The social sciences have made fundamental contributions to the understanding of the economic, political and social life of nations in the past century. Social science libraries now have an important role to play in the context of the information society as significant sources of academic and social knowledge. This work provides information on the development and use of digital resources in the social sciences emphasizing best practices; an articulation of some of the problems presented to providing these resources; and a view to the use of these resources to support sustainable development.

Over the past decades, traditional academic library environments have transformed into digital libraries. This has resulted in many challenges for libraries in terms of the reinvention of libraries’ roles and organizations, the skill sets of librarians, and library infrastructure. At the same time, this profound transformation has opened the door to many new avenues, such as the support and advancement of Open Science. This book offers insights into the transformation of traditional library environments to digital libraries and details how digital libraries can contribute to Open Science, in particular to Open Access, FAIR and Open Data, and Open Education, by describing methods, criteria, strengths, and weaknesses as well as applications.

This book explores the various ways in which computer networking, and more specifically the Internet, is changing the practices, the structure, and the products of academic scholarship. It considers research, teaching, and dissemination of knowledge across a range of disciplines in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences in order to identify particular uses of networking that will come to constitute the academic world of the future. The contributors consider such themes as how networking and particular software environments can be used to support inquiry within research specialties and how scholars in diverse disciplines respond to the availability of new networked channels of scholarly communication. In the context of education, they argue that networking can reconfigure the process of learning, encompassing new audiences, new relationships with teachers, and new learning skills adapted for the network environment. The products of such new configurations are also discussed. The future of electronic journal publication is considered by innovators who have designed some of the first experiments in refereed electronic journal publication. Finally, the new responsibilities and roles of the academic library and academic publishers in a networked environment are debated.

The quality of library collections depends heavily on the initial assessment requirements. An accurate assessment assists with meeting the goals and missions of the library, but the introduction of digital media and resources is accompanied with new challenges in measuring the effective use of the library’s collection. The Handbook of Research on Inventive Digital Tools for Collection Management and Development in Modern Libraries details how libraries strive to bridge traditional collections with their new digital counterparts. Providing real-world examples and analysis of the modern library, this publication is a timely reference source for professionals and researchers in the fields of library and information science, as well as executives interested in information and organizational development.

An authoritative and truly global exploration of current research in digital libraries. Internationally-renowned academics discuss what has been achieved with digital libraries and what we can expect in the future through the prism of research. The increasing number of digital libraries in all sectors and the pressure of ever demanding and diverse user needs has encouraged development of user-centred interfaces, intelligent search and retrieval capabilities, effective metadata description and contents organization. In addition to the two editors who are renowned for their works in digital library research, this collection brings together established international names in the field to analyse these developments in relation to users and information access and the future trends and challenges that practitioners will face. Readership: LIS students, academics and researchers interested in digital libraries and access and those developing, managing or just starting out with digital libraries

Save time and avoid trouble as you search the Internet for reliable resources Evolving Internet Reference Resources provides both beginning and experienced researchers with a comprehensive overview of the key information sources available online in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. This invaluable book is your guide to the best free and subscription-based Internet sites and services for 26 diverse subject areas, including law, psychology, rhetoric, LGBT studies, health and medicine, engineering, Asian studies, and computer science. Experts in specific areas review Web sites, meta sites, indexing and abstracting services, directories, portals, databases, and blogs for their accessibility and usability, saving you valuable time and effort in your search for the best academic research and reference resources on the Web. Evolving Internet Reference Resources is your pathfinder for all levels of research in crucial areas of academic and general interest. The book will lead you through the almost overwhelming volume of information available online to help you steer clear of unreliable, untrustworthy, and slipshod material as you search for dictionaries, glossaries, bibliographies, images, book reviews, career information, fieldwork opportunities, biographical sources, timelines and chronologies, audio and video clips, interactive maps, online collections, and much more. Topics covered in Evolving Internet Reference Resources include: significant developments in the availability of art images on the Web how Internet resources have transformed rhetoric, composition, and poetry why free Web sites can sometimes be unreliable organizational strategies for librarians how commercial publishers have acquired some of the best LGBT online resources the potential for Internet resources to enhance social activism in Latin America new approaches taken by librarians in creating online information government agency Web sites online versions of college guides the development of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) technology the virtual reference shelf available to nursing students and faculty ESL (English as a Second Language) Web sites Evolving Internet Reference Resources is an essential tool for all librarians (academic, school, special, and public), library science faculty, and faculty and students in a wide variety of disciplines.

Evolving Internet Reference Resources provides both beginning and experienced researchers with a comprehensive overview of the key information sources available online in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. This invaluable book is your guide to the best free and subscription-based Internet sites and services for 26 diverse subject areas, including law, psychology, rhetoric, LGBT studies, health and medicine, engineering, Asian studies, and computer science. Experts in specific areas review Web sites, meta sites, indexing and abstracting services, directories, portals, databases, and blogs for their accessibility and usability, saving you valuable time and effort in your search for the best academic research and reference resources on the Web.

This book introduces readers to the principles underlying digital libraries, illustrating these principles by reference to a wide range of digital library practices throughout the world. Individual chapters deal with issues such as: digital library users and the services that are offered to them, the standards and protocols with which digital libraries must operate in order to cooperate with other institutions, and issues such as the administration of digital libraries, including discussion of intellectual property rights and preservation issues. A final chapter comprises eight case studies drawn from all over the world, used to illustrate points made in earlier chapters. Throughout the book, the challenges of developing and implementing digital library systems in multilingual and multicultural environments are explored.