An Information Access Model at a Distant Branch Library

Abstract

Academic branch libraries located at a distance from the parent institution often face unique challenges in meeting users' needs for scholarly information. This is especially true for distant branch libraries that do not have a specialized function or collection, but who often face the challenge of meeting users' needs for scholarly materials across a wide array of academic disciplines. This paper discusses the definition of academic branch libraries and the information access plan developed for the Regents Center Library at the University of Kansas Edwards Campus, located some 40 miles from the main parent institution, the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. In addition, a discussion of the mission, academic programs, and special user characteristics of the Edwards Campus that impacted the development of the information access plan is included. Finally, the factors that affected and will continue to affect the plan, along with methods for managing the implementation of the plan, are provided.     

Popular with whom? Usage demographics of popular science nonfiction at an academic library

Abstract

There is a large body of nonfiction written for a general audience which is infrequently promoted in popular reading collections at academic libraries. The aim of this research is to look at the usage of nonfiction science literature at a large university library in comparison to the science collection as a whole. This information can help librarians to not only determine how best to prioritize the collection of nonfiction science literature, but it can also be used to provide insight into how popular nonfiction science books can be most effectively promoted to library patrons.     

Transformation of libraries during Covid-19 pandemic: A systematic review

PurposeThis study analyze academic library services during Covid-19 pandemic (2020 and 2021), as well as the challenges they face, emerging library roles, and the most effective communication tools.MethodA systematic review of the relevant literature was undertaken following PRISMA guidelines. The relevant literature was retrieved from four major scholarly databases (Scopus, Web of Science, Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA), and Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA)). The relevant 23 studies were included fulfilling inclusion criteria. A quality assessment of the included studies was also performed.FindingsThe findings revealed that Covid-19 pandemic is certainly effecting and transforming libraries, their services and management. The library services during Covid-19 pandemic, their fundamental challenges, emerging roles, and available preferable communications tools are the categories in this study to better understand the pandemic-transformation.ImplicationsThe practical and policy implications are that libraries must establish infrastructure and improve accessibility in order to provide the best possible support to modern library users who access resources remotely in this rapidly evolving digital environment. Organizational policymakers and library directors should prepare emergency and disaster management plans. The libraries should ensure their presence on social media and make use of their library websites.     

中文学术型纸本馆藏消亡的时间:来自文学的例证

[目的/意义] 判断高校图书馆学术型馆藏的数字化趋势,预估纸本馆藏的消亡时间,为高校图书馆服务转型和资源采访提供参考。[方法/过程] 跟踪分析2009、2011、2013-2016共6年文学院教师所引用文献的数字化比例,以折线图描述中外文图书、期刊报纸的数字化趋势;利用对数函数预估中文图书纸本馆藏的消亡时间。[结果/结论] 中文图书2033-2041年间将100%数字化,中文期刊报纸当前已接近100%数字化;2041年,中文学术型文献即无需存在纸本馆藏; 网络共享平台成为新兴的知识获取渠道; 文献版权、网络共享平台、研究者的文献需求变化都影响文献的数字化趋势。     

Collaborate or Die! Collection Development in Today's Academic Library

SUMMARY

The practice of collection development faces many challenges in the present and likely future library environment. The following text presents concepts for collaboration as viable solutions to these challenges for collection development in academic libraries. In particular, a model of collaboration involving department faculty representatives and library liaisons is discussed. Consulting professional literature on this topic has offered insight into the establishment of librarian-faculty relationships, the process of collaboration, benefits of collaboration, as well as problems that may result from such cooperative relationships. Examples are illustrated from experiences at three academic libraries: University of Nevada Las Vegas, University of South Florida, and Hillsborough Community College.     

Perspectives: Changes in Reference Assistance and Collection Development in the Digital Age*

ABSTRACT

Law librarians are well aware that it is difficult to maintain print and electronic collections in today's law library. The author of this article compares his personal experience in reference assistance and collection development with findings from the literature and from responses to an open-ended questionnaire. The author looks for trends and differences in reference assistance and collection development among academic, firm, and government law libraries.     

Animals in Religion: Resources for Libraries

SUMMARY

This article introduces the subject of animals as viewed by the world's religions. It disputes the common perception that Eastern religions are entirely “animal friendly” while Western religions are wholly uncaring toward animals. The author reviews print-resources on the status of animals in world religions to assist librarians in collection development. The reviews are categorized to suggest which resources would be most appropriate for: all libraries; public libraries; and academic libraries.     

