The core duties of the reference librarian inherently mandate that the work environment is not unlike a kaleidoscope: Students and faculty revolve within and around the library, and reference and public services workers do the same; every move temporarily redesigning the library, its collections, and even its very role on campus into something…

Now that the full text of patents as well as patent searching tools are available for free on the Internet, every librarian who is responsible for assisting people with science and technology information should have a basic knowledge of this aspect of intellectual property. Whether a school librarian helping children discover the world of…

As individuals become more and more comfortable mediating all kinds of situations online and through various technologies, their virtual selves increasingly overlap their "real" lives. Posting a "happy birthday!" message on Facebook is as automatic as dropping a card in the mail. E-mailing relevant links to co-workers happens as naturally as…

This article examines what is desirable in online reference books in science and technology and outlines a framework for evaluating their interfaces. The framework considers factors unique to these subject areas like chemical structures and numerical data. Criteria in three categories, navigability, searchability, and results, were applied to five…

Twenty scholarly papers and fifteen abstracts comprise the content of the twelfth annual Brick and Click Libraries Symposium, held 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 librarianship.…

This assessment of 62 reference sources that contain information on U.S. art (classical) music of the twentieth century examines the following categories of sources: (1) Pilot Sources; (2) Lexica; (3) Histories and Chronologies; (4) Gesamtausgaben, Denkmaler, and Thematic catalogs; (5) Indexes and Bibliographies of Literature; (6) Lists of Music…

Describes an instructional model for teaching the optimization of search strategies based on a small group of related reference tools. (PF)

This collection of materials for a three-hour instructional program for young people and adults in the effective use of the public library includes an introduction to the program, a teaching guide for the librarian, a packet of materials for students, and a summary of 90 evaluations of the program as it was presented at two area libraries and…

Prepared for students who participate in the California State University Long Beach (CSULB) Library Instruction Program (LIP), this document is both a working syllabus for classroom use and an outline of the lecture presentations given by librarian instructors, though it can also be used as a reference guide to review library research methods,…

The Library of Congress Subject Headings, a tool used almost exclusively by catalogers, currently is assuming equal importance in reference service as an aid for students and a unique tool for reference librarians. Most reference inquiries require the use of appropriate subject headings--an especially vital function for computer searches. The…

Discusses the usefulness of the World Wide Web to answer reference questions as compared to print sources, based on a study of 104 reference questions. Topics include timeliness of the information, search engines, bookmarks, current versus noncurrent information needs, and time spent on searching. (LRW)

Discusses the use of the OCLC Authority File for answering reference questions. Contents of the authority file are described, including personal, corporate, conference, and geographic names, uniform titles, and subject headings; accessing the authority file is explained; searching strategies are discussed; and examples of authority records are…

Designed to acquaint Stony Brook students with the facilities and resources of their library, this workbook in library skills is used in conjunction with courses offered at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. It is organized into chapters dealing with types of materials rather than by area of the library. Each chapter has an…

Describes how genealogists visiting the Library of Congress can use Library of Congress Information System (LOCIS) to identify genealogies in library's collections. Search strategies within two LOCIS systems--Multiple-Use MARC System (MUMS) and Subject-Oriented-Retriever for Processing Information Online (SCORPIO)--and the PREMARC database for…

Discussion of information on tests needed by social science researchers focuses on reference sources and a search strategy to assist reference librarians in locating pertinent material. Highlights include a review of related research, databases, print sources, test bibliographies and reviews, and sources of information on unpublished tests. (LRW)