Normative behavior and information: The social aspects of information access

Information access is central to library and information science, yet explorations of its conceptual nature have been limited. Given the importance of information access to the discipline, there is a need for research to create a better understanding of the concept and its many roles in all activities and behaviors related to information. Drawing on the theoretical work of Elfreda Chatman, this article proposes that the study of information access can be facilitated through the recognition and examination of the physical, intellectual, and social aspects of information access. These types of access are examined through three case studies in terms of different information behaviors and contexts, with a particular focus on the importance of social access. The article also discusses the future roles that considerations of social access can play in research and theory.     

Library systems in the electronic era

The ‘traditional’ academic library system model – i.e. a central system constructed around a common catalogue record that also dictated the end‐users' view – is breaking down. Systems that were constructed to handle the processing and lending of printed items are no longer capable, on their own, of dealing with the variety of different information resources handled by modern academic libraries. A great deal has been written about how end‐users expect more ‘Web 2.0’ features than library catalogues currently provide. New front‐end services have been designed by libraries and library system providers to cater for this need. However, not much has been written about the needs of internal library staff who struggle with processing, handling, and supporting the huge volume of electronic resources subscribed to by libraries. Electronic resource management systems have been developed to cater for these needs, and new standards for data interchange with such systems have been developed. Just as standards were important in encouraging electronic data interchange (orders, invoices, claims, etc.) between libraries, publishers, and agents in the last century, so new standards are evolving for such transactions in the electronic era.     

Book Review

Peer Review: The Challenges for the Humanities and Social Sciences A British Academy Report British Academy, 2007, 61 pp. Freely available online at http://www.britac.ac.uk/reports/peer‐review/index.html ; print copies available on request from Ms Vivienne Hurley, The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1P 5AH, UK; tel. +44 (0)20 7969 5268; email v.hurley@britac.ac.uk     

On the problem of determining a citation index of publications by Kazakh scientists

This paper discusses the evaluation of scientific activity with the help of some scientometric indices, in particular, a citation index. The information massif of the bibliographic database of citations to domestic publications of Kazakh authors is statistically described.     

Recent developments in Palestinian higher education and the CEEPAT programme

Conclusions Palestinian teachers at the pre-collegiate level who participate in the CEEPAT programme will, it is hoped, learn to place new emphasis on enhancement of their students' analytical skills and discourage an identification of knowledge with memorisation. For their part, Palestinian professors who have been trained to teach in the programme will presumably constitute a growing reservoir of talent which may be expected to raise the quality of Palestinian university education. Plans are now under way to give all Palestinians teaching under the auspices of CEEPAT an opportunity to attend an annual, three-week winter seminar in Gaza and/or a summer seminar in the United States, both of which will focus on issues of pedagogy and methodology. Such professors can be expected to pass on their new understanding of teaching via discussion to their colleagues and to their university students, thereby spreading an important pedagogical method to other segments of the Palestinian... community. 7 CEEPAT clearly has the potential to make a significant contribution to the elevation of educational standards in Palestine at a time of major historical change.In Palestine, higher education of quality is obviously a very serious business. It is understood that it underlies any possibility of individual betterment, economic development, or the evolution of an independent Palestinian state. If ever the Israeli occupation is completely terminated and the present financial crisis of the universities is solved, Palestinian university and post-baccalaureate training may reasonably be expected to become fully competitive on an international scale.     

The literature of women and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS): implications for collection development and information retrieval

The purpose of the study was to identify the pattern of publication about women and AIDS in scientific journals. Bradford zones were identified in each of six databases. The study determined that journal scatter for this subset of AIDS literature differed from the scatter in the general literature; further, the information indexed in the six electronic sources demonstrated little overlap. Consequently, key journal and newsletter titles identified by this study should form the core of any collection focusing on women and AIDS. The assurance of quality patient care management demands that librarians consult multiple resources for information retrieval that can assist health care providers, patients, and caregivers to enhance quality of life as well as to provide optimum care.     

Editorial

This issue of the Journal contains three interesting articlesabout central aspects of public opinion research, as well asan equal number of research notes that reflect the range oftopics that interest all public opinion researchers. Toshio Takeshita takes a turn at reconceptualizing agenda-settingstudies, using a taxonomy