Library and Information Systems Management

• Evaluation is vital for library and information systems managers to assess service quality, goal attainment, and user needs, and to inform improvements and planning.
• Evaluation involves gathering data on services and activities and setting criteria to measure their success.
• Performance evaluations determine if a system meets its goals and to justify the continuation of services.

Evolution of Library Science and Services

• Library science integrates management, IT, education, and other disciplines to manage information resources.
• Melvil Dewey founded the first library science school at Columbia University in 1887.
• Historically, library science includes archival science, focusing on organizing information for users, technology interaction, information acquisition, and ethics.
• Academic courses cover collection management, information systems, research methods, cataloging, preservation, statistics, and management.
• Library science evolves by incorporating database management, information architecture, and knowledge management.
• Library science, librarianship, and library and information science (LIS) are often used interchangeably.
• LIS emphasizes the scientific and technical aspects and its link to information science, but it should not be confused with information theory.
• Library philosophy studies the aims and justifications of librarianship, contrasting with library science's focus on techniques.

History

• Library history began with efforts to organize and provide access to information collections.

Early History

• Palace, temple, and private libraries dating back to 1200 BC were found at Ugarit in Syria.
• King Ashurbanipal of Assyria created the first systematically collected library in Nineveh in the 7th century BC.
• The Library of Alexandria was prominent in the 3rd century BC.

Ancient Information Retrieval

• An imperial library curator in the Han Dynasty created a library classification and book notation system.
• The library catalog was written on silk scrolls and stored in silk bags.

19th Century

• Thomas Jefferson created a classification system based on the Baconian method.
• Jefferson's library became the basis for the Library of Congress after a fire in the War of 1812.
• The first library science textbook was published in 1808 by Martin Schrettinger.

20th Century

• The term "library science" was first used in English in the “Punjab Library Primer” in 1916, written by Asa Don Dickinson.
• The University of the Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan, was the first in Asia to teach library science.
• The first U.S. textbook, “Manual of Library Economy,” was published in 1929.
• S. R. Ranganathan's "The Five Laws of Library Science" was published in 1931.
• Lee Pierce Butler advocated for quantitative research methods in librarianship to address society's information needs.
• Michael Gorman published "Five New Laws of Librarianship" in 1995, incorporating knowledge and information in all forms.
• Digital technology has influenced library science with information science concepts.

Evaluation Objectives for Libraries

• Assessment of current library services in the global information environment.
• Provision of a strategic focus for documentation expansion and service quality for users.
• Definition of necessary technical, human resources, and budget to achieve goals.

Evaluation Methodology

• Online surveys and focus groups were used to gather user and non-user opinions.
• Interviews were conducted with library staff and information specialists.
• Desk research was performed to understand how other libraries develop their services.

Periodicals

• Periodicals include newspapers, journals, magazines, collections, and bulletins published in series.
• Key characteristics of periodicals: regularity, consistent naming, and successive numbering.
• Periodicals consist of articles and have an editor or editorial staff.
• Periodicals are available online, digitized, or on CD-ROM.
• Journals and magazines are published weekly to quarterly.
• Newspapers are published daily to monthly.
• Bulletins are published up to once a month.

Advantages of Using Periodicals

• They provide the most current information.
• They discuss current events before they become book topics.
• They cover the latest trends, products, research, and theories.
• They are the best source for specialized or ephemeral information.
• They provide access to diverse, hard-to-find information across fields.
• They cover more topics within a single volume due to shorter articles.