As one might expect, visual literacy has particular necessity for the librarian who, like this author, works in a Visual Resources Center (VRC). Recently the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) published its updated "Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education." These standards succinctly introduce visual…

Prior to retiring from full-time librarianship to concentrate on readers' advisory (RA) consulting, teaching, and book and media discussions, Ted Balcom, longtime administrator of the Villa Park Public Library (VPPL), Illinois, repeatedly demonstrated a particularly effective approach to shoring up essential library support. Balcom, 1996 winner of…

The concept of the embedded librarian takes subject specialization to another plane. The article that follows discusses the embedded librarian as an evolutionary product and speculates on the reasons driving the change from the library to the department or center for the delivery of information services. Four drivers for change are explored with…

Western Illinois University Libraries has cut online serials subscriptions in the past 2 years. The librarians were guided by the statistics for downloads provided by the publishers of the journals. However, questions were raised by both professors and librarians regarding the exact meaning of the statistics. This caused the electronic resources…

To establish a more direct link between its collections and the educational goals of Saint Xavier University, the Byrne Memorial Library has adopted a "holistic" approach to collection development. This article examines how traditional budget practices influenced the library's selection of resources and describes how holistic collection…

School librarians serving diverse learning communities, such as the Chicago Public Schools, have always been aware of the need to seek out multicultural books as "mirrors [that] let readers see reflections of their own lives; windows [that] let them see others' lives." But until a colleague sent this author the document "10 Quick…

Based on the findings of a recent three-year study by Dominican University's Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, the authors can confirm what many librarians have long suspected: students who take part in their local library's summer reading program significantly improve their reading skills. This article describes the results of…

Tom Peters packs 36 hours of work into the confines of a 24-hour day. Without breaking a sweat, he juggles multiple collaborative projects, which currently include an Illinois academic library shared storage facility; a multistate virtual reference and instruction service for blind and visually impaired individuals (InfoEyes); a virtual meeting…

Academic librarians are challenged with development and maintenance of collections of research materials in various formats. Although it is assumed that they are monitoring the needs of their constituencies as a part of the collection management decision-making process, the literature reflects only a few studies that focus on direct solicitation…

Academic libraries increasingly rely on Interlibrary Loan (ILL) departments to obtain research materials. This adds to the workload of ILL at a time when many libraries are experiencing budget cuts and dwindling staff. Collaboration between ILL and Reference can assist ILL by providing searching expertise. Collaboration is facilitated by the…

Describes resources available to librarians that provide references to government publications, presents sample reference questions and answers, and discusses the use of shared printed and human resources to aid in access to government information. (CLB)

The access and reproduction policies of the digital collections of 10 leading university digital libraries worldwide are classified according to factors such as the creation type of the material, acquisition method, copyright ownership etc. The relationship of these factors is analysed, showing how acquisition methods and copyright ownership…

Two surveys were conducted in 1981/82 and 1982 respectively to determine if Illinois public libraries were satisfying their patrons in terms of book use, and how much money Illinois public libraries received directly from their patrons in library fines, fees, and charges. In the first study, 2,133 adults returning a book at a random sample of 71…

Academic librarians in Illinois were surveyed to determine their attitudes toward and recordkeeping practices for online searches. Findings indicate that confidentiality is considered to be as important for online searches as for circulation records, but that recordkeeping practices and attitudes toward subject and client disclosure do not assume…

This report presents statistical pictures of Illinois Public Libraries during the fiscal year 1988-1989. The information comes primarily from the Illinois Public Library Annual Report forms. In addition, text has been included that describes how a library or library system can utilize these statistics. Three sections divide the publication.…