The Eighth Liberal Art

The traditional liberal arts are the key to a good general education, but they need to be revised and updated to include the six skills of information access. These have become important enough to be considered the eighth liberal art.     

Karasik–Udarnik: Shock-Worker of the Russian Book Arts

ABSTRACT

The article shows the complex of information-bibliographic resources generated by Gosudarstvennaia publichnaia nauchno-tekhnicheskaia biblioteka Sibirskogo otdeleniia Rossiskoi akademii nauk (GPNTB SO RAS) [State Public Scientific-Technological Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences], which is the largest research library in Asian Russia, to support historical investigations in Siberia and the Russian Far East. This complex consists of electronic bibliographic and full-text databases, bibliographic retrospective and current indexes of literature. A brief bibliometric analysis of History of Siberia and the Far East (topical, chronological, quantitative, type-species content of documents, etc.) is discussed.     

Student Responses to Using a Computerized Database

Summary

An overwhelming majority (94%) of surveyed students rely on assistance from librarians (80%), professors (9%), and friends (5%) when using ERIC-on-CDROM, even when they are not first-time users. Almost three-quarters of the students report that ERIC-on-CDROM improves research quality (74%) and learning (70%) and evokes feelings of motivation and accomplishment (72%). All students indicate that they will return to use ERIC-on-CDROM but only 39% feel capable of transferring their skills to similar databases. Responses indicate that ERIC-on-CDROM contributes to highly individualized learning situations in which students successfully find information through assistance from both humans and computers.     

E-Journal Cataloging in an Age of Alternatives: A Survey of Academic Libraries

This article reports on a survey of U.S. academic libraries that was conducted in the spring of 2008 to determine if and how academic libraries were actively cataloging e-journals in the age of the OpenURL, A–Z journal lists, and the batch loading of purchased MARC records.     

Enhancing Bibliographic Records with Tables of Contents Derived from OCR Technologies at the American Museum of Natural History Library

ABSTRACT

This paper reports on a project undertaken at the American Museum of Natural History Library in 1997 and intended to enhance access to materials in the library's collection by using scanning and OCR software to digitize and add monograph tables of contents to the OPAC bibliographic records. Initially, conference proceedings already in the collection were used, but, as the project developed, other types of materials were also used. The rationale for the project is explained, the procedure developed is described, and the lessons learned from using this particular technology are outlined.     

French Fiction:

The cataloging of music sound recordings is both challenging and interesting. As the technologies used to produce sound recordings change, these changes must be reflected in both cataloging theory and practice. Three formats: analog disc, cassette tape, and compact disk, all of which are readily available on the market, present special challenges to catalogers who must consider what might be the most effective way of handling these materials following the AACR2 cataloging rules and interpretations from Library of Congress. This paper examines the actual cataloging of those formats as done by several institutions and raises questions such as how to handle these materials in ways which will eliminate redundancy and increase efficiency in the practice of cataloging. Finally, an alternative approach, drawing on AACR2 practice in other areas, is suggested.     

Creating Provider-Neutral Records for E-Books

After boxes of uncataloged microforms were discovered at my library, we learned that many of the titles were available as free electronic books, so I added bibliographic records to the local catalog for the e-versions. Some bibliographic records existed in OCLC WorldCat for the electronic versions, but they were not always provider-neutral. I learned how to create the new provider-neutral record and want to share my experience. Other librarians may want to replicate my project at their institutions, weeding their microforms and supplanting those records with e-book bibliographic records, thereby providing instant online access to these resources for their patrons.     

Partners in Collaborative Cataloging: The U.S. Government Printing Office and the University of Montana

Collaboration is a necessity in the current library environment where time, money, and resources are limited. This is particularly noticeable for institutions housing federal government documents. In addition to keeping up with the influx of current publications, federal depository libraries must address historical documents for which bibliographic records are not readily available. This report discusses how the United States Government Printing Office and the University of Montana Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library are working together to increase access to pre-1976 United States Forest Service publications and gray literature within the same subject area.