What could bring more change to an online library than going from a federated to a discovery search system? Not much! This paper will share what was learned about initiating and implementing an important change that ultimately impacts a variety of stakeholders, and the importance of collaboration between library personnel at all levels of an…

"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) ARL Library Budgets after the Great Recession, 2011-13…

In January 2008, the Belk Library & Information Commons at Appalachian State University combined the Access Services staff members of the Circulation and Lower Level Service Desks with the Reference and Instruction team as part of a library-wide reorganization effort. The new team balanced what had been a staff-dominated Access Services team…

Student workers have always been a traditional and valuable component to the smooth running of many academic health sciences libraries. However, in recent years many libraries have redefined student workers' roles to extend beyond their traditional scope due to a range of factors, such as loss of staff and budget cutbacks. The Bio-Medical Library…

This paper will look at the services presently offered to distance students by libraries within the categories of professional staff, access to resources, reference assistance, and library user instruction. It will then offer the argument that these services could be improved by developing embedded librarians within online academic courses as a…

This bibliographic essay discusses a variety of items from the literature on the evaluation of reference services and reference personnel. A model for the evaluation process is presented on which the literature review is based. (Contains 48 references.) (LRW)

Discusses the history of the reference reform movement that began with an article that described what was wrong with reference. Highlights include the use of technology; remote access; tiered service; appointment-based reference service; alternative staffing patterns; and providing adequate resources to enhance reference service. (LRW)

Discusses the use that homeschoolers make of public libraries and offers suggestion for library services that target homeschoolers. Highlights include having a staff contact person; a homeschooling notebook for the reference desk; pamphlet files for homeschooling curriculum catalogs; a brochure of library services; and orientation programs. (LRW)

Describes the Department of Agriculture Economics and Statistics System at Cornell University (New York), which has made government agricultural statistics available free of charge via the Internet. Topics include value-added service provided by the library and incorporating electronic information into the depository library collection, including…

Describes a peer coaching program implemented at Temple University's Reference and Information Services Department to provide staff with support in fine-tuning and maintaining certain reference desk skills. The discussion covers the origins of the program, coaching basics, and the applicability of peer coaching to the academic library setting. (12…

This survey of rural and suburban libraries produced over 660 usable responses on special problems of rural libraries. Nearly half of libraries had budgets of under $30,000; about half did not have M.L.S. degree-holding staff members; majority participated in cooperative system; many reported inadequate reference resources; and isolation was major…

Based on the experiences of the staff at the Penn State University Libraries, this article focuses on two issues involved in public use of CD-ROM products in an academic library setting: placement of CD-ROM systems in the reference area; and staffing and responsibility for equipment and software. (MES)

Profile of fee-based information services offered by the Information Exchange Center of Georgia Institute of Technology notes history and background, document delivery to commercial clients and on-campus faculty, online and manual literature searching, staff, cost analysis, fee schedule, operating methods, client relations, marketing, and current…

Describes the inclusion of interlibrary loan services in the reference department of the science and engineering library that accounted for a large percentage of the interlibrary loan activity, based on experiences at Baylor University. Staffing, interlibrary loan statistics, and faculty needs are discussed. (LRW)

Discussion of the assessment of the quality of library reference service focuses on four aspects of service interaction: user needs and expectations, staff behavior and communication skills, the reference environment, and staff morale and workload. Measurement techniques for each aspect are also described. (Contains 36 references.) (LRW)