Wednesday, March 25, 2009

100 Innovations that Have Changed Librarianship

The Special Libraries Association (SLA) was founded in 1909 in the state of New York and is now the international association representing the interests of thousands of information professionals in over eighty countries worldwide.

Offered here is its recent list of 100 Innovations that Have Changed Librarianship:

  1. Personal computer (Mac, PC) that are affordable to the average person

  2. Internet access

  3. Electronic journals

  4. Google

  5. Information professionals entering the IT field

  6. Ability to meet multiple learning styles through multimedia - images, podcasts, videos

  7. Multiple channels for sharing/communicating

  8. Social networking tools - For example: Wikis such as MediaWiki and Confluence; blogs like WordPress, Typepad, Blogger, and Blogspot; Facebook; Professional networks like LinkedIn and Plaxo; Multimedia sites like YouTube and Flickr.

  9. Ease of multiple communication channels - phone, email, online

  10. High-speed and remote computing - broadband, WiFi

  11. Web conferencing

  12. Virtual worlds such as Second Life

  13. Inexpensive digital storage

  14. digitization

  15. OCR

  16. OPACs

  17. printers

  18. abstracts databases

  19. fulltext databases

  20. self checkout machines

  21. book vending machines

  22. print on demand

  23. wikipedia

  24. CD-roms

  25. modems

  26. Dialog and other dial up services

  27. hypertext linking

  28. gopher and veronica

  29. DRM

  30. institutional repositories

  31. electronic classroom management systems (ie. Blackboard)

  32. synchronous electronic classroom software (ie. Elluminate)

  33. electric date and time stampers

  34. barcodes

  35. RFID

  36. integrated library systems

  37. OCLC

  38. copy cataloging

  39. no limit memo field

  40. scanners

  41. typewriters

  42. Security systems

  43. Slender security strips

  44. Climate control equipment, to prevent deterioration of materials

  45. Copier

  46. Book trucks

  47. Magazine slanted shelves

  48. The MARC record

  49. Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

  50. streaming media

  51. metadata

  52. classification systems (LC and Dewey)

  53. word processing

  54. Twitter

  55. mobile libraries

  56. Knowledge management

  57. document management

  58. barcoding

  59. Dublin Core

  60. Mosaic web browser

  61. Tags

  62. Federated searches

  63. Microfilm/microfiche

  64. Texas Instruments (TI) Silent 700

  65. S. R. Ranganathan's 5 laws of library science (1931)

  66. Michael Gorman's (1998) 5 additional suggested laws:
    1. Libraries serve humanity.
    2. Respect all forms by which knowledge is communicated.
    3. Use technology intelligently to enhance service.
    4. Protect free access to knowledge.
    5. Honor the past and create the future.

  67. Open stacks

  68. In-depth subject specialists as the core of special librarianship

  69. Competitive intelligence gathering

  70. Working the "white space"

  71. Gutenberg's printing press

  72. Compact shelving

  73. Copyright laws

  74. Document delivery services

  75. Information brokers

  76. KWIC - Key Word In Context

  77. Computerization of cataloging. OCLC and OPACs do not begin to present the importance of not having to type duplicate copies of cards and file catalog cards. Also, the customer can do a keyword search without knowing how a subject heading or main entry (which is now a passe concept) was done. Keyword searching also means that there is less need to customize headings to local usage.

  78. Digitized indexes and abstracts - instead of manually doing repeated searching through individual months or years of print volumes spans of years can be quickly searched. Also, the digitization/computerization of these indexes allows keyword searching which can retrieve pertinent items that assigned desciptors do not cover.

  79. Digitization of full text of articles and now books. This allows desktop access to quality information. Also, it allows the compilation of bibliographies where reviewing the actual text of the document is necessary for determination for including a document. This is not something that could be done so easily even ten years ago.

  80. Chemical information services (CAS, Beilstein, Gmelin)

  81. Internet and communications protocols (TCP/IP, telnet, FTP, etc.)

  82. Mash-ups

  83. Introduction of the term, "Information Science" to replace or supplement "Library Science"

  84. The Commons and reinvention of libraries as "community centers" instead "storehouses of knowledge"

  85. Centralized reference

  86. AACR / AACR2R / RDA developments

  87. LC card standardization

  88. Poly-Vinyl Acetate for book repair

  89. Copyright legislation

  90. Chemical structure and substructure searching, using line notations and connection tables. This changed the face of chemical information retrieval.

  91. Carnegie Libraries across the United States, built from the donations of steel magnet and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

  92. PubMed open-access electronic version of Index Medicus

  93. e-books

  94. e-book readers like Amazon's Kindle

  95. IP based access to provide the digitised information campus wide

  96. Photocopier

  97. Boolean search capability

  98. Full-text searching

  99. World Wide Web

  100. Cell phones

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