Academic libraries continue to face funding pressures compounded by the need to provide students with access to electronic resources, both in journal and book formats. With space constraints and the need to repurpose library space to other uses, libraries must carefully examine the move to e-only formats for books to determine if the format makes…

The increasing availability and prominence of e-books has led to a perception in some quarters that the requirement for physical books is decreasing, as most, or all scholarly material is openly available in digital form. Some academic administrators and librarians have suggested that it may be possible or desirable to have a solely, or…

This article discusses best practices for evaluating open source software for use in library projects, based on the authors' experience evaluating electronic publishing solutions. First, it presents a brief review of the literature, emphasizing the need to evaluate open source solutions carefully in order to minimize Total Cost of Ownership. Next,…

Library Web sites must compete against easy-to-use sites, such as Google Scholar, Google Books, and Wikipedia, for students' time and attention. Library Web sites must therefore be designed with aesthetics and user perceptions at the forefront. The Music and Performing Arts Library at Urbana-Champaign's Web site was overcrowded and in much need of…

This statistical report on Michigan's libraries presents data provided by academic libraries, public libraries, public library cooperatives, and those public libraries that that serve as regional or subregional outlets to provide services for blind and physically handicapped patrons. For academic libraries, data are compiled from the 1998 academic…

Explores the cases of two states, Louisiana and Ohio, which found budget problems to be the occasion for concerted statewide efforts to improve academic library services. Both states ultimately established statewide multipurpose resource-sharing academic library consortia, supported by electronic library networks, as the solutions to their very…

Explains President Clinton's donation of books about the United States to the Peking University Library and compares it to a donation of Chinese books from the Peking University library to the library of Kapiolani Community College (Hawaii). Suggests appropriate directions for U.S.-China academic library cooperation and for international academic…

Random samples of works were drawn from the catalogs of the Bobst Library, New York University, and the Burke Library, Union Theological Seminary, New York to examine derivative bibliographic relationships. Two sites were chosen to allow a test of the differences in collection development patterns between a university research library and a…

A comparison of subject- and publisher-based book approval plans for academic libraries found publisher-based plans to be more successful for purchasing domestic publications, and subject-based plans for international ones. Library collections, organization, and vagaries of the publishing industry form the basis for selecting the plan which is…

Describes SCOPE (Selectors with Collection Overlap in Psychology Entente), a project developed at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities to identify gaps and overlaps in psychology collection development. A worksheet used both to compare collections and to meet the needs of RLG (Research Libraries Group) requirements is explained. (LRW)

Describes two use studies of the microforms collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one conducted in 1982 and the other in 1987. Collection profiles are presented, use study methodology is discussed, and results of the two studies are analyzed and compared. (Five references) (LRW)

Formulas from the "Standards for College Libraries" were used to compare the recommended collection size and number of professional librarians with the actual size of the collections and number of librarians for a random sample of Baccalaureate I and II colleges. Results revealed that significant numbers are not meeting the "Standards" in these…

Compares 48 features of four versions of the ERIC database, two commercial (SilverPlatter, FirstSearch) and two free (AskERIC.org, SeachERIC.org), to determine whether features of the commercial versions were worth the cost to academic libraries. Reports results of a survey that investigated user preferences, and concludes that value added…

Discussion of journal pricing and its effects on academic libraries focuses on data from the Optical Society of America's pricing study that used price per 1,000 words as a quantitative evaluative tool. Data collection methodology is described, and implications of the results for library collection development are suggested. (eight references)…

A comparison of book reviews for humanities and social sciences books named to CHOICE's 1987 "Outstanding Academic Books" with a selection of books not named to the list showed no substantial difference in the number or quality of reviews received. Study suggests that libraries should be cautious in their reliance on published lists for…