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Academic libraries, apart from their main function, which is to provide information services to academic communities, may also perform a number of social roles in the broad meaning of the term. Accordingly, they now tend to serve as the third place offering inclusion and animation activities to academic as well as local communities (including potential students) and to groups in risk of social exclusion (immigrants, persons with disabilities, senior citizens, etc.) or in need of various kinds of care and support. However, for libraries to be able to fulfil those tasks, they need properly trained staff who not only have the required competencies but also the right social attitudes. The paper presents an analysis of the social attitudes of academic librarians from twenty countries across the world as compared to the personnel of other types of libraries. The level of individual social capital, activity in social networks, aspirations in life and social and civic engagement were investigated. It was noted that the respondents tend to undervalue the importance of the work done by libraries for local communities. At the same time, the research showed that academic librarians have a somewhat lower level of individual social capital and trust than public librarians and less extensive social networks. Nonetheless, they are open to relationships with others, which enables them to engage in various social projects.

The prominence of mainstream search engines and the rise of web-scale, pre-indexed discovery services present new challenges and opportunities for publishers, librarians, vendors, and researchers. With the aim of furthering collaborative conversations, SAGE commissioned a study of opportunities for improving academic discoverability with value chain experts in the scholarly communications ecosystem. Results were released in January 2012 as a white paper titled Improving Discoverability of Scholarly Con-tent in the Twentieth Century: Collaboration Opportunities for Librarians, Publishers, and Vendors. Fol-lowing the white paper, this article explores the implications for these findings through review of commissioned studies, research reports, journal articles, conference papers, and white papers published in the ensuing twelve months. Sidebars highlight especially promising cross-sector initiatives for enhancing researcher discoverability of the scholarly corpus at appropriate points in their workflow, including the NISO Open Discovery Initiative (ODI) and the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID). Concluding reflections highlight opportunities for librarians to contribute to cross-sector collaborations that sup-port discovery of quality peer-reviewed content by improving navigation, discoverability, visibility, and usage of the scholarly corpus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the century-long history of a library that has served teacher preparation programs in Calgary, Alberta, since 1909. It looks at how this library's role and collections adapted to shifting notions of what constituted good teacher education and changing economic circumstances. In recounting this history, the paper examines the historical circumstances that created a separate education library at the University of Calgary and how issues of group and professional identity contributed to its continuing existence. The various themes which emerge may be common to many North American education libraries.

The desire to investigate similarities and differences of Australian and US academic library professional librarian jobs motivated this paper. Job advertisements were gathered in August, September and October 2004. They are a subset of those reported in earlier studies which are more general in scope; this paper focused on the job market's expectations of academic librarians. Word counts and content and co-word analysis revealed a high demand in both countries for behavioural and interpersonal skills. The specification of generic competencies was more marked in the Australian data, and a number of differences existed in educational and experience specifications between countries. (Contains 37 notes and 7 tables.)

Michele Reutty was director of the Free Public Library of Hasbrouck Heights for 17 years. Hasbrouck Heights is a mile-square "bedroom community" of New York City that is located in northern New Jersey. In this article, she narrates her experience--one that probably occurs with alarming regularity to professional librarians all over the United States: The police came knocking at her door--without proper documentation--and asking for information about a patron. When the police asked her for some patron information, she followed the letter of the law. But that did not keep her out of trouble. She was asked to sign papers saying she was guilty of many things, ranging from failure to contact the borough attorney first (he had contacted her and had given wrong advice) to purposely delaying the investigation. All of these papers ended with a paragraph that said she would not sue the municipality--ever. And if she did not sign, she was to be suspended for two weeks without pay. Rather than face this blot on her unblemished record, she resigned on October 2. She is now director of the Oakland (New Jersey) Public Library, a library positioned for greatness. For her, the best thing to happen from all of this heartache and trouble is that just about every library in New Jersey now has a policy that details exactly what to do if law enforcement officials come knocking at the door. (Contains 3 endnotes.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the emergence of digital reformatting as a technique for preserving information within the cultural heritage preservation community by reviewing historical trends in modern preservation research. Design/methodology/approach: This paper analyzes secondary sources, reviews and historical texts to identify trends in the intellectual and technological histories of preservation research, beginning with the first applications of the scientific method to combating book decay in the early nineteenth to the emergence of digitization techniques in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Findings: This paper identifies five major historical periods in the development of preservation knowledge: the early experimental era; era of microfilm experimentation; era of professionalization; era of digital library research; and the era of digital reformatting and mass digitization; and identifies three major trends in its development: empirical inquiry, standardization and centralization. Research limitations/implications: Findings reflect broad trends in the field of preservation, primarily in a United States context and are limited to the modern era of preservation research. Practical implications: This paper's broad historical overview provides a reference for preservation professionals and students in library science or archives programs. Identifying historical trends enables practitioners to critically examine their own preservation techniques and make better decisions when adopting and using new preservation technologies. Originality/value: This paper provides a unique perspective on the history of preservation knowledge that synthesizes existing historical research in order to identify periods and trends that enable a clearer understanding of digital reformatting in its historical emergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the summer of 2010, two researchers interviewed twenty-three library administrators of comparable academic libraries at American universities for their views of the value of research in academic libraries. The interview questions focused on the administrators' perceived value of academic librarians' research, incentives given to academic librarians to research, factors that influence the administrators' thinking about academic library research, opinions about the changes in Americans libraries in the past decades, and directions that they see the academic library heading. This paper reflects the answers of these (anonymous) administrators and attempts to analyze patterns in their responses that will be of value to the academic library and its community in America.

