1991 Final Exams Questions

November 22, 1991

1. From the perspective of a library of your choice (for instance, public library, academic library, special library school media center, etc.), discuss how the continuing economic recession in the United States will likely affect libraries, and library services, over the next 2-3 years.

2. Information literacy is a subject which has attracted the interest of the library community in recent years. Describe what is meant by the concept infoimation literacy, and discuss how libraries can be expected to contribute to the achievement of this important national goal.

3. That "libraries should be run as a business" is a quote that is often heard from members of the information industry, library trustees and many library managers. Describe what you believe the quote means, and discuss how the adoption of such an approach or strategy might affect libraries and their services in both positive and negative ways.

4. Gibons and Jackson claim that "sooner or later, every industry, every firm, and every career will be surrounded by, dependent upon, and required to respond to information technology and its implications." Select some aspect of libraries or library services that interests you (for instance, management, collection development, interlibrary loan, reference service, cataloging, acquisitions, information retrieval, etc.) and discuss how information technology (e.g., computer and communicatin technology) will likely affect it, and the role of the librarian, over the next decade.

5. Bibliographic control has been a central concern of the profession of librarianship for decades. What does the concept of bibliographic control encompass? Discuss several major developments of the last two decades which have altered how libraries seek to achieve bibliographic control.

July 12, 1991

1. Discuss why many experts in the library profession feel libraries need to change their primary strategy for providing users with access to information from one that emphasizes building local collections, to one that emphasizes providing access to materials wherever they may be found. How would such a change in strategy for meeting user needs likely affect resource allocation decisions and the nature of libraries of the future?

2. During the past three decades libraries and library services have undergone enormous changes. In many cases, advances in information technology (i.e., computer hardware and software, and other communication technology) have been the driving force behind these changes. Briefly highlight several major effects that advances in information technology have had on library operations and services since 1960. Discuss one advance in information technology that you think will have the greatest impact on librarians and libraries over the next five years.

3. Describe the management role of librarians indicating the primary responsibilities or functions of management, and discuss several important management issues currently facing the library community.

4. Identify the major intellectual freedom issues facing society today and discuss how the library profession, in general, stands regarding these issues.

5. Fifteen to twenty million people in the United States are thought to be functionally illiterate and the number is growing daily. Because of their inability to read effectively these people seldom use libraries as a source of information and yet, like other Americans, they have important information needs which must be satisfied. Describe briefly some of the special information needs of those who are illiterate, and discuss how libraries might serve those needs. Finally, discuss how libraries (principally school and public) can help solve the problem of illiteracy itself.

April 12, 1991

1. Librarians are constantly encouraged to support free and ready accss to information in a democratic society and oppose fees for information services. The argument often made to support this position is that the introduction of the priorities of the marketplace will distort the library's traditional function of delivering information as a public good and the public will suffer as a consequence. Discuss (1) The position of the American Library Asscciation that argues information must be free and readily accessible; (2) The position of the informat ion industry that argues information must be viewed as a "commodity" for sale in the "private market;" and (3) your personal views on the role of information services as a "public good" in the post-industrial world.

2. In general terms, describe the historical role of women in the library profession, emphasizing how that role has changed (or not changed) over the last two decades. Identify and briefly describe several important issues relating to women which you feel need to be addressed by the library profession.

3. Discuss the personal characteristics, qualities and capabilities of a person which you feel are imoortant in a successful or effective library manager during the last decade of the Twentieth Century.

4. From the perspective of a library of your choice (e.g., school media center, public, academic or special 1ibrary, etc.), describe the most important factors which the librarian should consider when making decisions regarding the development of the library's collection.

5. The primary index to the collections of a library has traditionally been its card catalog. Since the mid 1970s libraries have increasingly reclaced card catalogs with Online Public Access Catalogs (OPACS). Describe some of the major limitations of the early OPAC systems, and discuss several recentproposals or strategies for improving the effectiveness of new generation OPACS.