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This study is necessitated by an increasing number of resources available in the virtual environment which is affecting patron's use of library physically to access information. The purpose of the study was to assess the information marketing strategy that an embedded librarian employed at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO). Specifically, the study aimed to identify the role of an embedded librarian at the institution; determine the channels through which embedded librarians reach out to the faculties and establish the challenges hindering embedded librarian services. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data from twenty (20) embedded librarians across ten (10) schools in FUTO. Eighteen (18) copies of the questionnaire designed for this study were duly filled and returned. The study applied inferential statistics using t-test to analyse the data obtained from the survey carried out on embedded library / librarians. Findings show social media, consultation, visits and orientation as some of the channels through which information was disseminated. The findings also showed that inadequate time of operation, lack of cooperation, lack of stated time for consultation, insufficient power supply as some of the challenges. The paper concludes that information marketing and advocacy of library services by librarians is a veritable tool required to deliver information to the domain of those who need it and also bring back library users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This descriptive study examined the Shah Abdul Latif Public Library in Shahdadpur, Sindh, Pakistan, with the aim of understanding its features, resources, services, and knowledge dissemination and community engagement. The study used mixed-method approach and collected data was presented in simple tables and charts. Research provided comprehensive description with aim of rules and regulations of library and the literature review explored the significance of public libraries as information centers and their role in community engagement and lifelong learning. The historical background of library may provide the understanding of basic foundation of public libraries in Pakistani cities, like Shahdadpur. During the study data was gathered with deep unbiased based observations and also conducted insights from face-to-face interviews with library staff, including librarian Asadullah Talpur, and also used open ended questionnaire, to understand the library's operations, challenges, and community initiatives. On-site observations assessed the library's physical layout, facilities, and usage patterns. The findings contribute to the existing literature and provide a comprehensive description of the Shah Abdul Latif Public Library. This research revealed the library's available resources and lacking in the services including books and digital materials, availability of technological equipments within library that support users to update from 21st century skills and services such as literacy programs facilities that was provided to the community members in different kind events. The findings and recommendations may prove to assist library staff in improvisation of library services and facilities and also assist other libraries to overcome the challenges faced by library professionals and user. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper helps library professionals to refine their qualities and skills and redefine themselves. They should move towards a pragmatic approach to learning, thinking optimistically, innovative, & realistic. Now the time is to restructure the flow of information and library services. Always ready to adopt new technologies, learn and support the users. Now the library is changing to the laboratory, where library professionals innovate new technology and services which attract users to the library. Here we have discussed the skills to develop and boost their willpower which enables them to achieve personal, academic, and professional goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to give a brief about the services provided by libraries to disable library users using software and hardware technologies. In this era, the development of technologies, information and communication technologies, etc., is widespread and being disseminated and published globally. Usually, it is convenient for a library professional to differentiate between individuals in need of assistance. This paper emphasises specialised equipment, technologies, and services that provide a barrier-free environment to the disabled users in libraries and information centres, leading to many technological innovations and advancements for general and disabled persons. This study will be helpful for persons with disabilities, LIS specialists, and other professional communities to provide information about the situation and the variety of assistive technologies available in libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Libraries provide a stage for learning, creating and sharing experience; and both library services and the information professionals in charge of them are changing with the times, just as our educational systems are, offering us new ways to acquire knowledge. The library at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Monterrey, has evolved into Biblio TEC: a physical building that is at once an information reference service and a series of spaces designed to facilitate learning and interaction in study-related activities of different kinds. With a surface area of some 17,000 sq. m., the building is divided into six levels of hexible spaces that can be adapted to the needs of individuals, teams and large groups of library users and that maximise the possibilities of private or group study and of learning in general. On this new stage, the librarian's role has also changed and librarians are no longer the keepers of services who decide what is to be used and how; instead, they have become information curators whose mission in this day and age is to facilitate the process by which patrons learn to acquire and use increasing amounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the changes in the role of librarians as information intermediaries due to the introduction of new forms of digital content brought about by modern information and communication technologies. The main focus is on the way in which these changes have affected the moral responsibilities of librarians. Six content trends are identified in support of this claim. These are: the growth in volume; amount of noise; sharing of content and information participation; personal space; collaboration and naive use. The ethical challenges of these six trends are discussed. Because of the unpredictability and uncontrollability of contemporary digital content, a case is made that the traditional model of retrospective responsibility, according to which responsibility is assigned based on causality, should be supplemented with a positive prospective model of responsibility according to which librarians also need to look ''forward'' anticipating possible harmful impacts of modern ICTs. It is also argued, based on the open and interactive nature of new forms of content, that there should be a form of shared and distributed responsibility, which should include not only librarians, but also Internet service providers, library users, and software designers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on whether onsite reference services are the only way to provide user-centered library services. It states that a pilot onsite reference project was initiated at the University of Arizona in the fall of 2006 but was discontinued in December 2008 due to budget crisis. It says that virtual reference is used as an alternative to onsite reference services. It adds that institutions need to utilize the use of technology such as the Internet to provide reference services.

