Approval plans challenge library boundaries, require consensus on collection development priorities, cooperation among library departments, and a close partnership with the vendor. Few concrete performance standards exist, and effectiveness is difficult to measure. Vendors will play an active role in the evolution of approval plans, though…

This essay suggests that conversation, crucial for human life in society and intrinsic to nature of libraries, may be the appropriate model for providing guidance, means, and context for change in academic librarianship. The business model, missions and goals, collection development, bibliographic instruction, and organizational considerations are…

An article originally published in 1973 discusses the increasingly difficult role of the university library director and identifies factors contributing to the declining status of that position. Recommendations for ameliorating the problem are offered. The introduction discusses the applicability of the article to the current situation of…

Argues that recent dramatic increases in the numbers and prices of scholarly journals are evidence of a distorted economic marketplace for scholarly information. The discussion covers the strategies needed to reshape the current system of scholarly communication and the need for leadership within the research library community. (34 references)…

Urges the research library community, in which ownership is traded for access and competition for cooperation, to take concerted action to survive declining resources and the impact of electronic information technology. Concrete steps that can be taken toward contributing to a new world of scholarly communication are suggested. (Contains 12…

Presents a collection development model appropriate for libraries whose primary purpose is to support undergraduate education, in which collection development initiatives are taken by the library with the advice of teaching faculty. The organizational prerequisites for client centered collection development are discussed and a step by step…

Proposes that the concept of the traditional reference desk as the center of reference services in academic libraries is a tradition that should be examined in light of new technologies and changes in the way people find and use information. An alternative or supplementary model is delineated. (Author/CDD)

Addresses some problems associated with technological change and examines the nature of data and technology, organizations, and computer-mediated work. Concepts of sociotechnical systems design are related to library automation, and a set of strategies for facilitating technological change is proposed. (29 references) (Author/CLB)

Discussion of the adoption of new technologies in libraries throughout history focuses on two innovations in particular: the card catalog and the typewriter. Topics discussed include the replacement of one technology by another; budget considerations; requirements and attitudes of the labor force; reactions of library users; and attitudes of…