University Library Collections Research Articles

Vampires like Us: Writing down 'The Serbs' by Tomislav Longinović (review)

REVIEWS H5 enterprising study, rather than the longer established and far larger Slavonic and Baltic collections of major national and university libraries. It is an immensely practical littlebook that should be welcomed by all whose interests do not stop at the Russian borders: the countries whose collections are discussed here are Belarus, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Ukraine. Not only will this guide ease access to these (relatively) small libraries, but also provide valuable insights into the life of some of the enterprising East European ?migr? communities towhich this country has afforded hospitality in the post-war period and, of course, long after. After a preliminary introduction, the author, Ihar Ivano?, formerly assistant librarian at the Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum in London, begins by providing a broad survey of the history and significance of the emigration and its libraries, including a historical view of World War Two and its resultant displaced persons, the Polish immigration to Britain (then, as now, very extensive), the European Volunteer Workers Schemes, as well as notes on later immigrations, and on the ways newcomers to this country established a community lifeand set up their libraries. In the second section Ivano? reviews the existing literature available, including that on the reasons for establishing community libraries, the nature of their collections and users, collaboration with public and other libraries, and the influence of democratic transformations in (parts of) the former Soviet block. Next comes a historical review of the libraries, a survey of their collections and significance. This section is followed by a survey of thework practices of the community librar ies, and one on theirorganization, including budgets and volunteer and other workers. The conclusion assesses the differences and similarities between the twelve libraries reviewed, and theirposition in a changing context. The bibliography is excellent, and three appendices afford valuable additional annotated information on each of the libraries within Ivano?'s purview: the firstis a description of each in turn, the second a review of their collections, work practices and organizations, whilst the third is an abstract in Belarusian This book, whose modest price includes postage and packing, may be ordered from 57 Guilford Rd, Leicester LE2 2RD. It deserves the attention of everyone who takes an interest in the East European emigration to Britain, and should be ordered by all serious libraries. UCL Arnold McMillin Longinovic, Tomislav. VampiresLike Us: Writing Down 'theSerbs'. Belgrade Circle, Belgrade, 2005. 222 pp. Bibliography. $15.00. No, it is not a typo: the author does write 'the serbs', the uncapitalized common noun in quotation marks, in order to remind the reader of Lyotard's way of differentiating between the Jews and 'the jews'. VampiresLike Us explores the imaginary structures of a nation as they are performed in oral and written literature,popular music and visual culture. Longinovic provides a context for understanding the role that imaginary networks of signification 146 SEER, 86, I, 2008 play in the structuring of both the local and global narratives about a par ticular national articulation. The author focuses on 'the serbs' as a particular example of the returns of the gothic vision of vampirism, which mediated the emergence of 'the serbs' as a phantasm of a vampiric community governed by the excesses of a malignant historical imagination alien to the values of Europe. What themedia tend to represent as alien and 'other' to Europe in theYugoslav tragedies of the 1990s, Longinovic claims, is in fact a legacy of the violence that formed the foundation ofmodern Europe: the political and cultural ideas made flesh in the blood and law binding the nation state. This manoeuvre of interpretative reversal is consistently applied throughout the book. Both the representation of 'the serbs' in themedia, and Serbian self-representation are questioned with the same strategy, and made to give an account ofwhat they suppress and deny. The second chapter, which can be understood as the core of thisprovocative book, develops the interpretation of the 'torturer victim formula' in the Serbian imaginary, but it also finds thisvery formula projected onto thewider screen of the global representation of'the serbs'.This leads us to the aim ofLonginovic's book: it seeks toprovide an understanding which might facilitate an action...

