In recent years, many technological interventions have surfaced, such as virtual worlds, games, and digital labs, that aspire to link young people's interest in media technology and social networks to learning about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) areas. Despite the tremendous interest surrounding young people and STEM education,…

Since the 1990s, the assessment of learning outcomes in academic libraries has accelerated rapidly, and librarians have come to recognize the necessity of articulating and assessing student learning outcomes. Initially, librarians developed tools and instruments to assess information literacy student learning outcomes. Now, academic librarians are…

Public libraries are heavily affected by political and policy-making processes that shape the funding, activities, and roles of libraries in society, with the explosion of information policy decisions in the past two decades significantly increasing the responsibilities of libraries while also increasing limitations on their activities. Research…

The pervasive, personal crisis of intimate partner violence (IPV) demands community information resources in workforce, health care, mental health, public housing, criminal justice, and social service arenas. Although generally underutilized, public libraries have a pivotal role to play as the only public institution specifically structured to…

Presents examples of representations of libraries and librarians taken from modern popular culture, including popular film, television, and novels, and using Foucault's approach to discourse, asserts that such representations are made possible by, and decoded within, the structures of a discourse of fear, a practice of speech and symbols that…

Scholarship conducted in an increasingly online environment requires the services of a trusted third party in order to ensure that scholarly communication remains reliably accessible and applicable over the longer term. The library, by virtue of its most fundamental values and attributes, is probably better suited at this time than other…

Reexamines Ortega y Gasset's proposition that the professional role of the librarian is to act as a selective "filter between man and the torrent of books." Responsibilities of the librarian in light of the increasing volume of information, increases in speed of access to information, and information overload, are discussed. (Author/JL)

Critiques the model of information literacy as a central purpose of librarianship. Reviews the appropriateness of the "learning methodology" of the information literacy model. Outlines the challenge of relating information literacy to workplace competencies. Proposes that information literacy be refocused away from information toward learning, and…

Relates the experiences of three public librarians in Alabama during the Civil Rights movement who challenged the resistance to integration. Discusses conflicts between professional and regional values; local racial customs; the ethics of librarianship; and the roles of the American Library Association and the Alabama Library Association.…

Ralph A. Ulveling's 1951 challenge to the American Library Association (ALA) policy on censorship is described. Ulveling's proposal to segregate materials containing propaganda and the efforts of the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee to address lack of consensus in the profession and librarians' role in protecting intellectual freedom are…

Describes the technical, political, economic, and cultural environments of library automation. A review is then presented of five books covering wide-ranging library automation themes, including practical experiences; planning second-generation library systems; software, systems, and services; new roles for librarians; and the national network…