This issue of "Research Library Issues" ("RLI") highlights the value of professional failure. The idea to explore this theme emerged from conversations with the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Innovation Lab Advisory Group earlier this year. It is the hope this issue highlights the value of failure--both its necessary…

Central Michigan University (CMU) provides a unique opportunity to study the impact of the move from face-to-face to online classes on student use of virtual reference services. As enrollments in face-to-face, off-campus classes declined between 2010 and 2016, the number of reference questions asked of the distance librarians declined at a…

When looking for ways to improve library services, we considered what data sources were readily available to us and how we could harvest and use this data. We investigated three years of chat reference statistics at Central Michigan University, a large research institution, to gain a better understanding of our patrons' chat behavior. We then…

A traditional mixed methods research model of citation analysis, a survey, and interviews was selected to determine if the Bruce T. Halle Library at Eastern Michigan University owned the content that faculty cited in their research, if the collection was being utilized, and what library services the faculty used. The combination of objective data…

Living inside built environments--infrastructure--it is easy to take for granted the things that we do not need to engage, but are at work behind the scenes nonetheless. Well-designed systems become invisible, but to engage them, how do we know which perspectives, objects, and relationships are useful? I examine the University of Michigan Digital…

DATA PRESENTED IN THIS REPORT WERE BASED PRIMARILY ON QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES OBTAINED THROUGH A NATIONAL CENSUS OF SPECIAL LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION CENTERS. THE SURVEY WAS MADE DURING THE PERIOD FROM AUGUST 1961 TO FEBRUARY 1963. ALTHOUGH THERE WERE MORE THAN 10,000 ENTRIES IN THE PUBLISHED DIRECTORY, EXCLUSION OF CANADIAN LIBRARIES AND DELETION…

The objectives of the study were to determine the extent and nature of unmet needs of users of reference and research library resources and to propose measures to meet those needs. Data on research library use were collected by 3 questionnaires sent to 4 groups of users: 1) all faculty members of 4-year public and private institutions of higher…

TO ASSESS ADEQUACY OF EXISTING COLLECTIONS, EVALUATE CURRENT PLANNING, AND PROPOSE GUIDELINES FOR IMPROVEMENT OF LIBRARIES, 17 OF THE STATE'S 18 JUNIOR COLLEGES WERE SURVEYED BY QUESTIONNAIRE, AND 13 WERE VISITED BY A TEAM OF CONSULTANTS. THIRTEEN COLLEGES HAD FEWER THAN THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION'S MINIMUM STANDARD OF 20,000 VOLUMES. GROWTH…

Over the last five years Michigan has worked on a comprehensive library services plan. A review of the goals, organization, and financing of local public libraries, existing system libraries, and college and university libraries suggested a number of changes to be mandated through two pieces of proposed legislation. One proposed bill encouraged…

To facilitate resource sharing, a union list of serials held by libraries in Oakland County, Michigan, was compiled. A steering committee representing the special, academic, and public libraries in the county planned the project. Special arrangements were made to eliminate such barriers to special library participation as: lack of staff for…

In 1986, a study was conducted to examine the status of the libraries and learning resource centers (LRC's) at Michigan community colleges. A questionnaire was used to gather background on the colleges, and information on the types and scope of services provided by the libraries/LRC's, their organizational structure, resource allocation, and key…

Collections at the Detroit Public Library and Wayne State University Libraries provide the core of a statewide microfiche retrieval system complemented by the facilities of other Michigan Library Consortium members. (Author/MLF)

A survey of 29 Michigan community and junior college learning resource centers was conducted in the spring of 1979 to examine the status of resources and services, their scope and use, and the staffing and budgets necessary to support these resources and services during the 1977-78 academic year. The survey report compares the data from this…

Discusses a 1984 survey of 47 selected academic and research libraries in Michigan to discover how problems inherent in the acquisition and control of microcomputer software were being handled. Indicates that 50 percent of the libraries collected no software and that there were no clear directions in software cataloging. (DMM)

The scholarly record, produced, distributed, and procured because of complex social values and by means of complex bureaucratic institutions, is now so large and continues to grow at such a pace that the task for identifying what should be purchased and retained for a particular library agency requires a highly abstract verbal model to explain.…