This article discusses a public service review and redesign that resulted in a blended service desk combining reference and circulation functions, staffed by nonlibrarians. The redesign implements a number of organizational structures that encourage service excellence, as found in the business literature and in examples of nonlibrary organizations…

"Research Library Issues" ("RLI") focuses on current and emerging topics that are strategically important to research libraries. The articles explore issues, share information, pose critical questions, and provide examples. This issue includes the following articles: (1) Special at the Core: Aligning, Integrating, and…

It has become widely recognised across the academic and research libraries sector that special collections and archives play a key role in differentiating each institution from its peers. In recognition of this, Research Libraries UK (RLUK) established the workstrand "Unique and Distinctive Collections" (UDC) in support of its strategic…

This assessment of ten existing academic library instruction programs in the United States and Canada investigates administrative and staff support, instructional methods, and program impact as an aid to writing a guide to academic library instruction programs. A representative sample of ten library instruction programs was selected on the basis…

This book brings together relevant doctoral research related to the instructional effectiveness of the elementary and secondary school librarian and school library. The research is distilled from supervised research studies conducted at North American universities. In the opening section, the book describes what works, based on findings about…

A study of library school faculty and academic library directors' perceptions of the educational quality of master's and doctoral programs in library and information science and of the professional contributions of library school faculties is reported. Perception rankings are compared to similar studies carried out in 1980 and 1986. (18…

This report discusses the implementation of DOBIS, an online, integrated library system run on a shared-use mainframe computer, at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) Library during 1984 and 1985. General information about BCIT, the library, and DOBIS is provided, and the project background is discussed. An overview of the…

A major characteristic of Canadian society has been an increasingly multi-racial, multi-ethnic and multi-linguistic population. It has become evident that there is a critical need for the educational system to respond more effectively and more creatively to the needs of a diverse society. In order to address this issue, the Manitoba government has…

Papers on information technology which were presented at the 1985 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference include: (1) "Technology in the Public Library: The Impact on our Community" (Kenneth E. Dowlin, United States); (2) "Software Evaluation: Sources and Resources in the United Kingdom" (Stephen…

In 1975 a study of the Ontario (Canada) public library system was undertaken in order to develop plans for organizing, financing, and coordinating public libraries in the next ten years. From published reports, interviews, letters, and examination of facilities and available data, information was collected on provincial and county library…

The Canadian university library members of two consortial e-journal deals were surveyed t o determine how many of the corresponding print journals had been cancelled as a result of their participation in the online package purchase. The survey indicated that the number of concurrent print subscriptions held by the libraries had notably decreased.…

Upon the adoption of a provincial statement of policy designed to guide the development and implementation of effective school library programs, the Alberta Department of Education agreed to provide a recommended model for developing an effective, integrated school library program. The model outlined in this document is particularly suitable as a…