This article uses the case study of developing a collaborative "out-of-hours" virtual enquiry service by members of the Northern Collaboration Group of academic libraries in the north of England to explore the importance of communication and collaboration between academic library services in enhancing student learning. Set within the…

Central to the ongoing success of the liaison model is the need for liaison librarians to stay informed and up-to-date about recent developments in the subject areas of their assigned academic departments and programs. This article describes an exploratory study conducted to determine whether information obtained from the social media accounts of…

The explosion of Web 2.0 into libraries has left many smaller academic libraries (and other libraries with limited computing resources or support) to work in the cloud using free Web applications. The use of commercial Web hosting is an innovative approach to the problem of inadequate local resources. While the idea of insourcing IT will seem…

The Mississippi State University Libraries' Virtual Reference Service collected statistics about virtual reference usage. Analysis of the data collected by an entry survey from chat and e-mail transactions provided librarians with concrete information about what patron groups were the highest and lowest users of virtual reference services. These…

Web 2.0 tools offer academic libraries new avenues for delivering services and resources to students. In this research we report on a content analysis of 100 US community college libraries' Websites for the availability of Web 2.0 applications. We found Web 2.0 tools utilized by 97% of our sample population and many of these sites contained more…

Twenty-six scholarly papers and ten abstracts comprise the content of the thirteenth annual Brick and Click Libraries Symposium, held annually at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future face of librarianship. The…

Twenty-three scholarly papers and twelve abstracts comprise the content of the eleventh annual Brick and Click Libraries Symposium, held at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The peer-reviewed proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future face of…

Microblogging is a relatively new phenomenon in online social networking that has become increasingly prevalent in the last few years. This study explores the use of Twitter in public and academic libraries to understand microblogging patterns. Analysis of the tweets was conducted in two phases: (1) statistical descriptive analysis and (2) content…

An online survey was sent to academic libraries and consortia with an integrated library system (ILS) migration project, based on review of press releases from major U.S. ILS vendors. This study takes a systematic approach to provide a snapshot of the academic ILS market and key factors affecting the outcome of an ILS migration project. It reveals…

This study surveyed 366 Valparaiso University freshmen to discover their feelings about librarians using Facebook and MySpace as outreach tools. The vast majority of respondents had online social network profiles. Most indicated that they would be accepting of library contact through those Web sites, but a sizable minority reacted negatively to…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present an exploratory survey as part of a presentation for the Bridging Worlds 2008 conference. It seeks to understand how library institutions in the South East Asia (SEA) region have implemented Web 2.0 technologies--blogs, RSS feeds, wikis, or the use of services like Flickr, YouTube, de.lici.ous.…

The inclusion or not of chat services within Virtual Reference (VR) is an important topic for university libraries. Increasingly, email supported by a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) database is suggested in the scholarly literature as the preferred, cost-effective means for providing university VR services. This paper examines these issues and…

In this article, the author talks about Twitter, a micro-blogging Web site, and how librarians can use Twitter to interact with students and to monitor actual usage of library services. He shares what he has learned from twittering with library users. He learned that Twitter expands the reach of research assistance. With students using the social…

In July 1996, the Library Director of Cornell University's Mann Library formed a working committee to explore the technology solutions to providing a library presence with remote users. The committee began its explorations by brainstorming possible services that would utilize technology to bring the library closer to the remote user. After…

Technical services librarians can use the Internet for acquisitions--search online databases for title information; listservs--discuss professional issues; cataloging--telnet to other university catalogs; serials--perform online claiming and/or subscribe to electronic journals; bibliographic utilities--search OCLC and RLIN. A related concern is…