Search

The article offers information related to the American Library Association Core Interest Group Week, an online meeting of the interest group members, held during the second week of March 2022. It informs that Core Promoting Preservation Interest Group offered three presentations on topics related to preservation outreach, engagement, and education.

Technology has altered the traditional academic library beyond recognition. These dramatic changes have impacted significantly on the knowledge and skills requirements for LIS professionals practising in this environment. While there have been studies in other parts of the world which have investigated the knowledge and skills requirements for the digital era academic library environment, to date no comprehensive study has ‘drilled’ down into this area in the South African context. This paper reports on a preliminary study which is part of a wider study aimed at developing a comprehensive skills statement which would provide an objective framework against which professional LIS practitioners in the modern academic library environment in South Africa may both measure their existing competencies and also identify the need for further skills acquisition. The research question guiding this preliminary investigation was: What key knowledge and skills are required for LIS professionals to effectively and efficiently practise in a digital era academic library in South Africa? The triangulated findings (using content analysis of job advertisements and semi-structured interviews) from this preliminary investigation are used to ascertain an initial picture of key knowledge and skills sets required for LIS professionals in this environment. These preliminary findings also proved useful in teasing out some of the parameters for the wider study targeting the development of a comprehensive skills statement for higher education libraries in South Africa. The study reported here has relevance for the academic library context in other parts of the world as well. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

There are numerous quantitative studies about job satisfaction, career choice, and perceptions of academic librarianship in professional Library and Information Science literature; however, not much qualitative work has been done to understand the lived experience of librarianship in any setting. A phenomenological study was conducted to understand the experiences of Korean academic librarians working in South Korea. Themes covering several aspects of academic librarianship emerged, linking career choice, LIS education and career readiness, relationships with faculty and students, and the development of professional librarianship and academic libraries in South Korea. In addition to adding personal context to quantitative studies about these issues, the phenomenological method used in this study enhances comparative librarianship literature by highlighting the universality and nuances of academic librarianship practice on a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores how a support group has contributed to building a culture of research practice at Flinders University Library. The brief of the Research Working Group (RWG) is to develop a culture of research and professional reflection in the library's professional staff. The RWG has three broad goals against which to measure its impact: to develop the professional staff's skills with regard to research engagement; to encourage analysis and investigation of the library's services and resources; and to engage more widely with the library profession and the wider higher education community through presentation and publication of research results. Professional staff completed a questionnaire examining their participation in research, their confidence in undertaking research, and plans for future research projects. The results were analysed with reference to the first goal of the RWG. The importance of practitioners undertaking research is increasingly being recognised as a core value in academic libraries. Many support groups for librarians undertaking research have been described in the literature, but few have evaluated the impact of such a group. This paper seeks to evaluate the impact of the RWG on the professional staff at Flinders University Library to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A national research study was undertaken to identify and clarify issues related to the employment in academic settings of African librarians who have relocated to the United States. It examined, by means of a survey, employment issues concerned with education, credentialing, language skills and cultural bias from the perspective of those librarians and concluded with a recommendation regarding the manner in which their skills might be utilized for the benefit of their homelands [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses changes in the job profiles and expectations of subject librarians in academic libraries in Germany, based on a survey of 479 librarians at the 100th Deutscher Bibliothekartag (Meeting of German Librarians) in Berlin in 2011. Responses to the survey questions, which included questions regarding subject-specific qualifications, streamlining and outsourcing of responsibilities and expertise, and the future of subject librarianship in general, are quoted extensively.

This paper examines students' and practitioners' attitudes toward, and uses of, various reference sources. It was precipitated by questioning the best outcomes of the basic reference class in Library Science programs, specifically asking what types of sources LIS students should be versed in as they enter the workforce -- print or online? This research found some differences between academic and public librarians, and little agreement about the purposes of the basic reference course. Teaching about types of reference sources today is difficult; as Margaret Landesman says, we are moving away from "reference collections" because of "the convergence among formats, [so that] we can't recognize a reference book when we see one."[1] Our students, though, might benefit from using print reference sources, less as a historical artifact, but for the concrete demonstration of organization of information that they offer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers library-related news briefs as of December 2016. Topics include the grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the training program of academic librarians at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, the move of King's University College and St. Peter's Seminary Library to join the Catholic Research Resource Alliance (CRAA) and the collection of library materials to study of the works of French writer Georges Bernanos.

The article focuses on "Histoire de la transformation de l'Université de Paris" a conference held in Bulac, France, on April 23, 2013. Topics mentioned include the history of academic libraries in France during the 1960s and 1970s, the creation of the École nationale supérieure de bibliothécaires, a school training to future librarians, and the budget of academic libraries.