Education for the Dual Role Responsibilities of an Access Services Librarian

The change in attitude from acquisition to access requires a new kind of librarian. What are the skills needed by "access librarians?" What kind of leadership role will they play in library service? Are libraries ready for these changes? How can library-schools make a curriculum out of the skills needed for access and leadership? If properly prepared, new visions of access will come from librarians to lead the field into the twenty-first century.     

Building a bioinformatics community of practice through library education programs

This paper addresses the following questions:What makes the community of practice concept an intriguing framework for developing library services for bioinformatics? What is the campus context and setting? What has been the Health Sciences Library's role in bioinformatics at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill? What are the Health Sciences Library's goals? What services are currently offered? How will these services be evaluated and developed? How can libraries demonstrate their value? Providing library services for an emerging community such as bioinformatics and computational biology presents special challenges for libraries including understanding needs, defining and communicating the library's role, building relationships within the community, preparing staff, and securing funding. Like many academic health sciences libraries, the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill Health Sciences Library is addressing these challenges in the context of its overall mission and goals.     

The Books Are Shelf-Ready; Are You?

Over the past 2 years, shelf-ready services, the outsourcing of cataloging and processing services, has become the hot topic in the library world. This article examines the implications of shelf-ready service, both operationally and organizationally, for both library and vendor. Using the format of a dialog between librarian and vendor, the article discusses the following questions: Why are you interested in contracting for (or providing) these services? What do you hope to gain? What are the stumbling blocks to implementing a shelf-ready program? What is the impact on workflow and staffing in your organization? How many and what kinds of jobs are affected? How do library/vendor responsibilities change when shelf-ready procedures are applied to an approval plan … to firm orders … to standing orders? How can quality control be assured? Which errors really matter? Are the same standards applied to vendor staff as to in-house staff? How are standards affected by shelf-ready? How do both library and vendor know when they’re “ready for shelf-ready” in a given situation?     

So what are you going to do with that?: The promises and pitfalls of massive data sets

ABSTRACT

This article takes as its case study the challenge of data sets for text mining, sources that offer tremendous promise for DH methodology but present specific challenges for humanities scholars. These text sets raise a range of issues: What skills do you train humanists to have? What is the library's role in enabling and supporting use of those materials? How do you allocate staff? Who oversees sustainability and data management? By addressing these questions through a specific use case scenario, this article shows how these questions are central to mapping out future directions for a range of library services.     

Electronic Resources (ER) Librarians,Usage Data,and a Changing World

SUMMARY

What factors affect the handling of usage data? What skills does an electronic resources (ER) librarian need to work with usage data? How do they solve problems innovatively and contribute to the library's efforts to deliver digital information? First and foremost, ER librarians need a firm understanding of the libraries in which they work and what innovations or adaptations are appropriate. There are no true answers to the question of how to handle usage data, which leaves the field open for innovation and customization.     

Digital Scholarship Librarian: What Skills and Competences are Needed to be a Collaborative Librarian

Recently a partnership between digital humanities and digital libraries is being forged, coagulating in a demand for digital humanities centers within academic libraries and an increase in the call for “Digital Scholarship Librarians.” What skills and competences are necessary for librarians to fulfill this new role? and What training allows them to develop these skills? The paper examines the collaborative role of the digital scholarship librarian, what this new role entails and what it means to bring the two areas of practice together. After examining current literature and job applications surrounding this role, the skills needed to fill this role are identified in a case study of a digital humanities project which operated on the collaborative model with digital librarians, together making use of digital methods to answer questions specific to its field. The final section proposes a training agenda by matching current opportunities with the new skill which librarians interested in digital scholarship need to develop.     

数字图书馆建设中的信息无障碍

北京残奥会的成功举办,让“信息无障碍”的理念广为人知。什么是信息无障碍,信息无障碍在我国的发展历程如何,而作为具有社会教育职能的图书馆如何在这片新领地中抢占先机,让残疾人也能够平等享受这个社会所带来的物质精神文明。     

