Is There a Future for Library Catalogers?

Is there a future for the library cataloger? For the past thirty years this debate has increased with the continued growth of online resources and greater access to the World Wide Web. Many are concerned that library administrators believe budgetary resources would be better spent on other matters, leaving library users with an overabundance of electronic information to muddle through on their own. This article focuses on the future of the cataloging profession and its importance to the needs of library patrons.     

Is There a New Bibliography?

Describes the position claiming that the contemporary technological, sociopolitical, and socioeconomic environment gives us pause to consider the core theory and practices of bibliography, combining bibliography of the work (in library and information science), bibliography of the text (in textual studies and scholarly editing), and bibliography of the artifact (in book history and now digital forensics), and calls for collaborative multidisciplinary research at the intersection of these fields to ask, is there a new bibliography?     

Textbook Affordability: Is There a Role for the Library?

Try searching the library catalog, as many students do each semester for the latest version of the textbook being used in a class at many universities and you will likely come up empty-handed. Many academic libraries—due to high prices, frequently issued new editions, and a tendency to go missing from the collection—have justifiably chosen to play only a marginal role in the provision of textbooks on campus. However, the dynamics of the textbook market are changing rapidly and this presentation explored the question: Should libraries reconsider the roles they play in the provision of course materials on campus? This session focused on the issue of affordability in the context of the rapid evolution and increased availability of e-textbooks (electronic versions of textbooks). Topics covered included: an overview of the e-textbook market, purchasing options and outlets for e-textbooks, new business models for institutional access to e-textbooks, potential savings from e-textbook adoptions, information on negotiating with publishers and platform providers, and why the library is well-positioned to play a prominent role in the provision of e-textbooks.     

Is There a Role for the Library in a Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Program?

ABSTRACT

With unique historical resources, academic archives can and should play an active role in support of the teaching and research missions of a college. Not only can archival teaching and collaborative learning teach students the importance of primary resources and how to use them but they also can provide support for the archives. Through partnership with faculty and students, the collaborative research program at Rollins College provides a viable means for enhancing the awareness and use of the unique historical collections, and, therefore, enriching students' appreciation of the liberal arts heritage of the institution while also providing students with a meaningful research experience.     

Is There a Core Literature in Museology?

Abstract While critics have often asserted that museology is underdeveloped as a discipline and lacks a “core literature,” no empirical evidence has been introduced to support this claim. A citation analysis of journal articles and books published over the past several years shows clear evidence that a core literature is in fact evolving in the field. Highly‐productive and influential authors are easily identifiable, as are seminal works that have received large numbers of citations by other authors. The majority of those highly‐cited works belong to the discipline of museology itself, and sizable numbers of influential publications cluster around key unifying themes.     

The Future of Journalism—Who to Believe?

This work collates the opinions of European professionals and internet users concerning the changing reality facing the world of journalism following the explosion of digital media. Our research shows the results of analytical surveys conducted between October 2013 and January 2014 among 54 professionals of renowned prestige, and 500 regular users of the digital media in the five most populated countries in the European Union: Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain, all states affected to a greater or lesser extent by the crisis of the printed press. The surveys cover a wide range of topics, from the impact of social networks, the quality of the digital media, the willingness of citizens to pay for content and the degree of interactivity in the digital media for the future of journalism. Professionals and users agree that the news in 2020 will be better and more interactive than now. With regard to other matters, there is more disagreement. Professionals are much more critical than users when it comes to evaluating the quality of the news. The professionals’ survey was more qualitative, and, in their opinion, overcoming the crisis in the written press implies, among other measures, promoting analysis, prioritising quality over quantity and offering “niche” specialisation.     

Is There a Mentoring Culture Within the LIS Profession?

In library and information science (LIS), mentoring is often viewed as a significant influence on student choices and professional career directions. Most mentoring programs are built around the idea of a ‘seasoned’ or experienced professional working with an individual who is new to the profession. There is a common assumption of the mentoring process being a primarily one-way relationship – with the mentor sharing knowledge with a mentee. However, in our recent research, it is clear that mentoring is often seen as a much more reciprocal relationship. What does this mean for how we, as a profession, should try to create mentoring opportunities?     

What Makes for Great Data Journalism?

This study examines the quality of winners and finalists in major national and international data journalism awards. We completed a content analysis of data projects submitted by Canadian media to three journalism associations—the Online News Association, the Global Editors Network and the Canadian Association of Journalists—as far back as the first award in this category in 2012. Our research addresses how journalists executed what could be considered excellent data journalism. Our findings point to a lack of accepted standards regarding what is considered as excellence. The quality of the projects was limited by two key factors: the use of free online options such as Google Maps that were not easily customizable; and the number of practitioners who worked on the data projects largely within traditional journalism frameworks. The most used visual elements were dynamic maps, graphs and video. With respect to interactivity, all but one of the projects contained an interactive element. The most popular interaction techniques were inspection and filtering, considered entry-level techniques in the field of information visualization. These techniques suggest a need for collaborative interdisciplinary approaches to data journalism, and further study on the implications of tools such as Google Maps on practice.     

Mobile Journalism as Lifestyle Journalism?

Mobile journalism is one of the fastest areas of growth in the modern journalism industry. Yet mobile journalists find themselves in a place of tension, between print, broadcast, and digital journalism and between traditional journalism and lifestyle journalism. Using the lens of field theory, the present study conducted an online survey of mobile journalists (N?=?39) from six countries representing four continents on how they conceive of their journalistic role, and how their work is perceived within the newsroom. Participants were journalists in television, print, magazine, and digital local and national newsrooms. The present study sought to understand how mobile journalists see mobile production as a part of their journalistic role, and what field theory dimensions influence mobile production in their newsrooms. While prior research has established a growing prevalence of lifestyle journalism, the present study finds that the growth of mobile journalism represents the development of lifestyle journalism norms, such as content driven by the audience, within even traditional journalism.     

