2009, Vol.43, No.2

Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.84

pISSN : 1225-598X / eISSN : 2982-6292
https://journal.kci.go.kr/kslis

The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of the electronic information resources of humanities scholars in Korea and propose the planning of academic library and information services to serve their needs. To collect data, a postal survey was conducted during the period of November 2007 through January 2008. Out of 799 humanities scholars sampled from 25 universities, 132 responded with a completion rate of 16%. The major findings of this study are as follows: Firstly, the majority of humanities scholars distribute their time equally between research and education, and conduct independent research. Secondly, they use, to a certain degree, electronic information resources largely in text format, and depend upon the electronic collection of their academic libraries. Thirdly, with the exception of a couple of sources of electronic journal resources, the electronic resources that these humanities scholars regularly use vary so widely that none could be considered to be a common resource. Fourthly, they value the convenience of accessing and using electronic resources, but worry about the quality and scope of the contents. It is suggested that academic libraries (1) become the gateway for the electronic information that is available both inside and outside the library, (2) provide integrated search feature for and a ‘single sign on’ access to electronic resources, and (3) plan customized user education for specific subject fields in the humanities.

Recently, the policies and management of public libraries have been evaluated by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the central government, and Gyeonggi Province in Korea. However, these evaluations do not meet the international trends where simple input-output measures are being overtaken by outcomes calculating broad socio-economic values. Taking these facts into consideration, the main goal of this paper is to analyze the limitations of the recent library evaluation cases and to suggest some desirable directions for the evaluation of the socio-economic values (i.e., impact and benefits) of public libraries.

The purpose of this study was to examine 80 children's libraries in an effort to suggest some of the right directions for the development and management of children's library programs. A survey was conducted on 80 children's libraries in the nation, and the answer sheets from 55 libraries were gathered and analyzed to find out the extent of use, the major users, the book collections, budgets, the types of programs, the target audience of the programs, the terms of the programs, publicity, evaluation and factors determining the success or failure of the programs. In addition, 21 large children's libraries located in Seoul, Gyeongin, Incheon, Busan, North Chungcheong Province, South Jeolla Province and Jeju Island were visited, and the management were interviewed in order to decipher the types and management of the programs, their spatial construction, tie-ups or collaborations with relevant organizations and the utilization of volunteers. Finally, 29 foreign organizations were selected from six foreign countries including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan and China, and the cases and states of their programs' management were checked through personal interviews.