BUILDING CONFIDENCE AND COMPETENCE - A WORKSHOP IN SCIENCE JOURNALS FOR BEGINNING LIBRARIANS WITHOUT A SCIENCE BACKGROUND

Two factors militate against the smooth handling of collection management and processing decisions regarding science journals by recent U.S. library school graduates. Most have not had enough advanced science training as undergraduates to have become exposed in a significant way to this category of material. Further, despite the fact that material of the sort is likely to continue to be among the most expensive items in most research libraries, current graduate school curricula have tended to deemphasize practical guidance in handling hard-copy journals, and so there is little chance for correcting this deficit of skills and insight during training. By way of compensation, this paper outlines a three-session, hands-on workshop that may be given to current graduate students or to new professionals. Emphasis is initially on explaining common features of journals, and then on detailing the competitive factors in publishing and evolutionary forces in scientific disciplines that explain their diversity. Sample exercises, with solutions, are provided. © 1990 by The Haworth Press, Inc.