Information Literacy

The American Library Association defines information literacy as a set of abilities requiring individuals to "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information." ALA also states that "information literacy is a survival skill in the Information Age." "Information literacy forms the basis for lifelong learning. It is common to all disciplines, to all learning environments, and to all levels of education. It enables learners to master content and extend their investigations, become more self-directed, and assume greater control over their own learning."

What is information Literacy

What is information Literacy Video

Information Literacy Video

Information Literacy is very important in all libraries.

Advantages & Disadvantages of E-Resources

Advantages of e-resources

• Accessible – can be accessed from any computer on campus and usually any computer off campus, any time of the day or night, so there is no need to make a trip to the library
• Easily searchable - each journal can be searched quick and easy often through the complete full text of articles and via online index
• Speed - Articles/issues  appear online before printed version is available
• Interactive - Rapid turnaround time means articles can be read, commented by the readers, amended quickly and greater feedback thru the web
• Links - Hypertext format should be exploited and links to related articles, information on other web sites, stable URLs for individual articles and email alerts when latest issue loaded.    
• Added Value - Advantages taken  on the web is to add value by using animation, virtual reality and interactive mathematical charts.
• Inexpensive - savings can be made over printing costs, distribution costs and extra costs by new features.
• Flexibility - E-journals evolved quickly. They are not tied to a format, printer, and distribution network

Disadvantages of e-resources

• Difficulty reading computer screens:
• limitations of computer monitor
• read information in the screen
• Often not included in indexing and abstracting services
• Search engines ignores PDF files
• Format that a large proportion of e-journal use

Archiving

• If archive is guaranteed, physical storage can be saved
• Perishable citation - once online, if  websites change URLs citations disappear
• Authenticity - authors concerned about establishing the source, authority of material in general, convinced reader for their credibility 

Promoting and Marketing Library Services

As librarians we should be actively marketing and promoting our library services.

 Introduction

Marketing is frequently viewed as a set of strategies and techniques that belong to administrators outside of librarianship. However as librarians we are all involved in the process of marketing. The definition of marketing is seen as the management process which identifies, anticipates and supplies customer requirements efficiently...''. Thus the essence of marketing involves finding out what the users want, then setting out to meet those needs. As librarians we all participate in this process of assessing our users needs and trying to fullfill them. Thus, we are already marketing our library information skills. However, in order to do this effectively librarians need to embrace the total marketing function involving market research and analysis, service planning and promotion.

Market Research

Market research involves the ``systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of data'' relating to the demand for a service or product . The parent organization needs to be analyzed in terms of funding sources, the contribution the library makes to the mission of the parent organization, resources available and the needs of the users. There are two basic functions of market research: Firstly To reduce the uncertainty of the decision-making process of marketing . Secondly, To monitor and control the performance of marketing activities.
The information gathered through market research will provide the basis for making marketing decisions. 

Market Plan

In light of the information gathered from the market research the conclusions should be summarized and stated as the basis upon which the market plan is based. The market plan is the actual process which will establish the library's business goals and objectives and figure out how to achieve them. It  can be described  as an action  most effective when the relevant activities are planned and coordinated. The marketing plan is the tool which will ensure that the library services and products are viewed in a focused and clear way.

Objectives and Strategies

Once users needs, future trends and resources available have been established the librarian is in a position to plan the marketing objectives, the resources to be used, the place and the time scale of the operation and the strategies required to achieve them. The process of setting aims and objectives will serve a number of purposes. It will provide a focused overview of the library service and give direction and guidance in achieving the objectives. If possible objectives should be quantifiable in order to ensure effective evaluation. Once objectives have been set the strategies necessary to achieve them can be planned. If any of the objectives change over time then the market plan will need to be updated.

Promotion

Essentially promotion is the means of informing your users what you do and what you can do. The benefits for those who promote their library services include: increased usage, increased value in the organization, education of users and changed perceptions.
The promotional plan emerges from the marketing plan. It is to do with how to achieve the objectives that have been forecast. It involves:

•  a description of the service requiring publicity;
•  description of the audience at which publicity is targeted;
•  details of the campaign method to be employed including type of publicity 
to be used and method(s) of distribution;
•  execution of campaign;
•  analysis of campaign performance.

The setting of clear promotional objectives will also ensure that the success of the advertising campaign can be evaluated. From time to time it should be accepted that promotional activities have not met their objectives. At this point the marketing strategies need to be re-evaluated in the context of the feedback received.

The Medium

Promotional activities can take many forms and the promotional media will depend on the nature of the target audience and on promotional objectives.


