Provides a historical overview of LOEX-of-the-West (Library Orientation Exchange) while introducing this special issue of RSR that includes presentations from the 1998 conference, "Library Instruction for the 21st Century." The first LOEX-of-the-West Conference was held at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon in June 1994. (AEF)

Describes factors behind a 1993 proposal at Harvard College (Massachusetts) to renovate its undergraduate library to a gateway library to change from print to digital information. Summarizes findings from a national conference sponsored by Harvard College Library and based on a position paper entitled "Gateways to Knowledge: A New Direction…

The creation of an information technology center at the University of Oregon Science Library is described. Goals included providing access to Internet-based resources and multimedia software, platforms for running science-oriented software, and resources so students can create multimedia materials. A mixed-lab platform was created with Unix-based…

Presents a study by Texas A&M University to find steps to improve access to engineering society technical papers. Steps include: consolidating indexes, creating finding guides, changing shelving procedures, and utilizing gopher-client servers. A table displays indexing results via an online system and appendixes offer an example of a gopher…

Reviews the research on maintaining information currency in reference collections. Discusses age versus use; continuity of maintenance; problems with irregularly published works; manual maintenance methods; computer-assisted methods; assignment of responsibility; and collection management/maintenance policies. Suggests how to improve reference…

Discusses implementation of the automated recording of reshelving statistics for print reference materials and the use of these statistics in reference-collection development and management, especially in making acquisitions and weeding decisions, based on experiences at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. (Author/LRW)

Describes the experiences of Rhode Island's Higher Education Library Information Network (HELIN) Consortium in purchasing electronic journals and databases. Discusses criteria and guidelines developed to help in the decision making process, including coverage, indexing, search features, help features, screen design, full text availability,…