. Yet, in the modern era, gifts-in-kind are offered more democratically and come with mixed quality. This has led to a shift in how libraries look at gifts-in-kind as often more burdensome than genuinely helpful. This is because gifts come with costs to the library that donors fail to consider, and some gifts are offered with ulterior motives. To navigate these burdens and still encourage a generous public, libraries must have a clear written gift policy to ease stresses and anxieties on both the donor and the institution. In the case of academic law libraries, they often don’t share the exact experience of other libraries; however, they face some of the same challenges and require a written gift policy all the same. Examining the gift policies of other law libraries can establish a framework of essential elements when establishing a new gift policy at an institution.     

“It Takes a Village”: On UX Librarianship and Building UX Capacity in Libraries

With growing interest in applying user experience (UX) methods to improve library interfaces, spaces, and services, it is critical to gain a deeper understanding of the organizational factors influencing libraries' adoption and incorporation of UX expertise. This article reports the results of semi-structured interviews with 16 UX librarians and focuses on how the positions were created, the benefits they have brought to their library, their biggest challenges, and the extent that their work is understood throughout the library. The article concludes with a preliminary model of library UX maturity and six critical directions for the future of UX librarianship.