This article investigated the lives and careers of three great librarians in India, USA, and Korea: S. R. Ranganathan, Melvil Dewey, and Bong-Suk Park, respectively. It also explored their influences and contributions. Their births and early years, and marriage; college years; commitment toward librarianship and careers; achievements in other areas; personalities; and commemorative activities, among others, were analyzed. Their contributions to librarianship and library community in the general theory of library science, professional education, classification and cataloging, library administration and management, and library associations and library movement were also investigated. Special focus was on Bong-Suk Park, with a special regard to his unrealized dream for the Korean library community as well as insufficient estimation related to him and his achievements.
This study analyzed the changes in Library and Information Science (LIS) courses by investigating the LIS curriculum of Korea in the past 20 years (1991-2011). Results showed that the total number of courses increased as a whole. As the Korean educational system moved forward to the faculty system (Hakbuje), the number of basic courses increased while the number of core courses decreased. But the opposite phenomenon appeared as universities returned to the department system (Hakgwaje). Also, we investigated the domain-specific distribution of each department by separating the courses of 34 Korean LIS Departments into these seven domains: General Library and Information Science; Information Organization; Library and Information Center Management; Information Services; Information Science; Bibliography; and Archival Science. The results showed that the number of courses reduced in most domains over the past 20 years, except for the Library Service and Information Science areas. This study also explored the following phenomena: disappeared courses, changed course’s names, courses that integrated into a single course, courses that separated into various other courses, and newly emerging courses with the developing age.
Regardless of which country, all public libraries need facilities, collections, and funds. But how well the library system succeeds depends on the staff committed to providing the highest possible level of service to the community. The public library, therefore, should employ the appropriate number of full-time staff. In order to warrant such a work force, this study analyzed the juridical justification, logical validity, realistic fitness, and usefulness of current legal and recommended staffing standards. This study also suggested the revisions of total space of buildings and collection size as crucial variables for library staffing, division of legal service populations, basic staffing level, and additional staff in proportion to service populations for public libraries in Korea.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference of the reading guidance for the youth among personality types. This presented the desirable way of the reading guidance through the differences. For this study, the data was collected through observation and focus group interview while reading guidance was implemented among senior year elementary school students and middle school students. This study revealed the possibility of the reading guidance based on personality type. As a result of the reading guidance, this showed the differences between personality type and reading attitude; and between reading tendency and product writing of the youth.
Due to the recent technological improvements, the environments of e-books and its contents have been changed and the users of e-books have drastically increased. This study aimed to propose a model on how children access and search e-books in this digital era. For this study, a potential model was proposed based on the analyses on various information-seeking behavior models. For analyzing children's access and search processes on e-books, 30 children in five public libraries or school media centers in Seoul and Kyoungi-do areas were recruited for the in-depth interviews. As a potential model on children's access and search on e-books was re-visited and revised based on the results, a cyclic model of children's access and search on e-books was proposed containing six factors.
Due to the inferior condition of local library reference service, an air of indifference about users, and the increase in Internet resources, cooperative reference service in domestic libraries tend to be stagnant. The increase in Internet resources was reconsidered, aside from traditional library reference service, based on question and answer service. It shed new light on the importance of indirect service, which is focused on reliable knowledge base construction. This study analyzed cooperative reference service, which is managed by the Japanese Diet library that pursued indirect service contrary to ours. Based on that, it suggested a new takeoff possibility for Korean cooperative reference service.
This study was conducted to propose a new “Statistical Indicators of Libraries for the Disabled (SILD)” to collect objective and reliable data from such libraries. The previous researches and related literature were reviewed to compare current national statistical indicators. The draft of a new SILD, which was based on the current SILD, was made by deriving from countable factors at the library. These were selected from various parts of the library sectors, such as the library-related laws, library standards, evaluation indices of library service for the disabled, and statistical indicators of libraries for the disabled from IFLA, ISO, and other major countries. The draft was compared to the current SILD. The draft was then reviewed by five librarians and on-site experts working at the library for the disabled to see if they have any comments on each item of the draft. The new SILD is composed of 26 items in seven categories, and it can be used in understanding the present situation of libraries for the disabled.
We investigated how useful video tags were in summarizing video speech and how valuable positional information was for speech summarization. Furthermore, we examined the similarity among sentences selected for a speech summary to reduce its redundancy. Based on such analysis results, we then designed and evaluated a method for automatically summarizing speech transcripts using a modified Maximum Marginal Relevance model. This model did not only reduce redundancy but it also enabled the use of social tags, title words, and sentence positional information. Finally, we compared the proposed method to the Extractor system in which key sentences of a video speech were chosen using the frequency and location information of speech content words. Results showed that the precision and recall rates of the proposed method were higher than those of the Extractor system, although there was no significant difference in the recall rates.
