1994 Final Exams Questions

April 15, 1994

1. Discuss how the decision of the federal government to rely upon private enterprise to develop the National Information Infrastructure (previously called the National Research and Education Network) might affect citizen access to this important information system. Also discuss how the decision might affect library profession's often stated goal of providing clients free access to information.

2. From the perspective of a library of your choice (for instance, public library, academic library, school media center, special library), identify and describe four important information services that such libraries have either acquired or developed for their users over the last decade. In each case, discuss why the identified service is considered important.

3. Discuss why many experts in the library profession feel libraries need to alter their primary strategy for providing users with access to information from one that relys heavily on building local collections, to one that gives greater emphasis to providing access to materials wherever they may be found, when they are needed by clients. How would such a change in strategy for meeting user needs likely affect resource allocations decision and the nature of libraries of the future?

4. Imagine that you have been given the assignment of assessing the effectiveness of a library program or inforination service of your choice (e.g., circulation, reference, information and referal service, document delivery service, reading program, online search service, etc.). Identify and briefly describebe several criteria, or indicators of effectiveness, that you would consider appropriate to your assignment? Briefly discuss how you would use the criteria in the assessment and evaluation process.

5. Discuss the characteristics, qualities and capabilities of a person that you feel will be especially important in a successful or effective manager during the last decade of the Twentieth Century.

July 22, 1994

1. Given the growing variety and complexity of available information sources and services, many which are intended to be used directly by end-users, user education (instructional services or bibliographic instruction) is a topic that is currently receiving attention in all types of libraries. From the perspective of a library of your choice (e.g., school, public, academic, or special) discuss the nature of user education needs within that type of library, and describe some of the most important problems associated with the delivery of effective instructional services in that setting.

2. As libraries begin to increase their use of on-demand document delivery (as an alternative to on-site collections), as a means of providing clients with physical access to needed information and information sources, what implications will this shift in strategy have for the library’s organizational structure, staffing patterns, resources allocation, collection development and services? Discuss.

3. We live at a time of rapid and significant changes in computing and telecommunications, and many of these changes have implications for library and information services. From the perspective of library of your choice (e.g. , school, public, academic, or special), discuss how you believe the library will differ in the year 2000 form what it is today (due to changes in computing and telecommunications), and evaluate those changes for the patrons of the library.

4. In December 1991, Arthur Hafner published an article titled “In Defense of the Great Books,” in American Libraries. Hafner, noting that while the revised list of great books does not include a single author of color, and of the 60 new authors added 56 are men, we should not conclude that the new list of great books is too narrow and that it fails to represent the contributions of women and minorities t Western culture. Urging librarians to continue their support and promotion of the Great Book, Hafner confidently notes that the “Great Books are humanity’s great conversation about the most important questions of life.” Hafner’s remarks simply reflect the library profession’s long standing commitment to “high culture.” Discuss the library profession’s high culture advocacy, and consider the implications of this commitment for the structure and function of libraries in America.

5. The advent of the Internet has given substance and meaning to the vague notion of a “library without walls.” While the Internet offers access t a huge number of full-text documents on almost any conceivable subject, it also presents new challenges for accessing and retrieving electronic documents. Describe some possible solutions to the problems faced by librarians in (1) Providing some form of bibliographic control for the Internet documents; (2) Providing a means of location list of severs that would be relevant to a user’s needs; (3) Providing a means of locating relevant individual documents from among the millions of electronic documents stored on the Internet; (4) Inventing new cataloging and subject classification schema that are suitable for electronic, full-text documents.

Nov. 18, 1994.

1. Rapid changes in the way information is generated, packaged, and accessed require corresponding developments in the
2. way information is acquired and organized for retrieval and delivery. Discuss the impact of the changes in how information is organized (i.e., trends in cataloging, indexing, or vocabulary control) and how information professionals cope with them in a particular environment (e.g., information services in the private sector, or in government agencies. or research libraries, or public libraries. or school libraries).

3. During the 1970s libraries that provided their clients access to computer-based information storage and retrieval services, did so largely through online search services mediated by information professionals (i.e., the online search specialist conducted the searches for the client). Since the early 1980s, libraries have increasingly provided clients with access to computer-based information systems that are intended to be used directly by the end-user or client without the direct intervention of an information professional. Identify and briefly describe how libraries provide their clients with access to end-user systems, and discuss some of the important benefits and problems that the introduction of such systems have created or libraries and their clients over the last decade.

4. Many information professionals consider the development of a society that is information literate an important national goal. What does the information profession mean by the term “information literacy,” and what kinds of things could libraries and Liberians do to contribute to the accomplishment of the goal?

5. Electronic information products are increasingly important to library collections. Identify a library of your choice (academic, public, school) and write an essay in which you discuss the kinds of electronic information products likely to be found in the library’s collections and the issues involved in selecting, acquiring and maintaining those products.

6. Most management experts agree that organizations, including libraries, should have clearly-defined goals and objectives. Discuss the general value of goals and objectives to an organization, and describe how well-defined goals and objectives can contribute to the effective management of libraries.