Academic and public libraries are facing the challenge of finding new avenues of service and of creating value for their constituencies. This value is in the form of outcomes that result in bettering the people who use libraries and the community at large. The authors feel that librarians must find creative ways to make their communities better…

Like the other industries the United States once dominated, higher education is facing increasing global competition. Any strengthening of K-12 education will strengthen higher education in turn. In this article, the author opines that higher education advocates should also urge Congress to include school libraries and librarians in NCLB when they…

At the end of 2007, SirsiDynix introduced the first version of Symphony, its new flagship Integrated Library System (ILS). This article begins with a look at the evolution of Symphony, user reactions to Symphony, and Symphony's design and functionality. The authors, along with a team of librarians from various functional areas, have completed…

In this article the Illinois Regional Library Council and its services, Infopass Program and Northeastern Illinois Delivery System, are described. Both cooperative functions are examined according to meeting the needs of individual libraries, cost savings, or expansion of services to the user. (Author)

This edition of a directory to 265 college and university libraries in New York State, compiled from data furnished by the State Education Department, includes address and telephone number, library director, institution president, number of volumes, number of periodical titles received, annual expenditures for library materials, annual total…

This article describes how the 2006 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in New Orleans will long symbolize the significance of libraries and librarians to a convention city--and to the community around it. As the first major convention in the Crescent City since the ravages of Hurricane Katrina ten months earlier, the conference…

A survey of librarians in LIBRAS, a consortium comprising 16 Chicago-area liberal arts college libraries, tested two hypotheses: (1) the salary level of the group with faculty status is significantly greater than that of the group without faculty status; and (2) there is a statistically significant correlation between the amount of professional…

UCLA, which has one of the top 10 research libraries in the country, has been using Taos software since 1996. However in 2001, Sirsi Corp. announced that it was freezing development on Taos software. As the associate university librarian for information technology at UCLA, the author relates that it was his responsibility to lead the way through…

Six large academic libraries which belong and contribute cataloging to national online networks were studied. Interviews with catalogers, library administrators, and network quality control personnel showed that nationwide evaluation of catalogers' records creates enhanced status and influence for cataloging peer groups and provides opportunities…

This article was written to inform North American students and scholars about library resources in Rovinj, Croatia. It deals with study abroad programs and potential library linkages. Seven libraries were identified and librarians from each library were interviewed to learn about scope and services. Of the seven libraries visited, two provided…

The Oklahoma Chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries (OK-ACRL) and the Oklahoma Library Association, College and University Division (OLA-CUD) co-sponsored a survey of professional academic librarians to obtain institutional and background data on their characteristics, their preferences for academic professional association…

Over the past 10 years, many changes have affected the roles of librarians and other professionals in research libraries. The changes have been caused, in part, by technological advances, reorganizations, more focus on libraries as learning organizations, the use of teams and team-based approaches to tasks, and a recognition of diversity's…

To gather more information on the role of the liaison in research libraries, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Office of Management Services conducted a survey in 1992 of its academic library members. Completed surveys were returned by 49 libraries. Liaisons in both technical and public services were reported by 59 percent, while 31…

Describes an Edinburgh-based research project that is exploring issues related to reference work in digital libraries, the role of reference librarians with remote access users, library networking, and collaborative reference work. User experiences and librarian work patterns are related to the design of a prototype Web-based network reference…

Traces developments in China's academic libraries: managing human resources, restructuring library developments, revising and implementing new policies, evaluating services and operations, establishing library systems, building new structures, and exploring joint-use library models. Major focus was to improve services for library user. (Author/LRW)