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.,…

Effective leadership and increasing diversity are central concerns in the library profession. Using qualitative interviewing and research methods, this study identifies the attributes, knowledge, and skills that African American women need in order to be successful leaders in today's Association of Research Libraries (ARL). These findings indicate…

Oregon State University (OSU) libraries, where the author serves as lead programmer, have developed a tool to make it easier for librarians to build and maintain interactive course assignment pages (ICAPs) and subject research guides (SRGs). That tool, Library a la Carte, enables librarians with minimal technical expertise to create dynamic…

Using data from the 2003 National Survey of College Graduates, this paper examines earnings in the library science labor market and assesses the impact of gender on the income attainment process. We use this cross-sectional dataset to determine if there are significant income differences between male and female library science professionals. The…

Communication, collaboration and community development are processes that contribute to student satisfaction and learning in online courses. This paper describes a study that investigated how campus and distance graduate students in a library science program communicated with one another outside the official boundaries of their courses. We…

What is the relative importance of current and emerging technologies in school library media programs? In order to answer this question, in Fall 2007 the authors administered a survey to 1,053 school library media specialists (SLMSs) throughout the state of Pennsylvania. As a part of the MSLS degree with Library Science K-12 certification, Clarion…

The Anatolian University Libraries Consortium (ANKOS) was created in 2001 with only a few members subscribed to nine e-journal collections and bibliographic databases. This Turkish library consortium had developed from one state and three private universities joining together for the purchase of two databases in 1999. Over time, the numbers of…

This article presents two recent studies, an AHRC-funded exploration of the role of empathy in community librarianship (Study 1) and an investigation of the role of empathy in service to minority ethnic users (Study 2). Qualitative elements of each methodology are presented, namely a series of focus groups with frontline staff, interviews with…

The paper takes a retrospective look at the work of Henry Evelyn Bliss, classificationist theorist and author of the "Bibliographic Classification". Major features of his writings and philosophy are examined and evaluated for the originality of their contribution to the corpus of knowledge in the discipline. Reactions to Bliss's work are analysed,…

This paper sets the context for this special issue on LIS education in Greece by explaining the Greek higher education system both in organisational terms and in the approaches to teaching and learning. In addition it briefly outlines the current state of development in libraries in Greece. Taken together they provide the background to the…

Michel Foucault (1926-84) is a primary thinker informing the construction of a critical theory of library and information science (LIS), or librarianship. He is widely cited and is adapted in various ways that focus on LIS forms of power, discourse, and so on. Others have addressed Foucault's topics, but he remains central. Librarianship has taken…

This paper attempts to present the current state of computer science penetration into librarianship in terms of both workplace and education issues. The shift from material libraries into digital libraries is mirrored in the corresponding shift from librarians into information scientists. New library data and metadata, as well as new automated…

The job of the contemporary reference librarian has a virtual component unimaginable a generation ago. Today's library professional can obtain an MLS (or equivalent) online with a minimal residency requirement. Not only the degree, but also library sources, and indeed patrons, have become virtual. Both books and periodicals can be consulted by…

This issue of "Research Library Issues" includes the following articles: (1) The University's Role in the Dissemination of Research and Scholarship--A Call to Action; (2) ARL Statement to Scholarly Publishers on the Global Economic Crisis (Karla Hahn); (3) Reinventing Science Librarianship: Themes from the ARL-CNI Forum (Elisabeth Jones); and (4)…

This article provides a review of research on African American children's literature by synthesizing the growing body of textual and reader response research conducted across the past several decades. The literature presented in this article cuts across the disciplines of education as well as English and library science. Using the selective…