Even as librarians have spent the past twenty years documenting the rich world of scholarly communication beyond the catalog, repositories and catalogs too often remain completely siloed from each other. Current practices and tools to unite the two focus entirely on matching names, an imprecise method requiring substantial time spent on review.…

This article describes the roles of librarians in a research library, particularly in the digital era. Librarians' roles vary from the custodian of resources to providers of a diverse nature of activities ranging from collection development, organization of knowledge, information services, preservation and conservation, and management. Librarians…

Introduction: To provide valuable services in the future, libraries will need to create better information systems and set up an infrastructure more in line with the current technologies. The "Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records" conceptual model provides a basis for this transformation, but there are still a number of…

In this column, the author discusses how the management of e-books has introduced, at many libraries and in varying degrees, the challenges of maintaining effective technical services workflows. Four different e-book workflows are identified and explored, and the author takes a closer look at how particular variables for each are affected, such as…

John Fiske (1842-1901) was an American historian, philosopher, lecturer, and prolific author. Renowned as a popularizer of evolutionary theory, Fiske rubbed elbows with Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. From 1872-79 he served as Assistant Librarian at Harvard University, occupied mainly with what is known today as "Technical Services," i.e.,…

It seems, at times, that a frantic race persists to ensure that a child, in the crucial learning stages of early elementary education, acquires the appropriate reading level before he or she "gets behind." Though there are obvious issues with branding a book "Grade Level One" or "Reading Level 2.2," it is nevertheless…

Twenty-one scholarly papers and fifteen abstracts comprise the content of the tenth annual Brick and Click Libraries Symposium, held annually at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The peer-reviewed proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future face of…

This book, emphasizing service to users, includes 10 chapters by different librarians who have had experience as practitioners. Chapters are: (1) "Avoiding the Seven Deadly Sins, or Technology and the Future of Library Service in Academic Libraries" (Michael Gorman); (2) "The Gateway Library: Rethinking Undergraduate Services" (Lizabeth A.…

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…

An experiment at the College of Charleston (South Carolina) library examined whether using Blackwell's Library of Congress Machine Readable Cataloging with books without the CIP upgrading would be worthwhile in terms of cataloging productivity and efficiency; it also looked at additional costs involved with the CIP upgrading. (AEF)

This publication provides librarians with a broader understanding of outsourcing issues in academic libraries. The book investigates the literature, then presents a survey of more than 200 academic research libraries involved with outsourcing projects. This book synthesizes prevailing theories and practice, details pros and cons, an outlines steps…

Examines implications of the Year 2000 Problem for libraries in the next millennium. Discusses planning ahead for on-time subscription service delivery; preventing a domino effect on cataloging service; vendor preparations; examples of librarians' perspectives; checking for compliance; and a bibliography of sources. (AEF)

Based on the authors' experiences as catalog, reference, and network resources librarians, this paper examines traditional methods of operation and the emerging blending of duties and the effects on individuals and the profession. Examines changing demands on library users as a cause for the blurring lines. Concludes that catalogers and reference…

Addresses changes in cataloging at the University of California, Berkeley. Discusses experimentation with pilot technical services (OCLC PromtCat, Bibliographic Record Notification, and Repeat Search); technical services staff reductions and the emergence of a new staffing model and motivating supervisors and staff to become more flexible and…

One hundred fourteen academic libraries in the United States and Canada are surveyed for the organization of electronic resources within their home page and their cataloguing practice. The majority provide access to databases, electronic resources, subject guides, ready reference, and their own catalogue both on their home page and within their…