Baltic and Slavonic Libraries in Britain: Their Place in Developing Group Identity and the Life of Emigré Communities by Ihar Ivanoǔ (review)

144 SEER, 86, I, 2008 biographical description at the expense of textual analysis. Happily, it isnot. Rosenflanz organizes her book into chapters whose titles themselves exem plify the virtuosic wordplay she identifies as a central element ofKrzhizha novskii's writing (indeed, the chapter titles themselves are taken from the subheadings of one of Krzhizhanovskii's own articles about Shakespeare): 'Slova: Words', 'Vesci: Things', 'Vesci-Slova: Things-Words', 'Slova-Vesci: Words-Things', 'Vescie Slova: Prophetic Words'. The chapters treat, respec tively, the varieties and sub-varieties ofKrzhizhanovskii's intricatewordplay, the influence ofKant on his literaryphilosophy and worldview (whichRosen flanz sums up at the end of the book as a 'denial of absolute metaphysical truthand its replacement by a metaphysics of fiction',p. 138), themetaphor ical landscape of Krzhizhanovskii's phantasmagoric prose, and his critical interest in Formalist ideas regarding word-meaning relationships ('For Krzizanovskij, word and thing become conflated: word is thing with the power of poetic pronouncement ? vescee slovo. The word is a tripartite con struction of slovo?ver?vescanie\ p. 138).The last of the chapters focuses in part on Krzhizhanovskii's own 'prophetic' awareness thathis life'swork would only be appreciated in the future (some of the evidence forwhich Rosenflanz finds inKrzhizhanovskii's aphorisms, for example: T am at odds with the present, but eternity loves me', p. 135). Rosenflanz's chapter on the author's wordplay is especially interesting,and makes a contribution not only to the still-emerging history of early twentieth centuryRussian literature,but to the history and practice ofwit, and in par ticular the evolving status ofwordplay inRussian criticism since Lomonosov. The chapter is an annotated catalogue of the author's encyclopaedic use of varieties ofwordplay, including three types of homonymy, poetic etymology, five types of paronomasia and two types of pun. Her careful taxonomy, with its abundant quotations from Krzhizhanovskii's works, also amounts to an introduction to his language and prodigious sense of humour. Her treat ment in a subsequent chapter of Krzhizhanovskii's complex engagement in praxis with the theories of the Formalists also gives themonograph a broader appeal to scholars ofRussian Formalism and its legacy. In sum,Rosenflanz's meticulously detailed, yet eminently readable book is a fitting introduction to 'an author whose prose revealed the verbal pyrotechnics of a Nabokov, the imagination of a Borges and the ironic wit of a Chesterton' (p. 137).This is an ambitiously stated panegyric, to be sure, but it is one that is compellingly supported inRosenflanz's impressivework. UCL Seth Graham Ivano?, Ihar. Baltic and SlavonicLibraries inBritain: Their Place in Developing Group Identityand the Life of Emigr? Communities. Manifold, London, 2006. 112pp. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. Appendices. ?8.00 (paperback). The emigration fromEastern Europe towards the end of and after World War Two led to the setting up ofmany community libraries in Britain (particu larly in London and Leicester), and it is these that form the subject of this REVIEWS H5 enterprising study, rather than the longer established and far larger Slavonic and Baltic collections of major national and university libraries. It is an immensely practical littlebook that should be welcomed by all whose interests do not stop at the Russian borders: the countries whose collections are discussed here are Belarus, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Ukraine. Not only will this guide ease access to these (relatively) small libraries, but also provide valuable insights into the life of some of the enterprising East European ?migr? communities towhich this country has afforded hospitality in the post-war period and, of course, long after. After a preliminary introduction, the author, Ihar Ivano?, formerly assistant librarian at the Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum in London, begins by providing a broad survey of the history and significance of the emigration and its libraries, including a historical view of World War Two and its resultant displaced persons, the Polish immigration to Britain (then, as now, very extensive), the European Volunteer Workers Schemes, as well as notes on later immigrations, and on the ways newcomers to this country established a community lifeand set up their libraries. In the second section Ivano? reviews the existing literature available, including that on the reasons for establishing community libraries, the nature of their...

A Comparison of Literature Citations in Faculty Publications and Student Theses as Indicators of Collection Use and a Background for Collection Management at a University Library

The study describes the methodology of a comparative citation analysis, discusses the results of its application to the analysis of published works and student theses at a single research university and evaluates the findings as a background for the management of a university library collection.

Stacking Up

Item level surveys have a place in both public and university library collections. Although rarely applied outside of special collections, item level surveys benefit both patrons and library staff in several ways. These benefits include the reference or subject librarian's increased knowledge of the collection, which passes to the patron through reference services and collection building; the ability to compile precise statistics about how the collection is used by patrons; and the identification of particular challenges the collection faces (such as theft, mutilation, or damage).

