<b>Laura N. Gasaway.</b> <i>Copyright Questions and Answers for Information Professionals: From the Columns of Against the Grain</i>. West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, 2013. 284p. alk. paper, $24.95 (ISBN 9781557536396). LC2012-032276.
Author(s) -
Carli Spina
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
college and research libraries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.886
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 2150-6701
pISSN - 0010-0870
DOI - 10.5860/0740215
Subject(s) - library science , computer science
footprints” that indicate the complexities of information-seeking behavior of actual users. Eye-tracking involves study of the eye movements of users and methods for capitalizing on the data yielded regarding user research behaviors. Part Two also offers the intriguing notion that digital library planners can create an image of the persona of a typical library user, thereby enabling them to extrapolate information based on the research needs of this paradigmatic user. “User Studies in the Digital Library Universe: What Else Needs to Be Considered?” is the section header for Part Three. The chapters contained therein explore evolving issues that challenge planners for the library of the future. How, for instance, do children learn, and how do librarians accommodate their new learning styles that are enmeshed in technology? What about the implications of social media and the mobile devices that facilitate communication by means of social media? Moreover, how might digitization affect the process of course design and subsequent research techniques? These are but a few of the hurdles that digital librarians must consider and overcome. Part Four, “User Studies Across the Cultural Heritage Sector,” focuses attention upon complex decisions beyond digitization of traditional libraries. How, for instance, do library users research archival material? Incontrovertibly, the needs of these users should be taken into account when devising digitation of archives. In addition, how might digital technology influence users’ experience of museums? What about digital art and digitization of audiovisual collections? Present and future needs of users must be taken into account when designing digital collections for optimal user research results. Finally, Part Five echoes the Introduction. Entitled “Putting It All Together,” it summarizes the content of the text. Furthermore, it indeed offers inspiring suggestions for putting it all together. Helpful checklists remind readers of where they have been, and, better still, where they are—or should be—headed in the future. Ultimately, User Studies for Digital Library Development raises all of these crucial considerations and more. Its multifaceted approach supplies ample food for thought, especially for library directors, emerging technologies librarians, and IT personnel who may be charged with designing a vital digital collection that addresses, and even anticipates, specific research needs of the individual library’s users. Anyone involved in digital decision-making would be ill-advised to ignore the sorts of user studies so ably advanced in this fine collection.—Lynne F. Maxwell, Villanova University School of Law library.
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