This paper reports on the incorporation of wiki technology within physical education. Boys from two classes at a school in the United Kingdom were divided into small teams and given the task of creating a new game in a same genre as football, hockey, netball or rugby. Each team had a wiki on which were recorded all the plans and developments of this game as it was being devised and refined. The teacher, an outside games expert and the school's librarian also had access to the wikis, which allowed for constant interaction between the participants outside class time. Interviews with the teacher, the librarian and the students revealed that the 24/7 classroom enabled by the ICT, together with an extended community of practice, resulted in a higher quality learning experience in physical education for the participants. Indeed, it was the belief of all concerned that the quality of the end game products would not have been possible without the ICT component. (Contains 3 figures.)

The Web-at-Risk project is a digital preservation project funded by the Library of Congress as part of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program. The project is developing a Web archiving service to enable curators to build, store, and manage archived collections of Web-published materials captured largely from U.S. federal and state government agency Web sites. In 2005 the project's 22 curators, as well as librarians and archivists working primarily in academic libraries (n = 43), university researchers (n = 7), and content providers (n = 7) participated in a study to identify their needs in relation to Web archiving. This paper summarizes the issues and challenges these groups face and discusses the need for collaborations among libraries and government entities for preserving Web-published materials.

Public libraries in the United States (U.S.) are important sources of health information. Immigrants comprise a large portion of the U.S. population, and research suggests that public libraries help immigrants adjust to life in a new country. Public libraries help immigrants access information directly related to health and provide programs that have indirect impacts on health outcomes, including learning a new language and forging social ties. The purpose of this paper was to examine perspectives from librarians related to interactions with immigrant patrons and how their library supports them in this role. Public librarians (n = 205) from two selected U.S. states completed an online survey focusing on how comfortable they were in helping immigrants with inquiries related to health and the role of the public library in supporting librarians in this endeavor. Respondents generally reported high levels of comfort interacting with immigrants, although there was limited interaction on potentially sensitive topics (i.e., immigration, health). Library staff perceived that libraries overall were not effective in meeting the needs of immigrant populations and that librarians were infrequently offered professional training related to cultural competency and diversity. The findings echo previous studies that demonstrate the need for professional development to ensure that librarians are aware of library resources available to assist immigrant patrons. Findings from this study suggest opportunities for public health professionals and public librarians to collaborate to ensure the provision of reliable resources, health information, and referrals to community-based services., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

This paper examines the extent to which U.S. Association of Research Libraries (ARL) are providing services to their distance education library patrons, it reveals whether each U.S. ARL library has a designated librarian in charge of services to distance education students, and it presents the perceived challenges faced by distance education librarians.