Knowledge and skills for the digital era academic library

Technology has altered the traditional academic library beyond recognition. These dramatic changes have impacted significantly on the knowledge and skills requirements for LIS professionals practising in this environment. While there have been studies in other parts of the world which have investigated the knowledge and skills requirements for the digital era academic library environment, to date no comprehensive study has ‘drilled’ down into this area in the South African context. This paper reports on a preliminary study which is part of a wider study aimed at developing a comprehensive skills statement which would provide an objective framework against which professional LIS practitioners in the modern academic library environment in South Africa may both measure their existing competencies and also identify the need for further skills acquisition. The research question guiding this preliminary investigation was: What key knowledge and skills are required for LIS professionals to effectively and efficiently practise in a digital era academic library in South Africa? The triangulated findings (using content analysis of job advertisements and semi-structured interviews) from this preliminary investigation are used to ascertain an initial picture of key knowledge and skills sets required for LIS professionals in this environment. These preliminary findings also proved useful in teasing out some of the parameters for the wider study targeting the development of a comprehensive skills statement for higher education libraries in South Africa. The study reported here has relevance for the academic library context in other parts of the world as well.     

Library Value in the Classroom: Assessing Student Learning Outcomes from Instruction and Collections

What is the value of library services and resources in the college classroom? How do library instruction and collections contribute to academic teaching and learning outcomes? A chemistry instructor, instruction librarian, and technical services librarian collaborated to answer these questions by combining chemistry education and information literacy pedagogy to assess student learning. The authors developed curriculum units that teach information literacy skills and scientific literature research in a General Chemistry Laboratory course for Honors students. Their study extends beyond examining library instruction and collections assessment in isolation. Rather, their research protocol intends to contribute to student learning outcomes assessment research. The authors propose that an embedded, mixed-methodology, and longitudinal approach can be used to collect data and assess outcomes in terms that describe and measure the value of library services and resources.     

数字信息长期保存技术策略研究

随着数字化、网络化的发展,数字信息已成为图书馆重要的信息资源。如何采取科学、合理的措施,长期保存数字信息,更好地服务读者,是图书馆界必须认真研究的问题。在概述数字信息长期保存含义的基础上,分析了影响数字信息长期保存的因素,提出了数字信息长期保存的技术策略。     

为经济建设服务是我国图书馆的永恒主题

为经济建设服务是我国图书馆的永恒主题赵成山Ａｂｓｔｒａｃｔ：Ｕｎｄｅｒｔｈｅｐｒｅｓｅｎｔｍａｒｋｅｔｅｃｏｎｏｍｉｃｓｙｓｔｅｍ，ｔｈｅｒｅａｒｅａｓｅｒｉｅｓｏｆｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎｓｎｅｅｄｅｄｔｏａｎｓｗｅｒｆｏｒｌｉｂｒａｒｉｅｓｔｏｓｅｒｖｅ...     

Freshman Overconfidence and Library Research Skills: A Troubling Relationship?

This study focuses on the relationship between freshman college students’ self-reported confidence level in library research and their actual library research skills. A demographic survey and skills test were administered to 377 freshmen at East Carolina University in their first-semester English composition classes. The article addresses two research questions: What is the correlation between freshman students’ self-reported confidence level and tested skills? Do other factors such as age, gender, high school grades, or previous library instruction have an impact on students’ confidence level or skills? Results examine implications for library instruction.     

欧盟研究型图书馆数字保存认知与实践的差距分析

数字保存的认知差距分析指标包括保存原因、保存重要性、保存威胁、资金保障、保存系统性能、机构库构建。数字保存的实践差距分析指标包括保存策略实施,数字资源收集、处理、存储与访问,数字保存的管理与用户服务。通过整体差距分析发现,目前研究型图书馆的数字保存总体差距处于中等水平,认知差距较小,实践差距较大。通过条件差距分析发现,保存的数字资源规模越大,差距越小;人力资源配置越合理,差距越小;保存系统的未来扩展性越强,差距也越小。基于差距分析,认为缩小差距的方法包括:制定数字保存的质量保证标准,建立数字保存的经济评价方法,合理配备所需员工的数量和技能,构建具有良好扩展性的数字保存系统。     

Teaching in the Information Age:

As students grapple with new and often confusing information technologies, librarians must be able to adapt their teaching methods to address student anxieties, while simultaneously enhancing student learning. The development of activities which allow students to both confront and think critically about new material and concepts is one way to accomplish this. This article considers student apprehension when encountering new information technologies (CD-ROM technology in particular) and proposes a variety of active learning exercises within the framework of four questions that Abigail Loumis and Deborah Fink ("Instruction: Gateway to the Virtual Library," in The Virtual Library: Visions and Realities, ed. Laverna M. Saunders, Westport, CT: Meckler, 1993, p. 48) suggest researchers in the virtual library should be taught when learning how to search electronic sources: (1) Where am I? (2) How do I do it? (3) What am I trying to do? (4) What do I do with it? The use of student journals as an effective tool for gauging student learning and encouraging critical thinking is also detailed.     

