PurposeThe purpose of this column is to discuss the importance of continuing professional education for working librarians whose skills and knowledge need to be kept up to date in order to best serve the public.Design/methodology/approachThe approach takes the form of a literature review and commentary on this topic.FindingsContinuing professional education and training for librarians is essential to enhance the skills and knowledge of those so engaged.Originality/valueThe value in addressing the issue is to proffer suggestions to libraries of the benefits of providing funding, even during an economic downturn, and of providing opportunities for librarians to expand their knowledge and increase their engagement in the workplace as a result of continuing professional education.

PurposeThe academic library mission is defined based on the need to support the larger parent university mission. In the case of the urban university, which has been the focus of relatively little discussion and research in the library and information science literature, the research component of the mission potentially influences research agendas as well as the decisions of faculty who choose to teach and do research in such a setting, with a particular focus on “applied scholarship” or research that is community‐focused, considering social problems. Of the urban issues that have shaped the urban university mission, crime is also a key determinant of the resilience of urban areas. The breadth and depth of the research issues related to crime have been well‐documented. The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of the research findings, indicating the complexity of the research and findings, as well.Design/methodology/approachThe research related to crime ranges from the basic documentation of crime statistics, to the analysis of trends in the data, to attempts to understand why factors as divergent as economic downturns, media coverage, drug use, population reductions, weather or season of the year, and sentencing guidelines impact crime rates. The research also addresses issues, such as the use of DNA and other forensic evidence in crime investigation and juror opinions and the fallibility of eyewitness accounts. The paper presents an overview and analysis of crime‐related research, reflecting the breadth of such research and examples, which indicate the fact that the research is frequently characterized by complexity, often manifested in findings that are inconclusive and conflicting, and rarely reflecting causality. The paper presents an analysis of the research related to crime, intended to be representative, not exhaustive, of a broad range of examples of findings and analyses, across a range of academic disciplines and professions, supported by academic libraries.FindingsThe analysis of research related to the causes of increases and reductions in crime, why crime rates vary by city, and a range of other related issues reflects broad interest in enhanced understanding of issues related to crime, among researchers across disciplines, public policymakers and law enforcement, as well as members of the general public. This interest is reflected, not only in the amount of published research, the publication of such research in disciplinary, scholarly sources, but also in the general interest literature, and the growth in research following increases in various types of crimes. The analysis also reflects interest in a number of specific research questions and the extent to which models, such as the broken windows theory, possibly the best known theory of this type, are effective in reducing violent crime. The results of research related to crime indicate the complexity, breadth and interdisciplinarity of the concepts studied by scientists and social scientists, as well as the complexity of research findings, as represented in inconclusive and conflicting findings and difficulty in isolating variables and representing causality.Originality/valueThe analysis of the nature, breadth, complexity, and interdisciplinarity of the research related to crime provides the basis for a more informed approach in considering the role of the urban university library, in particular, in supporting fulfillment of the larger institutional mission.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine undergraduate students' information‐seeking behavior and their thought processes involved in, criteria applied to, and methods of, evaluating the results of their searches, in determining which information to apply to their research.Design/methodology/approachThe paper observed, recorded and analyzed the processes and sources used by undergraduate students when seeking information on a given topic.FindingsStudents did not use as many of the criteria necessary for evaluating sources for a research paper as the authors had hoped to observe; therefore, the students identified relatively few scholarly sources.Practical implicationsEven though many of the students had had a course‐integrated library instruction session before participating in the study, it did not seem to increase their evaluative skills, leading the authors to think that research skills need to be integrated in the curriculum in more meaningful ways by teaching faculty.Originality/valueThe paper raises awareness of the search strategies and criteria that undergraduate students use to find information for their research papers.

PurposeIn response to budgetary concerns and feedback from users, the New York Law School's Mendik Library needed to streamline the way it reported current law journal table of contents (TOC) information to its users. As part of this streamlining process, the librarians discovered that most of the journals they provided in paper had web pages that provided full access to all articles in their current issues. The librarians responded to this opportunity by building web pages that provided links to these journals and noted when a new issue had just appeared. The purpose of this paper is to assess the status of current awareness information in the field of legal journals and uncover the options for best using them.Design/methodology/approachThe library worked from a list of journals that they purchased through paper subscriptions. They determined the web page location of each and then checked whether the journal provided TOC data only, full text through internet protocol recognition or open full text for at least the current issue.FindingsMore than 60 percent of the law journals that Mendik purchased had online TOC available with full, free access to the content.Originality/valueLibrarians can begin to explore replacing TOC reporting with virtual journal shelves that contain full content to the articles.

The late nineteenth century and early twentieth century was a renaissance period of prodigious innovation in Europe across the spectrum of arts, sciences, technology, and social sciences, including major innovations in information and communications technologies.Studies in psychology and in the physiology of perception undermined the separation of body and mind that had dominated science since Descartes.A convergence of art, psychology, and engineering emerged, notably in industrial design and graphics.The principle emerged that form should follow function by being ergonomically and aesthetically, as well as mechanically, suitable.Standardization, collaboration, efficiency, and scientific management ("Taylorism") were central to documentation and manifest in standards (e.g. for paper sizes and office equipment), controlled documentary languages, and well-intentioned idealism.Industrial concentration, corporate research laboratories, increased social control, and more active governmental initiatives provided an environment for documentation and for the rise of totalitarian political regimes.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show how the library at Jinwen University of Science and Technology (JUST) in Taiwan introduced the use of a new model “Faculty member as library specialist”. This is done in an attempt to determine the value of a new approach of faculty‐librarian collaboration for promoting the library's resources and services. In addition, some ideas and suggestions are proposed regarding the issue of faculty‐librarian collaboration for library staff around the world.Design/methodology/approachAfter providing some background information regarding the JUST Library, the process of the project implementation and the approaches used are described in detail. In addition, the effectiveness of the project is reviewed based on the results of the interviews with some of the teaching faculty and the statistics reports of the usage of the JUST Library from 2006 to 2008. Finally, some conclusions are drawn and some suggestions are made, proposing that the library staff establish a faculty‐librarian collaborative model.FindingsAfter reviewing the effectiveness of the project, it is hard to say whether or not it is the best way to promote the library's services and resources. However, the paper finds that the proposed approach provides a new idea and an example of faculty‐librarian collaboration in promoting the library's resources and services to the students.Originality/valueHopefully the model of faculty‐librarian collaboration in the JUST Library in Taiwan will provide some new ideas and inspirations that can be shared with library staff around the world.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a sampling of the flavor and content of the 2009 Bobcatsss Symposium held in Porto, Portugal.Design/methodology/approachAn outline of the conference's stated purposes with subjective illustrations from the proceedings.FindingsThe conference's main theme was “Challenges for the new information professional”, and its focus was on the intersection of technology and librarianship in the future.Originality/valueA brief report of value to professionals of many disciplines (particularly LIS) with an interest in the state and outlook of the information profession in 2009.