This article presents a consideration of how students' existing information-seeking behaviors affect traditional methods of teaching library research in first-year writing courses and offers an alternative method that uses both library and popular Internet search tools. It addresses one aspect of the ongoing pedagogical struggle with new…

School Library Journal's 2007 Leadership Summit, "Where's the Evidence? Understanding the Impact of School Libraries," focused on the topic of evidence-based practice. Evidence-based school librarianship is a systematic approach that engages research-derived evidence, school librarian-observed evidence, and user-reported evidence in the processes…

This user's guide was developed to advance local planning at ARL member libraries. It is written for library leaders writ large and for anyone leading or contributing to research library planning processes. Users do not need advanced facilitation skills to benefit from this guide, but facilitators charged with supporting scenario planning will…

The second of two parts, this article develops a taxonomy of value-in-use for library and information services based on user assessments and proposes methods and instruments for similar studies of library and information services in general. Divides value of services into three classes: reasons for use; quality of interaction; and worth, benefits…

While there is general agreement regarding the educational and cultural advantages of exhibits, research and academic libraries often adapt the operating guidelines and procedures of exhibit planning and installation from museums and other non-library institutions. To discover procedures and policies developed specifically for research libraries…

This article describes the card-sorting techniques used by several academic libraries, reports and discusses the results of card-sorting usability tests of the Western Michigan University Libraries' Web site, and reveals how the WMU libraries incorporated the findings into a new Web site redesign, setting the design direction early on. The article…

Results from a 1978 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) survey on planning for, and conversion to automated acquisitions systems, and the effects of such systems on library operations and use, organization and staffing, and management information, indicate that 38 of 77 responding libraries had instituted some kind of automated acquisitions.…

One section of a spring 1979 Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) survey on communication in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) institutions examined how members exchange information with external groups including the university administration, faculty, users, support groups, other libraries, and the profession in general. According…

A 1977 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) survey gathered information and documentation on remote storage for selected library materials, including type and size of facilities, selection processes for transferring materials, operating procedures, and record-changing activities. A summary of the survey results included in this kit reports…

A 1979 Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) survey on special collections in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) institutions focuses on centralized departments that handle rare books, manuscripts, archives, and author-subject collections. Statistical results from 66 survey replies reporting on the staffing, size, and expenditures of…

A 1979 Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) survey investigated the development, management, and staffing of microform collections in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member institutions. Survey results indicate that the major types of microform holdings are government publications, large publishers' sets, and back runs of…

A March 1985 survey of members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) netted 63 responses on 4 topics related to gifts and exchange programs: organizational change, the use of automation, changes in priorities, and the impact of the Tax Reform Act of 1984. Comments throughout the responses reflect that materials collected through gifts and…

A 1977 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) survey indicated that nearly all respondents viewed enhanced access to needed information and service capabilities as the primary benefit of resource sharing. Most responding libraries participated in more than one type of resource sharing activity, ranging from informal understandings among a few…

This kit is the result of a written request for sample materials from 35 ARL (Association of Research Libraries) members known to have active preservation programs. Twenty-three libraries responded, and of those, 16 contributed documents--some of which are included here. This kit contains: four preservation-related policy statements; 32 examples…

Based on a spring 1979 survey on communication in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member institutions, this Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) kit focuses on upward communication from staff to administration by looking at individual responsibilities of staff members and supervisors. Results indicate that the two most commonly…