scholarly journals Project EARL (Electronic Access to Resources in Libraries)

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (62) ◽  
pp. 18-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Smith

Public libraries are facing significant challenges over the next decade and into the 21st century. The need for public libraries therefore to network their services is now increasingly becoming the focus of attention. Project EARL will examine the services, technical infrastructure, and application/communication software required to network public library information and resources services. It will also produce a networking strategy with associated costs for providing public libraries with access to the Internet. Following the workshop, 14 libraries agreed to fund a scoping study which would draw up recommendations and produce costed options for the future funding of major developments.

2016 ◽  
Vol 117 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 186-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siobhan A Stevenson

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to draw attention to one specific upper-level government policy document in which a discourse of perpetual innovation and customer service is promoted, and the kinds of questions such discursive interventions raise for the future of work in public libraries; and second, to demonstrate the explanatory potential of the concept of immaterial labour for questions relating to emerging labour processes in libraries. The concepts of “prosumer” and Web 2.0 are included as discursive resources of relevance to any discussion of immaterial labour. Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a critical discourse analysis of a public policy visioning document for public libraries in Ontario, Canada, with reflections on related literatures. Findings – The concept of immaterial labour provides an additional analytic tool suitable for questions of relevance to public librarians and library scholars. Within the government text under review which deals specifically with the future of the public library to 2020, the identity of the public librarian is alarmingly absent. Conversely, the library patron as a producer and consumer is privileged. Research limitations/implications – Failure to attend to the broader policy arena within which the public library resides creates dangerous blind spots for public library professionals, educators and researchers. Practical implications – This paper demonstrates the value of a discourse analysis for uncovering the ideological dimensions of policy documents, while simultaneously modelling the method using the kind of policy text commonly produced in governments around the world. Social implications – This paper shows how failure to attend to the broader policy arena within which the public library resides creates dangerous blind spots for the public library community. Originality/value – This paper contextualizes the immaterial and volunteer labour of the public library user as producer/consumer in the context of the future of the frontline professional and waged librarian.


1998 ◽  
Vol 531 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. W. Wyndrum

AbstractToday I will focus on telecommunications technology for the first decade of the 21st century. Few things incite speculation about the future more than a year ending in the numeral “zero.” With the approaching millennium and its near-mystical three zeroes, everyone everywhere hungers for a glimpse into the future. My vision of the telecommunications future shows a collective of universal capabilities made possible by limitless digital networks with ubiquitous access and functionality. Mobile communications, the Internet, video, telephony and a broad array of end-user services will be the major drivers moving network providers to fuse capability with transparency. Integration of the full spectrum of communication possibilities will be the trend of the 21st century.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 129
Author(s):  
Neneng Komariah ◽  
Encang Saepudin

Background of the study: The Internet has become part of society's daily life. But the phenomenon shows that not all people are Able to use information technology and the Internet efficiently, and the information disseminated through the internet is not entirely quality information. Therefore, Internet users need digital literacy skills, that is the ability to use information technology efficiently and the ability to find, Evaluate, use, make information, and use it wisely, and lawfully. The problem is who should be held responsible to digital literacy education for the community. Public libraries can play a role in the digital literacy education for the community.Purpose: This study aims to find out how the management of ICT education in the Regional Public Library (PUSDA) of Sumedang Regency, West Java, as an effort for digital literacy education community.Method: The research method used is a qualitative method with descriptive analysis, and the data collection techniques with observation, interviews, focus group discussions, and literature study.Findings: The result shows the subject taught in ICT with the relevant training on participants' needs. The participants are students and jobless. Most of of participants did not have Reviews their own computer, they were very happy to take part in the ICT training in the library because it was free. Teachers are library staff and outside personnel assistance. Computer used are owned by the library and donations from industry. The way of teaching was easy to understand and the participants could practice using computers and search the internet. The PUSDA staff organized the training with enthusiasm.Conclusion: There are some aspects that are already owned by the public library which will support the implementation of digital literacy education effectively and efficiently. Among them is the library already has computer facilities, has a staff of professionals, and already has access to sources of digital information online


1997 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 4-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Lollesgaard

Art libraries in Denmark mostly fall into one of two categories: art departments’ in public libraries, and research libraries attached to colleges, universities, and museums. Librarians in research libraries are in many cases scholars in their own right, while library staff at the Kunstakademiets Bibliotek are responsible for the Bibliografi over dansk kunst (sadly not published since 1981) and for Danish contributions to the BHA. The Royal Library and some art libraries hold collections of visual resources and of archival materials; in addition, there is an autonomous national archive of Danish artists, Weilbachs arkiv. An art librarians’ section of Bibliotekarforbundet (the Union of Danish Librarians), Kunstfaggruppen, was initiated by art librarians in public libraries, but is open to other art librarians too; Danish art librarians also work together within ARLIS/Norden. Professional training in Denmark is largely confined to general librarianship; art librarians in public libraries tend to be trained librarians with a personal enthusiasm for art, whereas librarians in research libraries are in some cases graduates but are not necessarily trained librarians. While the public library system took advantage of standardization, automation, and networking, the research libraries could not so readily embrace change, but two recent initiatives are beginning to bring libraries of all kinds together — DanBib, the Danish online union catalogue, formed in 1995 by merging the two separate databases for public and research libraries which both originated in the 1980s, and Kulturnet Danmark, a government-sponsored scheme involving the Internet.


Author(s):  
Natalie Greene Taylor ◽  
Ursula Gorham ◽  
Paul T. Jaeger ◽  
John Carlo Bertot

The role that the Internet has played in redefining the activities of public sector organizations is well-documented. What has yet to be fully explored, however, are recent collaborations among community-oriented entities (local government agencies, public libraries, and non-profit organizations) to provide enhanced services through innovative uses of information technology. These collaborative community services are enhanced by information technology, but also framed within the context of the organizations supporting the services. Using data from the 2011-2012 Public Library Funding and Technology Access Survey (PLFTAS), and drawing upon ongoing research into e-government partnerships between libraries, government agencies, and community organizations as well as community-based civic engagement initiatives, this paper will frame this issue within the contexts of local e-government in the United States; the relationship between public libraries, e-government, and the Internet; and innovative partnerships between public libraries, local government, and nonprofit entities. The article discusses both best practices and common challenges among these partnerships as a guide to future projects.


Author(s):  
Süheyla Bozkurt

The aim is to open the discussion of the concept of education and school that emerged as a result of the changes in information technologies and to provide insight into the future educational institutions. Firstly, the effects of changes in the world on educational institutions were discussed. The skills needed by the world were introduced and finally the 21st century Web 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 technologies, which are information sharing methods that enable data sharing over the internet. In the conclusion part, a school structure where principles such as personalized ways and methods of access to information, development of creativity, acquisition of necessary methods for reasoning, integration of information with systematic attitude is proposed. For the schools of the future, it has been concluded that the elements of education such as classrooms, technique, methods, tools, and materials, and the role of the teacher should be reconsidered, and the school should be designed in a way that individuals can establish their own knowledge sphere within the boundaries of the school buildings.


2000 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 37-40
Author(s):  
Muriel McCarthy

Founded 300 years ago, Marsh’s Library in Dublin – Ireland’s first public library – is described by its librarian as a ‘treasury of the European mind’. The outstanding collections, in their purpose-built 18th-century accommodation, are still accessible to the public. They include Irish books and manuscripts and books on subjects such as travel, botany, music and natural history. Recently the catalogue of printed books has been computerized and made available on the Internet.


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