All Questions

14
votes
6answers
943 views

What are good, free or cheap cataloging systems for personal or small-library use?

Because the budget and staff of either situation would be minimal, the major needs of such a system would be as follows: Low price, preferably free. Can be installed with a basic level of technical ...
13
votes
3answers
252 views

What data format and tools exist for archiving tweets and similar microblogging?

I wonder whether there is a data format for archiving messages from twitter and similar microblogging sites, including metadata. The Library of Congress gets all messages from Twitter but I found no ...
20
votes
5answers
366 views

Alternatives to barcodes for book identification

Barcodes are cheap and they work, but they often also cover up parts of the book's cover. They could be stuck to the inside, but this is often inconvenient. I've often been wondering what ...
8
votes
4answers
718 views

What are some alternates to the Dewey Decimal System?

What are some cataloging / book locating systems that make it easy to find books other than the Dewey Decimal System?
6
votes
1answer
82 views

What policies/practices do research libraries have for collecting faculty members' personal papers and research materials?

The personal collections of research materials, notes, papers, and documentation that faculty members accumulate over the course of a research project can be rich, interesting, and unique. ...
6
votes
4answers
90 views

What attempts, if any, have been made to catalogue and archive threads on Internet forums?

There is a significant amount of useful information available on Internet forums, and it can be really frustrating when these forums get deleted and a huge amount of extremely useful information gets ...
7
votes
2answers
125 views

Do libraries archive mailing lists as part of their collection?

This question follows the recent question on collecting threads on internet forums and archiving microblogging: do libraries actually collect, catalogue, and archive mailing lists? Thre are throusands ...
2
votes
3answers
129 views

Why doesn't Zotero import the language field from an article COinS?

The language field (rft.language) is defined in The OpenURL Framework for Context-Sensitive. If it is why Zotero could not retrieve language from COinS-based site that specify it with that field? To ...
1
vote
4answers
188 views

How To Find Old Russian Physics Papers In English?

Russian science papers may or may not have been translated into english. If they have been translated, where would they be available? Are there general methods or resources that can be used to find ...
10
votes
3answers
315 views

What is the difference between digital preservation and digital curation?

In the United States use of the term "digital preservation" seems dominant, while "digital curation" seems to be dominant in the United Kingdom. Do these terms entail fundamentally different ...
14
votes
5answers
122 views

What unique challenges and benefits exist when lending ebooks compared to traditional print books?

With libraries in the constant struggle to remain relevant and useful to their patrons and seeing eBook use rise, what are some unique challenges and benefits facing libraries when integrating eBooks ...
13
votes
4answers
246 views

Digital preservation: questions of format and volume for a digital photography collection

Our archives has been offered over 15TB of digital photography, which we are motivated to take. Here are some of the pertinent details: The files consistently include two versions of every image: A ...
8
votes
8answers
389 views

How to keep high security standards while allowing self-checkout?

A handful of libraries in the area are allowing self-checkout for established patrons. This is limited to books for the time being, as items like DVDs are locked in plexiglass cases and must still be ...
6
votes
2answers
273 views

How should archives decide between creating logical or forensic disk images of drives on computers accessioned as part of personal papers collections?

The emerging workflow for bringing in born digital media to an archival collection seems to be converging on creating forensic disk images, that is bit-for-bit copies of the entire disk. This sort of ...
6
votes
2answers
88 views

What field of study is concerned with creating new classification systems?

I know of a number of existing library classification systems (DDC, LC, CC), but what area of library science is concerned with creating new classification systems, and how one judges the suitability ...
5
votes
8answers
438 views

What are important IT skills/tools for systems/tech librarians?

What kinds of technical skills are most frequently used in the IT side of librarianship, such as for a systems librarian? For example, what programming languages, development tools, or online ...
1
vote
1answer
49 views

Are there indices/bibliographies or databases of foreign science papers in English? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How To Find Old Russian Physics Papers In English? Foreign-language science papers are frequently difficult to come by in translation. Is there any sort of ...
12
votes
3answers
257 views

What are the reasons to continue to use physical library cards?

I recently visited the Library of Congress, and was issued a Reader's card, complete with my own photo. I was a bit surprised that such a large, world-class library would issue a physical card, as ...
9
votes
1answer
847 views

What is the difference between ISBN-10 and ISBN-13?

There seems to be two types of ISBNS for every book: ISBN-10 and ISBN-13. I wonder what differences are between them, and in what cases to use which? Thanks!
8
votes
6answers
220 views

Would having a self-service kiosk or “vending machine” apparatus be an effective after-hours strategy?

Libraries have very convenient hours compared to most banks or municipal institutions, but they still can't serve a 24 hour society. Obviously, staffing such hours would be problematic. However, ...
7
votes
2answers
257 views

What is a good policy for dealing with parents who leave their children at the library as free daycare / babysitting?

What is an appropriate response to a parent who leaves the child so they can work elsewhere in the library? Are there time periods that are "okay" vs. "not okay" (e.g., fifteen minutes vs. five ...
7
votes
3answers
294 views

Good examples of training or professional development programs for librarians to gain digital/tech skills

One the goals at MPOW is to help more librarians gain skills related to conceiving, building, and maintaining digital projects. I'd welcome examples of successful training programs for helping ...
6
votes
2answers
82 views

Should the average time between technology book weedings be lower?

Technologies change very rapidly over time. This is especially apparent in the rate of publication of new computer/technology books. It would only be sensible to maintain the library's collection at ...
5
votes
1answer
70 views

What is best practice for TV series collection development?

I work in a public library and have just been assigned TV series on DVD as a collection development area. I am looking for a guideline concerning when (not) to replace damaged items. Ideally, for all ...
5
votes
1answer
94 views

How can one find out popularity of publishers in library collections?

This question arose from a question about print on demand books in libraries. I tried to find out how many libraries have books of print on demand publishers, such as Lulu, Blurb, and BoD. ...
5
votes
6answers
200 views

What happens to the private archives of old professors once they retire or die? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: What policies/practices do research libraries have for collecting faculty members' personal papers and research materials? One physics professor at the University of ...
2
votes
3answers
86 views

What's a good policy for dealing with book (movie, music, &c.) challenges?

How should the initial challenger be dealt with? What should happen to the item while it is being reviewed (kept on shelf, pulled, ???)? How should the item be reviewed and with what criteria? How ...
2
votes
5answers
179 views

Why are many small branches better than big central libraries?

Most years my local library system (Queens NYC) goes through a process where: extreme budget cuts threatened library threatens to close all neighborhood branches on weekends and one or two weekdays ...
1
vote
1answer
98 views

Purchasing print-on-demand books

Have any libraries purchased print-on-demand books? What are the reports on their construction quality? Is it possible to select for good content? Feel free to add any other factors that you can ...