This dissertation analyzes how North Carolina State University's (NCSU) James B. Hunt Jr. Library extends the ways in which the information architectures of academic research libraries can function as a technology, as discourse, and as rhetoric. The starting point for the analysis is the libraries of antiquity, which functioned technologically as…

Digital repositories are new tools for documenting the accumulated scholarly work produced at academic institutions and disseminating that material broadly via the internet. Digital repositories support all file types and can be adapted to meet the custom design specifications of individual institutions. A section for community engagement…

In this column, the author discusses how the management of e-books has introduced, at many libraries and in varying degrees, the challenges of maintaining effective technical services workflows. Four different e-book workflows are identified and explored, and the author takes a closer look at how particular variables for each are affected, such as…

In fall 2008, a collaborative partnership was formed between the libraries of two Indiana universities--Marian College's (now Marian University) Mother Theresa Hackelmeier Memorial Library, and the University Library at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). The authors discuss the digital nature of this collaboration, which…

In September 2007, Yale University Library (YUL) and Microsoft agreed to partner in a large-scale project to digitize 100,000 books from the YUL collections--an ambitious effort that would substantially increase the library's digitized holdings, particularly in the area of its own text collections. YUL has been digitizing materials from its…

Over the past several decades, millions of digital objects of significant scientific, economic, cultural, and historic value have been published and distributed to libraries and archives on removable media. Providing long-term access to these documents, media files, and software executables is an increasingly complex task because of dependencies…

Twenty-three scholarly papers and twelve abstracts comprise the content of the eleventh annual Brick and Click Libraries Symposium, held at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The peer-reviewed proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future face of…

The author investigates issues faced by academic research libraries in providing virtual reference services to unaffiliated users. These libraries generally welcome visitors who use on-site collections and reference services, but are these altruistic policies feasible in a virtual environment? This paper reviews the use of virtual reference…

This brief article reports on the 12th national Association of College and Research Libraries' (ACRL) conference held April 7-10, 2004 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. William Mitchell, head of the media arts and sciences program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an architecture professor provided the conference attendees with the opening…

These six articles discuss collection level descriptions. Highlights include cross-domain issues; archive standards and automation issues; museum considerations, including metadata and Web pages, based on the Canadian Heritage Information Network; data standards for directories; electronic libraries in the United Kingdom; and the Research…

Discusses the role of advanced technology in developing new library systems and facilities. Considers the impact of computers on acquisition, reproduction, and availability of material in both general-use libraries and special research facilities, particularly in terms of cost. (JMF)

While university libraries have a long tradition of preserving scholarship, they are less experienced in the technology-dependent and computer networked environment. By taking advantage of current activities and expertise that exist in various parts of the institution, policies and practices can be linked that will engender long-term…

Dalhousie is a medium-sized university, with about 15,000 FTE students, located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is one of Canada's oldest and most prestigious universities, yet, like many other public institutions, it frequently suffers from a lack of adequate funding to fulfill all the conflicting needs of the various faculties and departments. This…

This article describes the development of the "Electronic Journal Finder," a TDNet installation for the University Libraries of Western Michigan University. Topics covered include: rationale for subscription project timeline, content, product customization, set-up, maintenance issues, reporting functions, directing URL links, searching…

The goals of this SPEC Kit were to report on the extent to which ARL (Association of Research Libraries) libraries provide electronic reference services and to offer a snapshot of the types of users reached, questions received, policies established, data-gathering techniques utilized, and innovations implemented. The first section of the kit…