An assessment is needed of the factors that contribute to the cost of obtaining material on interlibrary loan. The main internal library resource involved is staff time, which…
Abstract
An assessment is needed of the factors that contribute to the cost of obtaining material on interlibrary loan. The main internal library resource involved is staff time, which must be used effectively as well as efficiently. The internal costs per loan at the British Library Lending Division are less than at other libraries, which would not benefit from competing with the Lending Division, though groups of libraries might supply ‘easier’ requests among themselves, through on‐line union lists or core collections of periodicals. Interlibrary loan systems should also be able to provide an urgent service for special cases, but it is not easy to reconcile the demands and the actual needs of users. Despite economic arguments for free distribution of information, some level of charging is a useful means of regulating interloan demand. Document delivery can be effected by acquisition for stock, referral to another library, or interlibrary loan, and costs and benefits vary for each method. It is concluded that libraries should be able to operate a cost‐effective interlending service by concentrating on items that users really need and by assessing carefully when interloans are most beneficial. At the same time, it is necessary to assess the effects of new procedures and technologies at local level on the scholarly and scientific communication system as a whole.
The prime idea of ‘user education’ has been to teach present and prospective users of libraries and similar information services how to find the information they need. Users need…
Abstract
The prime idea of ‘user education’ has been to teach present and prospective users of libraries and similar information services how to find the information they need. Users need to be educated in the proper use of libraries: effective library use is not a naturally endowed skill. Or we might say: ‘user education’ is needed either because our libraries are really rather complicated to use; or it is needed because users are not normally at all sophisticated in their approach to libraries, and left to their own devices they simply cannot find the information they need; or it is needed for a combination of both those reasons.
My aim in this paper is to try to engage you in a critical evaluation of some present practice in ‘library user education’. The discussion is in three parts:
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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…
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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.
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…
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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.
Ruth Kerns, Terry Hanstock, Allan Bunch and Edwin Fleming
National issues included: (1) a resolution from the Intellectual Freedom Committee calling on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to expunge the files maintained on their…
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National issues included: (1) a resolution from the Intellectual Freedom Committee calling on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to expunge the files maintained on their FBI Library Awareness program after giving any individuals involved an opportunity to request their records; (2) another resolution which would subject television news services with commercials being marketed to schools to the same selection guidelines as other materials considered for school media collections; (3) a national policy on permanent paper; and (4) encouraging libraries to celebrate Earth Day in April 1990 to provide information on environmental concerns to their communities.
The Corporate Librarians Group of New York is an ad hoc gathering of information professionals in the New York area concerned with issues relating to corporate librarianship and…
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The Corporate Librarians Group of New York is an ad hoc gathering of information professionals in the New York area concerned with issues relating to corporate librarianship and corporate information control and retrieval. Our members are drawn from a range of special libraries, including law and finance, and include records managers as well.
Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover…
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Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.