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This study aimed to establish the use of electronic learning centres in public libraries in the city of Johannesburg, which is under one of the biggest metropolitan municipalities in South Africa.

A quantitative research approach was adopted, and questionnaires were used to collect primary data. The target population for this study was the entire users of the electronic learning centres and librarians in the public libraries within the city of Johannesburg.

The findings of this study revealed that there are different services, levels of awareness and training.

This study was limited to public libraries in the city of Johannesburg. Academic, special and mobile libraries were not included in this study because they were not open to the general public. Users who were not using the electronic learning centres were excluded from this study.

Adequate use and awareness of services of electronic learning centres in public libraries are instrumental in the satisfaction of users’ needs using the electronic learning centres. The suggestions of this study will be useful to decision makers and heads of the electronic learning centres on how to enhance the use of the electronic learning centres in the city of Johannesburg.

This paper establishes the use of electronic learning centres in public libraries in the city of Johannesburg, which is under one of the biggest metropolitan municipalities in South Africa.

The establishment in Troon Public Library, Scotland, by the Marr Educational Trust of an educational resource facility is recounted. The microcomputer hardware and software and audio‐visual resources are described and the nature of the services offered to members of the public explained. The success of the project and role of such a centre within the public library are discussed.

This paper examines the University of Botswana’s efforts at implementing e‐learning and transforming the University of Botswana Library (UBL) into a learning resource centre (LRC), with the assistance of the US Government’s education, democracy and development initiative (EDDI) project. The paper informs that the project is on course, with the Centre for Academic Development having run demonstrations on “smart classroom”, “WebCT”; “high impact WebCT” and redesigned a lecture room into a fully functioning e‐learning room. Enumerates the EDDI consultants’ recommendations on how to effectively transform UBL into a LRC. Concludes that commitment and the political will on the part of all stakeholders is germane to the success of this new vision of student‐centred approach to teaching, and the LRC approach to information services support.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the debate on the development of academic libraries, by the introduction of the concepts of co-working and innovation to the learning centres.

The paper builds on published case studies and French initiatives.

The proposal of this paper is that the academic library can meet its social responsibility on the campus and in society by drawing on the model of the co-working spaces and communities, by the support of innovation and the transfer of knowledge to the world of work. Moreover, the proposal is to include these new functions into the concept of learning centre, i.e. to develop the work-related aspects of the learning centre.

Future research on academic libraries should focus on social responsibility and their contribution not only to students’ academic success but also to students’ employability and to the transfer of technology.

The paper contributes to the development and marketing of new academic library services and to its strategic positioning on the campus.

Co-working and innovation are relatively new but promising concepts for academic libraries. Except for some recent case studies, conceptual papers are still missing that combine empirical experience with a theoretical approach.

The global proliferation of distance learning programs has become a major phenomenon of our times. So rapid is the growth rate of distance learning options, that statistics on them are rendered out-of-date at the moment of publication. As soon as innovations in media and automation technologies have appeared, their new capabilities have been adapted to distance learning applications, fueling the growth of distance learning programs, and providing marketing tools for the promotion of newly upgraded or newly created distance learning programs and institutions. Rapid growth in a highly competitive market has led to the duplication and overlapping of new distance learning options both within institutions and across institutional and geographical boundaries.

Sets out to provide a selected bibliography or recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

Introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and exhibition catalogues examining library instruction and information literacy.

Provides information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

In the context of the publication of a survey commissioned by the Library Association into library and learning resources in further education (FE), the authors identify the key findings of a series of similar surveys of libraries and learning resource centres in the FE sector in Wales, carried out between 1984 and 1997. The impact of growth in student numbers, changes in funding and management arrangements at national and local levels, and quality assurance mechanisms, is explored. The study also describes the major problems associated with quantitative and qualitative research in this sector, compares the results achieved and identifies areas for future research.

When a new student enrolls in his/her first class, the ELRC emails a welcome letter outlining the services and resources available to NCU students. The welcome letter includes information on how to access the virtual library site and how to contact a reference librarian. A new student receives the link to the ELRC after establishing a user name and password. The ELRC produces a Learning Resources Handbook, available on the website or in hardcopy upon request. The manual outlines policies and procedures, and introduces resources available through the ELRC. The website provides research tips and how-to pages on database use, Internet searching, research guides, links to online catalogs, general reference tools, Dissertation Center, and FAQs. Additional online tutorials cover study skills and information for students new to the Internet. The Dissertation Center includes strategies on dissertation research, formatting guides, writing resources, dissertation tutorials, and links to other dissertation resources. Course-related subject guides provide links to resources of interest to those enrolled in a particular course. Mentors or students may suggest sites through “Add-a-Resource,” an online form. Learner Affairs and the ELRC provide step-by-step orientation to the web site via telephone to students requesting assistance.

In addition to providing a review of the literature recently published in the librarianship of non‐book materials this survey aims to draw attention to the characteristics, problems and achievements particular to the documentation and handling of non‐book materials (NBM) in many types of libraries. The materials are briefly described and considerations of selection, acquisition, organization, storage and in particular bibliographic control are dealt with in some detail. Other areas of concern to the librarian dealing with media resources, including the organization and training of staff, planning, equipment, exploitation and copyright, are also discussed. The past decade has seen the widespread introduction of NBM into libraries as additional or alternative sources of information. Librarians have been given an opportunity to rethink many basic principles and adapt existing practice to encompass the new materials. The survey reflects the achievements and some of the failures or problems remaining to be solved in this rapidly expanding area of library work.