Foreword: Closing the gap between information literacy and scholarly communication

Book ChapterTwo cornerstone programs of the academic library are poised to bring new life to each other as librarians look to close the gap between information literacy and scholarly communication. It has been easy for these two library-based programs, designed and created along different paths and for different purposes and audiences, each with highly specialized skills and knowledge, to develop without intersecting. Now, however, the connections are starting to be explored by librarians, as demonstrated in the essays in this volume. The time is right to make these connections. The early part of the twenty-first century has been characterized as both the Information Age and the Digital Age, its economy as both the creative economy and the knowledge economy. Whatever label one prefers, clearly creativity has become highly valued for its economic, educational, personal, and communal benefits. It is encouraged by an expanding array of tools readily available to everyone, not just the privileged, as are the channels and venues for sharing creative outpourings. Moreover, the lines between the acts of creation and use are now quite blurry and permeable. Use can be a form of creation, creation can be an act of destruction and remaking, and rapid and open sharing and transformative use of information can lead to amazing new works and insights. Moreover, design thinking is employed as a catalyst for innovation within and across disciplines; the network economy is energized by social media that connects people, regardless of location, and that both encourages existing and potential new relationships; the marketplace of ideas is a valued component of the public sphere, as well as the commercial sector; and many academic institutions are employing interdisciplinary approaches to research, teaching, performance, and practice

Organizing acquisitions: the Yale University experience

ManuscriptThe acquisition of materials for large research library collections is a complex process requiring large numbers of staff and highly developed management skills. Even in the best of times it is easy for this complicated process to be less than effective. When faced with budget cuts, staff layoffs, or currency fluctuations, the organization of acquisitions functions must be adaptable, flexible, and quick to respond. Organizations must be designed to maximize the library's staff, its automated system, and its network of publishers and vendors. This article will discuss the changes that have occurred in the organization of acquisitions activities at Yale University in the past five years. This case is indicative of the climate of challenge that has prevailed in recent times over the role of acquisitions departments and acquisitions librarians in libraries. Perhaps it will serve to enlighten others who are reevaluating their acquisitions services

Moderately risky business challenging librarians to assume more risk in an era of opportunity

ManuscriptOne may not readily associate risk with librarianship; however, librarians deal with risk every day and in all parts of the profession. Acquisition functions, for example, include the risks associated with managing budgets and processes, producing appropriate audit trails, predicting and acting on pricing tends, and negotiating business terms and licenses. This is the area of librarianship where I began my career in the 1980s. Acquisitions trained me to think and act within a business context and to evaluate the risk of business transactions and relationships

Library as Knowledge Commons for the University

Journal ArticleFor much of the 20th century libraries were known and valued for their collections, and the defining role for a library was to be "a repository of knowledge." Although libraries continue to build and deliver a large collection of resources, we are now defined by the services we offer and our ability to make the work of our users more productive in all areas of teaching, learning and research. To meet this ambition our libraries have become agents of transformation, innovation, development, growth, and opportunity; we are centers for innovation, anchors for projects, and instigators as well as incubators for collaborations that produce integrated, scalable, extensible, lasting, powerful and demonstrable results. We supply access to high quality knowledge, coupled with high tech, high touch services that strive to remove the mystery from research and learning. We teach our students to be "smart for life," with a solid grounding in critical thinking that will serve them for their entire life experience of finding, utilizing, evaluating, and creating knowledge in their chosen careers and personal lives. More than ever we are integral to the process of knowledge generation, and as intensively interdisciplinary centers, we serve as knowledge commons for the university

Rededication program: tradition and transformation

presentationUniversity of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library Rededication Program: Tradition and Transformation Joyce L. Ogburn University Librarian and Directo

Report and commentary on the Faxon Institute: the second annual colloquium on scholarly communication issues

ManuscriptThe development of electronic means of publishing has forever changed the face of authorship, publishing and library services. Contracts are on the rise, fair use is waning, and this shift in emphasis has profound implications. For effective and economical dissemination of scholarly information to survive, there must be communication at every level of the dissemination chain. More than ever dialogue is required among librarians, publishers, vendors, and authors to find common ground and seek solutions to a growing crisis of the economics of scholarly publishing

Criminology and penology abstracts: analysis

ReviewAn analysis of Criminology and Penology Abstracts is "An international abstracting service covering the etiology of crime and juvenile delinquency, the control and treatment of offenders, criminal procedure, and the administration of justice