Library in Transition

Stephen R. Lawrence

The abstract for this article reads, "This exploratory study asked eleven Association of Research Libraries (ARL) librarians to identify the resources needed for the transition of an all-paper library to the all-digital library. Although the results cannot be generalized, the study identifies functions and resources associated with the provision of paper and electronic materials that can be used for further investigation of library resource allocations." Connaway, L., Lawrence, S.

Key idea: "The historical narratives that future historians write may not actually look much different from those that are crafted today, but the methodologies they use may need to change radically. If we have, for example, a complete record of everything

This is a great article that looks at the preservation of the cultural and historical record from a historian's perspective. He tackles such questions as how do we establish trust in intangible "documents?" How do we preserve the historical record in such a way that future people can access the materials?

"The aim of this project is to discover: a) whether or not as a result of the digital transition and resources being created digitally, young people, the "google generation", are searching for and researching content in new ways and if so, how this will shape the way they research and search in the future; b) whether or not new ways of searching and researching for content will prove to be any different from the way that existing researchers/scholars work. "

The Bookless Future: What the Internet is Doing to Scholarship

This article investigates readers' requirements regarding fiction electronic books, as compared to electronic textbooks. The EBONI Project, which defined a set of best practice guidelines for designing electronic textbooks, provided the methodology to support an exploration of the usability of fiction ebooks in a recent study. It was found that the general guidelines for the design of textbooks on the Internet can also be applied to the design of fiction ebooks. Additionally, in terms of the electronic production of fiction ebooks, the same study suggested that concentrating on the appearance of text, rather than the technology itself, can lead to better quality publications to rival the print versions of fiction books. This article discusses these results together with some from similar studies in order to draw a picture of what readers expect from fiction ebooks.

Drexel University's W. W. Hagerty Library received funding [1] in the Fall of 2000 from the U.S. Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to study the impact of a library's shift to electronic journals on staff and costs. The goals were to perform a comparative analysis for Drexel's library (a case study) and to develop a model for use by other libraries. The results suggest that, when all costs are considered, electronic journals are more cost effective on a per use basis. Storage space for low use bound journals is a major expense. A readership survey shows that the library's electronic collection is widely accepted and extensively used. Since there are methodological difficulties with the data available to make the analyses, this study should be viewed as a single first step to address an issue of critical importance to academic libraries.

Center for the Digital Future, Annenberg School for Communication, USC Annual Internet Survey by the Center for the Digital Future Finds Shifting Trends Among Adults About the Benefits and Consequences of Children Going Online Seventh Annual Study Finds Significant Concerns About Online Predators and Children's Participation in Online Communities

In an information world in which Google apparently offers us everything, what place is there for the traditional, and even the digital, library? In a library environment which is increasingly moving to the delivery of online rather than print resources, what of the academic library's traditional place at the heart of campus life?

Knovel is an online technical resource used by applied scientists and practicing engineers around the world to quickly locate relevant and reliable technical information.

U Mich president's talk on the benefits of participating in Google Books

A pro-Google-Book Search speech, given by the head librarian at the University of Michigan.

2006 article on Google Books from library perspective. Asks "How will the librarians at participating Google Book Search libraries use their copies of the digitized books, commonly referred to as the library digital copy, the copy that Google gave to them in return for their participation in the Book Search project?"

2002 Amy Friedlander study of users attitudes toward libraries

Standards for stats evaluating eresource usage. "The use of online information resources is growing rapidly. It is widely agreed by producers and purchasers of information that the use of these resources should be measured in a more consistent way. Librarians want to understand better how the information they buy from a variety of sources is being used; publishers want to know how the information products they disseminate are being accessed. An essential requirement to meet these objectives is an agreed international set of standards and protocols governing the recording and exchange of online usage data. The COUNTER Codes of Practice provide these standards and protocols and are published in full on this website."

This is a statement issued by the Consortia at Yale University regarding the ethical implementation of licensing fees during the current economic crisis. They urge a halt on new, expensive innovation and request that database vendors work with libraries regarding their pricing strategies.

Open Content Alliance website. The home page today features "economics of book digitization"

stats on usage of eresources