Demand for E-books in an Academic Library

ABSTRACT

Rather than create a collection solely to support distance learners, libraries should consider the needs of all customers when developing a digital library. The acceptance of digital libraries is dependant upon the conversion of resources to an electronic format that is easy to use and is fully searchable. While electronic journals are widely accepted by most academic library customers, the delivery of online books has had a very different acceptance rate. Rather than support the sequential reading of books, electronic books are commonly used to find information and can be particularly well-suited for reference purposes. This article will provide insight into the history of e-book models and evaluate the usage statistics of a large electronic book collection in an academic library.     

The CIC Electronic Journals Collection Project

Summary

The Committee on Inter-institutional Cooperation (CIC) is an academic consortium of thirteen large research institutions in the midwest with its own regional network, CICNet. The CIC libraries and CICNet are building a managed electronic journal collection out of the content and collection experience of the CICNet E_Serials Archive-a collection of over 800 freely distributed electronic serials. The libraries have developed and endorsed a broad collecting policy for the new collection, the CIC Libraries Electronic Journal Collection (CIC EJC). CIC Librarians are selecting a complete, authoritative and permanent collection of electronic journals to be shared by the CIC libraries. The collection will be actively managed, cataloged and maintained by CIC libraries and CICNet staff. Some titles from the E-Serials Archive are being selected for the EJC, and many new journals are being included as well. Cataiogers from six CIC institutions are creating bibliographic records for each selected title. The records will be entered into OCLC and made available to each CIC library's online catalog. This paper focuses on the specific problems encountered in creating the managed collection: locating all issues of each title, cataloging the collection, providing access and managing the collection as a long-term cooperative resource for all the CIC-libraries, and making it accessible to the scholarly research community at large.     

Isn't Being a Librarian Enough?

ABSTRACT

The issue of college and university librarians teaching credit-bearing courses is studied by describing its historical background and providing an overview of the literature. The debate is framed by summarizing the fundamental issue: the degree to which academic librarians benefit when they assume classroom-teaching roles. The roles of academic librarians as teachers and faculty are analyzed in the context of classroom teaching. While academic libraries and their librarians do benefit from expanded teaching roles, there are some qualifying factors.     

Weeding “Naturally”

Abstract

College libraries are not research libraries; hence, college librarians would do well to abandon the notion that size has some relationship to value, to see decay in the stacks as a useful ally, and to use it to weed and improve overall collection quality.     

Scholarly Book Reviews in Literature Journals as Collections Development Sources for Librarians

Librarians must make selection decisions for their libraries based on the actual and perceived needs of their clientele. Scholars in any discipline will most likely become aware of new books in their field through the extensive reviews published in scholarly journals. Reviews in ten journals indexed by the MLA Bibliography were examined for content, timeliness, and evaluation of the reviewer, in order to determine if scholarly reviews in literature journals are useful collection development sources. The findings of the study suggest that collection development librarians at large academic libraries should use scholarly journals on a regular basis for collection development purposes, while librarians at smaller academic libraries should use them to supplement traditional trade reviewing sources, such as Choice.     

Case Study

Although the concept of browsing rooms or enrichment collections is not a new one in academic libraries, there is very little recent literature regarding the nature of such collections and a dearth of literature addressing thc importance of collection development policies for such collections. This paper describes the development of a collection development policy for a specific university library enrichment collection and discusses guidelines and procedures developed to complement and implement the policy.     

LGBTQ+ health research guides at North American health sciences libraries: a survey and content analysis

Objectives:Current literature recommends online research guides as an easy and effective tool to promote LGBTQ+ health information to both health care providers and the public. This cross-sectional study was designed to determine how extensive LGBTQ+ health guides are among hospital and academic libraries and which features are most prevalent.Methods:In order to locate LGBTQ+ health guides for content analysis, we searched for guides on the websites of libraries belonging to the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL). Additionally, we searched the Springshare interface for LibGuides with the word “health” and either “LGBT” or “transgender.” Content analysis was performed to identify major characteristics of the located guides, including target audience and the information type provided.Results:LGBTQ+ research guides were identified for 74 libraries. Of these, 5 were hospital libraries, and the rest were academic libraries. Of 158 AAHSL member libraries, 48 (30.4%) had LGBTQ+ guides on their websites. Nearly all guides (95.9%) provided general LGBTQ+ health information, and a large majority (87.8%) also had information resources for transgender health. Smaller percentages of guides contained information on HIV/AIDS (48.6%) and women''s health (16.2%).Conclusions:Even though literature recommends creating LGBTQ+ health guides, most health sciences libraries are missing an opportunity by not developing and maintaining these guides. Further research may be needed to determine the usage and usefulness of existing guides and to better identify barriers preventing libraries from creating guides.     

