Although academic libraries are increasingly converting stacks into collaborative spaces and physical books and journals are being replaced by their electronic counterparts, the concept of browsing as a means of discovery is seeing a resurgence in the world of search and discovery. While many users start their online research with electronic databases and library catalogues, interviews with Nor...

Research during the 1950s in library and information science refl ected the intense intellectual foment and fervor of the time. As a master’s student of library science at Western Reserve University (WRU) in 1952, Phyllis Allen Richmond found herself at the epicenter of some of the most exciting work being pursued in the fi eld. Her academic career crosscuts diverse areas. She was a champion of...

An account is given of the difficulties caused to smaller learned publishers and to the academic library system in the move to electronic delivery of results of scientific and medical research. BioOne, a co-operative venture of such publishers and libraries, is then described with an account of its progress to date. Learned Publishing (2003)16, 134–138 134 Heather Dalterio Joseph L E A R N E D ...

Professor Bob Usherwood is a leading scholar in the field of public librarianship who spent three decades of his working life at the University of Sheffield, where he founded the Centre for the Public Library and Information in Society to pursue the mission of “Getting Research Into Policy and Practice.” His career took him from librarian and chief officer to faculty member and a personal chair...

The Internet is a giant semiotic system. It is a massive collection of Peirce's three kinds of signs: icons, which show the form of something; indices, which point to something; and symbols, which represent something according to some convention. But current proposals for ontologies and metadata have overlooked some of the most important features of signs. A sign has three aspects: it is (1) an...

Use of citations and web links embedded in online teaching materials was studied for an undergraduate course. The undergraduate students enrolled in Geographic Information Science for Geography and Regional Development used web links more often than citations, but clearly did not see them as key to enhancing learning. Current conventions for citing and linking tend to make citations and links i...

The information processing community has a good deal of work to do so that access to ETDs is improved to properly meet the needs of the research community. This paper outlines some of what is possible. It also makes suggestions for actions that will aid improved access, which could be undertaken by: those who administer ETD programs, the faculty who guide the development of ETDs, and the studen...

In May 2005, the PREMIS Working Group released the first version of the Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata: Final Report, a community consensus based preservation metadata standard. PREMIS XML schemas were also published to support the implementation. Since then, many organizations started implementing PREMIS in their repositories, during which a handful of common implementation issues s...

This paper examines the role archives and special collections (ASCs) play in information literacy instruction (IL) in academic libraries, and explores how ASCs can use primary resource instruction to improve existing IL instruction programs for undergraduate students. An examination of the literature indicates significant possibilities for undergraduate IL instruction by ASCs. Lacking assessmen...

Increased reliance on electronic resources requires examination of the roles of librarians in several key ways. This paper addresses the need for further research into three important areas of electronic publishing. How is the change to digital information sources affecting the scholarly work of college and university students? Previous research shows that students rely on Web and online resour...