JIM BASKER, IAN SNOWLEY, DAVID COLEMAN, RUTH KEARNS, EDWARD DUDLEY and ALLAN BUNCH
In the late 1960s and early 1970s there was a passion to develop the study of information for several reasons:
David Streatfield, Daphne Clark and Helen Hill
Project INISS is a Sheffield University‐based research project originally established with funds from the British Library to investigate information needs and services in local…
Abstract
Project INISS is a Sheffield University‐based research project originally established with funds from the British Library to investigate information needs and services in local authority social services departments. Further funding, from the Department of Health and Social Security, enabled the project to undertake a programme of information innovations in departments. One of these involves developing training courses in information handling and related skills.
There are many encyclopedias available but finding out how good they are for use by particular sets of people is by no means easy. So there certainly is room for this guide which…
Abstract
There are many encyclopedias available but finding out how good they are for use by particular sets of people is by no means easy. So there certainly is room for this guide which examines the wide range on offer in the USA and Canada and some elsewhere, describes the form and content of the volumes and attempts to evaluate them in comparison with each other. It is an entirely new work, current to 1 March 1986 and has title and subject indexes. There is even a bibliography of selected other books and articles on the evaluation and use of encyclopedias. Surprisingly it is quite readable and interesting to dip into in spite of the density of bibliographical details contained. Of course it deals mostly with North American publications but sometimes these are “the best” anywhere and librarians should know about more than their own country's publications.
Computer cockups ‐ Last year had my name keyed up on LA'S new membership computer which immediately responded verdantly, ‘This member does not exist’. Incipient paranoia dispelled…
Abstract
Computer cockups ‐ Last year had my name keyed up on LA'S new membership computer which immediately responded verdantly, ‘This member does not exist’. Incipient paranoia dispelled by silent intoning of ‘I think, therefore I am … I think’. Further consolation in that the silly thing said LA President‐elect didn't exist either.
Library of Congress update The Urgent Supplemental Appropriations Bill for FY 1986 signed into law in July by Ronald Reagan contained an appropriation of $867 000 for the Library…
Abstract
Library of Congress update The Urgent Supplemental Appropriations Bill for FY 1986 signed into law in July by Ronald Reagan contained an appropriation of $867 000 for the Library of Congress. This means that the general reading room is able to restore evening and weekend hours. The ten “Books Not Bombs” people who first protested the closure spent several weeks in July in a courtroom trial, where testimony was given by the Librarian of Congress and other officials. Since the “freedom readers”; as they are called in a newspaper article, face jail and/or a fine, perhaps appreciative scholars and researchers should start a fund to help defray the costs of their protest.
Len Holdall, Shirley Day, Edwin Fleming and Allan Bunch
The effect that a computer can have on your daily life as a library worker can be, if you're lucky, as little or as much as you like. Or so you'd like to think. How many senior…
Abstract
The effect that a computer can have on your daily life as a library worker can be, if you're lucky, as little or as much as you like. Or so you'd like to think. How many senior managers in public and academic libraries have a computer terminal or personal computer in their offices? How many have it on their desks? Would somebody at the next meeting of the Society of County Librarians, Metropolitan Librarians, University Librarians or whatever please ask for a show of hands — which of you personally use a computer at work? My guess is less than half. Perhaps. On the other hand, how many readers' advisers, reference librarians, subject specialists, administrative officers, circulation desk or Saturday casual staff use one every day of their working lives? No doubt a majority where issues, orders and the catalogue are controlled by a computer. As far as the bread and butter is concerned, their view of information technology is likely to be coloured as much by its reliability as by what it can do. In a profession dedicated to information skills, why then do the benefits of office automation — communications, data, information and the organisation of knowledge — seem so thinly spread? Do the libraries and their parent organisations lack the funds, the vision or the will to grasp the new technologies in order to improve the way libraries are managed and therefore presumably enhance the services they offer? One information systems manager I know speaks of introducing office automation in order to get managers to speak to each other! Librarians I'd have thought would have been quite good at that and would welcome another, electronic way of doing it. Or is the implication of a decision support system, that decisions based on facts might actually have to be made, too difficult a concept for our library leaders? As an editorial in Computer Weekly said: “in exploring executive's information needs, you are exploring their mental model of the business. The result can be to challenge long held assumptions and provoke radical change”. Perhaps the information professional can have a key organisational role in the development, regulation and promotion of information systems technology, through applying his/her skills in information handling and the organisation of knowledge; and if this be the case, what evidence do you see at work of planning for this role? A terminal on every chief's desk might be a start.
David F. Cheshire, Shirley Day, Edwin Fleming and Allan Bunch
I enclose a letter |published below. Ed.| written in reply to an article in your journal “Libraries and Education in Black South Africa”.
MELINDA RILEY, BRIAN LANTZ, MIKE CORNFORD, TONY WARSHAW, JANE LITTLE, EDWIN FLEMING, ALLAN BUNCH and WILFRED ASHWORTH
The idea for this hugely successful event at the Crucible Theatre on 7 June, came first from the pages of New Library World, believe it or not. Reading one of Jane Little's…
Abstract
The idea for this hugely successful event at the Crucible Theatre on 7 June, came first from the pages of New Library World, believe it or not. Reading one of Jane Little's articles advertising Feminist Book Fortnight, I noticed that there was not going to be a feminist book fair in this country this year, and that the main fair was to be in Oslo. It seemed an ideal opportunity to alter Sheffield's image as the macho snooker playing capital of the North and the idea for the First Sheffield Women's Book Fair was born.
The following annotated bibliography of materials on orienting users to the library and on instructing them in the use of reference and other resources covers publications from…
Abstract
The following annotated bibliography of materials on orienting users to the library and on instructing them in the use of reference and other resources covers publications from 1979. A few items from 1978 were included because information about them had not been available in time for the 1978 listing. Some entries were not annotated because the compiler was unable to secure a copy of the item. The bibliography includes publications on user instruction in all types of libraries and for all types of users from children to adults. To facilitate the use of the list, it has been divided into categories by type of library. Even though the library literature includes many citations to items on user instruction in foreign countries, this bibliography includes only publications in the English language.
Positive cash flow ‐ LAMSAC, which is an acronym denoting Local Authorities Management Services & Computer Committee—an odd bird, by the sound of it, is to carry out a ‘major…
Abstract
Positive cash flow ‐ LAMSAC, which is an acronym denoting Local Authorities Management Services & Computer Committee—an odd bird, by the sound of it, is to carry out a ‘major research study into income generation in public libraries in England’ for the Arts Minister.