Criteria for the Selection of 3D Printers for the Purposes of their Implementation in the Activities of Academic Libraries

Printing in 3D in academic libraries has been implemented for over a decade, yet unfortunately, many academic libraries around the world, especially in developing countries, still do not see the need for 3D printers. The purpose of this article is to present a methodology for selecting the most appropriate kind of 3D printers for use in academic libraries. In order to achieve this objective, a review of the literature was undertaken to arrive at a set of criteria for the selection of these 3D printers. During the development of the article, the author used his own experience of working with 3D printing technologies in academic activities. Among the most crucial criteria for the selection of 3D printers are: functionality; usability; realization/interface; availability/distribution method; user manual; licensing practice; documentation; ease of personalization; ease of implementation; price/cost; reliability; opportunities; market penetration; community/support; device manufacturer; error/problem list; target; cross-platform; interoperability; modularity; DIY; safety; environmental awareness; usage/working range; practical application in a given library. The collected data can be of value to academic libraries facing the dilemma of trying to decide if they should implement 3DP and, if so, what criteria to follow for the selection of 3D printers.     

Small Collaboration,Big Effort

Abstract

Ask the Librarians-LIVE is a South Dakota collaborative virtual reference service that began in September 2002. Serving a large rural state with a small population, Ask the Librarians-Live has grown to six members, which include five academic libraries and the state library, from three members initially. This article addresses the challenges of providing such a service to not only distance students, but also other library users who do not walk into the library. While all members share a common philosophy of service, there have still been numerous challenges in making the collaboration work.     

E-Journals,Kansas Style

Summary

The presentation, “E-Journals, Kansas Style,” looks at the traditional roles that researchers, publishers, and libraries have had in the production, distribution, cataloging, and archiving of peer-reviewed journals. This discussion then went on to talk about a few of the factors in today's academic society that have seen these roles begin to change: spiraling cost, the technology boom, and WWW ease in publishing, to name a few. The focus of the presentation then turned to the cooperative undertaking between the Great Plains/Rocky Mountain Hazardous Substance Research Center (HSRC), Kansas State University, and the KSU Libraries, and their joint venture to produce a peer-reviewed electronic journal.     

(3) The Philippines

Abstract

This papers describes the economic difficulties in Ghana from 1973 to the early 1980's, culminating in a situation where libraries in Ghana, including the UST Library, were unable to acquire library materials. Books in the main library and faculty libraries became so outdated that they were unable to support current academic work. The Library was not able to subscribe to core periodicals and journals.

In 1987, the PNDC government, with the help of the World Bank, instituted a policy to replace scientific equipment and to supply books and journals to higher education institutions. Under the Educational Sector Adjustment Programme (EDSAC), academic libraries in the country received books, journals, and equipment including photocopiers, microfilm/microfiche readers and cameras, and telex machines.

In 1991, the PNDC Deputy Secretary for Education invited the three university libraries to review the procedures for procuring journals for tertiary institutions in view of difficulties which had been encountered in previous years.

Besides materials received under the EDSAC programme, the UST library receives gifts and donations from recognized international agencies. Some of the gifts create problems when materials donated do not cover subject areas of interest to the library. The library also exchanges publications with other institutions as a means of acquiring useful items. The university's calendar and prospectus are the main publications used for the purpose. The Newspaper Registration of Ghana Act, 1963, urges publishers to deposit copies of books published in the country at the UST Library among five others. The majority of publishers flagrantly refuse to do so because the sanctions against defaulters are rarely enforced. The library also receives budgetary allocations, though not enough to purchase books locally.     

Revisiting an Abandoned Practice: The Death and Resurrection of Collection Development Policies

Academic libraries have a long tradition of endorsing and creating written collection development policies to communicate, both internally and externally, their dynamic collection practices. As revealed by a literature search, academic libraries, over time, appear to have abandoned this practice. This article documents how Texas A&M University Libraries embraced the ambitious task of resurrecting written collection development policies and, as part of this process, assessed the current state of collection development, systematically planned for future collection growth, and identified emerging fields of research requiring additional collection support. This process also undertook the integration of collection development into the organizational culture of the libraries. Reflecting on this process, the authors present the case for creating and maintaining written collection development policies in academic libraries.