Drawing on an original methodology using citations, downloads, and survey data, this paper analyzes journal usage patterns across 28 Canadian universities. Results show that usage levels vary across disciplines and that different academic platforms varied in their importance to different institutions, with for-profit platforms generally exhibiting…

Recent changes in Canadian copyright law have prompted Canada's educational institutions to reexamine their need for a blanket copying license. Users' rights under the amended Copyright Act now include fair dealing for purposes of education, and the Supreme Court has established that copying short excerpts for classroom use can qualify as fair…

The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a quantitative analysis exploring the interaction and relationship between the online database and electronic journal collections at the J. N. Desmarais Library of Laurentian University. A very strong relationship exists between the number of searches and the size of the online database…

iTunes University is a free service offered by Apple iTunes to educational institutions. It serves as a platform for the management and distribution of educational, instructional, and informational resources through both audio and video podcasts. Participation in the service among colleges and universities continues to grow since its official…

Modern academic libraries have a great number of information resources available online in the form of electronic catalogs, books, journals, and subject subscription databases. To determine whether users can easily retrieve the information they are seeking, academic librarians conduct usability testing of their libraries' Web sites. There has been…

The ability to search and receive results in more than one database through a single interface--or metasearch--is something many users want. Google Scholar--the search engine of specifically scholarly content--and library metasearch products like Ex Libris's MetaLib, Serials Solution's Central Search, WebFeat, and products based on MuseGlobal used…

Outlines the operations of the computer search service at the University of Ottawa, including the clientele served and the nature of the service as a research adjunct to reference; publicity and statistics; physical layout; and systems and databases available for online searching. An annotated list of available databases is appended. (FM)

These papers discuss various options for a computerized national bibliographic network and highlight the problems and potential of developing such a database. Following a brief explanation of the conference purpose and organization, 10 primary papers are presented: (1) "A Brief Overview of Computerized Library Networking in Canada," by…

This report by the BRS (Bibliographic Retrieval Services) Committee, which was formed to identify costs and benefits of joining BRS, provides a summary of anticipated use of the BRS system and projected savings, and recommendations to the library on joining BRS. The majority of the report comprises seven appendices: (1) a comparison of search…

This report presents statistics on how Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries spend money on electronic resources. This report indicates that expenditures for electronic resources account for 19.6%, on average, of ARL institutions' library materials budgets. ARL libraries reported spending more than $171 million on electronic…

Database usage from a random sample of academic and public libraries in the United States and Canada reveals patterns of use in selected types of libraries. Nine tables present usage statistics. Factors that influence database use are briefly discussed. (AEF)

The Association of Research Libraries' Office of Management Services (OMS), working with the Research Libraries Group, Inc. (RLG), began the North American Collections Inventory Project (NCIP) in July 1983 as a cooperative effort intended eventually to involve research libraries throughout the United States and Canada. The project's long-term goal…

A description of various activities of the Programmed Learning Committee of the Concordia University Libraries precedes sections on computer assisted instruction (CAI) applications for computer facilities in the library, other computer applications, and space and environment implications of these applications. The first section addresses such…

This SPEC (Systems and Procedures Exchange Center) Kit presents the results of a survey of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries. The survey addressed the following questions about numeric data (i.e., any information resource, print or non-print, with considerable numeric content) in academic libraries: (1) What relationships…

Presents results of a survey of ARL (Association of Research Libraries) members in the United States and Canada that was conducted to discover which electronic reference options are offered and their impact on library services. Online mediated searching, CD-ROM, end-user searching, and local databases are investigated. (nine references) (LRW)