Library Technology Guides

I found an interesting website through Google when I looked up the keywords library and technology.

Library Technology Guides: Key Information in the field of Library Automation

I chose this site because it deals directly with my area of interest (technologies in libraries) and it drew me because it is a seemingly independent analysis of the automation systems that fuel a library's ability to meet Library 2.0 standards.

The site is run by Marshall Breeding, the Director of Innovative Technologies and Research for the Vanderbilt University library. Most of the articles on the site are backed up by analyses completed in peer-reviewed journals and other reputable websites.

This site serves as a definite resource for librarians who want to stay at the forefront of innovation in library technology.

Internet Public Library TeenSpace

I did a general Google search for the keyword library and one of the top hits was the Internet Public Library. One division of the website called TeenSpace jumped out to me since teens will soon make a large portion of adult library users and since they have grown up with computer and technological advances as a norm.

The website is a collaboration of volunteer efforts from professional librarians, the Regents of the University of Michigan, Florida State University's College of Information and Drexel University's College of Information Science and Technology.

The site provides Homework Help, A+ Writing guides, a graphic novels guide, a freqently asked embarrassing questions section, a poetry wiki, a place to procastinate and a directory of teen-friendly websites on a wide-range of topics. I think this is an interesting way to reach teen users and promote library usage.

Multimedia

(Jim Haprian, courtesy of MaintainIT)

This photo of Jim Haprian of the Medina County District Library and the server he has created and maintains for the library and all of its users is accompanied by an audio interview and article on how he manages technology solutions for a community of 200,000 residents at the MaintainIT website.

Citation Pearl Growing Search

For my citation pearl search, I chose to use my initial building block search (see below) in Lexis to find the most relevant hit:

I got 455 hits. My search results are as follows.

The most relevant hit was right at the top. An article published in the Western Mail on 10.18.2007 entitled, "Students don't have to enter the library to use it". I clicked on this link to access descriptors.

Only one descriptor jumped out at me. Electronic publishing. I chose this subject as an additional search descriptor.

My results are as follows:

I got 64 hits. Of the initial hits, 1, 8 and 24 were relevant. I would definitely use anothr database to complete this search or vary my search terms next time.

Sucessive Fractions Search

For my successive fractions search, I chose WorldCat and started with what I thought was the broadest term, services.



The search returned 1.7+ million hits. Far, far too vast.

I added the libraries keyword.

I got 72,199 hits. Hits 4 and 10 were suprisingly relevant to my topic.



I decided to add the search term electronic in order to get more targeted results.

I got 10,141 hits. Still far too many. Hits 1, 2 and 8 were relevant. Still, tweaking the search terms would probably result in more targeted hits.

Specific Facet First Search

For my specific facet first search, I chose to use the LibLit database. All of my search terms were pretty broad as individual terms, so I chose the a database that would intrinsically restrict my search topic. I also chose the search term that I thought was most specific:

· Computers or technology



I got 18, 238 hits. This was far too many to adequately search.

Hits 2, 4 and 7 were pretty good, hits considering. I would still consider this a failed search and move on to a building block or successive fractions search.

Building Block Search

I started my building block search in ERIC with keywords:

· libraries or archive AND
· technology or computers or electronic AND
· delivery or services

I got 2,890 hits. My search results were as follows:

This search was too broad. Only hits 7 and 8 were viable hits. I repeated the search with some of the other key words electronic and delivery:

I got 353 hits. My search results were as follows:

Of these hits, the 2-6 and 8-10 would provide adequate articles on my blog topic.