Digital Commons Network^™

Perceptions Of Library Value, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Some recent studies show that the perception held by the general public about electronic library collections and digital services may differ from that held by faculty and university students. The predominant perception of libraries is as a place to borrow printed books, even as libraries' electronic budgets begin to outpace print budgets.

Under The Online Hood, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

THE FAVORED SEARCHING TEXT in LIS programs for over a decade has been Online Retrieval: A Dialogue of Theory and Practice by Geraldine Walker and Joe Janes (Libraries Unlimited). It covers search basics and more advanced techniques, focusing on the Dialog system. Janes is working on a new edition with Carol Barry of Louisiana State University, and the appearance of two new books is welcome.

Suzanne S. Bell's The Librarian's Guide to Online Searching is aimed at LIS students and Greg R. Notess's Teaching Web Search Skills is for instructional librarians. Together they provide a basic picture of modern online …

Keeping Up With Expectations, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

USER EXPECTATIONS ARE CHANGING, mainly owing to the web, search engines, and advances in communications technology. Libraries and information industry providers are taking steps, both large and small, to keep pace.

Thinking About Linking, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

LINKING TO FULL TEXT THROUGH link resolver technology and the OpenURL standard has made electronic journals a cornerstone of library collections. Users expect that full text will always be a click or two away and it brings the library catalog, indexing and abstracting databases, and full text into an integrated system. The impact is great as major and smaller players embrace linking to all types of digital materials.

Moving History Forward, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

CURRENT EVENTS, CURRENT awareness, and faster news mean the immediate present often dominates our worldview. But for many researchers, history informs the latest hot topic.

Renovating This Old House, Carol Tenopir, Gayle Baker, William Robinson, Jill E. Grogg

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

When we turn on the faucet we expect water to flow. When we flip the power switch, we expect light. We want a house to work and to look good. This old house of online databases is getting a new look and, in some cases, a new foundation to make it more attractive and robust for 2006.

Much of the value of a renovation lies in respecting history while reinforcing the foundation to keep the house intact. Information providers are using state-of-the-art technologies to create digital historical back files and collections.

Visualizing Search, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

EXPECT MORE SEARCH SYSTEMS to incorporate visualization and other sophisticated search and display techniques. They not only give a system a distinctive look, they also help users get deeper into results and stimulate thinking about search strategies. Instruction librarians can use these tools to move students and researchers beyond just plain search and retrieval.

Some traditional systems are now adopting new search tools that go beyond text results. They incorporate clustering and visualization into search display that sidesteps long lists of document titles and the tendency of users to select just from the first ten results and stop there. These …

Building Bridges, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

MY CAREER AS A LIBRARIAN, LJ columnist, researcher, and teacher has been about building bridges--bridges between librarians and publishers, students and knowledge, and research and practice--which is probably why I was selected to deliver the NFAIS (National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services) Miles Conrad Memorial Lecture. Established in 1965, the lecture commemorates NFAIS founder G. Miles Conrad and honors people who have made significant contributions to information science (www.nfais.org). It isn't often that a librarian gets such acknowledgment from the information industry.

The work of librarians and information industry professionals is about connecting users to the information they need. …