Systematic reviews, and other forms of knowledge synthesis, are an increasingly popular research methodology being used in the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. Librarians are being called upon to support this work through consultation, instruction, and/or performing the systematic search on behalf of the research team. Professional…

School impact media studies indicate that a well-staffed and funded school library media program with a certified school library media specialist (SLMS) positively correlates with increased student achievement. SLMS must have a shared understanding of their roles and responsibilities to positively impact student success. In an effort to determine…

Offers insight from academic librarians into changes that occur when librarians become teachers. Discusses the rewards of developing long-term relationships with and a better understanding of students; effects of librarians having less time at the reference desk because of spending time on teaching; teaching as a focus of professional development;…

Discusses new technologies and the value of one-on-one personalized interaction in the reference environment and reports results of an informal survey of practitioners that investigated their views on the influences of theoretical models and new technologies on reference service. Highlights include collection development; interpersonal relations;…

Argues that, with the trend toward viewing reference librarians as information brokers and the reification and privatization of information, the traditional goals of libraries and librarianship are being lost, i.e., providing free and open access to books and information to promote informed democracy and the public good. (63 references) (EAM)

This survey of 288 academic, public, and special librarians in Canada examined attitudes toward the role of bibliographic instruction in reference service. Results indicated that academic librarians stress instruction, special librarians stress information delivery, and public librarians fall between the two positions. It was found that…

This study, conducted at Illinois State University library, evaluated the ability of professional librarians to answer reference questions. Evaluations by undergraduate students were scored for accuracy of response and attitude of the librarian to determine the best attitudinal predictor of accuracy scores. The evaluation form is appended. (three…

Describes the changing role of the library and the reference librarian and the effects of new information technology, changing demographics of student populations, and patrons' expectations for personalized service versus library instruction. Fees for meeting rooms, photocopying, videos, printouts of articles from online full-text, information…

Based on interviews with 29 librarians at a midwestern research university, this publication serves as a benchmark for what it is like to work as an academic librarian in a U.S. research university in the mid-1990's and considers changes occurring within the wider field of librarianship. Chapter 1 begins with a broad overview of the concept and…