 Personal Skills

Your manner whether in person or on the telephone, will affect your users' rating of the library. You need to be professional and use quality procedures but you also need to smile and establish a personal relationship with as many of your users as possible. If you react positively to complaints, people will be encouraged to tell you about other things they would like changed. Instead of defending your position think about their suggestions. Make yourself highly visible, visit the staff room, memorize names, learn research interests of staff. Make a point of visiting staff rather than waiting for them to visit you. Establish the key players and the people who can and want to help.

 E-Mail

Where a large proportion of the users are on e-mail it is an easy way of reaching them, quickly and cheaply. It can be targeted more precisely than most other methods and so is effective at reaching specific audiences. I have found that staff respond quicker to e-mails than any other medium. By maintaining up-to-date address lists different user groups can be targeted with different versions of the advertising `message'.
 The Internet
The Internet has the power to improve the library's image and to allow the library to offer enhanced services. Although it takes time to set up and maintain services on the Internet, it can reap rewards in terms of user satisfaction and recognition. A Library Web home page serves as a promotional tool advertising in-house library services and electronic information resources on the web. The pages should include an e-mail link to the library making the librarian easy to contact.
 Newsletters and Leaflets
Newsletters and leaflets are both a means of delivering information. A newsletter can be used to list interesting new web sites, new journals and online services, and perhaps more general science news of interest. It does not have to be long but should be produced on a regular basis. Leaflets and guides can be handed out, and displayed on notice boards. The library notice board should be in a prominent place.

The Message

Once you have decided upon the advertising medium you need to consider how to convey the message you want to get across. The wording and layout of the advertisement are critical.

•  The advertisement should be uncluttered with the text printed against a pale 
or white background making it easier to read. White ``space'' is powerful.
•  Use good quality print.
• Do not print texts in capitals as it is harder to read.
• Use illustrations and pictures.
• Keep the layout interesting, with bullet points, sub-headings and so on.
• Use bold colours and catchy headlines and large print.
• Express the service/product in terms of readers interests.
• Use short sentences, short paragraphs, and avoid long words. Avoid jargon.
• Give examples.
•  Look at other peoples advertisements and judge for yourself what is attention 
grabbing.

A good advertisement attracts Attention, arouses Interest, creates Desire and stimulates Action, known as the A-I-D-A sequence.


Attention

You need to get a reader's attention. Within two seconds most readers give up and move on so your job is to grab their attention in those two seconds, and keep them reading. The most important thing about a headline is that it should emphasize the benefit of the service to the reader. The headlines job is to answer the reader's question ``what's in it for me?''


Interest

Once you have got the readers attention the next thing is to turn that attention into genuine interest. The first paragraph should encourage further reading. The advertisement should stress how the users will positively gain from the new service or product.


Desire

The next crucial ingredient in your advertisement is desire. As you have been writing the advertisement you should have been cultivating a desire in your reader to own the product or take advantage of your service. However, be honest and do not exaggerate. Continue expressing the service in terms of readers interest.


Action

The desire needs to be converted into action. Tell the reader what to do now that you have persuaded them to use the service - ``Phone this number'', ``Put date in your diary'', ``Act now''. Encourage action and involvement. The easier you make the process of contacting you the more likely they are to do so.


The time and cost involved in advertising needs to be considered. Whatever you do to promote your services will entail costs, even if it is only the cost of your time, therefore you need to make sure that you get full benefit for the cost incurred. It is also important to advertise at the right time and with the right frequency.

 Conclusion

As librarians we should be actively marketing and promoting our library services. The basic aim of marketing is to know and understand our users in order that the library is able to satisfy those needs in an effective way. A marketing plan is an essential tool which will enable us to focus our efforts. The market plan should assess where you are now (market research), where you are going (objectives) and how you are going to get there (strategies).

Collection Development

My blog about collection development is one of a series which gives a view of my own experiences. I see collection development as something entwined within the total organisation of a library, almost as if it feeds on all the other parts, acquisitions, user services, technical services, cataloguing, electronic systems, and so on and so forth.

In order to describe the Library as a growing organism, I have to introduce Dr. Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan (1892–1972) of India who was an inventor, educator, librarian, and a philosopher. His early education was of a mathematics background. Using this systematic way of thinking, he later applied this to his work in library science. His most notable work was on library classification and administration. He went England to study librarianship.

The Five Laws of Library Science are some of the most influential concepts in the field of library science. Since they were published in 1931, these five laws have remained a centerpiece of professional values...In fact, these basic theories of Library Science continue to directly affect the development of this discipline and the service of all libraries.

These laws are:
    1.    Books are for use.
    2.    Every reader his [or her] book.
    3.    Every book its reader.
    4.    Save the time of the reader.
    5.    The library is a growing organism.

At this point I would like to just concentrate on the 5th Law.

Fifth Law: The library is a growing organism

This law focused more on the need for internal change than on changes in the environment itself. Ranganathan argued that library organizations must accommodate growth in staff, the physical collection, and patron use. This involved allowing for growth in the physical building, reading areas, and shelving.

