Cooperation between librarians and teaching staff

The changing times with new challenges and new need means that university libraries must look closely at their own visions and missions. The libraries must be ready to accept new tasks and cover the needs of the student’s and academic staff in new areas. In this paper I will look at the need for cooperation between librarians and academic staff in order to optimize the teaching of information literacy in the library, and also present the on-line tutorial Search and Write

Using statistics for quality management in the library

Selected papers presented at the 2nd Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries. Proceedings of the International Conference on QQML 2010 p. 97-102, World Scientific Publishing, 2012.In the light of the ever changing and developing technology in the libraries, library managers across the sector and all over the wor ld need to utilize all possible means of ensuring that the quality of services remains optimal. This paper shows some of the uses of different evaluation tools in an academic library. The paper will describe the practical use of surveys, larger and smaller , quest i onnaires, focus groups and stake holder meetings, all of which will yield different kinds of data. As part of quality management, the practical uses of this data will be explored.publishedVersio

Managing and Managers of Academic Libraries

Presented at "E-Science and Information Management: 3rd International Symposium on Information Management in a Changing World", September 19-21, 2012, Ankara, TurkeyThis paper looks at attitudes about leadership and decision making among leaders in academic libraries in Norway and Romania. Two different surveys were conducted, containing similar questions, and the results were compared. The surveys uncovered demographics- "who are the leaders?" as well. One of the findings that concems the status of the library leaders is that in Romania they are considered academics, and this is also mirrored in their backgrounds. For Norway, the recruitment to a leader position in the academic library comes through the ranks, so to speak - most academic library leaders have already worked in the library before they become leaders. This background is different from the Romanian situation. To what extent it also has implications for attitudes about leadership remains to be seen, or whether the differences that can be observed in the attitudes between the academic library leaders in the two countries can be explained otherwise

Integrating Information Literacy int the Curriculum

Information literacy is regarded as a crucial skill for university students (Landøy, 2010). In this paper, we will discuss collaborative efforts between academic libraries and the scholarly community they are serving, in order to enhance the take-up of information literacy (IL) from students. At University of Bergen, the Library has taken ownership to IL and regards the training of students in IL as one of the main strategic tasks (Landøy, 2010). The trainings in IL are not compulsory for students, although IL is mentioned as one of the core skills in the “qualification framework” given by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Education (NKR, 2011:22). The University leadership supports the Library efforts. When it comes to the practical implementation, however, the scholarly departments are most important for students to participate in the trainings. Our joint efforts, which will be discussed in the paper, include informational and motivational measures from administrative and academic staff at the departments, and close collaborations in planning of content. The departments have some similar and some different needs for their students, and the academic librarian will be able to choose from a set of descriptions with matching training content.publishedVersio

Analysing and Comparing Strategies of Public and Academic Libraries regarding their Period, their Vision and Mission as well as Values and Strategic programs

Strategic planning in academic and public libraries is vital and gaining importance in libraries all over the world. In this research project – using the qualitative method of documentary research based on “convenience sampling” – 33 strategies from libraries from eleven countries are analysed regarding their time period, vision and mission, as well as values of the libraries, and their strategic programs. This research analyses only 33 libraries from eleven different countries, as not every library has published its strategy and a lot of libraries do not have a strategy at all. As such the results of this research are limited and cannot be transferred to all libraries, however interesting results could still be found. Of the analysed libraries one-third have not formulated a vision, about two-thirds did not write down their mission and more than half of them did not express their values. All libraries have developed strategic ideas and programs to develop their library, their staff as well as their services. Another interesting aspect is that not all aspects of the libraries’ values have been considered and are included in the libraries’ strategic programs. There are good and complete library strategies published, but more can be done in developing and implementing strategies in libraries – probably worldwide. This documentary research is helpful, as not only can be seen where libraries are heading in the future, but it can also help library leaders of libraries without a current strategy to gain ideas and transfer those to their own libraries.publishedVersio

Skills acquired and passed on: the collaboration between the University of Bergen and Makerere University libraries and their new partners in the north and south

Makerere University in Uganda and the University of Bergen in Norway celebrate ten years of collaboration in 2009. The collaboration includes the libraries in the two Universities, focusing on continuing professional development. This paper reports the activities of the collaboration between the two University libraries, and highlights the multiplier effect of the collaboration, which has led to new partners at the University of Juba in Southern Sudan, the East African School of Library and Information Science (EASLIS) at Makerere and the Norwegian School of Librarianship at Oslo University College. The new partners have joined to implement the Juba University Library Automation Project (JULAP) that is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. JULAP aims to rebuild the Juba University Library that was closed because of the war in 1985. The project has two main components: automation of the library and training of library staff who are already working in the library, as well as sponsoring young people for a Bachelor’s degree in Librarianship at EASLIS. The training of library staff has a theoretical component conducted by EASLIS, while the practical component is handled by Makerere University Library staff using the skills they acquired over time from collaborations with skilled librarians from the North. Part of the project includes the acquisition of a library system, and the training of staff to use the system. The paper then outlines the activities of the project, the challenges faced and how they have been addressed, the achievements and future plans. Although most collaboration usually involves two institutions, this paper highlights the growth of the collaboration from two institutions to where it is now, and the audience is encouraged to learn from this experience and replicate it to be able to ‘build bridges’ of LIS education in Developing countries

Romanian Students’ Perceptions of Bibliotherapy in the Educational Process

The use of bibliotherapy in the educational process leads to the improvement of students’ skills to use the reading process in a more efficient way, to transfer knowledge while enjoying the process. This paper aims to identify the level of familiarity of first year university students with therapeutic techniques and also the benefit discovered in them by the new generations of students. We surveyed 111 students on their perception of bibliotherapy in the educational process. A social survey questionnaire was created and administered online. The findings provide useful information for librarians and top management in libraries in order to help bring potential bookmakers closer to the digital age.publishedVersio

Benchmarking through Performance Indicators for Norwegian Academic Libraries

Journal home page at https://www.rrbsi.ro/index.php/rrbsi/index.How can leadership and strategic planning in academic libraries be based on statistical evidence - evidence based leadership? In this paper, the authors present how the National Library of Norway has led the way in developing indicators for the public and the academic libraries. These indicators may be used either longitudinally or for benchmarking within or between libraries. The authors will also give examples of how libraries can find indicators to support benchmarking. The indicators chosen as examples in this papers were mainly economic indicators

Uporaba nacionalne knjižnične statistike – što se može učiniti bolje?

Nacionalna knjižnična statistika pomaže pri usporedbi pojedine knjižnice s drugim knjižnicama u jednoj zemlji ili u drugim zemljama kako bi dala pregled o knjižnicama pojedine zemlje i pokazala njihov razvoj. Ali pri usporedbi 22 javne (narodne) i akademske (visokoškolske) knjižnice u pet zemalja, pokazuju se poteškoće u odabiru ključnih pokazatelja uspješnosti koje treba rabiti u nacionalnoj knjižničnoj statistici. Osim toga javila se i zamisao o održavanju radionice s knjižničarima iz raznih zemalja. Tijekom održavanja radionice pitali smo sudionike što oni misle o tome što je dobro u nacionalnoj knjižničnoj statistici, a što u nacionalnoj knjižničnoj statistici nedostaje; koje su vrste podataka relevantne za knjižničare; zašto sve knjižnice ne sudjeluju u prikupljanju statistike i što se u svezi s tim može učiniti. Rezultati radionice bit će predstavljeni u ovome radu