Information Expertise and the Vision of Future Library Institutions and User Environments

This is the Information Age, and that epicenter is information flow and content control. This is the one occupation that is best suited to benefit from this still evolving epoch of human history. In fact, any organization that fundamentally relies on information dissemination as a core resource to their production would seek out information experts as the de facto experts in this field for consultation on how best to handle their large volumes of information. Today, companies are searching for these very professionals and will pay extraordinarily well to have such expertise in their organizations. As long as they change their mindset, evolve from conservative ideologies of what a library professional is, and retain and improve upon the traditional library services while seeking to develop techniques and technologies that effectively handle the workflow of the information dissemination process in a Digital Age—adapting technologies such as the KATIE Index, the MEL System, and the LISA Informationbase for the physical and virtual collection management requirements—most library professionals will be able to focus on becoming information experts and establish their relevance at the very epicenter of business and education. Evolving into the information expert and leveraging new information technologies is where the future of library studies lays in this digital segment of the Information Age. This chapter concludes the first section of the book.

Special Library Consortia

Due to increase in costs, proliferation of electronic resources and dwindling library budgets, cooperative e-acquisition has become a compelling proposition in a library consortium environment. The user community also has been greatly influenced by newer technologies facilitating seamless access to information. Users demand to have a wide array of electronic information services. As such, the current library scenario has reached a critical mass both in terms of e-products as well as increased number of virtual users. Due to journal crisis, and cuts in library budgets, the special library professionals are forced to come together in forming a consortium for subscription of e-journals. This chapter provides an outlook of special library consortia in India and the rest of the world.

The LOUIS Consortium and Catastrophe

Using interviews, pictures, and LOUIS-related documentation, the chapter will describe the experiences of LOUIS and LOUIS member institutions affected by the hurricanes in the context of how the consortium helped its member institutions cope, recover, and better prepare with regard to disasters. It will detail the challenges the consortium faced as a whole and the lessons learned from those experiences with a focus on its ILS, ILL, and shared library facilities. Finally, the chapter will also describe the changes the consortium made as a result of those experiences and lessons and how LOUIS plans to continue supporting its members and serving the state in the future and how it would handle future hurricanes and similar disasters.

Emergency Planning (R)Evolution

This chapter discusses how a library can revise its existing emergency, disaster, and Continuity of Operations plans, through the utilization of new technologies and an ongoing review cycle. While reviews of existing emergency plans typically happen in response to actual emergencies, this chapter encourages flipping that scenario by conducting ongoing reviews with a small, dedicated committee. The chapter identifies important steps to follow in revising emergency plans and discusses incorporating e-book and short form formats to enhance training and documentation.

Moving from Co-Location to Cooperation to Collaboration

Through collaboration with faculty and other campus partners, libraries have become centers of innovation in teaching and learning with technology. The authors, representing library, technology, and program staff from partnerships at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will present a framework based on Joan Lippincott's definitions of co-location, cooperation and collaboration. Learn how to assess and develop your partnerships and how the diversity and adjacency of learning spaces, resources, services, and staff are redefining the library and the library's role within an academic institution.

Better Together

The Library and Learning Center at Metropolitan State University is a shared space between the Metropolitan State University Library and a branch of the Saint Paul Public Library system. This chapter reviews the literature on joint use libraries and provides a history of the planning and development of the Library and Learning Center. In detailing the history of both organizations and the current state of collaboration ten years after the building opened, this chapter will describe how the experience at Metropolitan State aligns with that of similar joint use libraries. Furthermore, by highlighting collaborative services and programming, the chapter will be instructive for libraries that wish to form collaborative relationships outside of a joint use model. It will also describe the strengths of the joint use model in meeting the shared goals of community engagement and lifelong learning, while remaining cognizant of the challenges that are inherent in any joint use library initiative.

Towards Innovative Library Services

This chapter discusses emerging innovative technologies and examines how Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Library is increasingly benefited by its new and future services. It discusses the National Open Distance Learners' Library and Information Network (NODLINET), a project of IGNOU Library created for distance learning libraries for sharing collections, e-resources, and services on a common platform. The chapter discusses how IGNOU Library is moving towards innovative Library Services by providing its users with updated contents and constantly strengthening service capability in network information environment. It also explains in detail the component of Remote Access to E-resources, which is a quick, easy, and convenient service to gain off-campus access to all IGNOU Library subscribed databases and other online resources. It also enumerates the copyright restrictions and licensing restrictions through Remote Access Service. There is also a discussion in detail on various other innovative initiatives taken by IGNOU Library like Cloud Computing, Course Reserves, Institutional Repository, Discovery, and AtoZ Services.

Invisible Community?

In this chapter, Montana State University librarians share how they have expanded efforts to reach out to and provide equitable instruction services for its online graduate students, a population often underserved. After piloting a synchronous, online instruction program using web conferencing, librarians surveyed a targeted graduate program to determine if underserved students became more efficient researchers as a result of library instruction participation via web conferencing and if they are now taking fuller advantage of library resources and services. Students and faculty surveyed were positive about the newly created connection to the MSU community. However, findings revealed that many online graduate students work in research environments lacking the breadth and depth of resources they need. Further, many lack a connection to the MSU community and do not know that their institution's library resources are available to them. This discovery means that academic libraries should strengthen activities designed to build community among online students.

The Library Big Data Research

Libraries are widely used by government, universities, research institutes, and the public since they are storing and managing intellectual assets. The library information directly stored in libraries and about the people interaction with libraries can be transformed into accessible data which then will be used by researchers to help library better serve users. Librarians need to understand how to transform, analyze, and present data in order to facilitate such knowledge creation. For example, the challenges they face include how to make big datasets more useful, visible and accessible. Fortunately, with new and powerful analytics of big data, such as information visualization tools, researchers/users can look at data in new ways and mine it for information they intend to have. Moreover, interaction of users and stored information has been taken into librarian's consideration to improve library service quality. In this work, the authors discuss the characteristics of datasets in library and argue against a popular confusion that data involved in library research is not big enough, conduct a review for the research work on library big data and then summarize the applications and research directions in this field. The status of big data research in library in China is discussed. The challenges associated with it are also discussed and explored.

Users Satisfaction With Library Services

The study focused on users satisfaction with library services at the Delta State University main Library, Abraka, Delta State. The objective was to find out if users are satisfied with the services, facilities, the library environment, information sources and staff of the library. Using the descriptive survey design the population for the study consisted of all registered library users in the Site II of the Delta State University, Abraka Campus. The study employed the simple random sampling techniques in selecting the sample size for the study, and with a questionnaire data were collected. The findings revealed that the services offered at the Delta State University are inadequate and below average. Most users were satisfied with the availability of information sources in the library but also registered that most of these information sources are not available for loan. The findings also showed that there is a significant relationship between the assessment of library collection by users and their satisfaction with information sources. The library environment is clean and the reading carrels are adequate but, there are no effective lightening and toilet facilities.