Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: New Library World, Volume 110, Issue 9/10

Barking Learning Centre, UK, comprising a library, cafe and art galley, is noted as an example of good practice (www.cabe.org.uk). Design affects quality of life and feelings of belonging and security, and people experience the built environment differently according to who they are. Bodnar’s article focuses on library spaces in terms of information and learning commons. Contrary to some claims that these spaces are more social than academic, he provides a case study of the Georgia Tech Library Commons demonstrating that while information and learning commons are designed primarily to benefit students, they can also support faculty teaching and research interests.

According to Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) research, libraries and the users they serve have different expectations of online library catalogues(Calhoun and Hawk, 2009). While users’ expectations are shaped by their knowledge of how information is organised on popular web sites, librarians’expectations are related to their understanding of the importance of accurate,structured data. To users the experience of delivery of wanted items is as important, if not more important, than discovery. Tseng and Kuo report, in their paper, on how Taipei Public Library, Taiwan established an “intelligent library”. There are some interesting and possibly unique features of this service, which is unstaffed and fully automated. They report on their study into how patrons use this library including how patrons obtain information about reading materials. Interestingly the vast majority chose to browse the shelves and none sought information only through the library catalogue.

Speaking at the Special Open Session of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) Council on how it should use Web 2.0 social media, Phil Bradley highlighted the need for CILIP to focus on the actual activities enabled by Web 2.0 technology, rather than the tools. He stressed the importance of engaging with the various online spaces that are proliferating. Going by the volume of “tweets” sent between participants, this session was a great success. In their article, Blankenship and Hollingsworth focus on the pros and cons of gaining a Second Life Library presence. They report on the perceived allocations of virtual library work time for virtual librarians and discuss suggested solutions for better time management of virtual work.

Keegan and Laskow Lahey (2009) outline a process that Harvard University’s HE library leaders have used to overcome their personal and organisational barriers from preventing change. They explain that once the real source of what has been preventing change is seen, the approach guides on a new path to accomplishing it. The idea of a creative form of change is provided in Yu’s article. This is a case study of the Jinwen University of Science and Technology Library, Taiwan, wherein the normal procedure of a representative librarian learning about the faculty’s disciplinary needs is reversed. Instead the value of a new approach is reported whereby a faculty member learns more about the library and shares this knowledge with students and faculty within the context of the faculty member’s disciplinary knowledge.

Various conflicts can erupt in different ways regarding library users’rights. A situation in which children under 12 could have been banned from US libraries has been temporarily averted after vigorous lobbying by the American Library Association (ALA). An Act passed by Congress after panic over lead paint on toys from China could have led to US libraries making a choice between banning under-12s, removing children’s books or undertaking costly toxicity testing. During the one-year reprieve, ALA will work to resolve the issue and to ensure that the libraries remain open and welcoming to children. The article from Dole and Hurych takes a more wide-sweeping approach to dilemmas of competing values for library services. They examine scenarios where core library values at times appear to be in conflict with each other, considering how conflict can be resolved particularly when one of the core values is “the right to access information”.

The British Library (BL) and Joint Information Systems Committee are undertaking a three year study on “Generation Y” researchers –born between 1982 and 1994). The study will track the information seeking and research behaviour of PhD students starting work in 2008/2009, assessing their use of library and information resources both online and of-line. The aim of the study is to establish a benchmark to measure future generations’ research behaviour and help BL remodel its services to suit them. Information seeking and learning is the topic of Fainburg’s paper. She discusses an information-seeking model in combination with a problem-solving model and considers how this could be used to develop information literacy programs at academic and research libraries.

Linda Ashcroft