The Library Trinity

The library is sometimes described a trinity of books, users and staff. Books are of various types and formats generally known as a collection. Books are being published in  an increasing number every year.  Advances in information communication technology and the emergence of electronic resources have added a new dimension of digital books and other media to ever increasing number of books worldwide. Left to themselves, librarians would like to acquire as many books as they can while the users would like to have all the books of their interest in the library with which they are associated. Unfortunately, library budgets are very much limited regardless of the type of library - academic, public, or special library. At the same time other needs such as intranet computers, multi media services etc have to be met . The best way of facing these problems is to have a well written collection development policy.

Defining a Collection Development Policy

The American Library Association defines collection development policies (CDP) as 'documents which define the scope of a library's existing collections, plan for the continuing development of resources, identify collection strengths, and outline the relationship between selection philosophy and the institution's goals, general selection criteria, and intellectual freedom'.

The need for a Collection Development Policy

The primary purpose of a written collection development policy is to lay down guidelines for selecting materials for the collection of the library. It also describes steps on weeding (deselection), retention, preservation and archiving. It helps in identifying gaps in collections and providing orientation to new staff. It can help the library users what to expect from the library and what to recommend to be added to the collection. Collection development policy statement often focuses on the communication function: internally, with the users, staff, and administrators, and externally, with other libraries and institutions. Communication embraces a wide range of operations, including training, budgeting cooperative acquisitions, interaction with users, and shared services. The collection development plan is like business plan for a small business. It is like a road map which outlines the steps to be taken to accomplish the goals of the business.  CD Policies act as a planning tool, a guide to selectors, ensuring consistency and a defence for challenges.

Writing a Collection Development Policy

Collection development policy may be written either for the entire library or to a specific subject such as petroleum, chemistry, economics, and business etc. The policy is usually drafted by a committee where as for a specific subject it is by the subject librarian concerned.

Elements of Collection Development Policy

The Guide for written collection policy statements by the American Library Association explicitly describes various items of information that are to be included in the policy statement. These elements are listed below . The below mentioned items are included in policy statement:
- Introduction to the policy statement
- General purpose
- Brief note about the library
- General subject boundaries
- Languages
- Geographical areas
- Types of materials collected
- Format of materials collected
- Special collections and manuscripts
- Other resources available
- Detailed subject areas
- Weeding and deselection

Conclusion

With the diminishing budgets and ever increasing prices of books and non-book material, there is every need for a sound collection development policy with periodic revisions.

Since a collection development policy is largely in the realm of theory . A CD policy's purpose is to lay down guidelines for selecting materials for the collection of the library . There is nothing more fundamental than laying the groundwork for how to spend your money and where you want your library to go.

Basically the CD policy is a guidelines for selecting make sense only if you know where the library is, not simply where it wants to go. And in order to figure that out you need to come up with current strengths and weaknesses, and with how the library's materials are used which is a formidable undertaking. However there is an argument in Librarianship that selection is primarily based on librarians' intuition and individual experience and so guidelines can never be objective.

Redifining the Special Library

The corporate library I worked in was very non traditional because it was redefined from a place to access paper records or books to one that also housed the most advanced electronic resources, including the Internet, digital photo-library, and remote access to a wide range of information sources.

I often refer to my nigerian colleague who was of the old school but really he was a mine of library Knowledge and a mastermind of Library science. He always suggested that we should not be referred to just as special librarians per se, but now could be known as  information professionals or knowledge managers.

Increasingly  we have combined traditional duties with tasks involving new and emerging technologies.  I mean how many times do you see that there is a need for an emerging technology Librarian.

As librarians, we  help people find information and use it effectively for personal and professional purposes. We are bowls of  knowledge of a wide variety of scholarly and public information sources and we follow trends related to publishing, computers, and the media in order to oversee the selection and organization of library materials. On the whole and as best as we can we manage staff and develop and direct information  and literacy programs  for all and ensure that information is organized in a manner that meets users’ needs.

As special librarian in a small library we worked in all areas, including user services, technical services, and administrative services.

At intervals we used surveys to  analyze users’ needs to determine what information is appropriate and searching for, acquiring, and providing the information. As an information literacy expert  I used my role to  instruct, by showing users how to find information.  Our role as librarians usually to help users navigate the Internet so they can search for and evaluate information efficiently. Special Librarians in technical services, such as acquisitions and cataloguing, acquire, prepare, and classify materials so that patrons can find it easily. Abstracts and summaries are now ready made and can even be found on the internet.

However, because we were jack of all trades... we worked as special Librarians in administrative services overseeing the management and planning of the library. We negotiated the contract for services, materials, and equipment. As much as possible we supervised library employees; performed public-relations, prepared budgets; and directed activities to ensure that everything functioned properly.