Volume 38, Number 1 - January/February 2014
EDITORIALFrontLines Page 4 What about robots taking the jobs of humans? That's already happened in manufacturing, but can robots perform intellectual endeavors or only tasks requiring brute force? By Marydee Ojala Searcher's Voice Page 33 bq takes on the open access debate and makes a pair of keen observations: First, OA stands as a light in the darkness of shrinking budgets and the ever-rising cost of scholarly journals. And therefore, as this beacon, the ultimate success or failure of open access will greatly impact the library profession, one way or the other. By Barbara Quint DEPARTMENTSPage 8 Search Engine Update New Search Features, Developments, and Content By Greg R. Notess Page 62 Conference Corral Internet Librarians in London and Monterey FEATURESPage 10 Library and Information Professionals: Builders of the Ontological Universe  Thanks to the internet, there's been an explosion in available information, leading to information anxiety in which people become overwhelmed and overloaded. David Stuart sees ontologies—both the construction and understanding of—as an important emerging area to enhance the skills and perceptions of information professionals while reducing those feelings of anxiety. By David Stuart Page 16 Information Wayfinding Tyler Tate's solution to relieving information anxiety is building effective wayfinding tools as we construct information environments. He recommends structured districts, flexible layers, positional cues, survey knowledge, clear paths, and coherent interaction. By Tyler Tate Page 22 The Irresistible Siren Song Tempted to code a library system yourself rather than buy something off the shelf? Steve Arnold looks at a Danish library project that used open source elements in its attempts to build an integrated library system. By Stephen E. Arnold Page 28 Hunting Humanities With Artemis: Gale’s New Platform Gale's new platform, named after the Greek goddess of the hunt, which supports some of its humanities collections in literature and historical primary sources, has powerful search functionality and even more powerful analytical capabilities. By Georgina Devar Page 52 Tools Will Keep Us Together Hum along with Barbie Keiser as she describes some favorite tools to streamline your ability to work with teams, keep you and your team on track, make sure your "to-do" lists are useful, and encourage productive time management. By Barbie E. Keiser Page 58 Optimize your time at a trade show, whether you're in a buying or selling mode. Longtime "sales guy" and library advocate Mike Gruenberg gives tips to both buyers and sellers on how to effectively navigate your way through a trade show. By Michael Gruenberg IN-DEPTH REPORTSPage 38 Revitalizing a Lesson: Teaching With a Discovery Tool At University of Southern Maine, students often turn to reference librarian Maureen Perry when they need to find scholarly titles. In this article, Perry illustrates how she helped students learn how to use OneSource, the university's discovery tool, which enables searching across multiple platforms, much more efficiently and effectively. In turn, the students helped her tweak her OneSource lesson plan to make it better. By Maureen Perry Page 42 Recognizing that she can't cover all PQD offerings, longtime user and aficionado of Dialog Amelia Kassel uses this nevertheless extensive piece to highlight interfaces (yes, there are different ones), provide an overview of PQD content, and discuss some of what she has found to be valuable search features. She also shares what she's found out about what's in the pipeline. By Amelia Kassel COLUMNSThe Dollar Sign Page 71 Clues Concerning Harvard: Open or Closed for Business? Who's open for business? Apparently most of Harvard University thrives on open access, but Harvard Business Review has other ideas concerning online access to its most popular articles. By Marydee Ojala Online Spotlight Page 80 Please Insert Value Here The Financial Times teamed up with SLA on a research project about the value of information professionals. What can you learn from it? By Mary Ellen Bates InfoLit Land Page 68 Information Literacy and GPA Do we have any evidence that information literacy is responsible for raising students' GPA (grade point average)? Maybe we should concentrate on producing graduates who can embrace the library's ambiguous information environment. By William Badke Control-Shift Page 74 To Redesign or Not to Redesign: That Is the Question At some point, every website needs a redesign, but is that time now? ?And if it is, what options are available for busy library website managers. By Darlene Fichter, Jeff Wisniewski On the Net Page 65 On the News: Trends in Consumption and Search Changes in the news media, from declines in print publishing to increasing reliance on news reading apps, show conflicting online media trends, including both shortened and lengthened content and more visuals. By Greg R. Notess Hard Copy Page 77 Recommended Reading on Self-Improvement By Deborah Lynne Wiley Internet Express Page 35 From the Long Tail to Custom Design: Bespoke on the Web From eyeglasses to shoes by top-of-the-line manufactures, entire wardrobes, and even intimate, and often hard-to-fit, apparel such as brassieres, Irene McDermott says just about anything you wear can now be designed and ordered to your specifications online. So instead of just buying a pair of Converse sneakers that everyone else will wear, you can create your own color and pattern. And sometimes when you're buying these items online, you are also buying them for those in need, which is pretty cool. By Irene E. McDermott |
