Discovery layers provide a simplified interface for searching library resources. Libraries with limited finances make decisions about retaining indexing and abstracting databases when similar information is available in discovery layers. These decisions should be informed by student success at finding quality information as well as satisfaction…

Libraries are important to universities, and they have two primary features: readers as well as collections are highly professional. In this study, based on the experimental study with five millions of users' borrowing records, our discussion covers: (1) the necessity of recommender system for university libraries; (2) collaborative filtering (CF)…

This research explores the application of implicit personalisation techniques in information retrieval in the context of education. Motivated by the large and ever-growing volume of resources in digital libraries, coupled with students' limited experience in searching for these resources, particularly in translating their information needs into…

In 2002, plans to merge Penn State's Physical Sciences Library and Mathematics Library provoked a controversy in the Eberly College of Science over the size of the library needed to support its departments. The College contended that a physical collection no more than 5 years old was adequate. A study of astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, physics,…

Preliminary reports from seven Association of Research Library (ARL) members conducting research on current public services concerns describe progress to date and initial findings. Research grants of up to $4,000 were provided for the projects, which were selected in part because of their potential usefulness to academic and research libraries.…

The feasibility of developing cooperative arrangements for sharing exotic foreign language serial titles among the health sciences libraries of California was investigated. Preliminary circulation counts indicated that 74 percent of the 77 titles counted had circulated twice a year or less and that the health sciences libraries do maintain…

To introduce undergraduate students to the library and to familiarize them with the various indexing systems and reference materials, the University of Michigan has produced this workbook designed specifically for their library. The information and exercises included cover physical layout, the card catalog, the Library of Congress Classification…

Through a single computerized system, the Libraries Information Access System provides interactive, integrated access to a range of information functions in support of services meeting both academic needs (bibliographic access for research, instructional support) and administrative needs (processing, inventory control, communications, record…

At the meeting of the Association of Research Libraries in Chicago, the principal program element focused on the future of card catalogs, a topic of special concern to large research libraries, whose catalogs are becoming cumbersome, expensive to maintain, and complicated by changes in cataloging rules. Papers by William Welsh and John Rather of…

The New York State Library is conducting two regional pilot programs to provide on-line information services to public, academic, and special library patrons. These procedures and guidelines were written for reference librarians in participating libraries who will act as the intermediaries between their patrons and the search analysts at the State…

Using a series of FORTRAN programs written for use on an IBM 1130 computer, the periodical holdings of Bluefield State College and Concord College in West Virginia have been jointly cataloged. The programs will produce periodical listings for each of the school's individual libraries, for the combined holdings of the two schools, and by subject…

Discussion of planning, installation, and results of an online catalog at University of Maryland Health Sciences Library highlights Integrated Library System, speed and patron perceptions of online catalog, searching power, ways in which catalog can bypass physical and organizational boundaries, and effect on staff and users of the library. (EJS)

Librarians are and will be using cable television technologies to enhance and extend their services. While questions remain in regard to the technology itself, the health and viability of the industry, and government policy, librarians are seeing cable communications as an opportunity to gain credibility and visibility, and also as an extension of…

The operation of the Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) on-line bibliographic system in Texas and New Mexico Libraries was evaluated. The economic aspects of automated cataloging and card production were compared with previous methods; the effectiveness of the system as a tool for pre-order searching was evaluated; and the impact of the system's…

This collection of materials on small computer applications in research libraries, assembled by the Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), includes documents from ARL and non-ARL libraries illustrating local, commercial, and word processing computer applications. Among the contents of the…