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…

Reports on the 1997 International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) conference activities. Discusses the Standing Committee meetings; the workshop; IFLA programs; election results; prizes; and future conferences. Includes abstracts of the presentations. (AEF)

This column assesses the state of library and information studies (LIS) research. Researchers and practitioners in various LIS fields address questions related to the research front and agenda for collection development; what the field needs to advance further; whether it needs a more sophisticated conceptual or theoretical framework; operational…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of Melvil Dewey's work in the American public library, both in Dewey's day and today. Using the writings of Melvil Dewey, as well as writings about him, this study examined what changes Dewey made and influenced as they specifically related to services provided to library users. This included…

When library education was institutionalized at universities, it pursued a social scientific path of disciplinary growth; objectivity and neutrality became ideals of library education. A different conception of social science provides the basis for recent challenges to the library and information science profession's traditional perception of…

This column presents views of professionals in the library and information studies (LIS) field and assess the state of LIS research. Questions are posed to researchers and practitioners in various LIS fields, asking them to address where they think the research front is. Six respondents focus their discussions on library and information center…

Professional associations in the library/information science field are viewed from the perspective of the value they bring to the field. Research and professional development are reviewed in this context based on the efforts of ALA (American Library Association), ALISE (Association for Library & Information Science Education), ASIS (American…

The thesis of this paper is that the growth of the field of medical informatics, while seemingly a potential threat to medical librarianship, is in fact an opportunity for librarianship to both extend its reach and also to further define its unique characteristics in contrast to those of medical informatics. Furthermore, because medical…

This article aims to suggest answers to two questions: What should be the primary purpose of information services in general and libraries in particular as we enter the new millennium? Assuming such a purpose, what array of services should the library be prepared to provide? These questions are approached mainly from the academic library…

Graduate programs must examine the curriculum for reference and information access professionals. Greater access to information sources by users has highlighted the need for reference and information professionals to develop new skills including more technological knowledge, a better understanding of user information-seeking, new instructional…

This article reports the results of a quantitative and thematic content analysis of the organization of information literature in the "Library Quarterly" ("LQ") between its inception in 1931 and 2004. The majority of articles in this category were published in the first half of "LQ's" run. Prominent themes have included cataloging codes and the…

This document is based on transcripts of recorded informal interviews with: (1) selected senior professors in the library schools at Warsaw, Krakow, and Wroclaw (Poland); (2) the director and a member of the Books and Readers Institute of the National Polish Libraries; and (3) a group of Polish librarians and students in the field. The report…