This article discusses the difficulties Kutztown University's Rohrbach Library- and many libraries- face when evaluating eBook collections, and the process used to overcome some of the obstacles to making meaningful comparisons. Two multidisciplinary eBook subscription packages, EBSCO and ProQuest, are the focus of this study. Data collected from…

After three years of collecting electronic resources of troubleshooting tickets in Springhare's LibAnswers at University of Houston Libraries, the author conducted an analysis of over 300 tickets. The type of problem was identified for each ticket and then categorized into a functional area using an existing categorization schema developed at…

As governments around the world are beginning to recognize the role of creativity in the promotion of innovation and competitive advantage in a Global Knowledge Economy (GKE), Creative Knowledge-based Industries are becoming the focus of attention. Nevertheless, and in spite of the rise of Big Data, the prevailing absence of systematic library…

Academic librarians have embraced tools such as e-mail or chat that allow them to deliver reference services virtually, but not many studies have advocated for using social networking sites (SNS) as a medium for answering user questions. Even as reference departments field fewer questions requiring in-depth resources or responses, librarians have…

Recently, a great deal of literature on patron-driven acquisition (PDA) has been published that addresses the implementation and results of PDA programs at academic libraries. However, despite widespread worries that PDA will lead to unbalanced collections, little attention has been paid to whether patrons' and librarians' purchasing differ…

The MLA's report "Language and Literature Research in Regional Comprehensive Institutions" identifies and documents the research support needs of faculty members in the disciplines of literature and language, cultural studies, and writing studies in the United States and its territories, focusing on institutions considered regional…

"University Futures, Library Futures: Aligning library strategies with institutional directions" establishes a new framework for understanding the fit between emerging library service paradigms and university types. It examined the impact of increased institutional differentiation in universities on the organization of academic libraries…

There has been longstanding debate about whether the level of complexity of questions received at reference desks and via online chat services requires a librarian's expertise. Continued decreases in the number and complexity of reference questions have all but ended the debate; many academic libraries no longer staff service points with…

University rankings play an increasingly large role in shaping the goals of academic institutions and departments, while removing universities themselves from the evaluation process. This study compares the library-related results of two university ranking publications with scores on the LibQUAL+™ survey to identify if library service quality--as…

This study analyzed the relationships between variables of institutional expenses, library expenses, and library use and variables representing graduation and retention rates for colleges and universities. Using data drawn from the Integrated Postsecondary Educational Data System and the Academic Library Survey, institutions were compared by their…

In this article, a librarian at Lincoln Memorial University creates library services for an MBA program offered entirely online that is in the early stages of development. The library services include a subject guide and 4 tutorials that will be added to the MBA online orientation. Other services include offering online office hours and…

Just as academic gaming in general cannot be limited to any one topic or genre, the "Public Services Quarterly" Internet Resources column is not limited to a single entry on gaming and gamification in libraries. Public services librarians interested in designing their own games have many successful examples to draw from. The previous…

The purpose of this study was to explore how faculty and students responded to the Information Control section of the LibQUAL+® survey at two libraries with different Carnegie Classifications. As one of the institutions being studied was considering a shift from a research institution to one more focused on teaching and learning, this study used…

The University of Michigan Library wanted to learn more about the kinds of searches its users were conducting through the "one search" search box on the Library Web site. Library staff conducted two investigations. A preliminary investigation in 2011 involved the manual review of the 100 most frequently occurring queries conducted…

Academic libraries by nature serve as spaces for communities of learners to gather. Careful design and marketing of spaces to meet specific needs, staffed by experts to facilitate and guide such learning, enhance the impact of "library as place." In this article, the author shares two examples of collaborations that have resulted from partnerships…