Shifting from Print to Electronic Journals in ARL University Libraries

This study tracked journal subscription and format data for a sample of 515 journals in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) university member libraries from 2002 to 2006. During this period, subscriptions to journals in print format decreased by 32 percentage points, whereas journals obtained in electronic format increased by 34 percentage points. Findings show journal collections in ARL university libraries reached a “tipping point” between 2005 and 2006 and that, for the first time, electronic journals dominate print subscriptions.

Shifting from Print to Electronic Journals in ARL University Libraries

This study tracked journal subscription and format data for a sample of 515 journals in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) university member libraries from 2002 to 2006. During this period, subscriptions to journals in print format decreased by 32 percentage points, whereas journals obtained in electronic format increased by 34 percentage points. Findings show journal collections in ARL university libraries reached a “tipping point” between 2005 and 2006 and that, for the first time, electronic journals dominate print subscriptions.

Students’ Reactions towards E-books in an University Library Collection

This paper reports on a study of e-book usage amongst students with an university library collection. The main objectives of this study were to: (i) investigate how easy or difficult students found it to use e-books by giving them the opportunity to interact with e-books in an operational environment; (ii) determine whether any differences existed in ease of use ratings between students that had and had not used an e-book before the survey; (iii) investigate which e-book features users valued in terms of shelf browsing and content browsing; (iv) measure students' preferences between e-books or printed books given several scenarios; (v) establish whether any differences existed in terms of book format preferences between students that had and had not used an e-book before the survey; (vi) explore students' perceptions and impressions regarding specific features, such as browsable and searchable book indexes and table of contents, in an online library catalogue. The respondents were selected using a systematic random approach from a list of respondents from a previous web survey who had agreed beforehand to participate in this study. A total of 18 participants consisting of undergraduate and postgraduate instructional students completed the study. The findings indicated that in general students found that interacting with e-books in the collection was very easy. Students indicated that their preferred book formats varied depending on the context. In general students were positive about incorporating certain additional e-book features into an online library catalogue. Despite their positive reactions and attitudes towards e-books, students commented that e-books needed to be promoted more strongly and that there were limitations with respect to their use.

University libraries in Pakistan and status of collection management policy: Views of library managers

In the emerging digital paradigm, the role of a collection management policy (CMP) has become fundamental for managing collections in university libraries. This paper mainly explores both the status of CMP in the university libraries of Pakistan and the opinion of university library managers regarding the need for a CMP in their institution. It also briefly narrates the development in the function of contemporary universities and their libraries in the country. The paper is based on literature review, experience, and opinions obtained from the respondents through a questionnaire consisting of open-ended and closed questions and interviews. The data were collected as part of this researcher's doctoral study [7]. The analysis revealed that almost all respondents were in favor of having a written policy but did not prepare such a document in the literal sense. The reasons of this status emerge as lack of basic know-how, practical training, etc. The study suggests continuing professional education and self-studies on the librarians part to improve the situation in this regard.

University libraries in Pakistan and status of collection management policy

AbstractIn the emerging digital paradigm, the role of a collection management policy (CMP) has become fundamental for managing collections in university libraries. This paper mainly explores both the status of CMP in the university libraries of Pakistan and the opinion of university library managers regarding the need for a CMP in their institution. It also briefly narrates the development in the function of contemporary universities and their libraries in the country. The paper is based on literature review, experience, and opinions obtained from the respondents through a questionnaire consisting of open-ended and closed questions and interviews. The data were collected as part of this researcher's doctoral study [7]. The analysis revealed that almost all respondents were in favor of having a written policy but did not prepare such a document in the literal sense. The reasons of this status emerge as lack of basic know-how, practical training, etc. The study suggests continuing professional education and...

