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>Nowadays, there are lots of multidisciplinary sources of information >- ZETOC, ScienceDirect, Emerald, and while they are popular, our >stats show most people are using them by browsing, rather than >searching. The multidisciplinary aspect makes them not so good >for searching - e.g. relevance of recall is often low. Yes - I agree they are high recall/low precision. I encourage students to look at a range of subject specific and general tools when reviewing the literature. In some cases we have created our own databases where alternatives don't exist. One of the "information skills" we try to give students is to be able to apply searches across the range of databases they have to use. >It seems to me that information varies considerably from discipline >to discipline, as do the information needs of students from >discipline to discipline. So I'm interested in why you see things >differently. Well that depends on your perspective - some degree courses that combine for example maths, art and IT would struggle to identify their discipline beyond their degree topic, teaching/research staff might not approve either as they are trying to achieve a synthesis of all three rather than dealing with them separately. In general the literature tends to follow rather then precede ideas that are near a leading edge. >Why do you still call yourself a 'Subject Librarian'? I would question whether there is a in single definition of the term. It depends in part on the heritage of this institution you work in. The history here has been one of Tutor Librarians (Teacher + Librarian). I work for a School that encompasses a diversity of subjects. The theme is media. We have to take a strategic view of the "subject", the School and the curricula and fit the messages we give students (information skills, subject guides, web guides and so on) to them. >I can't imagine forcing/encouraging our students here to use multi- >disciplinary information skills packages. They come here to study >engineering/maths/brewing/whatever, and many have very little >interest in understanding information skills. They have no time for >such things anyway - and I rather believe that information products >should not require a knowledge in order to deliver. This is not the >angle taken by many information professionals, but I don't believe >in forcing information skills on students. Maybe I'm over-stating >that. Perhaps, there are plenty of taxonomies of information skills as well that expand the definition beyond just the use of databases. Need also to remember that these skills are applicable in the workplace so in many careers they are added value. Matt ________________________________________________________________________ Matt Holland - Subject Librarian - Bournemouth Media School. Bournemouth University, Dorset House Library, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB, UK. Tel: ++ 44 1202 595460 Fax: ++ 44 1202 595475 E-mail: [log in to unmask]