ELINOR presents the final report on the ELINOR project, conducted at De Montfort University in the UK between 1992 and 1996. It was the first time a working electronic library was built for use by students across a university and the project proved extremely valuable in generating a large amount of practical experience. This will enable many libraries to understand the implications of the transition phase towards the electronic library.
This important reference volume covers developments in almost every aspect of British library and information work during the ten-year period 1991-2000. Some forty contributors, all of whom are experts in their subject, provide a robust overview of their specialities along with extensive further references which act as a starting point for further research. The book provides a comprehensive record of what took place in library and information management during a decade of considerable change and challenges. It is an essential reference resource for librarians and information professionals.
"This books presents a holistic view of the new digital library scene ... it is an essential guide to good digital practice and techniques" - back cover.
The advent of globally networked information is a historic change. Educational, commercial and industrial institutions depend on its effective exploitation for their success, but cultural and human factors are the biggest obstacles. This book looks at the roots of these problems and how they may be overcome, through understanding recent developments in technical services, the difference between service and technical orientation, organizational culture, the role of subject expertise and the cultural heritage of the information profession. The book provides guidance and outlines best practice in: managing converging technologies; supporting change with organizational models; using cultural audits; the role of focus groups in implementing change; characterizing a learning organization; succeeding as a change agent, and managing change through technical services. Several chapters discuss the Electronic Libraries programme and the TAPin (Training and Awareness Programme in networks) model as examples of how cultural change takes place, particularly in the academic environment; one chapter concentrates exclusively on the characteristics of special libraries. This illuminating insight into the evolution of information cultures and how they do or don’t adapt to networked services will help information and library managers to achieve change with deeper understanding, and will provide useful advice for senior managers restructuring IT and information departments. The book is core reading for students of Information Studies.
This book illustrates how CD-ROM and the Internet are revolutionising LIS services and user access to information, and highlights the future role and novel opportunities which are becoming available to information professionals.
