It is heartbreaking to recall that in 1970 it was possible to be very hopeful that a great new age of British school librarianship was about to dawn. It did not happen: and this…
Abstract
It is heartbreaking to recall that in 1970 it was possible to be very hopeful that a great new age of British school librarianship was about to dawn. It did not happen: and this despite the best activities of some school librarians and some local education authorities; and despite some positive statements by professional associations, and some research projects and official reports. It could be important to ask what went wrong. Although the circumstances may not recur, asking the right questions might give us helpful answers for when the campaign for school libraries starts again, tomorrow morning.
“FORMAL classes on how to use a library would be an insult to the intelligence of the student.” This was an extreme reply mentioned in the Report of the Committee on Libraries…
Abstract
“FORMAL classes on how to use a library would be an insult to the intelligence of the student.” This was an extreme reply mentioned in the Report of the Committee on Libraries, with reference to a questionnaire to academic staff about instruction in library use. This view of the teaching activities of librarians with students must be familiar to all librarians whether they are concerned with formal teaching activities or not. Nevertheless it is suggested that, in the current climate of change in the nature of sixth form studies, and the need for bibliographic training as part of a general education leading to informed library users in the academic and professional world, there is now a strong case for an examined course of study at “A” level G.C.E. incorporating the principles of bibliographical knowledge for users.
All items listed may be borrowed from the Aslib Library, except those marked, which may be consulted in the Library.
Clive Bingley, Edwin Fleming and Allan Bunch
MY SELF‐RESTRAINT in refraining until thus far through the year from mention of the game of cricket is not, I'm afraid, due to a waning of interest with the onset of old age (it's…
Abstract
MY SELF‐RESTRAINT in refraining until thus far through the year from mention of the game of cricket is not, I'm afraid, due to a waning of interest with the onset of old age (it's my birthday next week), but to a ripe contentment with the Ashes victory in Australia during the winter, plus the realisation that cricket is hardly a suitable subject for discussion in the arctic weather conditions we have been experiencing during the first three months of 1979.
I first met punched feature cards in 1956. I was working as an assistant to E. G. Brisch, whose company classified the materials and components used in industry. His method…
Abstract
I first met punched feature cards in 1956. I was working as an assistant to E. G. Brisch, whose company classified the materials and components used in industry. His method brought similar articles together, both notionally in classified codebooks and practically when the classified items were stored in their code number order. The result was an excellent aid to variety reduction, standardization, and stock control. E. G. gave me a good grounding in analytical classification; but his office held other secrets too. One of these was a sort of punched card representing a property or quality, not an object or event as with all other punched cards I had met. On these other cards, notched or slotted for hand‐sorting with needles, or punched and verified in thousands for reading by machine, the holes stood for characteristics possessed by the item concerned. The new cards were different. Since they represented properties, the items possessing these had to be shown by the holes, and so they were. E. G. named them ‘Brisch‐a‐boo’: this I found was his special variant of ‘peek‐a‐boo’, a title by which they are still occasionally known. To stack some of them in exact register with each other is to find, as a set of through holes in numbered positions, the reference numbers of all the items recorded on them which have the qualities concerned.
The following is an annotated list of materials that discuss the ways in which librarians can provide library users with orientation to facilities and services, and instruct them…
Abstract
The following is an annotated list of materials that discuss the ways in which librarians can provide library users with orientation to facilities and services, and instruct them in library information and computer skills. This is RSR's 11th annual review of this literature, and covers publications from 1984. A few items from 1983 have been included because of their significance, and because they were not available for review last year. Several items were not annotated because the compiler was unable to secure them.
GERRY WHEATLEY, PAUL SYKES, PETER POCKLINGTON, OWEN NORTHWOOD, ARTHUR MALTBY, ERIC HUNTER, NORMAN TOMLINSON, DON REVILL, NORMAN BESWICK, JON ELLIOTT and DON REVILL
SCHEMES FOR the national library services of developing countries make the British library world seem positively victorian by comparison. Two factors, however, are likely to be…
Abstract
SCHEMES FOR the national library services of developing countries make the British library world seem positively victorian by comparison. Two factors, however, are likely to be agents of change in the next few years. At the apex of the pyramid, the proposals for the British Library will rationalise the British Museum, the National Central Library, the National Lending Library for Science and Technology and the British National Bibliography complex. At more local levels, the re‐organisation of local government in England will ensure more effective provision of public library services under unitary control.
In addition to providing a review of the literature recently published in the librarianship of non‐book materials this survey aims to draw attention to the characteristics…
Abstract
In addition to providing a review of the literature recently published in the librarianship of non‐book materials this survey aims to draw attention to the characteristics, problems and achievements particular to the documentation and handling of non‐book materials (NBM) in many types of libraries. The materials are briefly described and considerations of selection, acquisition, organization, storage and in particular bibliographic control are dealt with in some detail. Other areas of concern to the librarian dealing with media resources, including the organization and training of staff, planning, equipment, exploitation and copyright, are also discussed. The past decade has seen the widespread introduction of NBM into libraries as additional or alternative sources of information. Librarians have been given an opportunity to rethink many basic principles and adapt existing practice to encompass the new materials. The survey reflects the achievements and some of the failures or problems remaining to be solved in this rapidly expanding area of library work.
NORMAN BESWICK WRITES: Evidence that the multi‐media resource centre concept is part of an international movement was apparent from a recent ‘meeting of experts called by Unesco…
Abstract
NORMAN BESWICK WRITES: Evidence that the multi‐media resource centre concept is part of an international movement was apparent from a recent ‘meeting of experts called by Unesco and the International Bureau of Education. The conference was held in Geneva from June 10–13, and discussed ‘the development of school libraries into multi‐media centres in secondary‐level education’.
What to do about preparing librarians for handling non‐book media has been the most vexing problem to face the library schools in the past five years. Or has it? Janet Andrew's…
Abstract
What to do about preparing librarians for handling non‐book media has been the most vexing problem to face the library schools in the past five years. Or has it? Janet Andrew's plea that “non‐book materials should be treated as what they are—genuine library materials…deserving of attention throughout any course designed to educate (or train) librarians” produced, in the same issue of Audiovisual librarian in which it appeared, a response from the educators themselves:— to be accurate, from ten of the fifteen schools to whom the pre‐print of the article was circulated, and from an eleventh in a subsequent issue. Some respondents outlined their school's policies; others questioned the validity of Ms Andrew's criticisms. If anything emerged from the “debate”, it was that that there is no consensus as to whether or not librarianship education should take special account of non‐book media, or if so, how this should be carried out.