Abstract

This edited collection is drawn from the seventh Libraries Without Walls Conference, held in 2007. From their beginnings in 1995, the Libraries Without Walls conferences have mapped a major change in the practice of librarianship. While libraries are still concerned to provide users with physical access to their buildings, electronic access - often from remote locations - is becoming ever more dominant, and library services are increasingly being integrated into virtual learning, research and personal environments. In 2007, CERLIM wished to encourage the widest possible range of papers to reflect the diverse current developments in library service delivery.These cover: new kinds of service, especially those that open up new paradigms of 'library' - perhaps the library equivalent of YouTube or MySpace; the library's role within new models of scholarly publishing, including development of services based on institutional or other repositories, and the responsibility of the library for digital curation; service delivery in challenging environments, especially where the infrastructure may be sub-optimal, as in some developing countries, or where the user group represents particular challenges; new technological solutions and the impact on users of the improved services they make possible; and, delivery and assessment of information skills and literacies, especially where this is achieved through electronic environments. These state-of-the-art papers are designed to increase understanding of the role and importance of information in the learning process, and to enable information professionals and course developers to keep abreast of the latest developments in this vital area.
"All in all, there is some interesting material here, something for everyone, in fact...The collection will interest those involved in e-learning and information literacy most, perhaps, with one or two of the papers of value to those more generally concerned with digital library developments." - Information Research
Peter Brophy BSc HonFCLIP FCLIP FRSA FHEA is Professor of Information Management in the Department of Information and Communications at Manchester Metropolitan University, where he is also Director of the Centre for Research in Library and Information Management (CERLIM). Jenny Craven MA MCLIP is a Research Associate at CERLIM, Manchester Metropolitan University. Margaret Markland MSc was until recently a Research Associate at CERLIM, Manchester Metropolitan University.