"Research Library Issues" ("RLI") focuses on current and emerging topics that are strategically important to research libraries. The articles explore issues, share information, pose critical questions, and provide examples. This special issue presents a report released by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Joint Task…

This volume is the pilot issue of the "Transforming Libraries" series, a quarterly subseries of SPEC (the Systems and Procedures Exchange Center of the Association of Research Libraries). Each issue will focus on a different application or aspect of library technology. This issue discusses electronic reserves. It is divided into five…

Librarians have paid insufficient attention to the conflict on college and university campuses about the role of print and digital resources in the library of the future. Effective communication with all sectors of the academic community, especially those maintaining a strong loyalty to books, will be essential as hybrid print and digital…

Examines the short-term effects of online availability on the use of print chemistry journals based on a study at Duke University Chemistry Library. Discusses results that showed a diminished use of the print collection and considers implications for collection management in scientific and technical libraries. (Author/LRW)

Discussion of monographic acquisitions in academic research libraries focuses on a study that employed descriptive methodology to analyze changes in collecting patterns between 1985 and 1989 in the aggregated resources base of 72 Association of Research Libraries members. Recommendations for further research are suggested. (Author/LRW)

Discusses implementation of the automated recording of reshelving statistics for print reference materials and the use of these statistics in reference-collection development and management, especially in making acquisitions and weeding decisions, based on experiences at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. (Author/LRW)

Discusses results of a Web-based survey conducted by the University of Maryland libraries among faculty and graduate students to determine their views on and use of electronic journals. Distinguishes between print and electronic format preferences for journals most central to research as well as less important titles, and includes copies of the…

Discusses the choices academic libraries are making between digital collections and maintaining print collections and describes results of interviews with faculty at the University of Michigan that investigated their use of print and electronic journals. Topics include convenience; access; books versus journals; differences between subject areas;…

How do academic libraries set about creating a body of knowledge and begin to convert traditional print collections to a digital format in order to satisfy what today's researchers want? This article examines previous methods of selection and collection building, and applies those supporting principles to today's collection-building efforts for…

Examining the academic library within a contextual framework (of colleges, universities, and U.S. society), this book provides an analysis of the institution's content and function. The work emphasizes the structure, organization, decision making, and operations of academic libraries. The history, organization, and cultures of the academic…

Effective management of traditional materials will remain essential even when digital resources dominate scholarly communication. Examines traditional and digital objects in information services; provides an overview of collection management; discusses goal values, information services as purveyor and repository, the role of collection management,…

Considers the challenges that licensing for electronic products are creating for academic libraries. Discusses ownership of versus access to information; packaging of electronic journals; cost-benefit analysis; multiple versions of the same information, e.g. print and electronic; consortial agreements; negotiating; legal issues; and the question…

In the past, serial cancellations and storage decisions focused primarily on print resources. With the addition of electronic resources, librarians in large research institutions must now manage an integrated collection of both print and electronic formats. Explores the impact of electronic resources on decision decisions. Identifies criteria for…

The strategic plan for the James White Library of Andrews University uses the phrase "beyond walls," rather than the catchphrase "library without walls," to acknowledge that printed matter is here to stay but that the paradigm in which it operates is open to innovation and exploration. The fundamental changes taking place in…