1. Principles of Searching Practitioners’ Points of View Myoung Wilson Stephanie Bartz November 29, 2007

2. To Begin…. It is not the strongest species that survive nor the most intelligent but the ones most responsive to change --Charles Darwin

3. Lecture outline Information Migration from physical to virtual Interactive processes of information seeking and searching New tools Challenges Exercise

4. Information Information and the Information Industry –quantity (overload) –formats –stability –organization or lack thereof –industry standards or lack thereof, e.g. variety of search interfaces IT and its impact on the Scholarly Communication System –the economics of information e-publishing and its impact on academic journals information providers copyright issues licensing

5. Migration from Physical to Virtual Development of online catalogs (IRIS--second generation OPAC) –provides services formerly handled at reference or circulation, e.g. interlibrary loan and renewal –human-human interaction become machine-human interaction Development of other online information resources, e.g. research guides and electronic reference shelf Development of “Ask a Librarian” service and other email & virtual reference servicesAsk a Librarian Aggressive development of digital library initiatives –full text e-journals –electronic reserve –specialized databases commercial home-grown ( eg.NJDH. RuCore,etc)

6. Interactive Processes of Information Seeking and Searching Traditionally referred to as the reference interview process The role of librarians as “information therapists” (Nardi and O’Day) has increased, but at the same time the role of librarians as “gatekeepers” has decreased. New trends –Remote accessibility of information (remote user or remote librarian?) –Competing information providers, e.g. yahoo and Ask.Comyahoo –Instant information - timeliness –Decreasing control of available information e.g IRIS bibliographic records vs. full text e-journals via different vendors –Information available in diverse formats –Diverging styles of reference provision

7. RUL Practice Each database selected/recommended by selectors and reviewed by subject teams and by the Collection Development Council for final selection RUL 2005-2006 Budget2005-2006 Budget Latest figure—47% of state budget is expended for online resources Trends in print and electronic subscriptions FY2003-FY2006

8. Challenges of e-resource collection Bundling Multiple copies Librarians’ choices are limited No deep back file Examples –The Washington Post –The Library Journal

9. Interactive Processes of Information Seeking and Searching (cont’d) Successful transactions require –An understanding of user needs based on the interview process –Knowledge of the availability and scope of resources –Knowledge of the basic structure of information production –General searching skills, i.e., if you don’t know where it is, can you make an educated guess on where it’s likely to be and how to find it? –Serendipity

10. Digital publishing and its impact on scholarly publishing Open access movement Development of institutional repositories (e.g.CDL, Dspace, Deep Blue) University publishing Preservation (LOCKSS or Portico)

11. New Tools Electronic and Online Tools –Licensed products (most electronic indexes and full-text journals) –Locally produced resources –Free access (public domain, including government publications) Electronic Reference Sources -- RUL Practice Electronic Reference Sources –Criteria Content Source Reliability and persistence Inter-connections and overlap (ERS and GIR)ERSGIR

12. New Tools ( cont’d) Electronic Reference Sources -- RUL Practice (cont’d) –Sources Scout Report (scout.cs.wisc.edu) Scout Report Librarians Index to the Internet (lii.org/) Librarians Index to the Internet Librarians’ Resource Centre (www.sla.org/chapter/ctor/toolbox/resource/index.html) Librarians’ Resource Centre Virtual Acquisition Shelf & News Desk (resourceshelf.freepint.com/) Virtual Acquisition Shelf & News Desk Government information listservs (e.g. GOVDOC_L, DOX_NJ)GOVDOC_LDOX_NJ Colleagues The media Questions asked & answered OR asked & not answered –User Input –“Web Rot” & persistence

13. Challenges Overwhelming but exciting times Sorting out the tangles between research libraries, information providers, publishers Deciding on the best direction to take - with so many resources available, there are often several routes to take to provide answers Keeping current

14. Ultimately... information literate people are those who have learned how to learn. They know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organized, how to find information, and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them. They are people prepared for lifelong learning, because they can always find the information needed for any task or decision at hand. — Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, American Library Association