Libri

VOLUME 57, NUMBER 1, MARCH 2007
International Journal of Libraries and Information Services
Vol 57 (2007), No 1, pages 1-51
ISSN 0024-2667

Table of Contents

Articles

The Changing Definition of U.S. Libraries
TRACY HARTMAN

Abstract. American libraries currently face a dramatic shift in how they are perceived, both by the public and by lawmakers. In order to preserve the traditional values observed by librarians, such as patron privacy and access to information, libraries must also preserve the traditional associations that have defined them. The value of libraries has been under mined by the threat of terrorism and the subsequent political pressure to find blame for the terrorist attacks. Librarians must choose whether or not to stick to the traditional library brand, or evolve and market libraries as something else. Without public support, definitions will not change easily. The American public still views the library as a place to read and find books, and this definition must prevail for libraries to retain their relevance in American life.

Surfacing Filipino School Children's Images of Librarians through Doodling
ALLAN DE GUZMAN, SHEENA MAI B. CUSTODIO AND MELISSA ANGELA P. GARCIA

Abstract. This qualitative study describes how Filipino grade school pupils in a private, sectarian school in Manila, Philippines identify their views and images of the librarian. Two hundred fifty-eight (258) pupils were asked to fill out a robotfoto box for illustration and to fill in a diagram. As a result of the data gathered and analyzed, two (2) faces of the librarian came into view, based on the children's doodling, the desirable and the undesirable librarian. On the one hand, the desirable librarian represents the enticing, enduring and engaging type. On the other hand, disappointing, depressing and depriving types characterize the librarian who is undesirable. The doodlings indicate that being desirable attracts library clients to visit the library and develops interest in using the library facilities more often. The undesirable qualities make students hesitate in entering the library. This study shows the need for librarians to be concerned with improving their images to develop desired qualities for the benefit of their student clientele.

Content Analysis of an LIS Job Database: A Regional Prototype for a Collaborative Model
YUNFEI DU, BARBARA STEIN AND ROBERT S. MARTIN

Abstract. Recently more and more LIS job postings have been distributed to e-mail lists or to recruiters' Web sites. The volatility of electronic media had been creating difficulties for students and LIS educators to estimate overall job trends. An online database at an ALA-accredited library school was designed to allow recruiters to make postings at no cost. In total, 974 library-related advertisements have been posted since 2000. Content analysis reveals most recruiters using this site were from academic libraries (48%) and from public libraries (35%). The most frequently cited qualifications requested were academic background along with communication, professional and technological skills. Results from the database analysis confirm previous findings based on print media. The study suggests that a job database implemented collaboratively among LIS institutions at a national and international level might serve to match recent graduates with employers while at the same time providing empirical data on the skills required in the marketplace.

Information Environment of Artisans in Botswana
NEO MOOKO AND L.O. AINA

Abstract. A survey of 439 artisans in Botswana was carried out with a view to determining their information needs, information seeking behaviour and sources of information used for meeting their daily needs. The study reveals that about 70% of the respondents were 21-40 years old. The artisans were involved in a variety of vocations, dressmaking, welding and hairdressing being the most prominent. A significant number of the artisans (11.7%) had no formal education. The greatest job-related information needs were in finding sources for raw materials (55.6%), locating government tenders (46.2%) and improving their knowledge (44%). Health (59.9%) and sports (32.1%) were the major general areas of information needs. The artisans sought information mainly through informal conversations (65.8%) and listening to radio (62.6%). The most used information sources were radio (50.3%), colleagues (49%) and newspapers (47.4%). Only 28% of the respondents were computer literate. The paper recommends that the government of Botswana should provide continuing education programmes for the artisans, as this would improve their skills in their vocations, as well as their computer literacy competence. Also, information providers, such as libraries should be involved pro-actively in the provision of information to artisans. They should also equip the artisans with information literacy competence.

Gender Terminology and Indexing Systems: The Case of Woman's Body, Image and Visualization
MARIA J. LOPEZ-HUERTAS AND ISABEL DE TORRES RAMIREZ

Abstract. Representation and organization of knowledge in inter-disciplinary/transdisciplinary domains have attracted little attention among specialists in Information Science. The lack of attention has affected the management of this kind of information in a negative way because models used for handling interdisciplinary information are based on or inspired by disciplinarity, causing problems in information retrieval. This study is part of broader research aiming to analyze an interdisciplinary domain, in this case Gender Studies, in order to identify its terminological behaviour and its conceptual dynamics for information retrieval. On the basis of a selected lexicon of 333 terms taken from a total of 5,200 terms coming from different sources, this study aims to bring to light the model followed in the representation of concepts related to the health, image and body of women, and their visualization in texts specialized in gender and in information retrieval systems, particularly in Gender thesauri. Secondary objectives are to determine if these sources suffer from gender bias and other types of prejudices of social constructions, here in regards to the body and the health of women, and to identify the research interest that these topics awaken, as reflected in the selected collection of specialized documents. To this end, a quantitative analysis of the selected terminology was done, comparing the results obtained with the selected lexicon from the indexing systems with the lexicon obtained from the primary sources, to detect coinciding terms and possible differences between the two, and so to appraise the documental warrant of the systems. Finally, the terms were grouped into categories in order to reveal the most relevant aspects for representation in the overall context of women's health, the female body and the image of women.

Project Report

Digitising the Hand-Written Bible: The Codex Sinaiticus, its History and Modern Presentation
EKKEHARD HENSCHKE