Literature on library service models is scarce and exists mainly in non-traditional formats such as blog entries and webpages. Nonetheless, the subject evokes heated debate among librarians with many supporting the model they are using, sometimes without understanding that there are other options which perhaps could be better for their circumstances. Through critical documentary analysis, this study explores the library service models that exist as well as how they compare with each other. The findings have revealed that although there are many library service models, it is not possible to get a clear-cut model which is exclusive of all the others in practice. It is also evident that the models are continuously evolving along general socio-economic and technological development patterns in society. Similarly, the study suggests that none of the models can suit all library service provision contexts. However, it is also apparent that some models may yield more benefits than others to specific library commu...

Library 2.0 versus other library service models: A critical analysis

A system for enabling touch and feel over the internet provides a three-dimensional representation of a good being sold, that three-dimensional representation being viewable from a number of different directions. In one embodiment, the good being sold is in a package and the package is displayed from the number of different directions. Another embodiment has the good being a book, and the inside and outside covers of the book are displayed and specified pages of the book can be displayed. The user can read from either the label or the covers just like as if the were actually handling the good.

Enhancing touch and feel on the internet

During the last quarter of the twentieth century, the literature of academic librarianship was replete with articles predicting, anticipating, speculating, or cautioning about future possibilities for the field. The seminal works of F. W. Lancaster, who was one of the early predictors and enthusiasts of "paperless information systems," are the key points of departure for this literature. This article (which covers the period of time from roughly 1975 to 1989), as well as its second part (1990 to 1999), employs a citation-tracking method for gathering and reviewing this literature. Each work discussed in this article cites either Lancaster's work, or another work that cites it, so that the resulting literature review has grown from a common source of thought. The aim is to provide an analytical overview on how academic librarians saw and attempted to shape the future of their field during a period of unprecedented change.

A Brief History of the Future of Academic Libraries: Predictions and Speculations from the Literature of the Profession, 1975 to 2000--part two, 1990 to 2000

Le postulat selon lequel la politique actuelle est de preferer l'acces a l'information a la possession des documents necessite un examen approfondi. L'acces a la documentation ne permet ni le butinage ni les decouvertes inattendues. Il se concoit mieux pour les periodiques que pour les monographies, pour la plus grande rapidite, la fiabilite et la facilite d'utilisation qu'il offre ; mais la communication sur place est de toute facon preferable. Si l'on considere le seul critere du cout, les couts actuels sont en faveur de l'acces, mais ils pourront changer considerablement au fur et a mesure que l'acces deviendra numerique. Les nouvelles formes de controle et de publication des documents de recherche ont leurs avantages et leurs inconvenients. La possession des ouvrages a ses limites : elle ne peut jamais atteindre l'exhaustivite. On devrait pouvoir associer la possession d'un large eventail de documents recents en libre acces a l'acces a des documents plus anciens. L'importance croissante de l'autoapprentissage pourrait aider a defendre un budget d'acquisitions plus developpe.

Judith E. Tribble

Papers

Electronic Document Delivery: New Options for Libraries.