Search results

The purpose of this study is to examine public library staff attitudes towards an open-source library automation system in the state of Indiana. The researchers were interested in understanding the library staff’s perceptions of the value of the system in performing their job duties and improving library services.

The researchers travelled to nine public libraries every three months to survey library staff from January to December 2010. The participants completed the surveys at the libraries and were given the option to remain anonymous. The survey consisted of six questions regarding the use of the Evergreen system for work processes and basic demographic information of the staff. There were a total of 323 survey respondents. Of the 323 respondents, 57 (17.65 per cent) used the Evergreen system in their daily work routines at the library.

The primary benefits reported were: ability to check the availability of library materials at other Evergreen libraries via the shared catalogue, the Evergreen system provided more functionality than their previous library automation systems and the ability to reserve materials for patrons.

This was a convenience sample. All survey participants provided their responses voluntarily during the 12-month study period. A more comprehensive sampling procedure should be considered in the future.

The study indicated the need for improvements in the Evergreen Indiana system. Those improvements were also relevant to other open-source integrated library systems.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of clinical psychologists in promoting compassionate cultures within intellectual disability services.

This is a commentary paper which draws on Albee’s (1983, 2000) social justice model as a theoretical framework for the primary prevention of the mental health consequences of social injustice.

Albee’s model conceptualises three interconnected areas including; the individual or micro-level, the organisational or meso-level and the level of social structures, policies and ideology or macro-level. Where possible, specific examples were used to highlight how the authors are currently contributing to this agenda through work that is already underway and areas for development within the service.

As a commentary paper this discusses current practice and ideas for future practice but does not present original data.

TWO Government reports in one week—one at first unobtainable because of a union dispute, the other a vast opus of three volumes, with three separate volumes of maps—this was the fate of librarians in Britain during the second week of June 1969. So long to wait for these reports of Dainton and Maud, then so much to read.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

The winter 1987 issue of Reference Services Review featured a bibliography of AIDS‐related materials prepared by Edmund SantaVicca, former head of Collection Management Services at Cleveland State University.

While the terms theatre and drama are often used synonymously, they are marked by distinct differences. Drama is concerned with the literature of the theatre, the written basis for theatrical presentations. Theatre refers to the art of presentation, and includes the creations of the playwright, the designer, the architect, and the actor.

This paper aims to present recently published resources on library instruction and information literacy, providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering various library types, study populations and research contexts.

This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations, reports and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2019.

The paper provides a brief description of all 370 sources and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.

The information may be used by librarians, researchers and anyone interested as a quick and comprehensive reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

ON April 23rd this year, when all countries in the world will be celebrating the Quater‐centenary of Shakespeare's birthday, the Shakespeare Memorial Library in Birmingham will have attained a majority of one hundred years. Although founded in 1864 the scope of the library was first envisaged by George Dawson, President of the local Shakespeare club in a letter to Aris's Birmingham Gazette of 1861.

National parks are selected as places of national importance, with national meaning. At the same time, the political process that shapes park management is often a local one. This biases park interpretation away from national concerns and toward local ones. The National Park Service's corporate interests and decision-making processes often reinforce the role of local interests except in the rare cases of congressional intervention. A close look at the political environment of Fort Davis National Historic Site, Texas, illustrates these points. Congress mandated the site to interpret westward expansion and its impact on American Indians. It became instead a program of park interpretation based on westward expansion and the role of African-American “Buffalo Soldiers” within it. As a result, Indians have effectively been written out of the story of this “Indian fort.” Interestingly, Native American issues reappear in commercial establishments, both the gift shop in the park and businesses in the town of Fort Davis outside the park. If businesses perceive a demand for information about Native Americans among tourists, presumably there is a similar, unmet demand among the same tourists as they visit the historic site. Given the role of local concerns in park interpretation, national intervention will probably be necessary to provide political support for reinterpreting the site.