Letter from the
Chair

Hello Social Sciences Libraries Section!

I hope to see you all at the upcoming IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Helsinki, Finland! Our Social Science Libraries Standing Committee has organized an exciting conference program on Thursday, August 16, from 10:45 a.m. -12:45 p.m., entitled “Empowering Library Users to Solve Problems: Our Stories.” We hope you will come to hear your library colleagues from six different countries share their stories and case studies related to how they used data to drive change in their libraries. Please also stop by our Social Science Libraries Standing Committee poster during the poster sessions. Our poster will highlight the work of our section and the importance of social sciences libraries.

The Social Science Libraries Section has had a busy year. The section’s work to create a new Special Interest Group (SIG), Religions in Dialogue (RELINDIAL), has been moving forward thanks to the efforts of standing committee members Odile Dupont and Lynne Rudasill. They have worked very hard to make this new SIG a reality. The SIG will have its first meeting in Helsinki on Monday, August 13, 4:00-6:00. If you are interested in participating, please attend this inaugural meeting to learn more.

Social Science Libraries Standing Committee members, Maria Elena Dorta-Duque and Lynne Rudasill, have begun work editing a new book highlighting the papers presented at our 2011 satellite conference in Havana, Cuba. Dorta-Duque and Rudasill, the chairs of the satellite conference, invited several satellite conference presenters to write book chapters expanding on the themes covered in the satellite conference. The book, tentatively entitled, “Open
Access and Digital Libraries: Social Science Libraries in Action,” will hopefully be published by the end of 2012.

When in Helsinki, please join us at the Social Science Libraries Standing Committee meetings (see schedule in Newsletter) as we plan our future projects and programs and begin to prepare for the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Singapore in 2013. Even if you are not a member of the Standing Committee, we welcome you and encourage you to attend our meetings.
Liz Cooper
See you in Helsinki!
Chair, Social Science Libraries Standing Committee

27 July 2012 — Wilda Newman
IFLA World Library and Information Congress
78th IFLA General Conference and Assembly
11-17 August 2012, Helsinki, FinlandSession 203
16 August 2012 10:45 – 12:45
Room: Session Room 4
Congress track 3: Users driving access and services.

http://conference.ifla.org/ifla78/session-203
… a two-hour program on Thursday 16 August 2012, offered in cooperation with the Law Libraries Section and the Government Libraries Section.

As social scientists we are interested in data gathering and its impact. The six presentations for this program relate to results of qualitative and quantitative assessments and examples of how libraries have used these assessments to answer the needs of users. Specifically we will offer case studies/papers that show the impact of gathering data and how the data gathering process led to changed or improved services. Our focus is not on how data was gathered – but how that data was used to empower users. Program papers include descriptions of interventions/changes made after data was collected, attempts to understand how users use information and stories of how data gathering led to new services, etc. Questions and discussion will follow.

Desk statistics under a microscope = improved library services
SUSAN GARDNER ARCHAMBAULT (Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California, USA)

Was wir von unseren Nutzern lernen können – und wie
SEBASTIAN NIX (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, Bibliothek und wissenschaftliche Information, Berlin, Germany)

How to be competitive in the educational & cultural landscape: the challenge of the Carol I Central University Library in Bucharest, Romania – case study
MIREILLE RADOI (Carol I Central University Library, Bucharest, Romania)

Libraries supporting national development goals in Namibia
ELLEN NAMHILA (University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia) and RITVA NISKALA (Namibia Library and Archives Service, Ministry of Education, Windhoek, Namibia)

Empowering library users, establishing channel of communication for service quality expectations of trainers from government Administrative Training Institute (ATI) libraries in India
MANOJ KULKARNI (Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration (YAHSADA), Pune, India) and NEELA J. DESHPANDE (University of Pune, Pune, India)
Die Befähigung von Bibliotheksnutzer, das Einrichten des Kommunikationskanals
für Qualitätsansprüchen der Trainer von Government
Administrative Training Institute [staatlichadministrativen Ausbildungseinrichtungen] (ATI) Bibliotheken in Indien

Dr. Manoj Kulkarni
Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration (YASHADA)
Pune, Indien
Und
Dr. Mrs. Neela J. Deshpande
Jayakar Library, University of Pune
Pune, Indien
Zusammenfassung
Im 21. Jahrhundert das Bibliothekswesen, die zusätzliche Dienstleistungen und die Zufriedenheit der Bibliotheknutzer sind die Stichwörter für irgendeine Bibliothek. Es ist wichtig, um Dialoge mit den Anwender zu etablieren und zu finden, was eigentlich ihre Erwartungen sind, um die Anwender der Bibliothek zu befriedigen. Die Hauptrolle des richtigen Kommunikationskanals ist, die Bedürfnisse der Anwendern zu etablieren und die Anwendern bevorzugen in der Bibliotheksverwaltung teizunehmen. Das hilft der Bibliotheksverwalter, die Nutzung der Bibliothek zu erweitern. Die Erwartungen über die Qualitätsansprüchen der Bibliotheken wurden von 29 staatlichadministrativen Ausbildungseinrichtungen aus Indien studiert. Die Rückmeldung war ermutigend und die Anwendern waren froh, ihre Erwartungen über verschiedene Aspekte der physischen Umgebung, der Anleitung, das Personal, die Ressourcen und Dienstleistungen zu teilen. Die Erwartungen der Anwendern werden umgesetzt und die Infrastruktur der Bibliothek, die Ressourcen, die Schulung von dem Personal, der Büchergemeinschaft, die Ausstellung von der Regierungsveröffentlichungen und andere Aktivitäten werden in die Praxis umzusetzen.

Giving them what they need, more simply: empowering students through internet specific subject websites
DOUG SUAREZ (Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada)

http://conference.ifla.org/ifla78/session-203

Empowering library users to solve problems: our stories

… a two-hour program on Thursday 16 August 2012, offered in cooperation with the Law Libraries Section and the Government Libraries Section.

As social scientists we are interested in data gathering and its impact. The six presentations for this program relate to results of qualitative and quantitative assessments and examples of how libraries have used these assessments to answer the needs of users. Specifically we will offer case studies/papers that show the impact of gathering data and how the data gathering process led to changed or improved services. Our focus is not on how data was gathered – but how that data was used to empower users. Program papers include descriptions of interventions/changes made after data was collected, attempts to understand how users use information and stories of how data gathering led to new services, etc. Questions and discussion will follow.

Desk statistics under a microscope = improved library services
SUSAN GARDNER ARCHAMBAULT (Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California, USA)

Was wir von unseren Nutzern lernen können – und wie
SEBASTIAN NIX (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, Bibliothek und wissenschaftliche Information, Berlin, Germany)

How to be competitive in the educational & cultural landscape: the challenge of the Carol I Central University Library in Bucharest, Romania – case study
MIREILLE RADOI (Carol I Central University Library, Bucharest, Romania)

Libraries supporting national development goals in Namibia
ELLEN NAMHILA (University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia) and RITVA NISKALA (Namibia Library and Archives Service, Ministry of Education, Windhoek, Namibia)

Empowering library users, establishing channel of communication for service quality expectations of trainers from government Administrative Training Institute (ATI) libraries in India
MANOJ KULKARNI (Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration (YAHSADA), Pune, India) and NEELA J. DESHPANDE (University of Pune, Pune, India)

Giving them what they need, more simply: empowering students through internet specific subject websites
DOUG SUAREZ (Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada)