Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: New Library World, Volume 112, Issue 5/6
Following a government decision, Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK), the employer-led sector skills council for LIS, will not be relicensed in its own right and will no longer exist. Discussions about alternative arrangements continue. This comes just when, following the demise of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, the Arts Council of England is set to undertake an oversight of public libraries only. The level of interest in all library and information services has raised some concerns. The US is the focus of the paper from Guarria and Wang, who examine the recent recession and its impact on libraries. They comment on library budget cuts and their impact on collections,operations and personnel, and they point out that there is greater reliance on libraries during economic contractions. They include suggestions for coping with flat or reduced budgets while maintaining quality services.
The library ebooks market has changed as ProQuest has acquired ebrary, the academic books platform. ProQuest undertook research and studied students’research patterns to develop new search technology. Its own new platform recently went live at one university where users can now access ProQuest resources in a single, unified search. In their paper, Schroeder and Wright discuss current business models for ebooks. They discuss usage patterns and patron driven acquisitions, a collection development tool that allows patrons to decide by their behaviour what the library buys. They advocate a patron driven model that allows libraries to integrate their ebook offerings with their current approval profiles.
In the UK, Essex library service won a 2010 Jodi Award for “best use of digital technology to widen access for disabled people to information,collections and learning”. A multi-media, easy to use, web site (www.essex.co.uk) is a key element of its resource service. The judges commented that it is “highly innovative – the first website of its kind in the UK for accessibility and content specifically [for] communications needs of people with a learning disability”. Digital technology is the topic of the paper from Doiron and Asselin, but in the context of its influence on the success of learners in tertiary institutions. They comment that not all tertiary students arrive with equal experience of access to digital technologies or equal opportunity in their secondary education to develop the digital literacy skills essential to their continuing learning success, and that they require support in developing their information and critical literacies.
At a Publishers’ Association conference, “Inspired to learn”,a panel discussion provided some insights about students’ preferences. Some students expressed a desire for relevant sections of core texts to be incorporated into their coursework workflow, not whole text books. They do not want to waste time looking for irrelevant material, and they wanted supplementary material on websites to download if needed. In their article,Gross and Sheridan report on small-scale usability studies in which university students used a new library web scale search discovery tool. This is set in the context that many students find the research process difficult, and that web scale products are being hailed as the panacea that will provide “google-type”searching of library collections. Their study confirms some of the promise of the tool but also raises some questions.
“LIS education and prospects for employment” was the topic of a briefing by Hymans (2010). She found evidence that “study often supports a particular career plan, especially if the student is already in work”, and that “if you can see how you provide services that help your organisation deliver its strategic objectives, opportunities will emerge”. Another aspect of LIS education is the benefits of the professional placement. Juznic and Pymm discuss in their article the results of a survey of LIS students undertaken in Slovenia and Australia on their experience of placements and resulting benefits for personal portfolios. Their research confirmed that placements provide a highly relevant educational experience and brought substance and depth to portfolios, particularly for those students with little or no relevant work experience.
A metadata service initiative from the British Library (www.bl.uk/bibliographic/datafree.html)means that its catalogue, including the British National Bibliography, will be made freely available to libraries and researchers. Bibliographic records can be obtained via several routes, which include selective in Marc21 via the Z39.50 protocol and in bulk in a new XML format. The article from Ballard and Blaine discusses search behaviour in online catalogues, and they report on their study which shows how the addition of a next-generational overlay to an existing online catalogue can lead to more refined searching by users.
Linda Ashcroft
