Abstract
The emphasis in this issue is on papers presented at the World Library and Information Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in August 2011. These are edited versions of papers which were either selected by members of the Editorial Committee as their personal choices, or recommended for publication by Section Committees and subsequently evaluated and ranked highly by the Editorial Committee. In addition, we have one other paper, from Portugal, which was not presented in San Juan.
The first of the San Juan papers is a detailed review of ‘The state of e-legal deposit in France: looking back at five years of putting new legislation into practice and envisioning the future’, by Peter Stirling, Gildas Illien, Pascal Sanz and Sophie Sepetjan, all from the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) in Paris. Their paper describes the legal situation in France regarding the legal deposit of digital material, and shows how it has been implemented in practice at the BnF, with a focus on web archiving, but also dealing with other aspects of digital legal deposit and possible future developments and challenges.
The next paper also deals with the topic of digital preservation. In ‘Out of the classroom and into the laboratory: teaching digital curation virtually and experientially’, Ross Harvey and Jeannette A. Bastian, both from Simmons College in the USA, discusses the relationship between a digital curriculum laboratory, the successful delivery of a digital curation curriculum and its wider international implications. The authors illustrate their theme with reference to the digital curation courses offered in the LIS School at Simmons College, at the heart of which is the Digital Curriculum Laboratory, a virtual archives and a preservation laboratory that illustrate an innovative virtual and experiential approach to teaching digital curation.
We continue with the theme of professional development with a paper by Catharina Isberg of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Her paper, ‘Professional development, values and strategy – the means for building strong libraries for the future!’ notes that, in a library and information sector that is undergoing massive change, professional development must respond to changes in customer expectations, behaviour and technological development. The paper describes how the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences University Library has worked with all staff members on professional development, strategy and values, including staff empowerment and leadership, to produce excellent results.
Leadership is also the subject of the next paper, by Mary Wilkins Jordan, another contributor from Simmons College. In ‘Developing leadership competencies in librarians’, the author reports the results of a Delphi study that sought to refine a set of competencies for library directors, based on the opinions of current public library directors. The development of library leaders is too important to be left to chance, and a research-based set of competencies should help in the development of training opportunities for librarians who wish to be successful as directors.
The next paper also deals with an aspect of professional education, but in the field of engineering. In his paper, ‘Information literacy and engineering design: developing an integrated conceptual model’, Michael Fosmire of Purdue University Libraries in the USA notes that engineering education is moving increasingly towards active learning increasingly based on engineering design projects. These projects provide opportunities for engineering librarians to work with students throughout their educational careers; but this means that librarians need to translate their own knowledge of information literacy into the language of engineering educators. This paper attempts to create such a bridge, focusing on the information resources and processes needed by engineers engaged in the design process and bringing together the literature of both the engineering education and library science communities.
Another kind of literacy with which information professionals need to be concerned is the subject of the next paper, ‘Environmental literacy and the emerging roles of information professionals in developing economies’, by Oluremi A. Abiolu and Oluchi O. Okere of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, in Nigeria. The authors note that new roles for information professionals are evolving beyond the mere provision of information; they need to apply creativity and innovation to help overcome issues like low literacy levels, poor infrastructures, political apathy towards environmental information. By repositioning themselves in terms of their roles in their communities, information professionals can act as change agents, educators, electronic experts and partners to other change agents.
Sustainability is the theme of the next paper also. In ‘The second hand library building: sustainable thinking through recycling old buildings into new libraries’, Petra Hauke of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Klaus Ulrich Werner of the Freie Universität Berlin point out that old buildings of various kinds are being recycled into libraries all over the world. Such transformations bring challenges and opportunities to introduce sustainable thinking into library planning. The recycling of old buildings means reducing the ecological footprint of library buildings in a cost-effective and efficient way. The planning of such adaptive reuses is very different from planning a library in a totally new building, and the authors present some case studies of best practices in this respect from Germany and other countries in Europe.
The last two papers in this issue take us into a different world; that of library and information services for children. In their paper, ‘The Gov Doc Kids Group and free government information‘, Tom Adamich, Martha Childers, Katy Davis, John H. Faria and Antoinette W. Satterfield, from various institutions in the USA, describe the work of the Gov Doc Kids Group, which was formed in the United States to promote the use of government information by children, from kindergarten through high school. The paper shows how the group utilizes the web to promote government information to children and how a Government Documents Children’s Collection was created at the El Paso Public Library in Texas. Although the examples discussed are centred on the United States, these ideas could flourish in almost any country.
The final paper is the only one not presented in San Juan last year. “Learning to read before you walk: Portuguese libraries for babies and toddlers’, by Ana Margarida Ramos of the University of Aveiro, presents examples of public libraries specially designed for babies and toddlers in Portugal. The bebetecas, as they are known in Portuguese, highlight the role of the library in the dissemination of children's books and in creating dynamic reading habits at an early age. This strengthens family ties and promotes healthier and more balanced child development. The library becomes a privileged space where books can act as the backdrop for interaction between young children, their families and care givers.
This issue concludes with a report by IFLA Journal Editorial Committee member Sanjay Bihani on the Internet Librarian International 2011 conference in London and the usual News section. However, in view of the fact that the IFLA website now includes a comprehensive Calendar of Events which includes links to detailed information on organizers’ websites, it has been decided to discontinue from now on the more limited International Calendar previously published in IFLA Journal.
In keeping with IFLA's language policy, we are pleased to be able to include in this issue, for the first time, translations of the article abstracts into Arabic and Chinese. We thank the appropriate IFLA Language Centres for their cooperation in this initiative.