图书馆数字资源管理系统设计与实现——以北京师范大学图书馆为例

图书馆数字资源的增加，带来了诸多方面的管理困难。如何向用户揭示资源以及如何使资源得到有效的利用，成为图书馆必须面对的问题。本文介绍了我馆在解决数字资源的揭示与管理方面的一些认识，以及数字资源管理平台系统的设计思路和开发体会。并分析了现有系统的不足，文章最后给出了对数字资源管理模式和系统框架的理想状况的描述。     

More human than human? Artificial intelligence in the archive

ABSTRACT

Not a day appears to go by without breaking news of some Artificial Intelligence (AI) advance that seemingly has the potential to transform our lives. As recordkeeping professionals, we can very well ask, ‘What about us?’ Where is the AI or automation to help us with our classification, appraisal and disposal work? If we are to meet the challenges of managing records in the digital age, such technology – together with appropriate skills and knowledge – will be necessary. How can AI automate our digital recordkeeping and archive work? In this article, the authors provide a snapshot of the practice of AI in Australian recordkeeping. What is the reality versus the hype of such technology, and what is actually being done now? In answering these questions, they first provide a brief introduction into AI techniques and their characteristics in relation to recordkeeping work. They then introduce four case studies from Australian archival and government institutions that have embarked on AI initiatives. In each case, they provide an overview of the project in terms of requirements, activities to date, outcomes and futures. The article concludes with a discussion of the lessons learnt, issues and implications of AI in the archive.     

80年代以来图书馆为科研、为生产服务的进展与展望

In all respects of the scope, content, mode, etc. of library services to scientific research and industrial production during the eighties, there were fairly marked breakthroughs and innovations. Some of the following new questions were raised, demanding for a research work conducted in terms of theory:How can the reader services participate positively but prudently in the activities of scientific research and industrial production? How can the functions of reader services be extended and developed? How can the functions of reader services be extended and developed?How should be relations between the basic services and the newly developed services be dealt with?What changes might take place in the nature,effects and functions of libraries?It is quite possible to cause a revolution in the theory of library science if we reconsider the above-mentioned questions.     

Reference Staffing

Abstract

In spring 2006, 404 medium-sized academic libraries participated in a survey to determine their reference-staffing practices. A medium-sized academic library is one affiliated with a bachelor's degree granting institution where the FTE enrollment is 3,000-9,999. Libraries reported their type of service model, number of questions asked, number of staff, variety of service points, types of staff utilized, hours and other factors used to make staffing decisions.

What are the staffing practices in reference departments at medium-sized academic libraries? How many reference and non-reference librarians are scheduled to work at reference service points? How many questions are typically asked during a week? Are students or support staff utilized? What type of model is most prevalent-one central desk with one librarian, several distributed desks with one or more staff members, a tiered service model or something else? What factors do reference managers consider when determining the hours and types of staff scheduled? These questions, and more, are explored in this report.     

Nineteenth-Century Journalism Online—The Market Versus Academia?

In a climate of fear about funding for libraries and the arts, the preservation of many periodicals and newspapers is under threat. Digitisation is therefore justifiable as a conservation directive however what of those volumes that are not chosen? Are we creating an alternative version of Victorian culture through so selective a gaze? Indeed, who is choosing these titles? There is a question of access, both of what material is available to digitise and also what it is perceived ‘the audience’ want. However, a further question is raised—who are ‘the audience’? What are these archives going to be used for? This article will examine the different forms of nineteenth-century periodical and newspaper archives that are available, how they are organised and who their perceived audience is, before going on to consider the pedagogical utility of such sites. How can we enhance students' understanding of nineteenth-century culture by using these archives in our lecture theatres? And if we do, what are the implications for research in the future?     

Data-Driven Decision Making in Electronic Collection Development

ABSTRACT

As budgets have tightened, library administrators are looking for more data to help them in making difficult collections decisions. They then often provide these data to higher-level administrators outside the library. When collecting library data, several questions come to mind: Who collects the data? What kinds of data exist? When are data collected? Where does the responsibility of data collection reside? How are data collected and interpreted? In this article, the author aims to address all these questions so as to give the reader a sense of direction in how these data can be applied to drive collections and collection-development policy.