Ask Here PA is Pennsylvania's new statewide live chat reference and information service. This article discusses the key strategies utilized by Ask Here PA administrators to recruit participating libraries to contribute staff time to the service, the importance of centralized staff training, the main aspects of staff training, and activating the…

This article presents and discusses a 3-D online environment known as Teen Second Life. TSL is a virtual environment geared just for youth, ages 13-17. Its social appeal is huge, especially for teens who are developmentally inclined to seek out the company of their peers. In TSL one can meet friends or make new ones, hang out, listen to music and…

Sandra Tauler has tailored her collection and services to the needs of a community that is 97 percent Hispanic. Unfortunately, that's only half the job. The other half is getting potential users through the door. The solution Tauler and other Imperial Valley librarians came up with was Proyecto Televista. With LSTA funding, and the assistance of…

This overview of the development of a system of library services for the blind in one union republic of the USSR describes the centralized network of special libraries which serve as the focal point of systems providing services at the regional and local levels, and suggests some possible future developments. (RAA)

Anyone who hires Loft Bell is getting two librarians: one who enthusiastically does the job, and another who develops new ideas, secures grants to fund them, and swiftly puts the ideas into action. There's nothing that makes a job more attractive to Bell than the freedom to try out new things. Jenny Levine, Internet development specialist at…

In a magazine format, the services and programs of the State Library of Ohio from July 1974 to June 1975 are reported. New programs such as the opening of the State Library Tower Center to meet changing government information needs and the Ohio-Morehead program to reach educationally and economically disadvantaged; new uses of technology within…

A brief history of the Dallas Public Library, which first opened in 1901, highlights new central library facilities erected in 1955 and 1982; the development of branch libraries; leadership of directors Rosa Leeper, Cleora Clanton, Jim Meeks, and Lillian Bradshaw; and library programs, publications, and community outreach efforts. (EJS)

Two small associations joined forces October 13-16 in Columbus, OH, to create a more dynamic annual conference. The Association of Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) met with the Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services (ABOS) so members could learn from one another and grapple with similar issues. Representing 36 states and New Zealand, 205…

An outgrowth of three seminars sponsored by the State Library of Florida and the Florida Health Science Library Association in June 1985 for public, institution, and health sciences librarians, this guide is a direct response to those librarians' requests for help in letting their communities know that their libraries are accessible and reliable…

In the fall of 1973, public, school, and college librarians in the Lowell, Massachusetts, area formed the Lowell Area Council on Interlibrary Networks (LACOIN). With a grant from the Library Services and Construction Act, Title III, LACOIN initiated library-sponsored public affairs radio broadcasting for its community. Utilizing the Lowell…

Since its humble beginning, Digital Past, a centralized local history digitization initiative at the North Suburban Library System (NSLS), a multitype consortium in Wheeling, Illinois, has now grown into a large centralized collaboration that consists of 32 libraries and a museum as its primary contributors. With Digital Past, there are various…

This publication highlights sixty-two outstanding projects originally funded under the Library Services and Construction Act. Designed as a descriptive, annotated guide, the catalog shares information about library programs selected from 34 states and territories to exemplify some of the diverse services stimulated by Federal funds. These…

This paper describes the University of California's Central San Joaquin Valley Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Biomedical Library Program, which is intended to improve library services in hospitals and other medical care institutions in the region and to coordinate future development of these services. A summary of the San Joaquin Valley AHEC…

This annual report, consisting of 16 district summaries, demonstrates how federal Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) funds have supported a wide range of 1994 projects to improve services in Michigan libraries. Most often these projects involved getting connected to the Internet, making the library accessible to the handicapped,…

This fact book summarizes the improvement in library systems and library services in New York State as a result of action taken by the state legislature in 1981, and outlines in detail the 1982 legislative proposals of the New York State Board of Regents for the further development of New York libraries. These proposals encompass the following…