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E-books are on the minds of publishers, authors, and readers these days. And they should be on the minds of librarians as well. As with any new format for materials, there are challenges and issues that libraries face in adding e-books to their collections. (more…)
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The path to becoming an academic library dean is not prescriptive nor necessarily linear. Each ascends to that post in a unique way; all come from different backgrounds and experiences. For some, such a position is a goal from the start of their careers; they lay careful groundwork and make strategic choices to chart their course. In other cases, the decision to move into management evolves as the career unfolds, making it seem logical or even necessary to consider moving on to an administrative opportunity. (more…)
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Many librarians have been asked to take on additional responsibilities during these tight economic times. In this column, Maureen Perry writes about what she learned from her year as a hybrid librarian, splitting her time between reference and special collections. (more…)
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The Reading List annually recognizes the best books in eight genres: adrenaline (which includes suspense, thriller, and adventure), fantasy, historical fiction, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction, and women’s fiction. (more…)
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The Outstanding Reference Source list of titles identifies the most important reference publications for small- and medium-sized public and academic libraries published in a given year. (more…)
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Since 1944, the Notable Books Council has annually selected a list of twenty-five very good, very readable, and at times very important fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books for the adult reader. (more…)
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Philosophy can be considered one of the “key” subjects, unlocking as is does much of the theoretical conversations that take place in other fields. It can also be a daunting proposition for librarians trying to develop a collection that is broad enough to capture the subject, yet deep enough to take users beyond a rudimentary level. (more…)
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As noted in this column in RUSQ 48(2) (“Building on a Firm Foundation: Readers’ Advisory Over the Next Twenty Five Years”), one of the challenges facing readers’ advisors in the coming years will be format-based advisory. (more…)
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There has been a long-standing interest within the academic librarian community to provide support for graduate students involved in interdisciplinary research. (more…)
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A new cataloging code, Resource Description and Access (RDA) was published in June 2010 and has been undergoing tests at select libraries. (more…)
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As the crafting trend continues apace, knitting remains very popular as the seemingly endless number of titles published on the subject, in print and online, can attest. How do we know which books and resources will best serve our patrons, and where do we turn for guidance and hands-on (as it were) reviews? (more…)
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Reference, instruction, and technology come together in the arena of research support. No matter the level of the researcher (from the student writing his or her first high school research paper to the Nobel prize–winning scientist) source citation is fundamental to good research. (more…)
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This guideline began with a report prepared by the Task Force on Resource-Sharing Response to Natural Disasters, June 2007. (more…)
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Sometimes we can get so caught up in the minutia of our daily work that we forget the passion that brought us to the library profession, and to readers’ advisory work in particular. In this issue’s column, Brad Hooper rekindles some of that passion as he looks at the connections that readers’ advisors can make between food writing and travel writing. (more…)
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To graduate as self-guided, motivated lifelong learners, university students must become information literate. Teaching information literacy (IL) skills has long been a core role of librarians. As information and communication technology evolves, the focus of IL teaching changes with it. (more…)
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On July, Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella announced that he would retire from his position at the end of the current baseball season. Although the season didn’t end until October and spring training doesn’t start until February of next year, there was immediate buzz and much speculation about who would be the next skipper of the storied franchise. It is never too early to start looking for a good manager. (more…)
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Frontline reference librarians purvey their skills in a variety of reference service models. These range from the traditional to the tiered to the information commons (IC) to the learning commons (LC). Libraries might use one pure form of any model, a hybrid model, or a model in the process of transformation. (more…)
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No matter how you define it, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a hot topic. From community investing to business ethics to environmental sustainability and beyond, proponents of CSR view the business landscape through a lens that focuses less on profitability and more on the greater good. (more…)
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Each year at the ALA Annual Conference, the Business Reference Sources Committee of RUSA’s Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) meets to select the outstanding business reference sources published since May of the previous year. With all due respect to the familiar and longstanding column title, committee members have come to think of our charge more broadly as finding the most outstanding business information sources, the better to reflect the evolving nature of the formats and means of accessing business information to meet reference needs. (more…)
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Welcome to the second annual presentation of the “Best of the Best Business Websites (Free Resources).” These three websites were selected by the Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) Education Committee, which is a part of RUSA. The committee is responsible for compiling and selecting the best free online resources to meet business librarians’ needs in serving their user populations. (more…)
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What would happen if you asked a group of readers’ advisory (RA) librarians—ranging from some of the top experts in the field to sharp readers who recently graduated from library school—to handpick a collection of professional tools, including books, articles, websites, blogs, and databases? You would get an eclectic collection of hard-working titles and sites that serve the daily needs of on-the-desk staff, foundational texts that set the standards of the service, and idiosyncratic picks that seem to always provide inspiration. (more…)
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Welcome to the annual review of the “Best Historical Materials.” Each year members of the Historical Materials Committee, RUSA History Section identify and review valuable and unique English-language print bibliographies and websites of interest to the historical community. With the increase in free and fee-based electronic indexes and databases, both the production and value of lengthy print bibliographies have diminished. However, this year the group selected three print bibliographies and four websites for inclusion in our annual list. (more…)
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Welcome to the twelfth annual “Best Free Reference Websites” list. In 1998, the Machine-Assisted Reference Section (MARS) of RUSA appointed an ad hoc task force to develop a method of recognizing outstanding reference websites. The task force became a formal committee at the 2001 ALA Annual Conference, and now it is appropriately named the MARS Best Free Reference Websites Committee. (more…)
