Academic libraries by nature serve as spaces for communities of learners to gather. Careful design and marketing of spaces to meet specific needs, staffed by experts to facilitate and guide such learning, enhance the impact of "library as place." In this article, the author shares two examples of collaborations that have resulted from partnerships…

As another year draws to a close, the author reflects on the trends in play related to library technologies and attempts to anticipate their trajectory going forward. The library economy has not necessarily achieved full recovery from the recent downturn. Nevertheless, the author expects that investments in technology will expand next year. For…

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…

For-profit schools constitute the fastest-growing sector of higher education institutions in the United States. Yet accompanying the phenomenal growth of these proprietary colleges and universities has been considerable controversy over the role that the profit motive should play in higher education. The literature of higher education contains…

This article presents a reading of the user interface in one public library system. Its aim is to find out the frames and competences required and used in the communication between the computer and the patron. The authors see the computer as a text that is to be read by the user who wants to search for information from the library. The transition…

The Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI) is a leading design education institute in Hong Kong under the Vocational Training Council (VTC) group. Opened in September 2010, the HKDI Learning Resources Centre is a specialist library for the study of art and design. The mission of the HKDI Library is to support and promote the academic goals of the…

University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries began studying the library needs of distance learners in 2009 using a variety of approaches to explore and confirm these needs as well as obtain input into how to meet them. Approaches used to date include analysis of both quantitative and qualitative responses by online students to the LibQUAL+[R] surveys…

The publication of educational standards inspires a variety of responses, from wholesale acceptance and deployment to criticism and blame. The author of this paper contends that the revision of the ACRL's "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education" must be accompanied by a critical, conscious, and conscientious…

This paper describes one of the ways in which the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU) makes a difference in neighborhoods, cities, and regions by extending library privileges to community users. It reports the results of a study of the services that CUMU libraries provide to community users.

Library and information science is a technologically intensive profession with a high percentage of women, unlike computer science and other male-dominated fields. On the occasion of the 2011 ALISE conference, this essay analyzes the theme "Competitiveness and Innovation" through a review of social psychology and science and technology…

Peer tutoring plays a very significant role in teaching and learning, its gain is not limited to positive academic performance but extends to social life development. This work seeks to identify the impact peer tutoring has on librarians in training at the University of Ibadan, including the motives and strategies of the participants, the benefits…

Introduction: Star and Bowker describe the residual as what does not fit into a category system and as an inevitable byproduct of classification. In this project, we explore what happens when we attempt to give prominence to the residual instead of minimizing it. Methods: The three authors created three "transformations" of a small…

Libraries are actively seeking to identify and respond to the data management and curation needs of researchers. One important perspective often overlooked in acquiring an understanding is that of graduate students. This case study used the Data Curation Profile Toolkit to interview six graduate students working for agronomy researchers at the…

Signage represents more than directions or policies; it is informational, promotional, and sets the tone of the environment. To be effective, signage must be consistent, concise, and free of jargon and punitive language. An efficient assessment of signage should include a complete inventory of existing signage, including an analysis of the types…

Wayne A. Wiegand, F. William Summers professor of library and information studies and professor of American studies, Florida State University, retires this year. For more than three decades, Wayne's sustained involvement with librarianship reenergized the profession's historical studies and brought new conceptual frameworks to the debate.…