Preface

This volume is unusual in three ways. First, the theme is quite broad in scope and may even seem to be a “catch all.” But it is in fact focused on a specific topic—that is to say innovations and boundary-pushing studies in areas not usually found in library literature. The second unusual feature is that this volume is our final work as editors of the Advances in Librarianship series. As we step down from this role, we want to thank all those who contributed to the success of the series and wish them all well. First among these is our steadfast Editorial Advisory Board members, without whom our past seven volumes would not have been successful. Similarly, there would have been no scholarly and research contributions to the field without our contributing authors, individual topical reviewers. Finally, our volumes, including this one, have been unusual in that we did not use guest editors to solicit and complete volumes in conjunction with us as series editors. Those roles were combined throughout our tenure, and yet, while that approach increased our individual workloads, we were pleased to have played this encompassing role. Again, we wish future guest and series editors all the best with ensuring the continued success of this book series in the future.

With respect to the content of this volume, the range of topics and the innovations which are described is impressive.

The authors herein present a look at the periphery of the field surveyed in previous volumes and provided chapters grouped into two categories – professional issues and transforming services. Chapters in the section on professional issues include the challenges facing librarians in an age of litigiousness and threats to academic freedom, education of ethical leaders for the information society by adopting practices from business, evaluation of intellectual capital assets by looking at the role of librarians in a knowledge society, and last but not least, exploration of emerging practices of open peer review as a means of achieving a “new science.” In the section on transforming services chapters include research on the effects of terminology on health queries by analyzing user’s health literacy and topic familiarity, an analysis of academic social networking via a case study of users’ information behavior, a study on redefining services and spaces for graduate student success by creating a “scholars’ commons,” and a final chapter on serving adults and teens in social spaces within a “virtual branch.”

As noted above, we could not have succeeded with this final volume without the help of our Editorial Advisory Board. While we acknowledged in general terms the help we received from these talented individuals, we wish to name them specifically as they have been instrumental in making this series so successful, despite the juggling they did to fit us into their careers and private lives. They deserve special thanks for advice regarding themes for these volumes, including this final one in which we cast a wider net in search of innovations in our field. Members of this exceptional group are: Kenneth Haycock, Professor Emeritus at San Jose’s School of Library and Information Science and more recently, Research Professor of Management and Organization at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles; Maureen Mackenzie, Business Professor at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, NY; Pat Levine (formerly Moholt), currently a consultant, grant writer and editor in Ashley Falls, MA, and retired Associate Vice President at Columbia University’s Medical Center, New York, NY; Marie Radford, Chair and Professor of the Department of Library and Information Science at Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information, Newark, NJ; Robert A. Seal, Dean of Libraries at Loyola University, Chicago, IL, who also served on the Board for our predecessors; Louise Schaper, who after various management positions at AT&T Bell Laboratories, became an award-winning Executive Director of the Fayetteville Public Library, KS and is currently Vice President of Schaper Consulting Inc., Naples, FL; Barbara A. Stripling, Assistant Professor of Practice at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies in Syracuse, NY, and a past President of the American Library Association; and Cathy Wilt, Executive Director for the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc. (PALCI) in Philadelphia, PA.

We thank also members of the Emerald teams with whom we have worked over these past many volumes. Members of those teams have come and gone over the years, as change is inevitable in any organization, but we have appreciated the enthusiasm and helpfulness of all of the staff members who have been part of the process that has made this one of their most successful book series. To Emerald and its staff and the new editors, we wish all the best with sustaining and building on the past successes of Advances in Librarianship.