This issue of "Research Library Issues" ("RLI") highlights the value of professional failure. The idea to explore this theme emerged from conversations with the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Innovation Lab Advisory Group earlier this year. It is the hope this issue highlights the value of failure--both its necessary…

In 2000, the Colorado State Library published "How School Librarians Help Kids Achieve Standards: The Second Colorado Study." This follow-up study is the third Colorado study of the impact of school libraries and librarians on academic achievement, and the second study to examine their impact on student performance on the Colorado…

Ongoing electronic resource purchases represent a substantial proportion of collections budgets. Recognizing the necessity of systematic ongoing assessment with full selector engagement, Columbia University Libraries appointed an Electronic Resources Assessment Working Group to promote the inclusion of such resources within our current culture of…

Where library budgets are concerned, there is every evidence now, after three years, that research libraries have arrived at "the new normal." That is, they do not expect a return to systematic and regular additions to Association of Research Libraries' (ARL) budgets in order to support ever-increasing prices that are out of proportion to…

Rutgers University Libraries are using a Microsoft Access database to track the purchase of books requested by teaching faculty for use in the Reserve Collection. Reports are generated which show what is purchased, how money was spent. Combined with circulation figures and LC Subject areas, the database provides documentation of library support of…

It has become widely recognised across the academic and research libraries sector that special collections and archives play a key role in differentiating each institution from its peers. In recognition of this, Research Libraries UK (RLUK) established the workstrand "Unique and Distinctive Collections" (UDC) in support of its strategic…

The University of Maryland at College Park (UMCP) libraries participated in a management review and analysis program (MRAP) with the assistance of the Office of University Library Management Studies of the Association of Research Libraries. Three study teams reported on the library system in its institutional setting; current trends in higher…

Presents eight articles that discuss research on libraries and librarianship; number of libraries in the U.S. and Canada; highlights of NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) surveys; library acquisition expenditures; budgets; price indexes; library buildings construction; and expenditures for school library media center resources. (LRW)

This submission presents twelve issues of Fast Facts from the Library Research Service covering various aspects of Colorado libraries. Each issue focuses on statistics related to academic, public, and/or school libraries. Titles include: Colorado Public Libraries and the 2004 November Elections; Pricing Trends for Public Library Print Materials;…

The Dallas Public Library reports on a two-year independent study project (ISP) developed in cooperation with Southern Methodist University and the College Level Examination Program (CLEP). Activities described include: provision of an information and materials distribution center for CLEP; making available information about area colleges and…

With today's relatively flat budgets, research libraries are finding their buying power further diminished by the hyperinflationary costs of library materials. Yet technology innovation, coupled with organizational restructuring, is enabling libraries not only to provide more high-quality information services but also to achieve unparalleled…

Includes a 1991 lecture on the future of rare book libraries and a commentary from 2003. Topics include paper-based collections versus electronic resources; changes in general research libraries; budget shortages; changing priorities; reformatting library materials; and education for rare books and special collections librarians. (LRW)

A survey was conducted in those academic and research libraries that are involved in the OhioLINK project to determine their use of approval plans and their budgetary patterns. Written questionnaires were used to collect data in order to examine approval plan use, approval plan and firm order budgeting, and vendor use. Analyses of the responses…

This collection of documentation from library materials cost studies conducted by members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries in the United States and Canada contains 11 documents divided into the following sections: (1) methodologies and data collection worksheets from the University of California at Berkeley, the…

Since the organization of the United States Bureau of Education in 1867 statistics of public libraries have appeared periodically in the annual reports. It has been the purpose to gather such statistics every five years, but it has not been possible to carry out the plan with perfect regularity. For forty years every annual report of the bureau…