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1 – 10 of over 12000Observing trends and issues plays a key role in the success of any industry. Since 2010, the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) has been publishing papers on top…
Abstract
Purpose
Observing trends and issues plays a key role in the success of any industry. Since 2010, the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) has been publishing papers on top trends and issues in academic libraries in the USA, allowing for reflection, tracking, lesson drawing, adaptation, planning and direction. Such a publication is absent in the Jamaican library industry. This paper aims to examine the extent to which these trends and issues, as reported by ACRL, are evident in Jamaican academic librarianship.
Design/methodology/approach
Through document and thematic analysis of publications written on Jamaican academic librarianship 2010-2016, this paper highlights trends and issues in Jamaican academic librarianship.
Findings
There are similarities in the trends and issues in Jamaican academic librarianship and American academic librarianship; the similarities sometimes vary, however, in focus. Additionally, there are trends and issues in Jamaican academic librarianship not mentioned in the literature reviewed on American academic librarianship and vice versa.
Research limitations/implications
A survey of the chief librarians’ perceptions regarding the trends and issues would be a useful follow-up.
Practical implications
This paper allows for reflection, comparison, benchmarking, lesson-drawing, planning and direction for academic libraries and other types of libraries in Jamaica and the rest of the developing world.
Social implications
The gaps highlighted, particularly those with the most potential, can be discussed with the objective of exploring how these can be translated into new or revised services for the community of users.
Originality/value
This paper is of value, as there is no publication with an explicit focus on trends and issues in Jamaican academic libraries; this paper will be the first publication on trends and issues in Jamaican academic librarianship. In this regard, this paper makes an important contribution to the literature on academic librarianship generally, and to the literature on Caribbean and Jamaican academic librarianship, specifically.
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Keren Dali, Clarissa Vannier and Lindsay Douglass
Addressed to the audience of LIS educators at all levels, from full-time and adjunct faculty teaching in LIS programs, to librarians and library consultants delivering…
Abstract
Purpose
Addressed to the audience of LIS educators at all levels, from full-time and adjunct faculty teaching in LIS programs, to librarians and library consultants delivering professional development training, to practitioners who work with readers in all types of libraries, this article makes a case for replacing the term “readers' advisory” with the term “Reading Experience (RE) librarianship” as a designator of the current professional practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Using historical and discursive analysis based on the extensive literature review, this article argues that a number of factors call for the change in terminology: changes in the human factor (i.e., changes in readers and reading behavior; and changes in relationships between readers and librarians) and changes in the library environment (the rise of “experience” in libraries; a greater commitment to outreach and community engagement; and the fact that librarians are already practicing RE librarianship without recognizing it as such). It also examines the role of LIS educators in fostering and supporting RE librarianship.
Findings
On the one hand, the new terminology will be more reflective of the work that reader service librarians currently do, thus doing justice to a wide range of activities and expanded roles of librarians; on the other hand, it will serve as an imperative and a motivator to further transform reader services from in-house interactions with and programs for avid readers into a true community engagement, with much broader goals, scope and reach.
Originality/value
The article stands to coin a new professional term for the transformed library practice, thus recording a radical change in longstanding professional activities and encouraging new community-oriented thinking about the expanded role of librarians in promoting reading in diverse social environments.
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The development of library science is discussed within four main phases: US influence before 1949; Soviet Union influence 1949‐1965; diplomatic segregation from the West…
Abstract
The development of library science is discussed within four main phases: US influence before 1949; Soviet Union influence 1949‐1965; diplomatic segregation from the West 1966‐1976; and the influence of the developed countries 1977‐1991. The effects of the Cold War on Chinese politics and so on librarianship are indicated and discussed and the influence of the Cultural Revolution, and recovery after it, analysed.
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To contribute to and evoke ongoing reflections on librarians' professional identity, i.e. librarianship. Inherent hereto is a questioning of the feasibility of collections and…
Abstract
Purpose
To contribute to and evoke ongoing reflections on librarians' professional identity, i.e. librarianship. Inherent hereto is a questioning of the feasibility of collections and collections control as basic constituents hereof. Instead, it is argued that an inquiry into proprieties of librarians' actual and potential tools allows for establishing firmer grounds for present and future librarianship.
Design/methodology/approach
In a number of analytical steps, the concept of librarianship is deconstructed.
Findings
Collections and collections control are shown to equal conceptual quicksand for librarianship at a time where access to information is largely outside librarians' control. Alternatively, an understanding of actual and potential librarians' tools may potentially provide firmer conceptual basis.
Practical implications
It is suggested that librarians are to reflect critically on the appropriateness of actual and potential tools applied.
Originality/value
Questions whether collections and collections control constitute a feasible primary constituent for librarianship. Suggests, instead, that firmer conceptual grounds for librarianship are to be established.
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The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to make a contribution to the theoretical understanding of documents and documentary agency in society through examples from a defined…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to make a contribution to the theoretical understanding of documents and documentary agency in society through examples from a defined institutional and professional setting; and second, to create an understanding for the role of ethical codes in the process of defining and developing modern librarianship.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyses the role of documentation carrying content of professional ethics in the formulation of modern librarianship. This is done through a series of example documents of various kinds, such as founding charters, peer handbooks and ethical codes systematically analysed through the use of document theory and theory on institutional change.
Findings
The findings of this study suggest that documents pronouncing ethical self-regulation within librarianship play a primarily legitimising role in situations where new types of libraries emerge or when libraries adapt to social change. The study proposes legitimacy as a key aspect of documentality, thus supplementing the established understanding of the concept.
Originality/value
This study is the first to analyse the role of ethical codes in libraries using document theory. It brings new knowledge to the role of ethical self-regulation in librarianship over time and in different institutional contexts. In suggesting a developed definition of documentality, it contributes to the theoretical understanding of the role of documents and documentation in institutions and in society at large.
