You Can Get That At The Library?

"You Can Get That At The Library?" Chicago Tribune / Gregory Karp.
Chicago: Chicago Tribune Online, August 26th 2011.

"Librarians. Perhaps the greatest resource of all is free access to an information expert, your local librarian, who, coincidentally, can turn you on to all the new offerings the library has."

Study: College Students Rarely Use Librarians' Expertise

"Study: College Students Rarely Use Librarians' Expertise." USA Today / Steve Kolowich.
Chicago: USA Today Online, August 23rd 2011.

"[Lynda] Duke and [Andrew] Asher said they were surprised by "the extent to which students appeared to lack even some of the most basic information literacy skills that we assumed they would have mastered in high school." Even students who were high achievers in high school suffered from these deficiencies, Asher told Inside Higher Ed in an interview.

In other words: Today's college students might have grown up with the language of the information age, but they do not necessarily know the grammar."

See:
Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries Project

Determining How Libraries & Librarians Help

"Determining How Libraries & Librarians Help." Library Trends / Joan C. Durrance & Karen E. Fisher.
Illinois: Library Trends 51.4 305-334, Spring 2003.

"Staff contributions. Each of these programs was headed by visionary staff who shaped the model, recruited the clientele, and developed the activities that shaped the outcomes of this community-focused service. Staff shared these characteristics: they were committed to their clientele, creative in their approach to providing service, entrepreneurial in their approaches to seeking additional resources, and were able to articulate some, but not all, of the outcomes of their services. Some were recruited to their jobs because of special skills that they brought to the service such as language facility, interest in the clientele, ability to teach, or knowledge of information technology."

Designing Library Services Based On User Needs: New Opportunities to Re-position the Library

"Designing Library Services Based On User Needs: New Opportunities to Re-position the Library." IFLA / Yoo-Seong Song.
Illinois: IFLA Milan Conference, 2009. 

"Proactive Partner: The library in this quadrant enjoys high visibility to its constituency.  The constituency actively seeks the library for collaboration, and the library also maintains close communication channels with the constituency. The library is widely seen as a critical component by the constituency for its success.

Proactive Provider: The library actively and consistently communicates its value to the constituency. Although not as high as the library positioned as the proactive partner, the level of interaction with the constituency is relatively moderate or high. The constituency seeks the library for assistance; however, the library is not recognized as the core component for its success.

Reactive Partner: While the constituency seeks the library for collaboration and assistance, the library does not actively market its value and services. Reasons for being reactive in serving the constituency can vary. Mostly, it may have insufficient resources, both personnel and budgetary, which can prevent the library from committing its resources to be a core collaborator.

Reactive Provider: Neither the constituency nor the library communicates with each other on a regular basis. The constituency does not regard the library as a critical factor in achieving its goal, and the library also does not have enough resources to support the constituency. The library only responds to infrequent and irregular requests for materials from the constituency."

Library 2.0: User-Centered Change & User-Centered Technologies

Library 2.0: User-Centered Change & User-Centered Technologies

Public Library Summer Reading Programs Close the Reading Gap

"Public Library Summer Reading Programs Close the Reading Gap." Dominican University Graduate School of Library & Information Science / Susan Roman, Deborah T. Carran, & Carole D. Fiore.
Illinois: Dominican University, June 2010.