Engineering students’ sustainability approaches

Sustainability issues are increasingly important in engineering work all over the world. This article explores systematic differences in self-assessed competencies, interests, importance, engagement and practices of newly enrolled engineering students in Denmark in relation to environmental and non-environmental sustainability issues. The empirical base of the article is a nation-wide, web-based survey sent to all newly enrolled engineering students in Denmark commencing their education in the fall term 2010. The response rate was 46%. The survey focused on a variety of different aspects of what can be conceived as sustainability. By means of cluster analysis, three engineering student approaches to sustainability are identified and described. The article provides knowledge on the different prerequisites of engineering students in relation to the role of sustainability in engineering. This information is important input to educators trying to target new engineering students and contribute to the provision of engineers equipped to meet sustainability challenges.     

高校图书馆联盟建设策略研究

文章分析了高校图书馆联盟建设中存在的一系列问题,针对这些存在的问题提出了高校图书馆联盟建设的策略。     

Building a Shared Digital Collection: The Experience of the Cooperating Libraries in Consortium

Recognizing the digital opportunities available, the libraries of eight educational institutions in Minnesota built on a previously existing consortial relationship in order to explore the possibility of sharing a Digital Asset Management System (DAMS). This article discusses the experience of these institutions as they chose CONTENTdm and the considerations made when settling on an option viable for a consortium. It elaborates on the shared cost considerations, hardware purchases, and the consortium's experience as it purchased and implemented the software, formalized avenues of communication, and established collection standards. We close by discussing the opportunities, challenges, and rewards experienced by those involved.     

Is It Good to Share? An Effectiveness Study of the Indiana Share Program

This article reports the results of an effectiveness study conducted on the Indiana Share Program, a collective interlibrary loan borrowing program managed by the Indiana State Library. A subset of interlibrary loan departments in Indiana was surveyed regarding satisfaction with the interlibrary loan process. Filled request and turnaround time statistics for the year 2010 were also collected. These were compared with the same survey and statistics gathered from the Share Program group. The study found that Share fared well in the statistics. The survey answers were also very similar, showing no statistically significant difference.     

Changing Strategies for Information Delivery: Theory into Practice

ABSTRACT

Many events over the past decade have jeopardized the library's ability to fulfill its basic mission resulting in a shift of information delivery paradigms. Interlibrary loan, document delivery and resource sharing have become essential rather than peripheral and funding patterns are reflecting this philosophical shift. There is renewed interest in cooperative collection development and multiple options for meshing document delivery with an existing ILL program. Within this environment under a redefined mission statement, the Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks, addresses these shifting paradigms and has implemented a program to meet the information needs of its patrons.     

Maximizing Access to Resources: A Distance Learning Librarian Joins Forces with Colleagues at Supporting (Proximal) Libraries

ABSTRACT

Saint Leo University faculty provide instruction at SCE sites located on eight community college campuses and three military bases in the Florida region. This article will examine ways in which the Distance Learning/Reference (DL/Ref) librarian facilitates off-campus student access to both the university library's online and print resources and to library resources at nearby supporting, or “proximal,” libraries for students who are too far from the University Campus to use anything except the Ask-a-Librarian, 1–800 reference, and Interlibrary Loan services. These students must rely on proximal libraries, which include large public library systems, library consortia, community college libraries, and military base libraries, for access to print resources as well as Internet access to the university's online content. Providing library access services for such a large, disparate group requires the additional combined efforts of administrators, other faculty librarians, and supporting libraries.     

Digital Library Consortia in the 21st Century

Abstract

The article outlines the initiatives of the local consortia of the eight academic institutions funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC) of the Hong Kong SAR Government. The role and services that this consortium provides for its members, especially with respect to consortial electronic purchasing agreements and joint licensing, are examined. The paper addresses many of the problems, difficulties, and challenges within consortia when coping with their internal needs, facing the need to both cooperate and compete with other consortial members, and making individual and consortial decisions in an environment of increasing budgetary constraints and technological advances. Case studies are used to illustrate each of the challenges mentioned above.     

Delivery Time of Materials and Patron Satisfaction with Patron-Initiated Borrowing in a Library Consortium

Abstract

Library consortia offer expanded access to shared collections through patron-initiated borrowing of materials. This article looks at two primary questions regarding patron-initiated borrowing: Is it possible to improve delivery time of materials within the constraints of current staffing? Is it necessary for patrons' satisfaction to improve delivery time? Answers to these two questions were sought through two studies: a series of interviews with library circulation staff and a survey of library patrons. The results of these studies provided answers to these questions and additional information that could be used to improve the current service.     

When the Walls Came Tumbling Down: The Development of Cooperative Service and Resource Sharing in Libraries: 1876–2002

SUMMARY

This article will look at the historical development of cooperative service and resource sharing in libraries. Interlibrary Loan, union catalogs, library consortia, and electronic reference, have all impacted library work in the past century. The dissolving of walls is one of the main themes of library history in the 20th century. The developments of these years has clearly put the ability to use both human and institutional resources at the heart of contemporary library service. In looking at how this came to be, this article will examine developments in societal infrastructure and technology that made cooperative schemes both possible and economical. This article will also discuss how these developments have forced libraries to consider cooperative ways to respond to their primary service function. Lastly, conclusions will be drawn about how the emerging cooperative environment is changing the educational role of the librarian.     

Out of the Stack and into the Net

Summary

The transition of academic library reference resources from print to electronic format has been characterised by a growing level of strategic decision making by librarians, as mediated searches were replaced by end-user CD-ROM formats, only to be superseded by online user access. The experience of Australian university libraries, which were early adopters of these changes, is outlined. Particular factors which impacted on this transition in other English-speaking countries (the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and South Africa) are also described. The formation of purchasing consortia has been crucial in all countries in facilitating this transformation of reference collections.