Information Practice in Science and Technology : Evolving Challenges and New Directions

Examine the vital issues facing sci-tech libraries in today's economic and technological climate! This book addresses current challenges and changes in science and technology librariesand shows how librarians are handling them in difficult financial times. It examines issues related to closing and merging libraries, online collections maintenance and costs, assistance/outreach geared toward specific groups of library patrons, and the gathering of usage statistics in the electronic environment. You'll also find specific descriptionsand a general overviewof new technologies and case studies of the impact of new technologies on sci-tech library management. Handy tables and figures make the information easy to access and understand. Presenting a wide variety of problems and solutions, Information Practice in Science and Technology will help you understand the needs of users regarding current information technologies and how to meet them. From the editor: Among the critical challenges facing sci-tech libraries (and actually all libraries) are the need to perform detailed collection assessment and evaluation, particularly in regard to e-resource collections; the need to examine and provide appropriate public services; and the need to develop strategies for the adoption of new information technologies. This book addresses these key issues and attempts to provide both perspective and insight into these problems. Information Practice in Science and Technology examines: how merging academic departmental libraries can both improve services and smooth the transition to increased use of digital information the process of developing, managing, and providing access to an electronic collectiona case study from the University of Notre Dame, with special attention paid to licensing and publisher agreements how a limited Web interface can be enhanced and become a digital portal to a library's print collectiona case study from the Grainger Engineering Library at the University of Illin