Re-reading the Exclusion Crisis

The reading of pamphlets in the period 1678-1683 has recently been acknowledged as having enormous significance for its volatile politics. Joad Raymond claims that 'The Popish Plot was shaped by the internal logic and the genres of the pamphlet form'.1 The special issue of Albion for 1993 was devoted to Jonathan Scott's argument in Algernon Sidney and the Restoration Crisis, 1677-1683, based on his study of Cambridge University Library's collection of pamphlets.2 Scott claimed that that this period did not see the development of parties in any meaningful sense: '1678's whigs were 1681's tories'. He identified this shift in popular belief as a result of events in 1681-82 when Parliament and the City of London became too radical for most of what Scott calls 'the political nation'.3 Scott is right to identify a consensus in these pamphlets over the desirability of parliaments and Protestantism, and a widely-expressed dread of any recurrence of the upheavals of the Civil War.4 In many of the pamphlets from apparently opposing contexts, then, the terminology, and content, is similar. Scott concludes that this is because in many cases the same people are behind pamphlets labelled 'Whig' in 1678 and 'Tory' in 1681.5 In the political climate of Restoration London, when, as Gary de Krey has shown, allegiances formed during the Civil War were still operating to produce various politically-committed factions, that is a rather surprising conclusion.6 Tim Harris argues that Whigs and Tories use what looks like a similar discourse very differently, and this article is a contribution to his argument.7 Of course, as he points out, scholars should have nothing to do with 'any notion that the first Whigs were a monolithic party'. What united different groups, he claims, was the concern 'to rid England of the threat of popery and arbitrary government', and he demonstrates the wide reach of Whig propaganda.8 Issues of religion were central to politics in this period. I shall demonstrate a rhetorical struggle over the word 'loyal' and the word 'protestant', necessary appellations for any political activist in this period hoping for influence: he had to represent himself as both genuinely protestant and loyal to the throne. The argument is based on the fact that what Jonathan Scott calls 'the political nation', and what Stephen Pincus calls 'the political English', includes a widening class of those with an interest in politics: there is a parallel increase in the number of literary genres which could be considered to be politicised. A survey of pamphlet literature in the period is not attempted here. Rather, this article takes examples from disparate genres - individual sermons, poems, schoolbooks and even one party invitation - which were widely read between 1679 and 1683: Joad Raymond acknowledges that by this period the pamphlet form had become 'diffuse or disunified' and, in any case, always contained many different genres.9 I want to demonstrate the rhetorical strategies involved when groups with very different political allegiances and aims claim ownership of beliefs and values which they know to have wide popular support.The Lord Mayor's Shows written by Thomas Jordan for Lord Mayor's day, 29 October, 1678-82, have been described by Sue Owen as displaying Whig allegiance, as opposed to the plays of the London stage which were associated with the Tories.10 It is to the drama that was staged outside of the theatres, in the fairs, at the Lord Mayor's Show and at the Pope-burning processions, that she looks for authentic Whig language and values, which she sees as rooted in an English nationalism defined by religious allegiance. Procession through the streets, into which the spectators were often incorporated in true carnivalesque style, was followed by pageant, during the 1679 version of which Lord Mayor Clayton was exhorted to defend the City against the Popish Plot, as 'y' have declar'd for a True Protestant'.11 This polarisation, between Catholicism and True Protestantism, is a classic popular Whig opposition. …

INTRODUCTION

The 45th Annual Preconference of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries was titled “Ebb & Flow: The Migration of Collections to American Libraries.” From June 21–June 24, 2004, on the campus of Yale University, speakers addressed a variety of topics around this theme. Plenary speakers addressed the migration of books to North America during the colonial period, the development of university library collections in the nineteenth century, the epic collecting of J. Pierpont Morgan, and the post-World War II antiquarian book trade. Alice Prochaska, Yale University librarian, opened the conference with . . .

Publishers irritated by Google's digital library

Plan to digitize university library collections sparks copyright spat.

Frog Voices, Whispers, and Silences: Problems and Issues in Collecting for an African Studies Library in Africa

SUMMARY This article is an attempt to respond to two questions about discrete special African studies collections in African university libraries. First, do we need to have such collections at all? Second, if we do, how can we write collection development policies that make sense, given the present turmoil in African studies and indeed in the social sciences in general? Librarians have a responsibility to recognise that their practice cannot be value-free, and that their collections are biased by the choices made by writers, by publishers, and by themselves. Their duty, especially in Africa, may simply be to ensure that African voices are not drowned out in their collections.

