In February 2008, the faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University made history, unanimously passing a revolutionary open access mandate that, for the first time, would require faculty to give the university copies of their research, along with a nonexclusive license to distribute them electronically. In the press, Harvard University…

In this article, the author presents an interview with Brewster Kahle, leader of the Open Content Alliance (OCA). OCA book scan program is an alternative to Google's library project that aims to make books accessible online. In this interview, Kahle discusses his views on the challenges of getting books on the Web, on Google's library…

How librarians came to their careers is as varied as the people themselves, but despite some often highly publicized challenges for college and university librarians in the digital age, academic librarianship is good work, according to the "Library Journal's" Job Satisfaction Survey. This article presents the results of this survey. The…

In 2005, the University of Texas (UT) at Austin made some surprising national headlines when it removed the book collection from its undergraduate library. Behind the sensational headlines, the move was in fact more "life-as-usual" than "radical change." In today's academic libraries, technology is constantly redefining library…

In fall 2003, Mt. Holyoke, an elite, largely undergraduate liberal arts college with a student population of roughly 2000, unveiled its take on the information commons. Located in an area known as Miles-Smith 4, the commons functions as a conduit between the main library and Dwight Hall, which houses the library offices, state-of-the-art media…

This academic library book buying survey examines full-text databases; electronic journals; top circulating subjects; price increases for serials and resulting subscription cuts; the influence of digital choices on purchasing decisions; circulation versus use statistics; and electronic books. (LRW)