The purpose of this study was to assess the activities and satisfaction of school library parent volunteers. The questionnaire survey, which consisted of questions regarding personal background, volunteering experience, training, interpersonal relation, and satisfaction, was administered for two weeks in November 2011 to volunteers in 34 elementary schools in Anyang and Gwacheon area. Data collected from 524 volunteers (response rate was 60.6%) were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, and correlation analysis. Most of the volunteers were female, 36-40 in age, and with college education. The biggest group had seven to 12 months volunteering experience, less than six hours, and frequencies for the last six months. Seventy-four percent had training before the volunteer service and 50.9% had continuing education experience. The mean score of satisfaction was 3.64 on a five-point Likert scale. There were significant statistical differences in satisfaction, depending on sex, education, level of volunteering experience, and continuing education. There was a positive correlation between interpersonal relationship and satisfaction. Based on the results, recommendations for systematic volunteer management were suggested to improve effectiveness and satisfaction.
The study identified the various service factors for dyslexia-friendly library in promoting accessibilities and eliminating barriers. The results from the in-depth interviews and social survey for dyslexia students and their guardians suggested some of the new library policies. These are: 1) more intensive need for PR and ads programs; 2) the revision of the existing library regulations and the assignment of dyslexia librarians; and 3) the expansion and customization of library stocks and dyslexic private rooms.
This study aimed to enhance our understanding of the public relations of public libraries through newspaper article analysis. Thus, this study built a theoretical background on the public relations of public libraries through newspaper articles. It examined newspaper articles on Eunpyeong Public Library in 2010 according to newspaper classification, article type, and article content among others. Accordingly, this exploratory case study, which used the methods of content analysis, interview, and site visit, analyzed them, with emphasis on such factors as the subjects, objects, direction, contents, and methods that influenced the public relations of public libraries.
The purpose of this study was to propose information services for people with disabilities in the culture and art complex. As a research method, group interviews were conducted. Data were collected from three different groups of people with physical disabilities, hearing impairments, and visual impairments in order to investigate specific information services for these groups of people. The results of the information services needed were indicated, based on four sections: the center web pages, information desk, orientation area, and information search area. Specifically, the results showed that more active supports would be provided at the information desks for people with hearing impairments and visual impairments as well as facilities for people with physical disabilities. In the orientation area, special equipment would be provided for people with hearing impairments and visual impairments, and exclusive seats for wheelchair users. For further studies, a detailed research about the information behavior for visitors with disabilities in the culture and art complex would be needed.
The purpose of this research was to examine the significance of the first edition of Tripitaka Koreana. In this research, the following were done: 1) by clarifying the place and date of praying for the engraving of the first edition of Tripitaka Koreana, its significance as “Daejanggyeong” produced to expel the Kitan was more clearly explained; 2) its physical characteristics were examined to provide evidence of the artistic and creative features of its engravings, quite different from those of the Gaebo Tripitaka made in China; and 3) its structure was analyzed from a viewpoint of a systematic bibliography. It was found that since the first edition of Tripitaka Koreana contained all the earlier lists of Buddhistic scriptures in China(and individual scriptures were thoroughly examined and included into its content since the reign of King Munjong), it had a systematic bibliographical significance demonstrated by its comprehensive and cumulative nature.
In an attempt to study the current status and ways to revitalize cultural programs in small libraries, this study surveyed 142 small libraries based in the Seoul. Two most important functions of both public and private small libraries were found to be the loan/return of materials and cultural programs; over 50% of small libraries are operating cultural programs. It was also found that institutions that did not operate the cultural programs were aware of the necessity. Both public and private small libraries were operating one to three cultural programs, and their types varied from cultural refinement to reading-related programs. There was a higher rate of answers stating that the person in charge of operating cultural programs for public small libraries were administrative personnels, while the chief librarian was the person in charge for private small libraries. The hardships both types of libraries encountered were found to be budget-related and on securing manpower.
The purpose of this study was to propose the expansion plan of outreach services at public libraries. This study explored the nature of outreach services of public libraries. It also compared the types and cases of services conducted by public libraries in Korea and the U.S.A., respectively, through literature research and library websites. The following were proposed: (1) diversity of outreach service; (2) quality improvement of outreach service; (3) consolidation of online outreach service; and (4) human and financial resources, and community partnership.
This study described the Library and Information Science program at USC as compared with those of Korean national universities; and suggested ways to improve them. Data was collected through interviews, literature review, and analysis of the USC SLIS homepage. A number of features in USC SLIS can be implemented in Korea and gain positive results. In the near future, some of the features that can be introduced in Korean universities to strengthen their programs may include: setting distinct objectives for MA and Ph. D programs, constructing the aims and courses of doctoral programs in the direction of improving the research skills of students, and increasing the number of courses on Children and Juvenile. In the long term, students will also benefit from other changes such as adjusting courses to train school librarians and offering double-major tracks for graduate students.