Who's Out There in CyberSpace

Abstract

Colleges and universities are expanding their offerings through distance education courses and programs. One challenge associated with these offerings is defining the remote learner. Emporia State University offers several distance education programs with students scattered throughout the United States. Although the university moved quickly into providing remote education, the library has struggled to provide equitable access to services and resources for distance learners. This paper reports the results of a project undertaken to profile the distance learner enrolled in the School of Library and Information Management of Emporia State University.     

Helping Users Help Themselves

Abstract

Traditionally, distance students have completed their research in an electronic environment and off-campus librarians have strived to meet the needs of these students using a variety of methods. Today our students are familiar with the Web as a medium of interaction, and library usage has changed as a result of electronic services on the Internet. Given the dramatic increase in usage of our Off-Campus Library Services' Web site, a survey was conducted to determine whether the content of the site and the services offered were simple and useful to our users. This paper presents the results of the survey as well as a discussion of the changes to the site as a result of feedback from students.     

Cooperative Collection Management

Abstract

The online discussion, among some of the more capable practitioners, about the trials and tribulations of cooperative collection development brought forth an amazing number if insightful comments that should broaden the scope of understanding for anyone interested in the current state of collection development and management problems/solutions. While the concept of “local control” is not diminished, it is apparent (to these practitioners at least) that a self-sufficient research collection is both an oxymoron and an anachronism. Cooperative sharing of resources is the future!     

Taking the Guesswork Out of Collection Development: Using Syllabi for a User-Centered Collection Development Method

Over the course of a year, 98 syllabi were collected from history, English, philosophy, religion, and foreign literatures and languages departments at a large university in the Southeast. The syllabi were analyzed for potential additions to the print collection. In addition to the syllabus study, a survey was conducted of all faculty in those departments to establish their views toward syllabi and the library's place in providing access to items on syllabi.     

Online Producers: Studying the Information Needs and Internet Seeking Behavior in the Agricultural Sector

The agricultural sector is changing due to the advancing information technologies and the internet. Information is required by agricultural producers which cover all aspects of agricultural production including the processing of agricultural products on-farm or in rural areas. The abundance of agricultural information however does not necessarily imply better informed producers, especially if their information behavioral patterns are not studied. A review of the literature on producers’ information needs and an empirical study on olive and olive oil producers is presented. The theoretical construct of the survey is informed by Wilsons’ macro model of information-seeking behavior. This is employed in order to understand information needs, preferred information resources, as well as obstacles in information seeking of olive and olive oil producers. The survey provides new information behavior results for producers’ information spaces, which in turn are creating a new global business agricultural production model. Through this perspective appropriate information services can be developed in order to meet specific information needs and information behaviors in the agricultural sector.     

广东高职院校图书馆特色数字资源建设现状及思考

通过访问网站对广东高职院校图书馆特色数字资源的数量、内容等进行调查,指出特色数字资源建设中存在的问题,包括总体建设力度不够、进展缓慢,定位不清晰、特色化不突出,数字资源整合缺乏总体规划、建设不规范,特色数字资源建设缺乏深度,原生学术资源有待挖掘,并提出"一个定位,两个基于,三种方式,四个步骤"的特色数字资源建设想法。     

高校图书馆参与社区文献信息服务的实践探索——以赣州市章贡区社区为调查背景

通过问卷调查,对赣州市章贡区四大街道办事处管辖的48个街道社区居民获取、利用文献信息资源的状况进行了分析研究,提出高校图书馆加强社区文献信息服务的对策。     

Faculty Services in the 21st Century: Evolution and Innovation

SUMMARY

Law faculty in the 21st century present new challenges for law librarians. Traditional services such as document delivery and interlibrary loan are improved. New services are developed to meet the needs of law faculty researching in disciplines other than law and facing a changing environment of publication of legal scholarship. Faculty services in 2000 and 2006 are compared and trends for the future analyzed.     

Ask a Penn State Librarian,Live

Summary

After a 22-week pilot study, Penn State launched a university-wide real-time virtual reference service in Fall 2002. The Penn State Virtual Reference Service (VRS) features chat, co-browsing, and authentication into licensed databases. VRS serves students, faculty, and staff at 21 residential and commuter campuses statewide, as well as students enrolled in World Campus distance learning courses. This paper presents an analysis of the users, questions, exit surveys, and a VRS librarian survey.     

中国大陆图书馆资源共享现状调查

全面了解中国大陆图书馆资源共享的现状,可为学术研究和科学决策提供依据。本文针对大陆的高校、公共、科研三大类型图书馆开展了资源共享网络建设现状问卷调查,结果发现:大陆图书馆资源共享网络建设已具备了基本条件,所开展的资源共享网络模式多种多样,已经取得较好的社会效益;资源共享网络对政府的依赖性较强;资源共享激励机制、评估机制和《信息网络传播权保护条例》是资源共享网络可持续发展不可缺少的组成部分;制约图书馆加入资源共享网络的主要因素是经费问题。表5。参考文献5。