This article describes the design and development of an educational intervention intended to improve information literacy skills based on research with first-year college students. The intervention was developed over the course of a three-year period, during which time grant funding was received from the Institute of Museum and Library Services…

The study is an evaluation of an employability training programme provided by Inverclyde Libraries in West Central Scotland and the role of information literacy within the training programme. Inverclyde is an area with high unemployment and pockets of multiple deprivation. Modern, applicable skills are also lacking. The findings are based on…

The study aims to explore the professional activities, needed competencies and education/training needs of medical librarians in Pakistan. The following questions guided the study: what are the current professional activities of medical librarians in Pakistan? What is their perception of the competencies needed of medical librarians? And what are…

Living inside built environments--infrastructure--it is easy to take for granted the things that we do not need to engage, but are at work behind the scenes nonetheless. Well-designed systems become invisible, but to engage them, how do we know which perspectives, objects, and relationships are useful? I examine the University of Michigan Digital…

This paper presents case study research of a job rotation pilot involving six library assistants in Cardiff University Library Service (ULS). Firstly, it investigates whether job rotation improves motivation and secondly, whether there is an improvement in skills, both technical and "soft". Following a review of the literature,…

Interviewing as it is developed in this publication is a disciplined encounter technique for counselors and reference librarians who wish to be more effective in serving the individual patron. There seems to be two polar types of patrons: those who will not talk, and those who will not stop talking. Without training, librarians tend to rush…

Two aspects of Karl Popper's philosophy are applied to reference process: process is viewed as series of problem-solving situations amenable to analysis using Popper's problem-solving schema. Reference interview is analyzed in context of Popper's postulate that books contain autonomous world of ideas existing apart from mind of knower. (30…

Raises questions about influence of present reference practice on library user perceptions of the librarian as information intermediary and on user ability to distinguish between librarians and other staff. Questions are discussed within context of client-professional relationship, using data from study of users of three midwestern university…

Introduction: changes in educational policy and practice demand that we examine school library programmes from a new perspective. As a model that takes a developmental view of minds in context, Cultural Historical Activity Theory is particularly well suited to the study of school libraries and the learning that occurs therein. This paper focuses…