A workable system for collection development in this library is a weekly review of standard selection tools, catalogs, and publishers' notices by the book selection committee (library director and the department heads of adult, children's, bookmobile, and technical services). (JAB)

A questionnaire was mailed to 723 libraries (385 responded) to inquire about special collections size, type of material, and assigned hours and responsibilities of staff. Assistance from unions requested by libraries includes financial support, promotion of library use through union headquarters, and bibliographies prepared by union officials.…

Reviews materials on comic books meriting inclusion in a core collection for academic and public libraries. Included are encyclopedias and guidebooks, general histories, collections and anthologies, and books about comic book collecting. Sources of further information on the subject are also briefly discussed. (Author/MES)

Discusses the special collections and archival materials often found in medium-sized public libraries which should be fully used by historical researchers. It is suggested that public libraries need to advertise their collections which are of historical interest and to be more aware of the needs of the historical researcher. (Author/JL)

Discussion of implications of highly decentralized nature of local government for collection of local documents highlights meaning of access, effect of local government environment on access to local government information, library responses, and tools that can assist libraries in increasing citizen and government access to local government…

Describes a study that used the OCLC Online Union Catalog to identify those adult fiction books owned by the largest number of public libraries to determine whether a core collection of titles could be identified for use in evaluating adult fiction collections. Future research is recommended and a list of the top 99 titles is appended. (Author/LRW)

Provides a composite picture of interlibrary loan policies of 832 academic, special, and public libraries published in American Library Association's second edition of "Interlibrary Loan Policies Directory" (1984). Loan policies for books, periodicals, microforms, dissertations, theses, government documents, audiovisual materials, and…

Provides a definition of reference books based on their organizational structure and describes an empirical study which was conducted in three libraries to identify types of book organization and determine their frequency in reference departments and stack collections. The data are analyzed and shown to support the definition. (EM)

Discusses the role of readers' advisors in public libraries based on readers' responses to open-ended, qualitative interviews on reading for pleasure. Topics discussed include how books help people, how readers choose books, what they like and dislike about fiction collections in libraries, and how libraries and librarians can be more helpful to…

Contains papers presented at the Cooperative Reference Service Committee program during the 1981 ALA Annual Conference, including discussions of the Library of Congress Reference Correspondence Referral program, the University of Illinois Slavic Reference Service, the functions of the British Library Lending Division, and national-level…

Discusses primary-source legal materials (laws, regulations, court decisions) useful for public libraries. Highlights include a discussion of federal and state branches of government and corresponding publications; tools needed for legal research (digests, annotated codes, "pocket parts"); four levels of legal service; and primary…

During one week in 1981, 648 telephone reference questions were analyzed at medium-sized public library. Subject-oriented question analysis revealed little relationship between subject of question, answer format, and complexity level; significant correlation appeared between answer format and level of complexity. Sample coding form and statistical…

Explores how public libraries have dealt with the AIDS epidemic, examines the publication of articles on AIDS in periodicals and books, and reports the results of a survey of public libraries that was conducted to determine when and how librarians have responded to information needs on the AIDS epidemic. (Contains 11 references.) (LRW)