Games and other forms of play are used in today's libraries to attract underserved patrons, to introduce patrons to other library resources and services, and to facilitate engagement between library patrons. While many perceive gaming as a new library service, gaming services have been part of librarianship since the nineteenth century through…

This article presents the narrative accounts of the beginnings of digital library programs in five European national libraries: Biblioteca nacional de Portugal, Bibliotheque nationale de France, Die Deutsche Bibliothek, the National Library of Scotland, and the British Library. Based on interviews with policy makers and developers of digital…

This study examines the influence of culture on digital libraries of the first wave. The local cultures of innovation of five European national libraries (Biblioteca nacional de Portugal, Bibliotheque nationale de France, Die Deutsche Bibliothek, the National Library of Scotland, and the British Library) are reconstructed in case histories from…

From recent doctoral research into information literacy and workplace learning, an understanding of information literacy as a complex constellation of experiences and relationships with a range of information modalities is emerging. It is constituted through the connections among people, artifacts, texts, and bodily experiences that draw a person…

Describes a study that examined the citation patterns of 579 randomly selected citations from 167 French and German monographs published in 1984, and compared the findings with those of earlier studies of American and British humanities monographic and journal literatures. The implications for library collection development are discussed. (24…

For over seven decades, library history in Russia has been considered a Soviet branch of science known as the "history of librarianship" and it has been isolated from the world science community. This article examines the degree to which Russian library historians have been isolated from this community and their initial results in…

Discusses the trade union library system in China that has fallen on hard times amid economic and social changes of the past 20 years. Focuses on a history of the trade union library movement; services provided by trade union libraries; problems faced by union libraries; and reform of trade union libraries. (AEF)

Relates the work of Archibald George William Dunningham, a librarian from New Zealand who worked as a consultant for the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the newly developed nation of Indonesia from 1953 to 1968. Discusses meeting with leaders of librarianship, education, and government to help formulate…

The Tanganyika Library Service (TLS) was the national public library service set up in Tanzania, East Africa, in the 1960s. By the end of the decade, it was generally regarded as a model of Western-style public library development in Africa. This is an account of its establishment and early years based on accessible documentary sources in Tanzania…

Explains three basic models of school librarianship: the American model, where school libraries are funded by school districts; the British model, where school and public library systems are entwined; and a combined model, in which school and public libraries coexist. Discusses models for school librarianship in developing countries are also…

Discusses political and cultural battles over the role of a national library in France and the future direction and function of libraries in general. Uses accounts from the press to trace changes in the project as well as ways in which it influenced French librarianship. Contains 34 references. (Author/LRW)

This article presents case studies of the social shaping of the national union catalog (NUC) in seven countries (four in Central and Eastern Europe, two in the Baltic region, and South Africa). The purpose is to illustrate how technology developments do not occur independently of their social context but rather are co-constituted by the…

Prior to 1997, the University of Oxford in Great Britain had approximately one hundred autonomous libraries with little coordination of services, collection development, or management among them. In that year a new director was hired with the mandate to integrate many of these libraries into one centralized system. Over the past seven years…

Presents results of intensive biographical interviews with male and female directors of academic, government, and large public library systems across Canada to examine differences in career paths. Topics discussed include publication record; professional associations; mobility; preprofessional library work experience; administrative preparation;…