Automated Information Retrieval in Libraries: A Management Handbook

(Hardback)

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Description

Computerized database searching is a common phenomenon in libraries today. Everyone does it, but not everyone does it well, especially when so many options for computerized searching are available. This is not a book about "how to search"; rather, it is a book about how to integrate computerized database searching into the fabric of library operations. Managers of automated information retrieval services may find practical advice and suggestions for planning for the future. The first chapter details how to make the options work together, how locally-loaded databases and CD-ROM databases impact on traditional mediated searches, and how end-users affect the "librarian-as-search-analyst" role. Managing and budgeting for an integrated service are covered in detail in chapters of interest to library managers planning to institute or expand a search service or to managers of existing search services. The special problems of library staff who serve as search analysts, and the special problems of end-users and how they interact with, and how they understand the concept of database searching are discussed in sections dealing with the human side of working with automated information retrieval. The author discusses the hardware and software of searching and the effect of the continuing rapid development of technology on the budget and the future role of libraries. Selected bibliographies direct readers to case studies and articles examining practical experiences of various libraries.

Reviews

. . . a developed, comprehensive study of this growing element of the library's primary duty of providing information. Any public library with an extensive database collection will benefit. Libraries beginning to think about a database retrieval service and those libraries with an automated retrieval service already in place will both find guidance in the book's detailed contents.-Information Today
. . . the book presents valuable and useful information to the reader. From it library managers can acquire a context for automated information retrieval services decision making prior to further investigation of specific configurations and services.-Computers in Libraries
. . . this book is a wonderfully pleasant surprise. On the whole, it is a useful, eminently readable guide to the management of automated information retrieval services. . . . This book is a wonderful tool that managers and would-be managers of automated information services will refer to again and again. It is recommended to search analysts, reference librarians who search, and anyone interested in the decision-making aspects of automated informational retrieval.-RQ
." . . a developed, comprehensive study of this growing element of the library's primary duty of providing information. Any public library with an extensive database collection will benefit. Libraries beginning to think about a database retrieval service and those libraries with an automated retrieval service already in place will both find guidance in the book's detailed contents."-Information Today
." . . the book presents valuable and useful information to the reader. From it library managers can acquire a context for automated information retrieval services decision making prior to further investigation of specific configurations and services."-Computers in Libraries
." . . this book is a wonderfully pleasant surprise. On the whole, it is a useful, eminently readable guide to the management of automated information retrieval services. . . . This book is a wonderful tool that managers and would-be managers of automated information services will refer to again and again. It is recommended to search analysts, reference librarians who search, and anyone interested in the decision-making aspects of automated informational retrieval."-RQ

Author Bio

VICKI ANDERS is Associate Professor, Sterling C. Evans Library, Texas A&M University. She is the author of several professional articles on automated library services.