Argues that the library profession should separate rhetoric from rights in the Library Bill of Rights to create two documents: a true Bill of Rights including only those principles demanded by the U.S. Constitution, and a Statement of Philosophy based on the American Library Association's (ALA) Code of Ethics. Contains the ALA Code of Ethics. (PEN)

Contrary to the popular image of the librarian as a passive organiser of books and other forms of print, librarians are and have been active selectors, collectors, and disseminators of print and print culture. As such, they serve as gatekeepers for their communities. In addition, librarians have included 'children's book reviewer' among their professional titles, serving as gatekeepers for readers at large and as de facto literary agents, and have inspired and nurtured poets and authors. Marilla Waite Freeman exemplified each of these roles in her nearly seventy years as a librarian. She was known for acquiring and promoting new forms of literature and opposing censorship, using motion pictures to encourage the reading of books, and lecturing and writing on modern library service, producing speeches and essays which were required reading in library schools of the day. She is identified as the model and inspiration for the librarian Helen Raymond in Floyd Dell's novel Moon-Calf and was a long-time friend of John Masefield, Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom. This paper will explore the ways in which her career exemplifies the librarian as literary muse and as gatekeeper and disseminator of print culture in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviews the litigation the international publisher Gordon and Breach initiated against the author and publishers of serials pricing surveys. Events that led up to and followed the lawsuits are recounted, and reactions to the lawsuits from the library community are summarized. (28 references) (EA)

Response to issues discussed in Ann Irving's article in this yearbook focuses on the changing role of school librarians. Highlights include the impact of information technology on library services; the development of school libraries in the United Kingdom versus the United States; instruction in information skills; and equal access to information. (LRW)

Discusses the relationship and interdependence of children's libraries and publishers of children's books. Developments in publishing for children in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada are examined; publishing trends are described, including a more global approach; and the influence of technological changes are considered. (five references) (LRW)

Discussion of the lack of research productivity by library practitioners focuses on a survey of American and Canadian library schools that was conducted to examine basic research methods courses offered as part of the M.L.S. degree. Oral and written communication skills, statistical instruction, and use of computer-based statistical software are discussed. (29 references) (LRW)

This article observes that it's not hard to understand why Google creates such unease among librarians. The profession, however, can't afford to be myopic when it comes to Google. As inescapable as it is, Google is not the Internet. And as the web evolves, new opportunities and challenges loom larger for libraries than who's capturing the bulk of the search or email markets, or who's giving us driving directions. In just a decade, the evolution of the Internet has upset the balance in an information ecology that had served libraries for centuries. What will the next decade look like? Blogs and RSS feeds have changed the way we gather and look at news. Wikipedia, the living, free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, is changing how we think about reference. Services offered by Amazon.com and NetFlix are winning the hearts, minds--and habits--of our users. If you think Google represents a big challenge, consider this: MySpace.com, Rupert Murdoch's popular social networking site, has surpassed Google in terms of traffic. In June 2006, it logged nearly 46 million unique users, most of them young, spending an average of two hours at a time on the site, according to Nielsen Net ratings. They maintain profiles including things like their favorite books and movies; they blog, host photos, videos, email, chat, and post "bulletins" on message boards--all free. All wrapped in slick advertising powered by, you guessed it, Google. So popular is MySpace, in fact, its search function ranks sixth among all commercial search engines. In addition to MySpace, libraries can learn and take advantage of other networking advances. However, at present, this is very hard. Aside from the technological challenges, most libraries, fearful of hackers and subpoenas, won't keep circulation records for more than a few days much less use that information to enable social networking services like NetFlix or Amazon's book recommendations, services users have increasingly come to enjoy--and expect. It is concluded that how librarians adapt over the next generation could be the difference between a vibrant future for libraries and a steady descent into insignificance.

This paper presents qualitative findings about the search behaviors and research habits of students interviewed at six college and university campuses in the US. Our findings suggest that students’ strategies are influenced by both their non-academic search experiences as well as the broader academic context of their research tasks. Their behaviors suggest an on-going negotiation of these influences, evidenced by the ways they incorporate Google into their research strategy while still closely adhering to faculty instruction for using library resources. Students bring a strong sense of self-reliance to the research process, yet they still experience many barriers and pain points accessing library resources. We have included recommendations for librarians and faculty who, by better understanding the journey of an academic researcher, can work in concert to reduce the barriers and increase the success of students’ research efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines certification and licensing of librarians in the United States and Canada from the perspective of differences between the two concepts and through historical analysis of applications of each. A contextual framework for studying applications of these concepts to other professions is provided. (nine references) (MES)