The new Web generations are influencing the minds and changing the habits of software developers and end users. Users, librarians, and information services professionals can interact more efficiently, creating additional information and content and generating knowledge. This new scenario is also changing the behavior of information providers and users in health sciences libraries. This article reviews the new Web environments and tools that give librarians opportunities to tailor their services better, and gives some examples of the advantages and disadvantages for them and their users. Librarians need to adapt to the new mindset of users, linking new technologies, information, and people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that determines the importance of understanding the use of information resources in Universal Basic Education (UBE) learners. It notes the challenges faced by UBE learners, requiring them to undergo individualized learning to solve problems and create new knowledge. It also recommends librarians to assume a counseling role and use strategies that will help learners bring out confidence and self-sufficiency in using information resources.

The article reports on the need of librarians to focus library services to senior population in the U.S. It is said that librarians must emotionally and professionally understand how to help their elderly patrons. It is also stated that the influx of senior citizens into the library system alone must justify the creation of more librarian jobs aimed at information retrieval for seniors. The primary reason for high library use among seniors is retirement with its often endless stretches of free time.

The article discusses the constraints faced by the library of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in providing efficient services and user education in Kumasi, Ghana. It examines the library's education program and the importance of information technology (IT) to minimize the burden of librarians in carrying such platforms. It recommends the importance for the library to devise alternative user education method to effectively serve its users and provide services.

The idea of the roving librarian on a college campus is not new. This mobile information service allows students, faculty, staff, and community library users access to personalized information service in a variety of areas and promotes library service. A roving librarian project gives librarians the time to focus on serving patrons as individuals rather than on the building as the primary resource. It also allows librarians the opportunity to have formal and informal conversations with students which can enhance information services. Roving may well contribute to the retention of community college students and may also serve to strengthen the quality of students' educational experiences and aid in their academic success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The privacy and confidentiality of library use are often at odds with efficiency in and customization of library public services. When librarians make decisions about services and privacy, they should consider strategic approaches to defining and discussing privacy and become familiar with the law of library privacy and their ethical commitment to privacy in library use. A wide range of library services and efficiencies threaten privacy and introduce the potential for secondary uses of personally identifying information collected by the library. Market failure for privacy weakens the value of consumer surveys and consent as substitutes for librarians' choices between privacy and services. Compromises such as those outlined by the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee offer reasonable approaches to libraries and librarians struggling with the uncertainties that characterize the challenge of meeting both service and privacy interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the last decade and a half, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) services in academic libraries have been developing, and GIS librarians have been experimenting with different ways to provide these services. However, there has been virtually nothing in the literature with respect to GIS consultation statistics. One goal of this article is to discuss a four-year case study on the use of GIS consultation statistics to give a better understanding of what GIS librarians might typically expect as far as number of patrons, their characteristics, amount of time spent with them, and the amount of data distributed to them while running a GIS service at an academic library. Techniques for reducing the amount of time spent with patrons while developing a higher degree of efficiency and effectiveness in conducting GIS consultations will also be explored. Finally, a juxtaposition of GIS consultations with other types of library reference services will reveal significant differences between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-mail reference has been utilized as a reference tool in academic libraries since the early 1980s. Today it is one of the most common media for providing digital reference service. An important aspect of providing any service is evaluating users' satisfaction levels with that service. Users of the Ask-A-Librarian e-mail reference service at a large academic library over a ten-month period voluntarily completed a seven item web-based questionnaire. The results indicated that the majority of respondents were satisfied with Ask-A-Librarian overall. This paper discusses how the library used the survey results to improve the existing service, and to implement a new one-chat reference. Reference service providers should not only ask users for feedback on existing services, but also should include them in the planning and design phase of new services. In doing so, they demonstrate their commitment to providing adequate and appropriate services to their patron community, and ultimately can save their institutions time and expense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The climate of change in music reference represents a challenge to librarians. The three issues in the library literature that probably have the greatest impact on music reference service and are the subject of this paper are changes in users, sources, and modes of access to sources. These three issues are certainly related, as users need to use sources, and they need to know how to access them in order to use them. Reference librarians are called upon to mediate this process. Music library collections have their own peculiarities, however. Because they contain a wider variety of materials than many other kinds of library collections, reference librarians for music collections must be aware of the format, content, and intended uses of these materials, as well as the research patterns of their patrons. In the recent past, as cultural norms have changed with the paradigm of Western culture, users have wanted to use music libraries in new ways, and librarians are challenged to accommodate them. The musical genres used and requested by today's library patrons are different than they once were, both for listening and for academic study. Musical reference sources are being issued in electronic formats, and this represents a challenge for some users. The expanded use of interlibrary loan and electronic access to materials represents new opportunities and challenges. Music librarians are being called upon to provide services to patrons they may never see. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides a personal case study of the provision of a library's services where the librarian is based in an academic school rather than in the library itself. This provides an opportunity to develop insights into the needs of postgraduate students and to draw conclusions about the ways in which libraries can most effectively support these users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of the Patriot Act of 2001 on library professionals in the U.S., and explores the resistance efforts of librarians to political and economic forces. The Patriot Act was passed on October 2001, with its Section 215 and 205 being directly relevant to libraries, which explicitly abridge the right to privacy of the patron of the library. Section 215 states the expansion of the range of materials that federal agents could legally acquire in a search operation. Librarians resisted the statute by making some local actions that informed patrons the abridgement of their rights.

The article presents the author's views on Google Inc.'s right to digitize and disseminate copyrighted text. The author states that Google should digitize entire books for superior access and indexing. Michael Keller, Stanford University' head librarian, states that when a university digitized its card catalog, use of the collection jumped 50 percent.