Library and Information Research (LIR)
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GODWIN, Peter and PARKER, Jo. (eds.) Information literacy meets Library 2.0. London: Facet Publishing. 2008.
Get PDFExam Papers On-Demand
Get PDFThe Exam Papers On-demand Project comprised 1) research into the feasibility of electronic provision of University of Surrey past exam papers and 2) the subsequent development of a scalable and sustainable system for allowing Internet access to past exam papers by members of the University. Although this has been achieved at other institutions, the solution at the University of Surrey is believed to be innovative in a number of ways. The achievements include the compliance with the Dublin Core metadata standard and the design of a generic system that could be used in the future for additional learning and teaching resources
Librarians On Call: an instant messaging enquiry service for Open University distance learners
Get PDFFrom March 4 - May 31 2002, The Open University Library piloted a new, instant messaging enquiry service for use by its distance learners, called Librarians On Call. The service enabled OU distance learners to remain online using electronic library resources, whilst also obtaining instant help from a librarian, without the need to disconnect from the internet to use the telephone. Student reaction to the service was overwhelmingly positive, and as a result the Open University has decided to continue the Librarians On Call service. Exit surveys conducted with students indicated students preferred the Librarians On Call service to both email and the telephone, and that they found the service both beneficial and easy to use. The article details the results of the pilot, and also discusses some of the practical issues encountered whilst setting up the service, such as software selection and staffing
Libraries in the digital world: Library projects in the European Commission\u27s Information Society Technologies (IST) Programme
Get PDFAssessing library web page usability: how benchmarking can help
Get PDFThis article looks at how the \u27Mystery Shopper\u27 methodology used by a consortium of universities was adapted to assess the usability of the library web pages of all four universities. Using a methodology refined from a previous web usability exercise, the various elements in the process are described. The outcomes of the project are briefly discussed, along with lessons learnt from the process
The provision made by higher education library services for people with disabilities
Get PDFThis article examines the results of a Masters research
project which examined the provision provided by
Higher Education (HE) library services for students
with disabilities within the context of the new disability
legislation,The Special Educational Needs and Disability
Act 2001 (SENDA), which came into force on 1st
September 2002. Five HE libraries were selected as case studies and this included interviews with staff, an accessibility audit of services and facilities and a questionnaire targeted at students with disabilities. Library provision was assessed in light of library policies, procedures and practices. On the positive side, all libraries had a disability representative and many staff attended disability awareness training. However, accessibility of the built environment was often inadequate for the needs of people with disabilities. Lighting was poor,
shelving was of inappropriate width and height and signage was far from ideal. Recommendations to improve provision included: compilation of formal written disability policies; compulsory disability awareness training and proactive promotion of available facilities
The development of young people\u27s information-seeking behaviour
No full textThis article uses the results of a recent research
project to explore young people\u27s information-seeking
behaviour and how it develops during childhood.
Young first schoolers learn much through practical
experience and conversation with adults but, in the
later stages of this school phase, books, CD-ROM and
the Internet assume increasing importance. In the
middle school, the Internet is used more frequently
and CD-ROM exploitation gradually diminishes. Books
from departmental libraries and textbooks provided by
teachers play key roles in satisfying the academic
information needs of high schoolers. It is in this phase
that use of the Internet is greatest, although many
teenagers are highly critical of it. Whilst the
information-seeking behaviour of high schoolers is
markedly more sophisticated than that of young
children, some essential similarities remain. The article
closes by discussing how the overall findings of the
research have implications for practice, especially
within schools and public libraries
DEWE, Michael (ed.) Renewing our libraries: case studies in re-planning and refurbishment. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. 2009.
Get PDFComparing ourselves: using benchmarking techniques to measure performance between academic libraries
Get PDFReport of the LIRG seminar: The Effective academic library held on Tuesday 12th June 2001 at Staffordshire University
We can learn a lot from others. Benchmarking provides a structural framework for making comparisons with other organisations. The techniques enable us to learn from one another by looking at why there are differences in performance outcomes between organisations undertaking similar functions. This seminar concentrated on:-
- Importance of benchmarking / benchmarking techniques
- Establishment of benchmarking consortia
- Utilising statistics and performance indicators
- Practical examples of how academic libraries have evaluated and improved their services through benchmarkin
A catalogue quality audit tool
Get PDFThe current need for performance measurement and quality targets for services to users requires suitable performance indicators for libraries to use. This paper looks at the self-assessment audit tool for catalogue quality developed by UKOLN in collaboration with Essex libraries. For the tool a checklist of errors was drawn up, which can then be used to assess the quality of records within a catalogue using a sample of library stock. The tool can be used to assess the quality of catalogue records for monographs and non-book materials (but not serials), for complete collections or parts of collections and for records created at different periods. This paper describes the tool and the process of making the assessment and reports on the results of the pilot study carried out at the University of Bath Library in 2000