In the wake of the September 2001 attacks, the U.S. government founded the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with responsibility to develop a National Infrastructure Protection Plan for securing critical infrastructures and key resources. DHS established interdisciplinary networks of academic expertise administered through Centers of Excellence across the country, each addressing a different aspect of homeland defense. The National Center for Food Protection and Defense (NCFPD), created in 2004, organized over 150 experts around five theme groups: Agent Behavior, Event Modeling, Systems Strategies, Risk Communication, and Educational Programs. The fifth theme group, Educational Programs, was the focus of a special library project to assist experts in delivering "high-quality education and training programs to develop a cadre of professionals equipped to deal with future threats to the food system." An initial database provided National Center for Food Protection and Defense experts with a listing of educational resources and their uniform resource locators (URLs). In 2009, NCFPD formed a team of librarians and subject experts to finalize the framework for a working collection of food protection educational resources. The framework consisted of 1) a scope of work for the database, 2) descriptive metadata elements and classification decisions, and 3) a vetting instrument to maintain the utility and currency of selected information. This paper describes the work performed by the database team to create criteria for inclusion and classification of resources consistent with NCFPD end-users' evolving needs. A content validity method is described that was used to gauge whether the team's conceptual definition of the domain of information was congruent with that of the expert community being served. (Contains 9 tables.)

This case study demonstrates the application of an unsupervised topic modeling algorithm to 7,773 English-language articles published in the Library Quarterly from 1931 to 2015. The analysis of 85 years of the journal's output follows an exploratory data analysis framework to generate novel hypotheses about the history of LIS using topic modeling, a method for identifying clusters of co-occurring words within large collections of text. The paper closely examines two topics that suggest differences in gender representation in the journal to propose and support a new hypothesis regarding the historical inclusion of gendered objects of study in LIS literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the findings of a quantitative study of 1,698 public library websites in Australia, Canada, and the United States over a period of three years using a spreadsheet protocol. The purpose of the research was to evaluate public library websites, available online sources, and whether library staff were available to respond to users' questions and concerns regarding the website. Descriptive statistics are used to report the results. The study provides public library website information regarding which protocol criteria each country's libraries attained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An academic research institution and a corporate hospital system formed a new graduate medical education (GME) consortium. The consortium objectives were to increase the scholarly activity of the residents and fellows in a national hospital system's GME residency program to match the requirements set forth by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. A GME librarian position was created specifically to serve the GME research programs at Florida area hospitals to help with this objective. This paper describes the experience, activities, and lessons learned from the creation of an entirely new GME library program and librarian position for a nine-hospital region in Florida.

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to explore different dimensions of Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) authorship from 2006-2017. Dimensions that were evaluated using coauthorship networks and affiliation data included collaboration, geographical reach, and relationship between Medical Library Association (MLA) member and nonmember authors. A secondary objective was to analyze the practice and practical application of data science skills. Methods: A team of librarians who attended the 2017 Data Science and Visualization Institute used JMLA bibliographic metadata extracted from Scopus, together with select MLA membership data from 2006-2017. Data cleaning, anonymization, analysis, and visualization were done collaboratively by the team members to meet their learning objectives and to produce insights about the nature of collaborative authorship at JMLA. Results: Sixty-nine percent of the 1,351 JMLA authors from 2006-2017 were not MLA members. MLA members were more productive and collaborative, and tended to author articles together. The majority of the authoring institutions in JMLA are based in the United States. Global reach outside of the United States and Canada shows higher authorship in English-speaking countries (e.g., Australia, United Kingdom), as well as in Western Europe and Japan. Conclusions: MLA support of JMLA may benefit a wider network of health information specialists and medical professionals than is reflected in MLA membership. Conducting coauthorship network analyses can create opportunities for health sciences librarians to practice applying emerging data science and data visualization skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nursing students often prioritize learning clinical skills rather than research skills, possibly inhibiting their growth as scholars. Supporting nursing students' learning of information literacy skills has been shown to impact nurses' involvement with research after graduation. This suggests a need for developing innovative information literacy teaching strategies that can enable nursing students to better understand the process of research and how to apply research to practice. Case Presentation: This article describes the implementation of the embedded librarian project at the course level at the University of Memphis. A librarian was integrated into the Advanced Nursing Research course, a semester-long course for graduate nursing students, for the fall 2020 semester. This case shares the embedded librarian project's implementation and evaluation strategies. Conclusions: The embedded librarian project aided students' acquisition of information literacy skills at the University of Memphis. Students reported that the embedded librarian project helped them complete assignments for their research course. Using an embedded librarian service within the graduate nursing curricula model may enhance scholarship among future nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]