In middle schools and high schools across the country, students analyze primary sources, engaging with and asking critical questions about historical documents. But the students who generated these observations, reflections, and questions were kindergartners--five- and six-year olds, working with Library of Congress staff to help refine strategies…

Jill Powell, engineering librarian from Cornell University, visited the library at NASA Goddard in Greenbelt, Maryland in July 2013, interviewing library staff and selected NASA scientists. She studied the library's digital projects, publications, services, and operations. She also interviewed several NASA scientists on information-seeking…

For over a half a century, State Library Administrative Agencies (SLAAs) have played a key role in the development and delivery of library services in the United States. While the organization and responsibilities of these agencies vary from state to state, they have two things in common: state-level planning for library services and…

On June 15-16, 2010, California State Librarian Stacey A. Aldrich, initiated a strategic planning summit in Sacramento, California. The purpose of the summit was to build the future pathways for the California State Library (CSL)--one of California's oldest cultural institutions. This was accomplished by developing a CSL strategic plan (values,…

The California State Library is charged with performing the following activities as defined by law. The State Library, under the direction and control of the State Librarian, an appointee of the Governor, has responsibility: (1) To collect, preserve, generate and disseminate a wide array of information; (2) To serve as the central reference and…

Public libraries deliver many benefits to their patrons, but understanding these benefits in terms of dollars-and-cents is difficult. In an effort to quantify the return on investment to taxpayers for monies invested in public libraries, the Library Research Service (LRS) initiated the study, "Public Libraries -- A Wise Investment: A Return…

Each year the State Library sends annual report forms to California's public, academic, special, state agency, and county law libraries. Statistical data from those reports are tabulated in this publication, with directory listings published in the companion volume, "California Library Directory." For this fiscal year, 389 libraries of…

"ARL Statistics 2007-2008" is the latest in a series of annual publications that describe collections, staffing, expenditures, and service activities for the 123 members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Of these, 113 are university libraries; the remaining 10 are public, governmental, and nonprofit research libraries. Data reported…

Libraries of government departments provide information to policymakers, to government staff and employees, and, sometimes, to the general public. It is essential that libraries of government departments are organised and managed so as to collect and provide the information most needed by government decision makers, government workers, and the…

Leslie Monsalve-Jones is a library technician with the New Mexico State Library, responsible for claiming documents that state agencies don't submit. She also maintains the collection and can immediately track down any requested document. In short, she is the kind of worker whose price is above rubies but whose pay is slightly above pebbles. And…

This report contains data on state library agencies in the 50 states and the District of Columbia for state fiscal year (FY) 2004. The data were collected through the State Library Agencies (StLA) Survey, the product of a cooperative effort between the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA), the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and…

The data collected through the 1994 Federal Libraries and Information Centers Survey present a picture of federal libraries and information centers that provide a wide variety of services to their respective agencies as well as to the general public. Federal libraries and information centers reported holding over 51 million volumes or volume…

In this article, the author describes how the New Orleans Public Library (NOPL) struggled with a fraction of its former staff, limited hours, and a massive fundraising challenge after Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. While previously 171 people staffed locations, only 40 employees plus a smaller--and shifting--cadre of…

This report is based on information from the Federal Libraries and Information Centers Survey, FY 1994. Data in this report came from federal libraries and information centers that meet certain criteria, which includes having at least one paid part-time or full-time principal staff person. Nationwide, 94.1% of the libraries and information centers…

In response to a request by the Senate Committee on Appropriations for an examination of the A-76 program of the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in particular NOAA's decision to contract for the operation of its Central Library, this report describes a General Accounting Office (GAO) review which:…