Examines how to determine the best model of reference service. Highlights include: libraries and community; components of reference service; inherent values of reference service; conflicting values and models of service; technology and change; new models and old values; and the "right" model of reference service. (AEF)

Reference service technology has passed its first stage of insuring more accurate, rapid delivery of information. The second revolution underway will improve on both acquisition and retrieval of data. New technologies must fit into traditional reference service goals. The human should be given first priority. (Contains 46 references.) (Author/AEF)

The complexity of the information environment, and more uncontrolled distribution and access, lead to new issues for users. Reference services, with a stronger instructional role, must become more proactive in providing a fully developed repertoire of services responsive to the multifaceted queries facing librarians today. (Contains 31…

Discusses three philosophical positions taken by librarians regarding Holocaust denial literature in library collections: inclusion, exclusion, and inclusion with labeling as inaccurate. Concludes that librarians should not undertake the role of arbiters of truth but should responsibly and intelligently build collections that provide access to…

Discussion of special collections materials focuses on independent research libraries. Topics include how collection development differs; who they serve; access to the collections, including digital access; and future challenges, especially the need for increased financial support, changes in scholarly communication, and the need for increased…

Develops a comprehensive, unified, explanatory theory of librarianship by first making an analogy to the unification of the fundamental forces of nature. Topics include dependent and independent variables; publishing; acquisitions; classification and organization of knowledge; storage, preservation, and collection management; collections; and…

Discusses library resource sharing. Highlights include access to information, document delivery, interlibrary loan, and the social, economic, and technological complexities of new mechanisms; and traditional roles of libraries that provide both opportunities for cooperation and paradoxes for the continuation of selection, archiving, and…

Expanded resource sharing will be a feature of twenty-first century libraries. Discusses and illustrates, with reference to OhioLINK, steps to expanding resource sharing: joining a consortium, integrating intellectual access (catalogs and circulation), providing for physical and electronic delivery of materials, and integrating the collection…