"An alternative proposal for the education of librarians, emphasizing general knowledge and intellectual rigor and discouraging careerism"--Provided by publisher.

"Provides a snapshot of the current state of critical information literacy as it is enacted and understood by academic librarians"--

Public librarianship is a constantly changing field, and the direction of its development depends on theoretical and applied research. This book examines many of the research needs in public librarianship and discusses appropriate strategies to meet those needs. The chapters, written by active researchers in the public library field, reflect a variety of issues and opinions. Included are chapters on the evaluation of collections, community awareness of the library as an information source, models for library siting, and communication between librarians and public library educators. Recommendations for further investigations provided by the researchers identify possibilities for increasing knowledge in this field, and a bibliographic essay organizes and summarizes much of the work discussed in the text.

Answering the call for a standard of bibliographic control & a critical analysis of the literature of library & information science, the return of this annual will be hailed as a boon to the profession. The work features more than 400 in-depth, evaluative reviews of English-language library science monographs, reference books, & selected library & information science periodicals published in the United States, Canada, & Great Britain. In addition, a large section devoted to doctorial dissertations in Library & Information Studies (1988-1996) was compiled by Ken Haycock & Ann Curry, making this the most comprehensive guide for library science educators, students, researchers, & practitioners.