The Archival and Library Viewpoints of a Collection in a Digital Environment: Is There Any Room for Compromise?

ABSTRACT

This article explores the archivists' and librarians' definition of a collection, and how they respectively arrange their collections in the context of collection development and collection management issues in a digital library. It centers on possible cooperative solutions and highlights, as a case study, the efforts of the Auburn University Digital Projects Committee to meet these challenging collection issues.     

Do Holdings Have a Future?

Summary

Holdings are multipurpose data which libraries use to acquire and control publications, display information to users, and manage physical and sometimes virtual items. This workshop focused on how the various functions interact, what further services librarians will demand from automation of their holdings, and what they can do in the meantime to make their holdings more useful. The workshop gave special attention to the USMARC Format for Holdings Data (MHFD), its features, advantages and difficulties, and its particular role in conveying serials information. It explored possibilities for adapting the format to solve the special problems associated with multiple versions and title changes.     

The Future of the Library: What Is a Public Library For?

The author suggests that libraries have been transformed a third time. Originally, libraries were the only place that valuable, handwritten, rare books could be found. As mass production kicked in post-Gutenberg, the library became an efficient way for the community to access knowledge. Today, though, in a post-paper world, the library must adopt a new role, a place where the community finds ideas, inspiration and others on a similar journey. The librarian is no longer a guardian of valuable books, but a curator of curiosity, passion and interest.     

Do Museum Exhibitions Have a Future?

Abstract A 50‐year retrospective return to the first volume of Curator: The Museum Journal suggests that colleagues half a century ago were vitally aware of the cultural potential of museums, the well‐being of visitors, the need for interpretation and learning, and even the appeal of staying open 24 hours a day. So the more things change, the more they stay the same? The question leads to others: Are exhibitions an obsolete medium? Can museums keep pace with the interactions available elsewhere: virtual games, video arcades, jazz clubs, even a good Chinese restaurant? Is the glass half full of optimism or pessimism?     

Does Access Services Have a Future?

Abstract

Access Services appeared as an organizational unit in libraries relatively recently, in response to some very specific trends in the library environment. Will this organizational model survive as new trends affect libraries in the future? This essay discusses some of the essential features of access services and speculates as to how they will evolve and remain relevant in the future.     

LibGuides and Web-Based Library Guides in Comparison: Is There a Pedagogical Advantage?

This study investigates whether the platform used to deliver a tutorial matters in online information literacy instruction and assesses the overall quality of an information literacy tutorial assignment given to an undergraduate survey class. The study asks whether there is any pedagogical advantage between information literacy tutorials created in the LibGuides library guide creation software and tutorials created as Web pages. This research question is relevant to current studies of online information literacy tutorials, particularly given the increasingly dominant but under-researched position of LibGuides in the academic library world for delivering guides and tutorials. Two separate groups of students completed LibGuides and Web page versions of the same information literacy tutorial assignment in a university undergraduate communication course. Survey results of these 89 students indicated that both the LibGuides and Web page platforms deliver online instruction content effectively and achieve learning objectives almost equally well. Results also indicated content areas within the assignment that could be strengthened.     

Fishing for Future Ratings: Can a New Documentary Initiative Save CNN?

After the ratings success of the documentary film, Blackfish, CNN launched a new documentary initiative branded as CNN Films. Looking back at the history of the documentary genre on broadcast and cable/satellite television, one can see that the medium has had a troubled past in terms of ratings generation, although there have been notable exceptions. Unfortunately for documentary enthusiasts, a number of channels that once embraced documentary programming have since abandoned the genre and replaced it with nonfiction reality shows. Incorporating expectancy-value theory, one can assess that in order for a documentary initiative to be a successful ratings generator, the content must build a high amount of expectation among viewers and deliver a high amount of value. But it has been quite difficult for programming executives to successfully predict which documentaries will generate the solid ratings they seek. Given these factors, this article argues that the CNN Films push is a risky move by CNN President Jeff Zucker, and it is doubtful that the strategy can deliver the ratings surge the embattled network needs to beat its competition.     

What is Slow Journalism?

In an era of fast and instantaneous journalism and concerns about the deleterious effects of speed, it can be easy to lose sight of the other kinds of journalism being practiced, other temporalities for its production. There has been little scholarly work on slow journalism, so the first aim of this article is, if not to define, then at least to describe some key characteristics of what slow journalism might be. It will look at how the term has been used on blogs, websites, public forums, and in the minimal scholarly literature available. It will also explore some examples by producers who identify with the term to see what slow journalism looks like in practice. The proliferation of independent journalism using Slow as a way of thinking about production suggests that we are witnessing a new alternative emerging in the mediascape.     

Age-Based Ratings,Content Designations,and Television Content: Is There a Problem?

An analysis of 9 week-long samples of prime-time network programming broadcast between the fall of 1997 and the fall of 2003 found that more than 8 out of 10 programs were labeled with an age-based rating (TV-G, TV-PG, TV-14, or TV-MA), whereas fewer than 4 in 10 programs were also labeled with content-based ratings (V, S, L, or D). Although programs with age- and content-based ratings accurately reflected sexual and violent content, a sizable number of programs without content-based ratings also had sexual and violent content. Ratings provide parents with incomplete information on which to base viewing decisions.