IFLA Journal, Vol. 34, No. 1 2008

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IFLA Journal, Vol. 34, No. 1 2008 IFLA IFLA JOURNAL Offi cial Journal of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Volume 34 (2008) No. 1, pp. 1–120. ISSN 0340–0352 SAGE Publications CONTENTS Editorial: From Grassroots to National Libraries Stephen Parker . 3 The President’s Page Claudia Lux, IFLA President, 2007–2009 . 5 Facilitating Grassroots Development: the role of ALP in Division VIII countries G.E. Gorman, Daniel G. Dorner and Birgitta Sandell . 7 Reaching Out to Vulnerable Groups in China: a broad library with social inclusion Li Zhaochun and Huang Qunqing . 13 E-Government in the Islamic Republic of Iran: reaching out to the world? Nancy Beygijanian and John V. Richardson Jr. 20 Recognizing Best Practice in Portuguese Higher Education Libraries Luiza Baptista Melo, Cesaltina Pires and Ana Taveira . 34 The Refl ective Online Searching Skills (ROSS) Environment: embedding information literacy into student learning through an online environment Helen Partridge, Sylvia Edwards, Andrew Baker and Lynn McAllister. 55 Library Personalization Systems: an Indian experience V.K.J. Jeevan. 72 Library Services for Blind People: an African perspective William Rowland . 84 The National Library of Pakistan: an overview Pervaiz Ahmad . 90 REPORT How to Get Libraries on to the Political Agenda. The President’s Workshop on Successful Lobbying in Durban Bernd Schleh . 99 NEWS (with separate Table of Contents) . 101 INTERNATIONAL CALENDAR . 106 SOMMAIRES 108 — ZUSAMMENFASSUNGEN 110 — RESÚMENES 112 — Pефераты статей 114 . 108 NNotesotes fforor CContributorsontributors . 117 Visit http://ifl .sagepub.com Free access to tables of contents and abstracts. Site-wide access to the full text for members of subscribing institutions. IFLA Journal Offi cial Journal of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions ISSN 0340-0352 [print] 1745-2651 [online] Published 4 times a year in March, June, October and December Editor: Stephen Parker, Apt. 1C, Edifício Rosa dos Ventos, Rua Rosa Parracho 27, Cascais 2750-778, Portugal. E-mail: [email protected] Editorial Committee David Miller (Chair), Levin Library, Curry College, Milton, MA, USA. E-mail: [email protected] Michèle Battisti, Association des professionels de I’information et de documentation (ADBS), Paris, France. E-mail: [email protected] Galina Kislovskaya, Russian State Library, Moscow, Russian Federation. E-mail: [email protected] Alli Mcharazo, Tanzania Library Service, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Email: [email protected] Christobal Pasadas Ureña, Universidad de Granada Biblioteca, Facultad de Psicología, Granada, Spain. Email: [email protected] Christine Wellems, Buergerschaftskanzlei, Parlamentarische Informationsdienste, Hamburg, Germany. E-mail: [email protected] Wu Jianzhong, Shanghai Library, Shanghai, China. Email: [email protected] Stephen Parker (United Kingdom) (Editor, ex offi cio) Publisher SAGE, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore. Copyright © 2008 International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. UK: Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, and only as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Acts 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the Publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency (www.cla.co.uk/). US: Authorization to photocopy journal material may be obtained directly from SAGE Publications or through a licence from the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (www.copyright.com/). Inquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the Publishers at the address below. Annual subscription (4 issues, 2008) Free to IFLA members. Non-members: full rate (includes electronic version) £191/$344. Prices include postage. Full rate subscriptions include the right for members of the subscribing institution to access the electronic content of the journal at no extra charge from SAGE. The content can be accessed online through a number of electronic journal intermediaries, who may charge for access. Free email alerts of contents listings are also available. For full details visit the SAGE website: www.sagepublications.com Student discounts, single issue rates and advertising details are available from SAGE, 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road, London EC1Y 1SP, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7324 8500; fax +44 (0) 20 7324 8600; email: [email protected]; website: www. sagepublications.com. In North America from SAGE Publications, 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91359, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Rahway, NJ. Postmaster: Send address corrections to IFLA Journal, c/o Mercury Airfreight