Profound changes due to Open-Access (OA) publications lead to organizational changes in universities and libraries. This study examines Israeli librarians' perceptions regarding their role and the academic library's role in promoting OA-publications, including the barriers, challenges, needs, and requirements necessary to promote OA publishing.…

For the past several decades, the role of higher education as a public and/or private good in United States (US) society has been a matter of significant discussion and debate in research and policy communities (Kezar, 2004; Kezar et al., 2005; McMahon, 2009; Pasque, 2010). This discussion often focuses on the question of funding higher education:…

As information becomes readily available at an instant, library users today have a high expectation of how quickly books are available for use. Therefore, librarians must evaluate purchasing models and how they meet the needs of today's patrons. A study was done at the University of Mississippi Libraries comparing usage statistics between patron…

With growing interest among higher education faculty and administration in adopting open educational resources (OER), several nationwide and statewide OER initiatives are attempting to increase the awareness and encourage the implementation of OER. In the exploration of OER resources for career and technical education (CTE) in Illinois community…

As digital devices play a more critical role in daily life than ever, more opportunities arise for innovative learning technologies--a trend on full display in the "Educational Media and Technology Yearbook" for 2013. This latest edition from the Association for Education, Communication, and Technology (AECT) notes the most current…

Enlightened administrators realize that school librarians still play a pivotal role for students, guiding them through search processes and helping them find appropriate, reliable, vetted resources in print and digital format for research and other classroom projects. This article describes how important the role of information navigator is…

This report presents selected findings from the Public School Library Media Center Data File of the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS is a nationally representative sample survey of public and private K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. School districts associated with public schools…

The Public Libraries Survey (PLS) is a voluntary survey conducted annually by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). IMLS collects these data under the mandate in the Museum and Library Services Act of 2003 as stated in Section 210. The U.S. Census Bureau is the data collection agent for IMLS. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 survey is the…

Issues 266 through 282 of "Fast Facts" from the Library Research Service present data collected from libraries in Colorado and throughout the nation. Topics addressed in these "Fast Facts" from 2009 include interlibrary loan in academic libraries, public librarian salaries, book, newspaper, and periodical prices from 2004 to…

Libraries nationwide are in yet another phase of belt tightening. Without an understanding of the economic factors that influence library operations, however, controlling costs and performing cost-benefit analyses on services is difficult. This paper describes a project to develop a cost model for collaborative virtual reference services. This…

Designed to fill the need for a continuing series to provide scholarly reviews of the reapidly changing field of librarianship, this book presents critical articles and surveys based on the published literature, research in progress, and developments in libraries of all types. The eleven subject areas covered are: (1) "The Machine and Cataloging"…

The role of public services librarians in collection development is examined in light of changes being brought to libraries by finances, cooperation, and information access. Highlights include situation in academic and special libraries, attributes of successful reference librarians and choices affecting collection developing, collection…

Empirically and rationally derived bases for determining the costs for industrial libraries are suggested. Taken into consideration is the fact that recent accounting procedures and the advent of new technologies have introduced costs into the library budget so that literature and personnel costs may now account for only 75-80 percent of the…

This report presents a model developed to examine costs of public library services, such as reference, circulation, and special programs, to be used by librarians in implementing a program budget and planning a budget system. Allocations for personnel costs, materials costs, costs of supplies and services, technical processing costs, reference use…