Vast Active Library and Information Science blog. From a recent library science graduate in Wellington, New Zealand. A focus on reference and current awareness tools and issues, especially free, web-based resources.

 
The LIANZA (Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa) conference was over a month ago, so I'm somewhat slow in getting around to this, but my excuse is that the conference papers have only been posted on the website for a week or two.

Anyway: Weaving Threads to Hold Across the Reference Desk (PDF, 110kb), reports an investigation into how well Auckland University library is meeting the needs of its large population of Asian students.

Some interesting points about how libraries differ between Asian and Western countries (the former are more likely to be closed stack, librarians may have lower status, and students may expect libraries to provide them with the answer, rather than the tools to find the answer). Also a brief discussion of Asian learning styles, problems with language barriers, and the library's need to market services such as interlibrary loan more effectively (something that would probably apply to most user groups).

| posted by Simon at 10:06 am