In 2012, more than a decade after the original Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (hereafter the Standards) were institutionalized as the goal of academic library instruction, the Information Literacy Competency Standards Review Task Force convened by ACRL recommended…

Broadband and bandwidth allocation is an essential technology planning activity that libraries should address on a continual basis. There are five key factors that will impact your network's performance: 1. infrastructure, 2. network load, 3. workstation performance, 4. prioritization of services, and 5. network management. The author thinks it's…

In her biography about her horticulturalist father, Jonathan Baldwin Turner, Mary Turner Carriel wrote the following of Turner's quest to fence prairies; words that may also serve as an allegory for present-day libraries: What he could have done to tempt the pioneer from his home in the East to settle upon the fertile lands in the West. The first…

Colleges share many things on Twitter, but one topic can be risky to broach: the reading habits of library patrons. Patrons' privacy is precious to most librarians. Yet new Web services thrive on collecting and sharing the very information that has long been protected. This points to an emerging tension as libraries embrace digital services.…

U.S. public libraries provide free public internet services to the communities that they serve, but require robust, high-speed broadband internet connections to continue meeting public demands. The 2008-2009 "Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study" ("PLFTAS") illustrates challenges that public libraries encounter in achieving broadband…

Library blogs exchange information and ideas on everything from the everyday, such as library services, to the profound, such as values held by librarians (high-quality reliable resources, academic freedom, open access, and so on). According to medical librarians who maintain library blogs, a typical month includes two to four contributors writing…

Social networking tools have been getting quite a bit of press in libraryland for the past couple of years. It is considered to be one of the key aspects of a library joining what is referred to as the Library 2.0 movement. In this context, social networking is seen as a library service or library outreach mechanism that utilizes popular social…

The authors examine strategic priorities for local studies libraries in the context of the interactive Web. They examine the implications for access, investigations and the needs of different users. The philosophy that has previously guided local studies is articulated as a number of maxims, taking into account also social inclusion and lifelong…

In December 2006, the Missouri River Regional Library (MRRL) in Jefferson City, embarked on a journey. They had been watching the Public Library of Charlotte-Mecklenburg County (PLCMC), NC, on its adventure through the wilds of Web 2.0, and they decided to follow the trail it had blazed. What PLCMC had done was pretty revolutionary. The library…

Discusses activities at the Library of Congress during 1996, including the Management Improvement Plan, legislative support to Congress, technology projects, service to Congress and the nation through technology, collections security, materials processing, storage, acquisitions, preservation, copyrights, exhibitions, restoration and renovation,…

Fremont Rider's 1944 book, "The Scholar and the Future of the Research Library", had a major impact on research library thinking. The issues raised by Rider, such as research library economics, collection, acquisition and management policies, and library cooperation still resonate today, although his technology solutions have long since been…

This annual report of the Digital Library Federation describes projects initiated in response to the following program priorities: (1) focus attention on libraries of materials that are born digital, including a social science data workshop and guides to quality in visual resource imaging; (2) integrate digital materials into the fabric of…

This article provides an introduction to the major information resources in the field of economics. The essay evaluates the major selection tools in the area of business and economics, as well as selected core reference titles. The article also includes suggestions for developing and evaluating economics collections, as well as a listing of online…

This construct for collection development as it relates to Native American resources utilizes Thomas Mann's "Library Research Methods" (1993) concepts of the Traditional Model, the Actual-Practice Model, and the Principle of Least Effort to organize recommendations for both strategies and resources. The three-pronged hierarchical approach to…

This article discusses the web and print resources used in selecting material for a dental sciences collection in an academic library at a public university without a medical library. The process of creating a collection quickly and with limited resources is described, from the initial collection assessment to the decision-making processes…