The paper starts with the need of Continuing Education for the LIS professionals in this modern era of information and technology. It narrates the activities of Continuing Education and Professional Development (CEPD) in different developed and developing countries of the world. It enumerates the role of various associations and institutions of India such as ILA, IASLIC, BLA IIMs, ICSSR, AIIMS, which are actively connected with programmes of continuing education. The authors highlight some of the universities and academic institutions of our country which have centres and departments of continu-ing education & critically analyze the work and activities of eight universities of West Bengal based on survey work. The paper suggests some measures to improve the existing conditions and status of con-tinuing education programmes for the university-library professionals of West Bengal.

Academic Libraries in India are facing the problem of shrinking/static budgets and simultaneous exponential rise in journal prices. The need of the hour is to find a pragmatic solution to this problem. Something substantial has to be done in order to facilitate access to scholarly resources to research scholars and faculties. UGC-INFONET and INDEST- Consortium are two major initiatives that have come to the rescue of academic libraries so that they can cater to the needs of academia depending upon them. These revolutionary steps are providing scholarly resources including peer reviewed journals, databases, abstracts, proceedings, etc. These efforts will definitely boost the higher education system in our country.

The aim of this study is to conduct a comparison between the staff training and development (T & D) of academic libraries in Mainland China and Hong Kong -- two systems developed under fast-changing cultural, political and socio-economic environments in the past century. This paper argues that socio-economic, cultural and technological changes are pushing the development of academic library systems in the two regions towards convergence. The comparison identifies differences and similarities in staff T & D policies and practices of academic libraries in the two regions, as well as the contributing factors. The analysis is supported by the results of a survey conducted by the author in 2005. It concluded that the two systems share similar concerns and problems in many aspects, and one of the major contributing factors may be the size of the library.

This report contains salary data for all professional staff working in ARL libraries between 1998 and 1999.

This is issue 237, December 2004. "ARL is the bimonthly report on research library issues and actions from ARL (Association of Research Libraries), CNI (Coalition of Networked Information), and SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition). ARL reports on current issues of interest to academic and research library administrators, staff, and users; higher education administrators and faculty; information technologists and those who depend on networked information; as well as anyone concerned with the future of scholarly communication or information policy developments." TABLE OF CONTENTS Libraries and Changing Research Practices: A Report of the ARL/CNI Forum on E-Research and Cyberinfrastructure by Diane Goldenberg-Hart, Communications Coordinator, Coalition for Networked Information [PDFâ see pages 1-5] SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION The Development of an Open Source Publishing System at Cornell and Penn State Universities by Terry Ehling, Director of Electronic Publishing at Cornell University Library [PDFâ see pages 6-7] SPARC Presents Workshop on Institutional Repositories [PDFâ see page 7] Balancing Stakeholder Interests in Scholarship-Friendly Copyright Practices by Julia Blixrud, Assistant Executive Director, External Relations, ARL, and Assistant Director, Public Programs, SPARC [PDFâ see page 8] OLMS INFORMATION SERVICES Library Services in Non-Library Spaces excerpted from ARL/OLMS SPEC Kit 285 by Gordon Aamot, Head, Arts, Architecture, and Business Libraries, and Steve Hiller, Head, Science Libraries/Library Assessment Coordinator, University of Washington [PDFâ see page 9] ARL ACTIVITIES ARL Membership Plans for the Future [PDFâ see page 10] Preserving Audio Collections: Action Plan Developed [PDFâ see page 11]

Library materials for an assignment in Women's Studies 240 (Suffragists, Sistahs, and Riot Grrrls: An Introduction to Women's Studies) at the University of Arizona

Not a long time ago, marketing was almost unrecognised and surely marginalised conception for libraries. Nowadays the situation is changing for the better. The libraries tend to slowly change their old passive management strategy for active market behaviour, there is a tendency to â go an extra mile for the clientâ . In my opinion it is the only way how to compare favourably in current competitive environment and not become obsolete and outmoded. The aim of this case study is to compare the marketing of two different sorts of libraries â academic library and public library. For the academic library we have chosen the SWOT analysis type of survey, for the public library the â four Pâ method. Considering the dissimilarity of those two sorts of libraries we regard the methods as the most appropriate. The objective of our case study is to verify the presumption that the public library has to make much bigger effort in its active market behaviour than the academic library.

It is an annotated bibliography for a panel discussion at the 2007 American Library Association Annual Conference. It focuses on relevant articles published from Jan. 2005 through May 2007.

Reference service is one of the library’s primary services besides acquisitions, classification, cataloguing and physical planning. This service provides personalized assistance to library users in accessing and using suitable information resources to meet their needs. This research progress paper attempts to identify the status of digital reference services (DRS) in four public university libraries in Malaysia. In this study, the researcher attempts to identify usage of both traditional and digital reference services, user awareness of DRS, user satisfaction, and need for DRS. Two different sets of questionnaires were distributed: (1) a librarians’ questionnaire to librarians in the four university libraries, namely, Tun Abdul Razak Library, UiTM; University of Malaya (UM) Library; Tun Seri Lanang Library, UKM; and Sultan Abdul Samad Library, UPM; (2) a users’ questionnaire to students of the Faculty of Information Management, UiTM, and the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, UiTM, UM and UPM. The findings show that DRS are effective forms of service delivery but their full potential has not yet been exploited. Email reference, Web forms and Ask-A Librarian are the main channels used in providing digital reference, although plans are under way to implement more sophisticated Internet technologies and collaborative digital reference.

Full version of paper. Printed proceedings carried only the abstract. / The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Library has been pioneering and initiating bibliographic instruction and information literacy programmes since the inception of the university as a technological institute back in 1981. The evolving academic and research landscape since then, coupled with technological advancements in the provision of information resources and services, has provided the impetus for NTU Library to develop a structured information literacy programme with the aim of enhancing studentsâ learning and research. The objectives of the programme developed are clearly stated and closely aligned to the universityâ s as well as the libraryâ s mission statements. This paper provides a historical perspective and traces the development of this programme over the years. A model of the programme as it is currently offered to students is presented. Discussion will focus on a number of aspects: information literacy standards consulted, identification of studentsâ learning outcomes, a spectrum of delivery mode and methodology, evolving and expanding content development, as well as, formative and summative feedback. The paper also looks at the enablers of the programme, which include librarians, library management, faculty members, schoolsâ administrative units, external instructors and trainers, and technology. The paper concludes with a look at the future of the libraryâ s information literacy programme beyond 2006 and will address crucial issues which impact upon the implementation and running of the programme across all schools in the university. Issues like profiling of students, matching programme type and delivery mode with these profiles, leveraging on emerging technologies as learning tools and integrating studentsâ assessments can be further researched. A deep insight and understanding of these issues will in return stimulate further the development by the library of a more innovative and creative information literacy programme for the university.