Libraries are constantly evolving and changing expectations for the user and the information environment. More than just being an authoritative source for research, expertise, and quality content in the form of books and journals, the information center is evolving into a more expansive role. With the growth of information technology awareness and…

This research set out to explore the attitudes of school, academic and public librarians towards marketing libraries. The main question that was examined is whether personality characteristics such as empowerment, extroversion and resistance to change influence librarians' attitudes towards the marketing of libraries. One hundred and fifty-six…

Although the library's Web site has become a standard tool for seeking information and conducting research in academic institutions, there are a variety of ways libraries approach the often challenging--and sometimes daunting--process of Web site development and maintenance. Three librarians at Western Michigan University explored issues related…

The intent of this study was to aid academic librarians in examining their perceptions of the future of higher education, engaging disciplinary faculty members to understand their views, and determining actions to take to shape the future. In this mixed methods study, scenarios about the future of higher education served as the basis for…

Education in Library and Information Science is a requirement to become a librarian. There are a lot of syllabi and subjects to concentrate on such as cataloguing and classification, information retrieval, knowledge management, and reference. The library as a centre of information has been developing year by year with various types of collections…

The World Wide Web has come a long way in a very short time. A little more than a decade ago, with the invention of Mosaic, the first browser to display images inline with text instead of displaying images in a separate window, and Netscape, the first graphical user interface (browser), people began to experience a rapid expansion of information.…

The authors have been involved in the design and delivery of several LIS training and education programs in Vietnam in recent years. This activity has led them to become aware of library developments and initiatives taking place within Vietnam, and of issues that will affect future development of the library and information industry. Some of these…

In October 2007, the Oregon Association of School Libraries (OASL) invited the author to speak at their annual conference. The question they asked him was, "What information literacy and library research skills do academic librarians think entering college freshmen should have?" The author investigates this question in his home state of…

The advent of policies at research-funding organizations requiring grantees to make their funded research openly accessible alters the life cycle of scholarly research. This survey-based study explores the approaches that libraries and research administration offices at the major Canadian universities are employing to support the…

This paper analyzes librarians' reactions to the Open OCLC WorldCat. A detailed survey was sent to ARL libraries to explore what, if anything, the libraries are currently doing to prepare for these changes and how they plan to cope with the probability of having all their records open to the whole world. Survey findings indicate that most of the…

Scholars in many academic areas, including librarians, devote a significant amount of thought to critical thinking. Surveying views of its use and possibility, the author considers some key librarians' thoughts on critical thinking. In conclusion, the inability to define critical thinking means that librarians need to emphasize control of…

This study investigated how school and public librarians can become better disseminators of health information and improve health information literacy in small and rural communities in a selected research area. We used the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas as our study area, composed of the economically depressed Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, and…

Last week the venerable publisher John Wiley & Sons made a surprise announcement that it would purchase Blackwell Publishing Ltd. for about $1.13-billion, an acquisition likely to have broad consequences for the world of academic journals and libraries. Assuming that the deal is completed, Wiley's scientific, technical, and medical division will…

The proportion of ethnic minorities in the LIS school student population has remained significantly lower than in the U.S. population: in 2002, ethnic minorities constituted only 11.3 percent of the LIS student population, compared to 31.3 percent of the U.S. population. Despite efforts by LIS schools and associations in recruiting and retaining…

This article reports on a project which was undertaken in 2006 to investigate the current modes and methods for delivering reference services in Australian academic libraries. The project included a literature review to assist in providing a definition of reference services as well as a snapshot of statistics showing staff and patron numbers from…