Course‐centered approach to evaluating university library collections for instructional program reviews

Describes a course‐centered approach to the evaluation of university library collections for instructional program reviews. Summarizes the author’s experience with preparing library reports for systematic program reviews in the agricultural sciences at the University of Saskatchewan. The method is based on the assessment of collections supporting individual courses by comparing the numbers of monographs and journal articles available directly to the library clientele with the numbers of items in the major bibliographic databases. Describes the new elements of the method. The method provides a practical tool for further selection of materials, applicable in similar situations, as well as a background for collaborating with faculty members.

Myongji University digital library project: implementing a KORMARC/EAD integrated system

Proposes to design and implement a metadata system for Myongji University (MJU) library collections that allows users to search all library materials using one user interface. Briefly introduces two MJU digital library projects, then describes the first project where a KORMARC/encoded archival description (EAD) metadata system that allows users to conduct integrated searches is to be designed, implemented and evaluated. The KORMARC/EAD metadata system consists of two modules: a retrieval module and an input module. While in the retrieve mode, one can retrieve KORMARC records of all library materials such as books and course materials, with links to EAD files for both archival items and course materials or to full‐text image files for precious books. In the input mode, users can input two types of data such as catalog data and inventory data. Finally, evaluates the proposed system via mail questionnaires, and proposes three suggestions to make this system a much more comprehensive and effective system.

Australian university libraries: collections overlap study

In 2002, the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), Higher Education Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee commissioned the National Library of Australia to analyse the uniqueness and overlap of Australian university library collections, comparing library collections in each state, using the National Bibliographic Database (NBD) available through the Kinetica Service.

Factors associated with success in searching MEDLINE and applying evidence to answer clinical questions.

This study sought to assess the ability of medical and nurse practitioner students to use MEDLINE to obtain evidence for answering clinical questions and to identify factors associated with the successful answering of questions. A convenience sample of medical and nurse practitioner students was recruited. After completing instruments measuring demographic variables, computer and searching attitudes and experience, and cognitive traits, the subjects were given a brief orientation to MEDLINE searching and the techniques of evidence-based medicine. The subjects were then given 5 questions (from a pool of 20) to answer in two sessions using the Ovid MEDLINE system and the Oregon Health & Science University library collection. Each question was answered using three possible responses that reflected the quality of the evidence. All actions capable of being logged by the Ovid system were captured. Statistical analysis was performed using a model based on generalized estimating equations. The relevance-based measures of recall and precision were measured by defining end queries and having relevance judgments made by physicians who were not associated with the study. Forty-five medical and 21 nurse practitioner students provided usable answers to 324 questions. The rate of correctness increased from 32.3 to 51.6 percent for medical students and from 31.7 to 34.7 percent for nurse practitioner students. Ability to answer questions correctly was most strongly associated with correctness of the answer before searching, user experience with MEDLINE features, the evidence-based medicine question type, and the spatial visualization score. The spatial visualization score showed multi-colinearity with student type (medical vs. nurse practitioner). Medical and nurse practitioner students obtained comparable recall and precision, neither of which was associated with correctness of the answer. Medical and nurse practitioner students in this study were at best moderately successful at answering clinical questions correctly with the assistance of literature searching. The results confirm the importance of evaluating both search ability and the ability to use the resulting information to accomplish a clinical task.

La evaluación de colecciones: métodos y modelos

The objetive of this article is to present the different methods used in the evaluation of collections in university libraries, and of another type from the existing models, centred on the materials, the own collection; and centred on the users. It is an exhaustive review of the applied thing and published.

Planning an Authority Control Project at a Medium-sized University Library

Authority control is a vital part of providing students and faculty with adequate access to collections in university libraries. Although many large research libraries routinely maintain authority control, small and medium-sized university libraries find it challenging to meet rising user expectations and provide adequate access in an online environment through appropriate authority work. The smaller libraries have to provide persuasive data to demonstrate to their library administrations that tight staffing situations make it difficult to perform in-house maintenance on authority work and keep up with the dynamic and constant changes of new headings for bibliographic records. This article offers a planning process on an authority control project at a medium-sized university library.

French University Libraries 1988-1998: A Statistical Analysis

Based on an analysis of statistical data from the past decade which have been published annually by the French Ministry of Education (Annuaire des bibliothèques universitaires), the article gives an overview of developments with regard to buildings, personnel, services, acquisitions and collections of French university libraries during the last decade.