Purpose – This paper aims to develop a better understanding of student worker perceptions of academic libraries in an effort to improve student worker training, position structure and, ultimately, their perceptions of the library. The value of student reference assistants extends well beyond the completion of assigned library tasks. Specifically, student reference assistants can be important community voices and advocates for academic libraries, spreading, by word-of-mouth, the kinds of library services available to students and their relevance to the academic community. Consequently, it is essential to gain an understanding of how student workers perceive the academic library as a result of their employment. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses an informal, anonymous online survey of student reference assistants to gather information on student worker perceptions of the library. Questions focus on student workers’ understanding of library services and resources as well as on the library’s mission and purpose. An analysis of student responses is provided in light of four “ideal” perceptions which the librarians hold for all students. Findings – Overall, student worker responses to the survey generally aligned with the ideal perceptions. However, misalignments suggest the need for training that focuses on the development of a broader understanding of the library’s role in the academic community. Practical implications – The paper can help academic librarians gain insight on how student workers understand the role of the library within the larger academic community and how positive student worker perceptions can be leveraged for outreach purposes. Originality/value – This paper examines an important aspect of student worker perception that has generally been overlooked in the literature.
Assessment of the current landscape of semi--automatic metadata generation tools is particularly
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the potential strengths and weaknesses of the BIBFRAME bibliographic model and outline its purpose and key features. In addition, it discusses specific aspects of the model with respect to the pre-existing models of bibliographic description. Design/methodology/approach A review of source and secondary materials regarding BIBFRAME was undertaken, and a comparison of the conclusions derived from this literature was made to the pre-existing models of bibliographic description. Findings If the BIBFRAME Initiative can overcome what will likely be some significant challenges to the development and implementation of the model, BIBFRAME appears to be poised to become the next standard of bibliographic description and exchange for the library community. Research limitations/implications The findings and conclusions of this paper are based upon an in-depth literature review, not on theoretical or empirical derivations or examples. As a result, further research of both theoretical and empirical natures need to be developed. Practical implications BIBFRAME may well become the next standard of bibliographic description and exchange for the library community, leading to significant changes in cataloging practices over the years. Social implications To the extent that BIBFRAME can expand discovery mechanisms, the vast array of information currently available to information seekers will open up in previously unthought of ways. Originality/value This paper synthesizes a literature that was developed during a more preliminary design of the bibliographic model BIBFRAME and adds to the literature by discussing newer capabilities that have been designed into BIBFRAME 2.0.
The BIBFRAME model is designed with a high degree of flexibility in that it can accommodate any number of existing models as well as models yet to be developed within the Web environment. The model’s flexibility is intended to foster extensibility. This study discusses the relationship of BIBFRAME to the prevailing content standards and models employed by cultural heritage institutions across museums, archives, libraries, historical societies, and community centers or those in the process of being adopted by cultural heritage institutions. This is to determine the degree to which BIBFRAME, as it is currently understood, can be a viable and extensible framework for bibliographic description and exchange in the Web environment. We highlight the areas of compatibility as well as areas of incompatibility. BIBFRAME holds the promise of freeing library data from the silos of online catalogs permitting library data to interact with data both within and outside the library community. We discuss some of the challenges that need to be addressed in order to optimize the potential capabilities that the BIBFRAME model holds.
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