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With this issue, Reference & User Services Quarterly (RUSQ) begins its fiftieth year of publication. In November of 1960, the first copy of what was then known as RQ (sometimes referred to as “Reference Quarterly”) appeared “as an eight-page newsletter.”1 Since that time, the content and the presentation has expanded to its present format. Throughout its history as RQ, and later RUSQ, the journal has been essential to the forward progress of both the theory and the practice of reference librarianship, in the broadest sense of the phrase. (more…)
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The firestorm of controversy over the recent vote in Switzerland to ban the building of minarets on mosques highlights the perilous and contentious state of Islamic community, culture, and religion in Europe. Finding reliable and current research and resources on the many threads that informs the debate surrounding the European Islamic community, Western perceptions, and the tensions between factions can be difficult. (more…)
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The human body is composed of multiple sensory modalities, and each of them engages a different part of the brain when stimulated. A common assumption of learning theory is that individuals prefer some sensory paths over others for learning, hence the distinction between kinesthetic, verbal, visual, and aural learners. (more…)
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Since 1944, the Notable Books Council has annually selected a list of 25 very good, very readable and at times very important fiction, nonfiction and poetry books for the adult reader. (more…)
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The 2010 list of Outstanding Reference Sources for small and medium-sized libraries has been announced by RUSA. (more…)
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The Reading List annually recognizes the best books in eight genres: adrenaline (which includes suspense, thriller, and adventure), fantasy, historical fiction, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction, and women’s fiction. (more…)
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More and more, librarians working with adult users are called on to talk to groups of readers about books and reading. Whether it is to a book discussion group seeking guidance in selecting new authors, a class on crime fiction, or a program through the library’s outreach services to seniors, booktalking is no longer solely the responsibility of children’s librarians. (more…)
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Numerous articles have been written about the impact of today’s simplified, remote access to information on the research habits of scholars, but few have probed the research process from the germination of an idea through the steps that bring it to fruition in this era. This article, part current study and part retrospective, does just that. (more…)
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Librarians and writing instructors are longtime allies that share the goal of teaching information literacy (IL). The IL concept, however, has been undertheorized in its relationship to writing pedagogy. In a series of articles on writing and IL, Norgaard challenges librarians and writing instructors to engage in an “informed conversation between writing and information literacy as disciplines and fields of endeavor.” (more…)
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Librarians responsible for the collection development of their library’s literary criticism section know that it is a difficult task to select the right book. Is the Oxford World’s Classic or the Penguin the best imprint of Jane Eyre? Which translation of War and Peace best captures Tolstoy’s language? (more…)
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These are challenging times for libraries. Stories of budget cuts abound while librarians report rising demand for library services.1 As we slash budgets and defer expenses, we may wonder how libraries coped during the Great Depression. (more…)
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Most frequently, this column looks at potential new directions in readers’ advisory theory and practice, offering tools that readers’ advisors can use in their day to day work as well as expanding the theoretical foundations of that practice. (more…)
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Imagine a reference survey instrument that is very simple to administer, requires only a pencil to fill out, and gathers data specifically on whether users get the help they need and are satisfied with reference service, and whether in the process they learn about how to find and evaluate information. If you are interested, read on. (more…)
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This interview highlights one reference librarian’s creative approach to marketing librarians’ services. (more…)
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Building collections in religious studies is an important and often perplexing duty for many librarians. (more…)
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Each year the Business Reference Sources Committee of BRASS selects the outstanding business reference sources published since May of the previous year. The committee reviewed thirty-seven entries; three were designated as “outstanding,” and seven were placed into the other noteworthy titles category. (more…)
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Book groups, whether library-sponsored or privately hosted, continue to grow in popularity. Perhaps the opportunity to connect to others face-to-face in what is an increasingly virtual world motivates people to come together to talk about their reading. Or perhaps it is the food. (more…)
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Jenny Emanuel is passionate about the user search experience. She is young (well, younger than me) and her experience growing up with networked libraries informs her views. (more…)
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One only has to pick up a newspaper to learn of the continuing implications of September 11 on our political lives, but the terrorist attacks have had far reaching cultural and academic consequences as well. (more…)
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In this column, Mike Furlough writes about repositories from a user services perspective. His engaging and accessible article provides a fascinating history of repository hype, a primer on technical tools, and thoughtful reflections on the future of institutional repositories. (more…)
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In our daily practice as readers’ advisors, we generally focus on the immediate issue at hand—getting a book into the hands of a particular reader. This is as it should be, and we need to be facile at providing our readers with appropriate suggestions that are based on our discussion with them about what appeals to them about their reading. (more…)
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Welcome to the eleventh annual “Best Free Reference Websites List.” In 1998, the Machine-Assisted Reference Section (MARS) of RUSA appointed an ad hoc task force to develop a method of recognizing outstanding reference websites. (more…)
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Welcome to the annual review of “Best Historical Materials.” Each year members of the Historical Materials Committee, RUSA History Section identify and review numerous bibliographies, indexes, and websites to offer our recommendations of English-language resources in the field of history. (more…)
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Welcome to “Best of the Best Business Websites (Free Resources),” the first annual selection and review of three of the most highly relevant business websites as selected by Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) Education Committee members. (more…)
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The charge of the RUSA Sharing and Transforming Access to Resources Section (STARS) International Interlibrary Loan Committee is to evaluate trends in international interlibrary loan (ILL) and resource sharing, to develop materials and resources for international ILL practitioners, and to promote international ILL resource sharing efforts. (more…)
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Our classrooms now include an increasing number of students who learn differently, including those that have Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD), dyslexia, or other diagnosed or undiagnosed learning differences. This spectrum of students challenges academic librarians to develop new approaches to delivering information literacy instruction. (more…)
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As this is the last “Management” column I will be editing, some comments on the articles in this new column are in order. Three years has passed very quickly. During my tenure as column editor, I have looked for a variety of practical articles on how to improve reference services and increase opportunities to teach research strategies to our users. (more…)