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Murtaza Ashiq and Nosheen Fatima Warraich
Data librarianship, or data-driven librarianship, is the combination of information science, data science and e-science fields and is gaining gradual importance in the library…
Abstract
Purpose
Data librarianship, or data-driven librarianship, is the combination of information science, data science and e-science fields and is gaining gradual importance in the library and information science (LIS) profession. Hence, this study investigates the data librarianship core concepts (motivational factors, challenges, skills and appropriate training platforms) to learn and successfully launch data librarianship services.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey method was used and the data were collected through online questionnaire. Purposive sampling method was applied and 132 responses were received with 76 respondents from the public and 56 from the private sector universities of Pakistan. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS version 25) was used, and descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to analyzed the data.
Findings
LIS professionals understand the importance of data-driven library services and perceive that such services are helpful in evolving the image of the library, helping with the establishment of institutional data repositories/data banks, developing data resources and services for library patrons and especially researchers, and receiving appreciation and acknowledgment from the higher authorities. The major challenges that emerged from the data were: missing data policies, limited training opportunities for data librarianship roles, no additional financial benefits, lack of infrastructure and systems, lack of organizational support for the initiation of data-driven services, and lack of skills, knowledge and expertise. Data librarianship is in its early stages in Pakistan, and consequently, the LIS professionals are lacking basic, advanced and technical data-driven skills.
Research limitations/implications
The policy, theoretical and practical implications describe an immediate need for framing data policies. Such policies will help the libraries or any other relevant entities to store the data and assign metadata and documentation in such a way that it is easy to retrieve and reusable for others.
Originality/value
This is the first study in Pakistan to investigate the perceptions of LIS professionals about data librarianship core concepts: motivational factors, challenges, skills and appropriate training platforms to grasp data-driven skills and successfully launch library services.
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The Council for National Academic Awards could be said to have been fathered by SPUTNIK I, the first space satellite launched in 1957 by the USSR. This signal achievement, a great…
Abstract
The Council for National Academic Awards could be said to have been fathered by SPUTNIK I, the first space satellite launched in 1957 by the USSR. This signal achievement, a great shock to Western democracies hitherto convinced of their technical and cultural superiority, induced national soul searching particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. Inevitably such soul searching turned upon the higher education system. If SPUTNIK I was the progenitor of CNAA, Lord Robbins was its midwife. The so called Robbins Report, which examined the structure of higher education in the United Kingdom, concluded that there was need to expand significantly the cadres of qualified manpower available by the expansion of opportunities for university level education. It was recognised by Lord Robbins' Committee of Enquiry that in the areas of professional and specifically vocational higher education the United Kingdom had failed seriously to furnish itself appropriately by its existing patterns of higher education provision.
Bharati Pati and Sabitri Majhi
As the concept of “embedded librarianship” is gaining acceptance globally, and a surplus amount of literature is available for the aspiring practitioners, it would be…
Abstract
Purpose
As the concept of “embedded librarianship” is gaining acceptance globally, and a surplus amount of literature is available for the aspiring practitioners, it would be supplementary to carry out such a literature review and bring alike and crucial works together within one piece of writing. This paper aims to gather realistic instances in LIS literature, where embedded librarianship has been practiced successfully.
Design/methodology/approach
While the focus of this review paper is on embedded librarians in curricular contexts, the phrase embedded librarian has a variety of meanings, including librarian involvement and integration at the macro levels such as college, department, programme, research team and micro levels such as course designing, semester assignments and competitive preparation etc. List of relevant literatures was collected from Scopus and LISTA database. Later, full text of the listed document was retrieved from different sources. But the literature that included practical role of an embedded librarian was prioritised and the one which incorporated proposed theories was excluded, and hence, 67 of them were found to be fitted for reviewing purpose in the current case.
Findings
While planning for any extensional service besides the usual housekeeping ones, a vigorous transformation in the attitude has to be engulfed. Though the conception of embedded librarianship as a whole is an extended version of service deliverance, it can be alienated into sections according to the contextual outline and areas of embedding such as in the research context, pedagogical participation and offering information literacy.
Research limitations/implications
This paper provides a panoramic view on the emerging notion of this extended version of librarianship. By successfully practicing the embedded librarianship model, the user group would be benefited and the professionals could justify the ethics of their professionalism. Embedded librarianship in the university context can be a very important endeavour for the future challenges. The proactive initiatives of the librarian along with a handy support from authorities might ensure continuous and effective partnerships.
Originality/value
This paper is expected to be one of the initial and review articles in the area of embedded librarianship in academics. It is a highly informative paper on embedded librarianship and will be most useful for researchers to refer this paper for individual study and also will promote the academic librarians for taking initiative to work as effective embedded librarians.
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This progress report attempts to chart the main trends in professional education during the 1970s and to identify the major problems facing curriculum planners for the rest of…
Abstract
This progress report attempts to chart the main trends in professional education during the 1970s and to identify the major problems facing curriculum planners for the rest of this decade—and beyond. Although the work is based on United Kingdom educational practice, developments in other countries are noted whenever it is felt that a helpful comparison may be made. The citations do not represent a bibliography of professional education: such a compilation has already been accomplished in the researches of Burrell, and to a lesser extent in Clough. Writings on professional education in librarianship and information science tend to date rather quickly; especially if they deal with information technology or technical services. Theoretical problems remain more durable and usually reappear in different guises. Both information science and librarianship are bracketed together whenever they interrelate or overlap, or whenever logic and common sense dictate. In no way is it implied that they are both one and the same thing; the terms denote different areas of professional application and activity.