Enabling technologies have led to the transformation of library services from traditional services incorporating card catalogs, printed books and periodicals, bibliographic instruction, in-person/face-to-face reference, to new services and delivery modes incorporating: electronic collections, such as e-books, e-journals and databases; virtual reference services, and other online services. Innovation of new services that are peculiar to the online/Web environment is the trend in modern electronic libraries. During the last decade, many libraries, particularly those serving academic communities, have witnessed the emergence of new service paradigms in areas of information access and delivery, reference, instruction, technology facility and support to patrons. Libraries continue to harness new technologies to offer services in innovative ways to meet the changing needs of their patrons. This paper explores some of these emerging service paradigms in electronic libraries. The concept of "service paradigm" in this paper is used to refer to predominant service patterns.
This paper discusses the status of information technology (IT), at national, organisational and individual levels, as we approach the twenty-first century. The paper is written within the context of developing countries, particularly Africa, and identifies some of the common problems and constraints militating against effective IT adoption and utilisation in these countries, such as low IT literacy, inadequate human resource capacity for IT development, inadequate information and communication infrastructures, absence of action oriented national IT policies, poor IT delivery by vendors, lack of co-operation among and within countries, etc.The paper asserts that in the twenty-first century, IT will inevitably pervade all aspects of our lives and, as such, there is need to prepare ourselves at national, organisational and individual levels. Strategies for such preparation are suggested. The paper cites some success stories in harnessing IT for socio-economic development with reference to the area of networking and its impact on some areas such as health care and academic research in Africa. The paper notes, however, that a more significant success rate has been in IT applications of a smaller scale, such as applications at corporate levels and in government. Some of these examples are cited.The paper concludes that all indicators show that IT is going to be a major driving force of socio-economic development, and that those not yet participating in the IT revolution should prepare to do so soon otherwise they will not reap the benefits of being part of the 'global information system'.
This paper assesses the incorporation of instruction in library virtual reference services (VRS), and explores whether the rate, and nature of instruction provided to patrons during VRS sessions is different than that provided during face-to-face reference. The Penn State VRS was used as a case study in this assessment. An analysis of a sample of archived Penn State VRS transcripts was conducted to assess the nature and quantity of instruction provided based on the presence of defined instructional elements incorporated in the sessions. The paper discusses the similarities and differences in approach to instruction during VRS and face-to-face reference, and how these relate to overall instructional services in academic libraries. The paper also reviews findings of some similar studies cited in the literature. The findings of this study indicate that there is a significant amount of instruction taking place during both face-to-face reference and VRS. Furthermore, the approach to instruction in both reference environments is very similar. However, the VRS system in use at Penn State (LSSI Virtual Reference Toolkit), because of its technological features and capability, has facilLesley M. Moyo is Head, Gateway Libraries (i.e., the Gateway Commons, an electronic reference center and the Pollock
Provides an overview of a new information literacy initiative at the Penn State University’s Gateway Library. The Research Mentoring Program was designed to address the individual needs of academic library users who are inexperienced in the use of digital/electronic resources and require assistance in identifying, accessing and navigating the myriad digital/electronic resources for their research. Discusses the rationale for such programs, program objectives and activities undertaken to meet these objectives, and program outcomes.
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