Conspectus tools are used to gather collection data for a variety of reasons. Criticisms of the instruments are equally varied. Conspectus users frequently express uncertainty about the accuracy and validity of judgments about collections based on conspectus evaluations. An overview of decision-making research demonstrates that uncertainty is…

The library profession has made big advances in advocating for information literacy. High-profile initiatives, such as ACRL's comprehensive strategies, have helped attract the attention of teachers, administrators, and policy-makers. The University of California Academic Senate recently endorsed information literacy as a vital issue. In this…

This article discusses the definition and contributions of international children's literature. The authors also present an overview of the International Board on Books for Young Children (IBBY), the Hans Christian Andersen Award and 2004 nominees, and the International Children's Digital Library (ICDL). Finally, the article concludes with…

This article considers strategies for promoting information literacy other than classroom instruction. Library services, such as the creation of pathfinders, excellent reference practices, and provision of user-friendly Web pages, are considered in terms of how they might be useful in supporting an information literacy initiative.

Librarians' ethical directives point toward a collaborative effort in providing support for students outside the classroom. Academic librarians often focus on collaborative relationships with teaching faculty at institutions of higher education, but they should also form partnerships with other higher education professionals. Currently, few such…

This annotated filmography includes titles selected for entertainment value, availability, and either the employment of a major character by a library, or at least one scene involving a major character in a library setting that is critical to the forward movement of the plot. (Contains 1 endnote.)

Considers the historic and contemporary import of Pierce Butler's "An Introduction to Library Science". Characterizes the content of each chapter and critically analyses the central theses. Relates Butler's positivistic premises, assumptions and conclusions to the congeries of competing epistemological and ideological standpoints that defines…

This article discusses the benefits and challenges of the College Hill Library, a joint venture between Front Range Community College and the City of Westminster. It is a comparison to the Keene Library partnership described in the article by Halverson and Plotas.

A nonprofit organization known as Internet Archive is guiding a mass-digitization project called the Open Content Alliance that plans to take carefully selected collections of out-of-copyright books from libraries around the world and turn them into e-books that will be available free to anyone who wants to view, print or even download them to…

In this article, the author discusses the benefits offered by integrated library systems (ILS) for making more informed decisions. Library software vendors, realizing ILS products can reveal business intelligence, have begun to offer tools like Director's Station to help library managers get more out of their data, and librarians are taking…

In this article, the author talks about The Trove, a children's space--library doesn't quite cut it--located in the White Plains Public Library, New York. Sandra Miranda, the library's director, came up with the idea for The Trove, although it took the work of many--from her staff to the architects to theatrical designers and fabrications--to…

This "Research Update" synthesizes findings from the profiles of 13 research and evaluation reports added to the Out-of-School Time Program Research and Evaluation Database in August 2007. It highlights innovations and developments in the out-of-school time field and looks at the important benefits out-of-school time programs can provide to youth,…

Feminist pedagogy as a research construct can be classified into gender and liberatory subgroups. Gender models frequently focus on learning. Liberatory models underline the social structures and power relations which constitute systems of oppression. Humor in practice may be used as a social corrective, or it may be used to extend power distances…

Academic reference librarians continually observe that many students are embarrassed about not knowing how to use the library and are reluctant to approach the reference desk. The theory of library anxiety offers an explanation, proposing that a fear of being in and using libraries serves as a psychological barrier, hindering many university…

Oral histories are an exciting way to directly involve students in the act of historical inquiry. They assist students in personalizing history and relating to the actual lives behind major events, names, and dates in history. This article discusses the benefits of using oral histories in the classroom. It describes how to use "Oral Histories…