Introduction to reference work in the digital age

No abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/48700/1/20174_ftp.pd

A Study on the Development of Curriculum Track for Civil Service Librarian

The goal of this study is to improve the competitiveness of professional librarians in society. To this end, we analyzed domestic and international LIS curriculum, determined demand from field librarians through a survey, carried out job analysis by library types, and developed an operating model for LIS curriculum by synthesizing all of these results. Finally, we suggested a course of study for civil service librarians based on this model. As a result, the six required courses for civil service librarians are: Introduction to Library and Information Science, Information Organization, Information Services (Reference and Information Services), Library Management, Information Retrieval, and Field Work. The four core courses for the civil service concentration are: Collection Development, Information Sources by Subjects, Public Library Management, and Digital Libraries. Suggested electives best suited to this career path include Using Web Resources, Information Literacy, Information Services in Culturally Diverse Communities, Library Marketing, Libraries and Cultural Programs, Reading Guidance, Library History, Small Library Management, Studies in Library Buildings, Library Cooperation, Managing Digital Collections, and Information and Communication in a Digital Age

Academic digital library in Malaysia: A case study on the status of digital reference services

This paper highlights the current status of digital library services provided by selected public academic libraries in Malaysia. The drift from traditional library to digital library architecture has set drastic changes in favor of adopting knowledge-gain mechanisms via the use of networked and digital environments. With diversity of functions, academic digital library is seen the most awaiting proxy in changing the information culture among academic users. This paper in general attempts to highlight the phenomena of using digital library system in public universities in Malaysia. The focal of the discussion is on digital reference services of academic digital library

E-Scripture: The Impact of Technology on the Reading of Sacred Texts (2013)

The tradition of religious readers in transition is not new: Augustine expressed “amazement” that Ambrose read silently and not aloud, movable type in the fifteenth century made the Bible publishable without scribal work, and today, electronic pages have become interactive in ways scarcely imagined a short time ago. How readers of today imagine a page (now conceptualized as a ‘web-page’) and consequently, reading in general, has profound implications for the 21st century. Acknowledging the fact that “the significance of a religious book lies not only in the message of its content, but also in the form and self-presentation with which it makes itself available to worship and transmission,” this project assumes that a great deal of perspective is provided by looking at this current transition in light of the old. In virtually all previous reading transitions, a religious ‘pattern of reading technology’ can be seen, whose pieces are all well-known but have not been collectively applied to the current situation of e-reading. The pattern operates with a three part assumption: readers will initially use a new technology to perform the same functions as the old technology, only more quickly, with more efficiency, or in greater quantity. This early use of new reading technology, in other words, largely attempts to imitate the functions and appearance of the old format. The second part is that the old technology becomes sacralized or ritualized in the face of the new technology’s standardization. As this standardization occurs, the new technology develops its own unique and innovative functions, exclusive to that form and shedding some or most of the imitative appearance and functions of the old technology – the third part of the pattern. Reviewing these transitions of the past and present, it becomes clear that perhaps fear of the new technology – however relatable – proves somewhat unfounded. New reading technology does not prove ultimately inimical to the old formats, or to religion, and despite many initial practical concerns, actually provides a multitude of benefits in the reading of sacred texts

M-Libraries: Information use on the move

When people talk about mobile libraries, they tend to mean a bus or truck that has been kitted out as a roving branch library. However with a growing number of people accessing the internet from their pocket PCs and mobile phones, libraries are investigating ways to deliver their services to mobile phones and other small-screen devices so their customers can access them any time anywhere. This can be as simple as sending text message alerts about reservations becoming available or overdue books, or as complex as the Athabasca University Library’s Digital Reading room, which allows readers to access full eBooks and journal articles through their library’s subscriptions on any mobile device. These services have collectively become known as ‘m-libraries’.The Arcadia Programme has been funded by a generous grant from the Arcadia Fund. http://www.arcadiafund.org.uk

Influence of study design on digital pathology image quality evaluation : the need to define a clinical task

