This book, first published in 1988, looks at the relationship between public policy and information and reports ways in which libraries respond to the need for public policy information. Chapters provide perspectives from a variety of library settings with different user groups who, in turn, have different information needs. This volume will stimulate you to examine the adequacy of your own reference services and to a greater appreciation of the dynamic relationship between public policy and information services.
Here is the first introductory guide to all aspects of providing legislative reference services. Unlike special libraries which deal with one specific discipline, legislative reference bureaus must deal with a full spectrum of subject areas and meet the unique needs of elected and appointed officials and their staffs. This guide helps librarians find the best current resources and services to answer the varied demands for information typical of legislative reference libraries. Legislative Reference Services and Sources facilitates the work of legislative librarians and makes them confident so that they can supply legislators and their staffs with the information needed to effectively examine, draft, or enact legislation of benefit to the public. No other book on the market provides such a comprehensive overview of legislative reference services. Author Kathleen Low acquaints librarians with over 100 sources useful in responding to information requests from legislators. A wide range of valuable topics are covered that will help legislative reference librarians meet the information demands of legislators and lawmakers including: an overview of essential reference services needed by legislators and their staffs specific protocols and forms of etiquette to observe when promoting services to elected and appointed officials over 100 frequently consulted titles in legislative references the usefulness of online resources how to recognize special services and sensitivity warranted by patrons and the services and responses to expect in return Legislative Reference Services and Sources addresses the legislative reference services commonly provided, promotion of services, the librarian/client relationship, client expectations, the ethics of responding to certain requests, and the core resources used in legislative reference requests. It is an invaluable tool for beginning level legislative librarians, public services librarians, and state and federal agency librarians who need an introduction to this unique type of information service.
With this handy new guidebook, reference luminary Jo Bell Whitlatch outlines practical methods for evaluating and delivering excellent reference service to the technology-savvy library user of today.
Get the most out of your reference information systems and technology! Reference Services and Media meets the information challenges that overwhelm and assist us today with computerization, electronics, and telecommunications changes in the reference services of our libraries. As a professional in the library science field, you will discover innovative theories and researched solutions on many technology problems and challenges such as formatting and compatibility, training of reference professionals and library users, costs, and information have and have nots. With the year 2000 and beyond upon us, emerging technologies afford tremendous opportunities for reference librarians and for improved and enhanced public access to information. In Reference Services and Media you will learn about planning for staffing, troubleshooting fund-raising, and budget developing to support the use of information technologies. You will also examine the impact new media has on academic libraries, specifically video and movie clips that are transferred over intranets and internets and their opportunities and legal implications. In Reference Services and Media you will also explore: desktop conferencing and web access for reference services versus personalized contact desktop conferencing with personal computers in remote areas for reference service assistance positive and negative aspects of using each technology in reference use instruction creative methods for procuring funding for an electronic information literary instruction classroom providing a digital library for a state library network raising confidence levels of public service librarians in using electronic resources to answer reference questions Reference Services and Media includes case studies, tables, and an annotated bibliography that serves as a librarian's media reference toolkit, making it essential for effective media reference work. An excellent source for the reference librarian, Reference Services and Media will assist you in adopting and incorporating new information technologies for the present and future.
This collection takes a critical look at the overarching trends that affect current library policy and practice regarding the process of delivering information services, and how factors such as public policy, economics, and popular culture will continue to affect those trends in the future
This comprehensive volume recounts the ways reference librarians have adapted traditional services to deal with the changes in both information technologies and library patrons. New Technologies and Reference Services shows how to provide needed services using videoconferencing, interactive classrooms, drop-in seminars, and required courses. It also discusses the other implications of new technologies, including developing trends in publishing, copyright issues, collection strategies, and decentralizing library reference services.
Career Planning and Job Searching in the Information Age answers key questions for today?s providers of career-planning and job-searching information. Librarians and career development professionals’concerns--such as cost-effective use of the Internet, the reliability and integrity of electronic resources, and successful search strategies--are addressed in this comprehensive collection. In this follow-up to Library Services for Career Planning, Job Searching and Employment Opportunities (1992), real-life methods used by information providers to reduce costs and improve quality of service through a better understanding of today?s technology and audience needs and expectations are shown. Readers learn about: issues and ethics in the electronic environment job searches conducted on the World Wide Web a university placement office?s gopher site for 24-hour access to job information a university library and career service department?s collaboration on job search seminars how a public library fit electronic job searching into its mission an alumnae network?s evolution into a national career development organizationCareer Planning and Job Searching in the Information Age presents a broad base of knowledge from which readers are launched into tightly focused case studies offering details on how to deal with the issues of technology and service. This book makes it clear that in the ever-changing world of information technology, there is little room for the status quo. Professionals who don’t learn about electronic resources risk missing out on a wealth of up-to-the-minute information that is infinitely useful to patrons planning a career or searching for a job. Library professionals just beginning to address these issues, professionals already possessing a general knowledge of these issues, and students of library science and career development will all benefit from this collection.
The library budget, a topic of primary importance to the reference librarian, is thoroughly examined in this book, first published in 1988. Experts offer insightful suggestions for reference librarians to understand and take responsibility for budget issues, directly and indirectly. They address the ability to explain the budget - which actually entails explaining the collection, the services, and the process in place for managing the fiscal resources - a necessary skill for any reference librarian faced with looming budget cuts. Providing quality services on a limited budget is also explored. The contributors provide helpful essays on convincing the parent agency to provide adequate support, setting goals and priorities, generating revenue, and more.
The demand for and technology needed to create effective distance learning programs are increasing at a breakneck pace. Is your institution keeping up? As educators, information professionals are faced with the challenge of providing Web-based library instructional materials in a time of ever-changing technologies. This book will help you address that daunting challenge, examining ways to assess user needs, to develop and offer well-thought-out information literacy courses, to employ appropriate teaching methodologies, and to determine the effectiveness of existing information literacy programs. With Distance Learning: Information Access and Services for Virtual Users, you will examine: the evolution and significance of asynchronous learning networks (ALN) and various issues in ALN, including cost, faculty and technology requirements, the nature of the learning community, social presence, and collaborative environment virtual reference services, including electronic journals, subject directories, the invisible Web, and search engines the criteria for evaluating search results the role played by consortia and cooperative efforts in facilitating user access to library resources a review of selected literature addressing user characteristics and service/staff issues involved in providing information support for distance education the strategies, technologies, and pedagogical issues surrounding the development of Web-based library instruction tools—includes Web page design, copyright issues, Web site maintenance, and usability the award-winning online information literacy course developed at Ulster County Community College in New York—its development, course modules, and administrative challenges the library support services provided to distance learning students in the SUNY Plattsburg Telenursing Program the influence of cultural factors on interactions within and perceptions of distance education
