M-Libraries: algumas recomendações para bibliotecas de ensino superior

Via ResourceShelf tomei conhecimento do relatório de Keren Mill "M-Libraries: Information use on the move" realizado no âmbito do programa Arcadia da Cambridge University e The Open University. As 5 recomendações finais devem ser tidas em conta nos planos de acção dos serviços web, tic ou difusão de informação das bibliotecas de ensino superior em Portugal.

• Piloting text alerting services - giving users the opportunity to choose whether they want notifications by text message, email or both are likely to be taken up by at least a third of library users. These alerts would include the notifications automatically generated by the Library Management System (LMS).
• Piloting a text reference service – if the library receives a high volume of enquiries that require brief responses, such as dictionary definitions, facts or service information from the library.
• Providing a mobile OPAC interface – perhaps using a service such as AirPac or WorldCat Mobile, or working with their LMS supplier to develop a mobile version of their OPAC.
• Ensuring that the library website is accessible and will resize to smaller screens – in order to be ready for increasing numbers of netbook users and mobile internet users in the next few years.
• Providing audio tours of the library - to help visitors or new users orient themselves and learn more about the service.
• Allowing mobile phone use in the library - as long as they are set to silent or to flight mode (meaning they are not receiving a signal).

Scholarly Information Practices in the Online Environment

O cibertecário alertou via twitter (sim, é verdade, o cibertecário Eloy Rodrigues dos SDUM já anda pelo micro-blogging – isso é muito bom) para um documento publicado este mês - “Scholarly Information Practices in the Online Environment Themes from the Literature and Implications for Library Service Development”. Gravei imediatamente na pen e na viagem para casa liguei o portátil e fui dar uma vista de olhos. Sem dúvida um texto a ler para quem actua no domínio da oferta de serviços digitais de informação bibliográfica e literatura científica, podendo encontrar aqui caminhos de reflexão e acção.

The question facing service developers, then, is not what services need to be offered digitally, but rather how do we proceed in the long term to move all services to an e-research platform. A productive first step in developing a comprehensive set of development aims is to assess each of the identified scholarly information activities and their associated primitives in regard to these three questions:
1. What resources and functions should be provided by research libraries?
2. What distinct disciplinary research practices need to be accommodated?
3. How should research, design, and development be prioritized within and across activities?

Serviços de referência na era digital... sugestão

Uma sugestão que parece bem interessante para quem pensa e faz o serviço de referência nas bibliotecas e centros de informação e documentação. Um contributo para preparar os serviços de referência e apoio aos utilizadores na "era digital", porque... "Libraries need to develop standards by which they can assess their individual performances in a larger context, and Assessing Reference and User Services in a Digital Age makes significant contributions to this ongoing discussion."
Assessing Reference and User Services in a Digital Age / Edited by Eric Novotny, Humanities Librarian, Pennsylvania State University, University Park