Despite the current rapid advance in technologies for whole slide imaging, there is still no scientific consensus on the recommended methodology for image quality assessment of digital pathology slides. For medical images in general, it has been recommended to assess image quality in terms of doctors’ success rates in performing a specific clinical task while using the images (clinical image quality, cIQ). However, digital pathology is a new modality, and already identifying the appropriate task is difficult. In an alternative common approach, humans are asked to do a simpler task such as rating overall image quality (perceived image quality, pIQ), but that involves the risk of nonclinically relevant findings due to an unknown relationship between the pIQ and cIQ. In this study, we explored three different experimental protocols: (1) conducting a clinical task (detecting inclusion bodies), (2) rating image similarity and preference, and (3) rating the overall image quality. Additionally, within protocol 1, overall quality ratings were also collected (task-aware pIQ). The experiments were done by diagnostic veterinary pathologists in the context of evaluating the quality of hematoxylin and eosin-stained digital pathology slides of animal tissue samples under several common image alterations: additive noise, blurring, change in gamma, change in color saturation, and JPG compression. While the size of our experiments was small and prevents drawing strong conclusions, the results suggest the need to define a clinical task. Importantly, the pIQ data collected under protocols 2 and 3 did not always rank the image alterations the same as their cIQ from protocol 1, warning against using conventional pIQ to predict cIQ. At the same time, there was a correlation between the cIQ and task-aware pIQ ratings from protocol 1, suggesting that the clinical experiment context (set by specifying the clinical task) may affect human visual attention and bring focus to their criteria of image quality. Further research is needed to assess whether and for which purposes (e.g., preclinical testing) task-aware pIQ ratings could substitute cIQ for a given clinical task

Mapping an ancient historian in a digital age: the Herodotus Encoded Space-Text-Image Archive (HESTIA)

HESTIA (the Herodotus Encoded Space-Text-Imaging Archive) employs the latest digital technology to develop an innovative methodology to the study of spatial data in Herodotus' Histories. Using a digital text of Herodotus, freely available from the Perseus on-line library, to capture all the place-names mentioned in the narrative, we construct a database to house that information and represent it in a series of mapping applications, such as GIS, GoogleEarth and GoogleMap Timeline. As a collaboration of academics from the disciplines of Classics, Geography, and Archaeological Computing, HESTIA has the twin aim of investigating the ways geography is represented in the Histories and of bringing Herodotus' world into people's homes

E Pluribus Unum – Out of Many, One Common European Sales Law?

In light of the fragmentation due to the nationalization of civil and commercial law and the growing intensity of cross-border trade in manufactured goods, arguments for the unification of private law surfaced already from the early 20th century. Such attempts resulted in, among others, the CISG, the UPICC or the PECL. In line with this pattern, as an attempt to make Out of Many, One Common European Sales Law, a Proposal for a Regulation on a Common European Sales Law (CESL) was published in 2011. The aim of the present contribution is to explore the background of the Proposal and to assess its significance for the future, with specific attention to the challenges of the digital age. Section I of the paper provides an overview of the process in the first decade of the 21st century leading to the publication of the Proposal, identifying the various stages of making an instrument. This is followed by the description of the Proposal and its evaluation in Section II. Although the immediate implementation and application of the instrument are not feasible, the text contains some promising elements to build on. According to the main findings of the paper, in the new millennium no longer merely international trade in manufactured goods is a chief factor triggering the implementation of international instruments of contract law. The innovations which pose new challenges and regulatory needs, also addressed in the CESL, are trade in digital content and e-commerce. Considering a digital key to the success of regulatory aspirations, the paper thus outlines ways European and international legislation might go in terms of regulating cross-border trade in the age of information technology. Accordingly, the areas to focus on for a start are transactions for the supply of digital content and e-commerce transactions

An evaluation of the National Health Service [NHS] England Youth Forum

This report may be reproduced for the purposes of private research and study; in addition, excerpts may be included in professional journals or conference presentations as long as acknowledgement is given and there is no association with advertisingMore than five decades ago the Platt Report (Ministry of Health, 1959) recommended that hospitalised children needed to be treated differently to adults. It took until the 1980s for evidence to emerge that healthcare staff were beginning to implement Platt’s recommendations; Davies (2010) attributes this long awaited change of approach to a new generation of practitioners and a renewed focus from the Government that acknowledged the distinct needs of children and young people. In the early 1990s James and Prout (1990) produced work to suggest that children should not be viewed as passive recipients of care but should be recognised as having their own voice, referred to as the “emergence of children’s voice” (Hallett and Prout, 2003: 1)Final Published versio

Theorizing Digital Journalism: The Limits of Linearity and the Rise of Relationships

For more than 50 years, our understanding of journalism drew on theories that emerged in an environment in which the components of a mediated message could be isolated well enough to measure and track. Yet today we live in a media world that is simultaneously immersive and interconnected, instantaneous and iterative, and individualized to an extent unimaginable a generation ago. In this environment, theories positing ‘media effects’ are considerably less practical or meaningful than they once were, a topic explored in the first half of this chapter. Some of the ways that contemporary journalism scholars are actively recontextualizing the field are then outlined, followed by consideration of the proposition that our best hope for understanding the “effects” of digital journalism may be to focus on the diversity of relationships it engenders. Looking at connections and interactions can profitably guide our study of this fluid, holistic media world