University Libraries are Changing to Encourage More Student Use

Dramatic decrease of users in reference services is a trend observed all around the world. Rather than talking with students face to face at the library, we librarians provide virtual reference with email and instant message. On the other hand, there are increasing numbers of students who use libraries as their study rooms, to write papers, and to hold group meetings. The University Library System (ULS) of the University of Pittsburgh is undergoing a change so that students can make more use of information services, libraries’ most important function. This paper discus about ULS’s effort to meet users’ need and explore new role in the digital age, including introducing PittCat+ as a new online catalog like Google, in class instructions with LibGuides, D-Scribe Digital Publishing as an e-journal publisher, D-Scholarship as university repository, etc

北米における社史研究の現状 [Current status of studies on Japanese company histories in North America]

Japanese Company History Interest Group (Shashi Group) is established in 2001 at AAS annual conference. This article introduces current status of studies on Japanese company histories and group activities in North America

米国大学図書館におけるGIS サービスの動向 －過去のアンケート調査の比較とピッツバーグ大学図書館の現状から [Trend of GIS services in US Academic Libraries –from comparison of past surveys and current situation of the University of Pittsburgh]

本稿は，米国大学図書館が1990 年代前半から提供し始めたGIS（Geographic Information Systems）サービスの動向と将来の展望を，過去のアンケート調査と著者の追跡調査，GIS 教育との関わりを通して考察する。大規模大学図書館ではすでに90％の普及率に達しているが，今後利用者を増やしていくには，しっかりしたデータ・コレクション・プランが必要であると考えられる。また，中規模，小規模大学図書館はまだ20～30％の普及率でこれからも伸びるであろうが，より充実したGIS サービスを提供していくには，学科や学部との共同作業が望ましいと思われる。 [This paper studies trends and the prospects for future of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) services in U.S. academic libraries, which have started in early 1990s, based on past surveys, my follow-up survey, and relation with GIS education. Libraries at the doctoral/research universities offer GIS services almost 90% already, but they need to have a good data collection plan in order to increase users. Libraries at the master’s colleges and universities, and the baccalaureate colleges offer GIS services only 20-30% but its proportion will be increased in near future. They would better to do joint efforts between libraries and other departments on campus regarding the use of GIS for better services.

学生が図書館をもっと利用するように大学図書館が変ります[University Libraries are Changing to Encourage More Student Use]

Dramatic decrease of users in reference services is a trend observed all around the world. Rather than talking with students face to face at the library, we librarians provide virtual reference with email and instant message. On the other hand, there are increasing numbers of students who use libraries as their study rooms, to write papers, and to hold group meetings. The University Library System (ULS) of the University of Pittsburgh is undergoing a change so that students can make more use of information services, libraries’ most important function. This paper discus about ULS’s effort to meet users’ need and explore new role in the digital age, including introducing PittCat+ as a new online catalog like Google, in class instructions with LibGuides, D-Scribe Digital Publishing as an e-journal publisher, D-Scholarship as university repository, etc

Abstracts of the Shashi Group Sponsored AAS Panels from 2011 to 2016

The Japanese Company Histories Interest Group (Shashi Group) consecutively organized and sponsored workshop and panels at annual conferences of the Association of Asian Studies (AAS) from 2011 to 2016.  One of the primary purposes of this journal was publishing papers presented at the panels.  Unfortunately, a variety of circumstances prevented the publication of many of these papers. Therefore, we have compiled the abstracts of panels and papers and any relevant information about subsequent publication here for the record

ウェブのユーザビリティ調査事例: ピッツバーグ大学 [Usability survey of library website : A case study of the University of Pittsburgh]

デジタル時代のいま，大学図書館に求められていることは、館内での対人サービスよりもオンラインでの情報検索がいかに使いやすいかである。ピッツバーグ大学図書館の2006 年度の統計によると，オンラインの図書館利用回数は館内でのサービス利用回数の10.9 倍であることが分かった。図書館ウェブサイトが利用者にどれほど使いやすくデザインされているかを知るために，2007 年11 月、ユーザビリティ調査を行った。調査の結果から、ウェブデザインの改善と検索ボックスの一本化が必要であることが分かった。次世代OPAC にその解決策の1 つがあるようだ。 [In this digital age, users look for more usability of online searches than onsite services for university libraries. Based on the 2006 fiscal year statistics of the University of Library System, the number of online access to the library resources is 10.9 times more than the number of onsite services. We conducted a usability test in November, 2007, in order to investigate how well the users understood the website. We found out that we have to improve the design of the website and centralize the search boxes. There to be a solution with the next generation OPAC.

米国の図書館におけるファンドレイジング活動 [Fundraising in US Academic and Public Libraries]

This article intends to present an overview of fundraising practices in academic and public libraries in the U.S. It consists of two parts. First, Hiroyuki and Kazuyo Good discuss a variety of successful fundraising cases with a concentration in academic and public libraries. In the second part, Masanori Koizumi scrutinizes the fundraising process in the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh drawing upon the interviews with library director, managers, and librarians. This study identifies various effective fundraising strategies employed by public and academic libraries in the U.S.: specialists, often in collaboration with librarians, take the lead in fundraising; they tend to invest in innovative services; fundraising initiatives are closely linked to strategic management

Evolution of China's U.S. Policy (1965-72): Prelude to the Economic Reform?

China embarked on its grand economic reform in 1978, and the resulting economic performance has impressive by any standard. Many have accredited China's apparent success to the "gradualism" or patience in its reform agenda. But equally important is China's reform "sequence", which began in staple food production before spreading to other sectors of the economy. What has been absent in the literature is the explanation of why China started with the staple food sector, and why China embarked on the reform in the first place. This study traces China's early reform (the agricultural production) to her realization and abandonment of the self-reliant agriculture policy in the early 1970s. This self-reliance had been China's central ideology and main objective since the 1950s. We study China's attitude towards the U.S. via the line-struggle between different fractions within the Chinese Communist party during this period (1965-72). We further quantify the evolution of China's U.S. policy by examining the anti-U.S. propaganda in Chinese publications

米国大学図書館における電子書籍サービス [Current Trends of eBooks Services at Academic University Libraries in the United States of America]

The expected role of university libraries is changing from developing collections to increasing digital resources as well as offering more study space to support undergraduate students. Most of us have expected the increase of ebooks to facilitate the transformation and improve user supports. However, the environment of ebook services in recent years seems different from our expectation; students still prefer printed books, ebooks are still very difficult to read, and the ebook budget is decreasing. This paper examines two recent national surveys to clarify challenges to ebook services. This will be followed by a discussion of the efforts to tackle the challenges at the University of Pittsburgh Library. Last but not the least, this paper also offers some suggestions for the Japanese ebook industry