International Ltd, 365 Blair Road, Avenel, NJ 07001, USA. The IFLA Journal is abstracted/indexed in Library and Information Science Abstracts, Multicultural Education Abstracts, PAIS International and Sociological Abstracts. Typeset by Star Compugraphics Private Limited, Delhi Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by The Cromwell Press Ltd, Trowbridge, Wiltshire EDITORIAL From Grassroots to National Libraries Stephen Parker ‘E-Government in the Islamic Republic of Iran: reaching out to the world? ‘ by Nancy Beygijanian Appropriately enough, the fi rst paper in this issue and Dr. John V. Richardson Jr. from the University deals with IFLA itself – specifi cally, with its of California Los Angeles (UCLA). This paper aims Advancement of Development through Libraries to reveal the nature and extent of the offi cial (ALP) programme. In ‘Facilitating Grassroots English language websites of the Islamic Republic Development: the role of ALP in Division VIII of Iran and the motivating factors for the use of countries’, Gary E. Gorman, Daniel G. Dorner English on these sites. The main reasons for the and Birgitta Sandell describe the origins and relatively large number of English language sites development of ALP) and outline the ALP philo- are considered to be the promotion of tourism, a sophy, which is based on a belief in grassroots desire for international scientifi c cooperation, and development. Since 1991, 181 ALP projects, mainly increased fi nancial dealings. The paper provides concerned with different aspects of training have information on the English language content of been carried out at a total cost of more than USD the main Iranian government websites, identifi es 3 million. The grassroots approach means that some of the obstacles to effective access to this projects are initiated from within the developing content, and argues for improvements in Iranian regions and carried out by colleagues in the re- website design, so that the Iranian government gions. The paper identifi es the characteristics of can fully achieve its goals. a good project and briefl y describes some ex- amples of good training workshop projects. It From Asia we move to Europe, with a paper on concludes that, while ALP is very important to ‘Recognizing Best Practice in Portuguese Higher library development and the visibility of IFLA Education Libraries’, by Luiza Baptista Melo of in developing countries, the fi nancial support the Faculty of Science of the University of Porto, base – provided up to now mainly by the Nordic Cesaltina Pires of the Management Department countries – needs to be broadened. of Évora University and Ana Taveira of the University of the Azores. The paper describes The next paper provides brief but vivid descriptions an ongoing project to assess the performance of of a number of grassroots activities undertaken by library services, resulting from a partnership of six the Sun Yat-sen Library of Guangdong Province Portuguese higher education libraries. The study in China. In ‘Reaching out to Vulnerable Groups involves: selection of criteria to be evaluated and in China: a broad library with social inclusion’, selection of their corresponding performance Li Zhaochun, Chief Librarian of the Sun Yat-sen indicators; data collection and analysis; and Library, and his colleague Huang Qunqing point identifi cation of best practices. The selection of the out that various groups of people in China are criteria to be evaluated is based on a mixed model facing social exclusion. They include those who combining the Common Assessment Framework are unemployed or suffer ill health, labourers with and the Balanced Scorecard, while the associated poor skills, teenagers in prisons, residents suffering performance indicators are in accordance with from natural disasters, and peasants in the remote international standards. countryside. The Sun Yat-sen Library has been active in providing services to these vulnerable We remain with academic libraries in the next groups, creating 56 branch libraries countrywide. paper, which describes an e-learning tool designed The paper describes innovative services provided to develop student skill and knowledge in online to residents of a special community for families searching. The tool was developed at the Queens- with fi nancial diffi culties, to prisoners – especially land University of Technology in Australia. ‘The juveniles and prisoner students – to a library de- Refl ective Online Searching Skills (ROSS) Envir- vastated by fl ooding, and to two remote mountain onment: embedding information literacy into communities in Tibet. student learning through an online environment”, by Helen Partridge, Sylvia Edwards, Andrew Baker A very different aspect of information dis-
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