Discusses the results of a nationwide survey (57 survey questions) of academic libraries that investigated fund-raising programs, including personnel involved; goals and costs of fund-raising; library donors, friends, and advisory groups; priorities; and factors of success, including involvement of the director and time on task. A copy of the…

For libraries to succeed, a clear understanding of what services are in demand is necessary. The SWOT analysis technique for evaluating an organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is examined, and barriers to effective diagnosis are discussed. (AEF)

Graduate programs must examine the curriculum for reference and information access professionals. Greater access to information sources by users has highlighted the need for reference and information professionals to develop new skills including more technological knowledge, a better understanding of user information-seeking, new instructional…

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…

Describes the American Antiquarian Society, including its history, the evolution of its collections, and the relationship between its staff and readers that make it a leading humanities research center. Discusses the institutional culture and the development of a new area of study, the history of the book in American culture. (Author/LRW)

To meet the challenges of societal change, technological development, and economic retrenchment, libraries must develop problem-solving strategies such as marketing which can help libraries serve their clients more effectively. Marketing components are presented in the context of a customer orientation. (AEF)

Shows how a philosophical analysis of the moral value of information can help librarians rethink some aspects of their professional values, especially their commitment to neutrality. Discusses the historical background of allowing fiction into library collections; the impact of technology; the moral character of information; and information,…

Uses national guidelines, collection development texts, and the intellectual freedom literature to assess the practical value of the Library Bill of Rights in school library settings. Discussion focuses on invoking the statement as support when dealing with challenges to the collection. Appendixes include the Library Bill of Rights itself and…

Librarians have paid insufficient attention to the conflict on college and university campuses about the role of print and digital resources in the library of the future. Effective communication with all sectors of the academic community, especially those maintaining a strong loyalty to books, will be essential as hybrid print and digital…

Presents an annotated bibliography of 136 works of fiction, published in English, which feature deaf characters. Included are novels for adult readers, short stories, fiction for young adults and older children, and books for young children. Each item's status in print is indicated. (three references) (LRW)

Describes efforts by the Newberry Library (Chicago) to obtain original source materials for studying the literature and history of western Europe from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century. Discusses joint acquisitions with higher education institutions; acquisition of rare book collections from religious colleges and seminaries; and…

Libraries have failed to use marketing for three reasons: (1) a misunderstanding that equates marketing with publicity; (2) a lack of understanding of what marketing is; and (3) disagreement about the role of the client. Societal-marketing tries to balance patron demands with long-term societal needs in evaluating product excellence. (AEF)

Marketing techniques in youth services are useful for designing programs, collections, and services and for determining customer needs. The marketing mix--product, place, price, and practice--provides a framework for service analysis. (AEF)

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…

Addresses importance of online databases as part of library reference collection and focuses on bibliographic databases (ready reference, print versus online migration, bibliographic utilities); selection/evaluation of online databases (vendor selection, individual databases); full-text databases; numeric databases; end-user searching; and use of…