This edited collection is drawn from the sixth Libraries Without Walls Conference, held in 2005. From their beginnings in 1995, the Libraries Without Walls conferences have mapped a major change in the practice of librarianship. While library services are still concerned to provide users with physical access to their buildings, electronic access, often from remote locations, is becoming ever more dominant. Papers presented at previous LWW conferences have provided examples of how libraries are pushing out the frontiers of their services. In 2005 a different approach was taken. The question was asked, 'How do we know whether these new services are having a positive impact on our users?' In response, papers written by leading professionals worldwide followed these broad themes: theoretical approaches to the evaluation of the new services, with an emphasis on qualitative methods the user experience: what do we know about the users of these services? assessment of the usability, including the accessibility, of the services measuring the outcomes and impact. Readership: These state-of-the-art papers will enable library managers and information professionals in all sectors to keep abreast of the latest developments in this vital area. The book will also assist educational specialists and course developers in increasing their understanding of the role and importance of information in the learning process.

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 library services are still concerned to provide users with physical access to their buildings, electronic access - often from remote locations - is becoming ever more dominant. Library services are 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 covered: 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 experience of developing 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 Delivery and assessment of information skills/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.

For most people, home is a place with four walls. It's a place to eat, sleep, rest, and live. For a refugee, the concept of home is ever-changing, ever-moving, ever-wavering. And often, it doesn't have any walls at all. Eleven-year-old Lam escapes from Vietnam with Dee Dee during the Vietnamese Boat People Exodus in 1979, when people from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fled their homelands for safety. For a refugee, the trip is a long and perilous one, filled with dangerous encounters with pirates and greedy sailors, a lack of food and water, and even the stench of a dead body onboard. When they finally arrive at a refugee camp, Lam befriends Dao, a girl her age who becomes like a sister-a welcome glimmer of happiness after a terrifying journey. Readers will feel as close to Lam as the jade pendant she wears around her neck, sticking by her side throughout her journey as she experiences fear, crushing loss, boredom, and some small moments of joy along the way. Written in verse, this is a heartfelt story that is sure to build empathy and compassion for refugees around the world escaping oppression.

Winner, 2018 Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Studies in Germanic Languages and Literatures, Modern Language Association Winner, 2018 German Studies Association DAAD Book Prize in Germanistik and Cultural Studies. From the current vantage point of the transformation of books and libraries, B. Venkat Mani presents a historical account of world literature. By locating translation, publication, and circulation along routes of “bibliomigrancy”—the physical and virtual movement of books—Mani narrates how world literature is coded and recoded as literary works find new homes on faraway bookshelves. Mani argues that the proliferation of world literature in a society is the function of a nation’s relationship with print culture—a Faustian pact with books. Moving from early Orientalist collections, to the Nazi magazine Weltliteratur, to the European Digital Library, Mani reveals the political foundations for a history of world literature that is at once a philosophical ideal, a process of exchange, a mode of reading, and a system of classification. Shifting current scholarship’s focus from the academic to the general reader, from the university to the public sphere, Recoding World Literature argues that world literature is culturally determined, historically conditioned, and politically charged.

This state of the art collection will enable library managers and information professionals in all sectors to keep abreast of the latest developments in this vital area.

Thinking about ultimate reality is becoming increasingly transreligious. This transreligious turn follows inevitably from the discovery of divine truths in multiple traditions. Global communications bring the full range of religious ideas and practices to anyone with access to the internet. Moreover, the growth of the nones and those who describe themselves as spiritual but not religious creates a pressing need for theological thinking not bound by prescribed doctrines and fixed rituals. This book responds to this vital need. The chapters in this volume each examine the claim that if the aim of theology is to know and articulate all we can about the divine reality, and if revelations, enlightenments, and insights into that reality are not limited to a single tradition, then what is called for is a theology without confessional restrictions. In other words, a Theology Without Walls. To ground the project in examples, the volume provides emerging models of transreligious inquiry. It also includes sympathetic critics who raise valid concerns that such a theology must face. This is a book that will be of urgent interest to theologians, religious studies scholars, and philosophers of religion. It will be especially suitable for those interested in comparative theology, inter-religious and interfaith understanding, new trends in constructive theology, normative religious studies, and global philosophy of religion.

An essential tool for digital services for every campus library The Twelfth Off-Campus Library Services Proceedings is a selection of superb presentations from the twelfth annual conference on library services held in Savannah, Georgia in April 2006. Respected experts tackle the latest issues in library services, distance learning, and administration, focusing on theory, best practices, and practical digital applications using the most current research available at the time of the conference. Case studies provide a clear view of the challenges present in various types of campus libraries, and practical strategies are offered to more fully utilize electronic resources in the future. This comprehensive collection provides valuable advice on copyright issues, evaluating library services Web sites, best practices for distance learning instruction, Weblogs in instruction, collaborative efforts, and many other of the latest issues. Practical ideas consider budget and knowledge constraints, emphasizing strategies using the latest digital software. The future of electronic services in campus libraries is considered in detail. The book also contains workshop and poster abstracts, including full papers when provided by the author. The Twelfth Off-Campus Library Services Proceedings contains several helpful tables and appendixes to clearly illustrate surveys and data results. Each chapter is carefully referenced. Topics in The Twelfth Off-Campus Library Services Proceedings include: providing education on the key differences between copyright and plagiarism results of a survey from users to determine usefulness of content and services offered in an electronic environment findings of a survey on the form and function models within regional campus librarians comparison between (ARL/ACRL) SPEC Kit data and a selection of current library literature survey results on the professional development needs of distance librarians the use of blogs as a supplement to face-to-face instruction and as outreach the role of e-mail reference in electronic services virtual (real-time chat) reference collaborations recommendations for modifications to the process of adapting and testing an analytic rubric used with graduate literature reviews case study in statewide cooperation in the delivery of library services much, much more! The Twelfth Off-Campus Library Services Proceedings is an invaluable resource that explores present and future digital library services challenges for campus librarians of all types everywhere.