Reference librarians are no longer expected to know much about the information they find; they are merely expected to find it. Technological competency rather than knowledge has become the order of the day. In many respects, reference service has become a matter of typing search terms into a library's online catalog or a web search engine and providing the patron with the results of the search. Calling for a re-intellectualization of reference librarianship, this book suggests another approach to providing quality reference service - reading. The authors surveyed both academic reference...
Reference librarians are no longer expected to know much about the information they find; they are merely expected to find it. Technological competenc...
Beginning in the early 1980s, readers' advisory services were a widely discussed topic in North American public libraries. By 2005, almost every public library in the United States and Canada offered some form of readers' advisory service. The services offered have changed significantly, in ways perhaps disadvantageous to adult North American library patrons. This book provides a critical history of readers' advisory philosophy and offers a new perspective on the evolution of the service. The book analyzes the debate that shaped readers' advisory and discusses how the service has assumed its...
Beginning in the early 1980s, readers' advisory services were a widely discussed topic in North American public libraries. By 2005, almost every publi...
Many reference librarians have been highly critical about unobtrusive evaluation studies. But can their opposition be justified? Or is it just a way to detract attention from serious shortcomings in reference service? How can government documents reference service, and reference service in general, be improved? Do librarians have enough general and subject-specific knowledge to provide informed and intelligent answers to reference questions? Would any business or non-profit organization be satisfied with the traditional 55 percent efficacy rate in reference service revealed by unobtrusive...
Many reference librarians have been highly critical about unobtrusive evaluation studies. But can their opposition be justified? Or is it just a wa...
Many reference librarians have been highly critical about unobtrusive evaluation studies. But can their opposition be justified? Or is it just a way to detract attention from serious shortcomings in reference service? How can government documents reference service, and reference service in general, be improved? Do librarians have enough general and subject-specific knowledge to provide informed and intelligent answers to reference questions? Would any business or non-profit organization be satisfied with the traditional 55 percent efficacy rate in reference service revealed by unobtrusive...
Many reference librarians have been highly critical about unobtrusive evaluation studies. But can their opposition be justified? Or is it just a wa...
This book presents a retro-progressive proposal for the education of librarians: the removal of library education from the jurisdiction of universities, which in recent decades have become increasingly corporatized, internalizing market-based concepts such as performance metrics and "audit culture" to the extent that, ideologically speaking, they are indistinguishable from corporations. The author presents a detailed, alternative model for library education, building upon Ralph Waldo Emerson's idea of a librarian as a "professor of books."
This book presents a retro-progressive proposal for the education of librarians: the removal of library education from the jurisdiction of universitie...
In a globalized world, knowledge about non-North American societies and cultures is a must. "Contemporary World Fiction: A Guide to Literature in Translation" provides an overview of the tremendous range and scope of translated world fiction available in English. In so doing, it will help readers get a sense of the vast world beyond North America that is conveyed by fiction titles from dozens of countries and language traditions.
Within the guide, approximately 1,000 contemporary non-English-language fiction titles are fully annotated and thousands of others are listed. Organization is...
In a globalized world, knowledge about non-North American societies and cultures is a must. "Contemporary World Fiction: A Guide to Literature in T...
