After a brief review of trends in language labs, the history of Wisconsin's Learning Support Services (LSS) lab, which grew into an independent department serving all foreign languages, is traced. Its evolution included the development of an extensive library, audio studio, video service, and special cataloging and outreach system. (11 references)…

The Foreign Studies Discussion Group of Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University perceived the necessity for an evaluation of the foreign language collections in the library that would include an examination of collection acquisition policies, size, and processing and would provide descriptive and analytical data in order to support…

A program at the College of Wooster (Ohio) in commercial language and international business is described. The program was undertaken with private funds and within the context of a traditional liberal arts college. It has three main curricular goals: (1) additional training of language instructors for language courses that would include the…

Discussion of the future of research libraries and changes in international scholarship focuses on the acquisition and distribution of foreign-language and area-studies materials. Experiences at the University of Pittsburgh are highlighted, including planning principles. (LRW)

In 1991, Saint Mary's University (SMU) (Canada) and Beijing Normal University (BNU) (China) began an 18-month joint teacher education project intended to meet professional needs of BNU foreign language teachers. The project had three components: professional development of teachers; adaptation of the existing national curriculum to meet special…

In a 3-year, federally-funded program, faculty at St. Olaf College (Minnesota) have developed a series of behavioral and natural science courses in which students with at least the fourth semester of foreign language do a portion of the course readings in the second language and meet once a week to discuss them in that language with the regular…

A survey of 29 medium-sized academic libraries gathered data on collection development methods in foreign literatures including the language and academic background of the bibliographer; bases of selection decisions; acquisition rates for French, German, and Spanish literature as compared to English/American literature; acquisition practices; and…

Reports on a 1995 survey of Wisconsin academic libraries regarding collection development practices for languages and literature. Results suggest that faculty control selection; approval plans have not taken over from personal selection; and local demand is emphasized over presumed quality as suggested by review magazines. (LRW)

Discussion of management of cataloging backlogs in academic libraries focuses on a backlog assessment project conducted at the Ohio State University libraries to facilitate the elimination of two backlogs, one of Slavic language materials and one of general materials. Evaluations of samples from these two collections are discussed in terms of…

Reports on acquisitions of selected Western European political science materials deemed important for inclusion in at least one North American research library. The percentages of French, Italian, Swedish, Catalan, Icelandic, and Belgian materials not found in RLIN (Research Libraries Information Network) and OCLC are provided. Factors supporting…

Describes procedures and equipment needed to develop and organize a collection of 35 millimeter slides useful in the teaching of Latin American language and area studies to students of Spanish. (CB)

Presents an annotated bibliography of 37 outstanding reference sources published in 1993 for small to medium-sized public and academic libraries as selected by the American Library Association's Reference Services Committee. Categories include culture and civilization, biography, general, language and literature, nature, law, religion, technology,…

Presents an annotated bibliography of 40 recent scholarly and general works of interest to reference workers in university libraries. Topics areas covered include philosophy, religion, language, literature, architecture, economics, law, area studies, Russia and the Soviet Union, women's studies, and Christopher Columbus. New editions and…

Describes the program developed by the AAU (Association of American Universities) and the ARL (Association of Research Libraries) to improve access to international research resources and to help libraries contain costs through distributed collecting and technology. Considers the effects of financial pressures on foreign language and area studies…

This volume documents two program sessions that reported on the Association of American Universities' (AAU) Research Libraries Project. This project was initiated by the AAU in collaboration with ARL and with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; interim reports from the AAU task forces were presented in October 1993 and have been…