Editorial

Citation

Ashcroft, L. (2011), "Editorial", New Library World, Vol. 112 No. 3/4. https://doi.org/10.1108/nlw.2011.072112caa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: New Library World, Volume 112, Issue 3/4

The draft of a new British Standard, BS 8878: Web Accessibility – Code of Practice, notes that “making a web product accessible across multiple platforms can be difficult and consequently expensive”. The draft standard discusses websites that are accessible via mobile phones, tablets and TVs together with software, such as the apps that are downloaded to run on mobile devices. The paper from Canuel and Crichton reports on an exploration into how academic libraries in Canada have responded to the mobile environment. They provide examples of content and services in order to illustrate current trends and to provide insight for future directions in developing mobile services.

According to the technology blog Mashable (http://bit.ly/d5SPHi) a “googleme” social network could emerge to rival Facebook. This says that a slide presentation made public by a Google user experience researcher has added “more fuel to the wildfire of rumors about a possible Google social network”. In their paper, Loving and Ochoa provide a review of academic uses of Facebook. They report a case study at the University of Florida where Facebook Groups were used to set up a class page, and they comment on the flexibility, functionality and utility of using Facebook as an academic communication channel.

Librarians in Wales have launched a project to ensure that “Wales receives the social, economic and educational benefits of a fully informed literate population”. Librarians from all sectors will develop a unified framework. It notes that libraries have a great record of working together and in partnership with others (http://library.wales.org/informationliteracy). A different form of collaboration is the topic of the paper from Palomino and Gouveia. They discuss collaborative efforts between libraries and writing centres, and they provide a case study of the University of Guelph-Humber Library Reference Services and Humber College’s Writing Centre. They report increased levels of use of reference services when made available in a writing centre environment.

The British Library will link with Northumbria University and Newcastle City Library as a new hub to support business in the North East of England. Impartial information workers are viewed as a key asset for the exploitation of information and market research. Similar services are in the pipeline for other areas of the UK. Information and borrowing privileges to a broader audience is the topic of the paper from Dole and Hill. They report on an experiment where an academic library extends free borrowing privileges to community users. The experiment indicates that services can be provided to unaffiliated community users with minimal effort and cost, but that the benefits to the organisation are difficult to measure.

A report from the study Researchers of Tomorrow (www.researchersoftomorrow.net) notes that the most significant differences revealed in the data regarding broad approaches to information-seeking and use of research resources are between subject disciplines of study irrespective of age or year of study. Kress et al, in their paper, consider a different aspect of information seeking by looking at why those using the library and website at the University of Nevada are unable to locate items in the collections. They found that participants in their study failed to locate items for multiple reasons, but the complexity of library resources was the main contributor.

A review of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Reading and Libraries Challenge £3.7 million Fund highlights problems with leadership and clarity of purpose in the library sector. This report comments on the pressure of targets and “the lack of space and incentive to develop foresight and creative thinking”. It calls for “far more opportunities for staff that are eager to acquire the necessary leadership, management, communication and people skills needed for a dynamic and outward-facing service” (http://bit.ly/d870OV). In this context, the paper from Jones is very interesting. She reports on the American Library Association’s Emerging Leaders program and its effectiveness. With her first hand experience, she provides both a general overview of the program and a personal insight.

Linda Ashcroft