Introducing The Source
Australia's Cultural Institutions and the efficiency dividend: not a pretty picture
From the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) website
The Commonwealth government has a significant responsibility in collecting, maintaining and exhibiting Australian and international art and cultural artefacts to both educate and inform the public and preserve our political, social and cultural history. There are a number of cultural agencies within the Commonwealth Government. These include the National Archives of Australia (NAA), the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), the National Library of Australia (NLA) and the Australian War Memorial (AWM). This paper briefly reviews the effect of Commonwealth funding practices on the operation of these agencies and concludes that the policies and practices of the last two decades have significantly damaged Australia’s cultural agencies – something which the Rudd government must remedy in order to secure Australia’s heritage and renew our focus on the arts.
It’s been Geometric! Documenting the Growth and Acceptance of eBooks in America’s Urban Public Libraries
From the IFLA website
This paper and presentation features the results of a recent survey of downloadable eContent (AKA eBooks) representation among libraries in the Urban Library Council and Public Library Association. It reveals information on current and best practices among collection development librarians, selection/acquisition methodologies, and identifies trends in American public library eBook downloads, and user acceptance/non acceptance of eContent among Urban Library Council and Public Library Association member libraries.
The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age
From the MIT Press website
In this report, Cathy Davidson (Duke) and David Theo Goldberg (University of California) focus on the potential for shared and interactive learning made possible by the Internet. They argue that the single most important characteristic of the Internet is its capacity for world-wide community and the limitless exchange of ideas. The Internet brings about a way of learning that is not new or revolutionary but is now the norm for today's graduating high school and college classes. It is for this reason that Davidson and Goldberg call on us to examine potential new models of digital learning and rethink our virtually enabled and enhanced learning institutions.
Why Academic Libraries Matter
From the Library Journal website
For those drowning in information, the library is land, a place where you can clamber up, catch your breath, gather your wits - and drink deeply.
Library E-Learning Spaces
From the IFLA website
This paper analyses the state of learning spaces as they impact library education. Specifically, it reviews the literature about current trends in designing learning environments that facilitate e-learning. The report also lists cited examples of good practice in contemporary university library e-learning spaces.
Designing Library Services Based on User Needs: New Opportunities to Re-Position the Library
From the IFLA website
Providing proactive library services requires careful examinations of current capabilities, user needs, and the direction for the future. In an environment where users already feel satisfied and content with current services, libraries must start developing an innovative and sometimes a radical approach to reach out to users with new services. To do so, libraries should have a mechanism to monitor user needs which change continuously and ability to network with other campus units to meet their needs and expectations. The presenter has collaborated with several colleagues at the career service office to offer programs on obtaining jobs and understanding the job markets in various industries. Especially noteworthy in this approach was that the presenter’s role was not limited to simply offering information resources to students. Rather, the author was regarded as a partner of the career service office and offered workshops and seminars that discussed how to tailor individuals’ resumes and cover letters based on the information that they acquired. The presenter was concentrating on “how to apply information” to individual situations, rather than simply “how to find information.”
Library 2.0: Balancing The Risks And Benefits To Maximise The Dividends
From the University of Bath Repository website
This paper provides a number of examples of how Web 2.0 technologies and approaches (Library 2.0) are being used within the library sector. The paper acknowledges that there are a variety of risks associated with such approaches. The paper describes the different types of risks and outlines a risk assessment and risk management approach, which is being developed to minimise the dangers whilst allowing the benefits of Library 2.0 to be realised.
The World Digital Library and the Social Sciences
From the IFLA website
The World Digital Library, launched in April 2009, has the potential to benefit social scientists by: (1) providing researchers access to content that otherwise would not be available; (2) offering new tools to search, browse, and view content on line; and (3) facilitating the sharing of content in ways that promote interdisciplinary work and collaboration among researchers and their students. Social scientists can contribute to the WDL by (1) assisting with the selection of content; (2) contributing to the description and interpretation of content; and (3) suggesting new ways to catalog and classify materials on the WDL.
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