Volume 64, Issue 3

The purpose of this study was to use the Kirkpatrick four-stage framework to evaluate the learning effectiveness of the online general education information literacy materials “Library and Information Utilization,” initiated by the Ministry of Education (MoE) for higher education in Taiwan, under the University’s General Education e-Learning Materials Promotion and Instructional Application Plan 2011-2013. The study population consisted of 206 students at Tatung University and the course evaluation spanned two academic years. It produced a total of 194 online questionnaires used to evaluate levels 1-4 in the Kirkpatrick model. The study used a mixedmethod approach, including a mainly quantitative online questionnaire, followed by ten semi-structured interviews of students who took the course between the 2010 fall semester and the 2012 fall semester to evaluate level 3 and level 4. Empirical data collected from the course tasks were also used to evaluate level 2. In general, the results demonstrated that students were more confident in their future study and daily life after learning the online material. Based on the Kirkpatrick model, the results provide favourable evidence for course effectiveness and its value. The results also demonstrated a reasonable Return of Expectation (ROE) and Return on Investment (ROI) to the MoE and to the University in terms of cost evaluation versus potential benefits. The findings will be beneficial to the MoE in the future development of digital learning materials for higher education, and can also be useful to instructors in developing interventions to improve the design and delivery of online courses. This study suggests that the Kirkpatrick model is a workable instrument to measure the effectiveness of an IL course and to evaluate if the information competencies have been maintained and made useful for further study and life-long learning.

This research proposed to develop and run a mentoring program as a way to support connections between prospective librarians and current LIS professionals. The results and effectiveness of the program were then evaluated. For this purpose, a three-month mentoring program was run after recruiting mentees at Konkuk University in Korea and mentors in the field, and the program results were analyzed through surveys and qualitative methodology. Participants focused most on occupational and career issues during mentoring sessions. Mentoring effects for mentees included improved understanding of the realities and responsibilities of the workplace, improved and more detailed career choices, and changes in attitude and values. Mentoring effects for mentors included learning opportunities for self-evaluation and re-evaluating potential ideas and techniques. Mentees’ final goals became more specific and practical, showing much greater understanding of their desired careers and how to achieve them. Seniors who had been through mentoring had a higher employment rate at graduation, compared to the LIS department as a whole. Mentees’ average GPAs increased slightly from 3.75 to 3.84. The greatest difficulty for participants was found to be that mentors were too busy and the duration of the program was too short. The mentoring program was helpful for both mentees and mentors, allowing both groups a greater understanding of their field and themselves.

The project “We are all on the same page” was launched by the South African Library for the Blind (SALB) in April 2010 to create access to libraries and reading material for the visually impaired in impoverished rural areas of the Eastern Cape in South Africa. A decentralised approach was adopted, by locating new services in established public libraries in rural communities and by specifically promoting new services to visually impaired potential users. This approach was based on the knowledge that the many disadvantaged people dwelling in rural areas, who were not taking up library services, did not recognise that libraries and library services could be intended for them as well as for sighted readers. The new approach to delivery required inter-governmental collaboration among three spheres of government: national, provincial and local authority. Library staff had to be trained in serving blind and visually impaired people by providing assistive technologies and reading material, and to provide information literacy tuition to these new library users. The services were to be located in seven public libraries in the rural Eastern Cape. This paper will attempt to provide both objective and qualitative evidence of the impact of the project and to show how it has been expanding to other sites and also to other provinces.

This study examines the origins and evolution of general and specialized reference services in American libraries between 1876 and the early 1920s. Through a historical chronological analysis of published journal literature, the author identifies the social and economic forces that had an impact on the growth of reference into one of the most crucial parts of library operations. The findings of the study demonstrate that the long and eventful history of reference services in public, academic, and special libraries is instrumental in informing contemporary user-centered technology-mediated approaches to library work. The study concludes that a further examination of the development of reference services in American libraries beyond their earliest history is needed to enhance the understanding of the current trends and issues in the field. Such continued historical investigation will provide answers to how libraries have become indispensable aids to public education and to the high responsibility of supporting and informing American democracy.

The establishment of the “modern” Chinese library system has always been under dispute: some scholars held that it was the continuation of Chinese traditional book chambers. At the same time, others viewed its appearance as the result of the modernization process. In essence, this dispute reflected different ideas on Chinese social reformation’s motivation. Though the western models had contributed some experiences to the foundation of contemporary Chinese public library systems, the four types of old libraries (the governmental library, educational library, religious library and private library) had already been conceived and had accumulated many of the so-called “modern” factors before Western experience was imported.

The Library of Celsus was founded in AD 115 to honor and serve as a burial shrine for Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, one of the first men of Greek descent to enter the Roman Senate and hold high level posts in the Roman Empire’s eastern provinces. Located in Ephesus in present day Turkey, a city replete with beautiful monuments, the Library was an extraordinary edifice, integrating elements from Greek and Roman libraries, architecture, and design. It was one of the earliest privately endowed public libraries and among the first dedicated to an individual outside a royal family. Standing in one of the metropolis’ most prestigious locations, it was the center of annual festivals honoring Celsus. This article explores the man and the community behind the library, drawing on archaeologists’ reports, what is known about the life of Celsus, and the history of Ephesus as a major spiritual and economic center, to illustrate how Celsus and his Library bridged Greek and Roman cultures and the mutual prejudice and distrust that existed between Rome and its Asian provinces at that time.

Copyright protection in the Arab world has been often treated with lesser urgency than it ought to be both by governments and the public, despite the existence of some copyright and intellectual property legal framework in most countries. The study explores whether the copyright legal framework and government action are in part responsible for the relaxed attitudes towards enforcement. The paper presents data snapshots and a general review of the copyright landscape, including copyright duration provisions in the domestic laws of Arab countries as well as major copyright treaties and conventions involving them. The research sets out to demonstrate that, as countries in the region broaden their engagement in the international trading system, they also seek requisite improvements in national regulations and laws addressing intellectual property ownership and copyright. Data examined for copyright durations and international commitments for each country are based on the latest available information and intended as a reference point that would be of interest to publishing professionals, libraries, archives, and other repositories with interest in Arab countries’ copyright laws.

Studies on information seeking behaviour have shown that workers, especially professionals look for information in order to perform their work related activities. Because the legal profession is an information-intensive one, understanding the sources consulted by lawyers for their task performance is important for librarians as service providers in order to ensure effective and efficient service delivery. This study seeks to understand the sources that are consulted by lawyers for specific job-related tasks they perform. Data was gathered using questionnaires from a total of 64 lawyers in Kwara State, Nigeria. Findings show that the sources consulted by lawyers are related to the kind of tasks they perform. While human sources are mostly consulted for the performance of tasks involving interpersonal communications such as negotiations and settling disputes out of court, the advocacy task requires that they consult authorised sources such as legal publications and literatures. However, a generally low use of electronic sources (such as e-databases and e-journals) was observed among lawyers.