Technology has had a profound impact on how we listen to, create, and perform music. Among the Library of Congress' collections are wax cylinders, photographs, manuscripts, recordings, and more that document the evolution of sound technologies. Students can use these sources to assist them as they respond to and analyze music in all its historical…

The Digital Talking Books Program was developed between the 1990s and the 2000s to replace the Analog Cassette format, which had been developed during the 1960s to allow people with disabilities to access reading material. The Digital Talking Books Program was built around flash memory technology. The reasons for which the National Library Service…

This essay urges a broadening of the discourse of library and information science (LIS) to address the convergence of forces shaping the information environment. It proposes adopting a model from the field of science studies that acknowledges the interdependence and coevolution of social, cultural, and material phenomena. Digital archives and…

Nearly all academic librarians agree that academic libraries have to change in order to respond successfully to the new realities of the higher education environment, rapidly developing information and telecommunications technologies, and the crisis in scholarly communications. But there is little agreement on what must change, how the changes…

The core mission of libraries has always centered on making content and related services available to patrons. The form in which that content is delivered has changed continually. The most ancient libraries or archives organized clay tablets or cylinders written in cuneiform. Centuries ago, the transition from scrolls to codices must have been…

In this case study the authors describe Pepperdine University Libraries' migration to OCLC's WorldShare Management Services. They elaborate on the rationale for the decision, review some of the challenges and lessons encountered along the way, and briefly discuss some effects of the new system on our libraries. The focus is on technical services…

An online survey was sent to academic libraries and consortia with an integrated library system (ILS) migration project, based on review of press releases from major U.S. ILS vendors. This study takes a systematic approach to provide a snapshot of the academic ILS market and key factors affecting the outcome of an ILS migration project. It reveals…

No other category of library materials has grown more quickly in the last several decades than audiovisual (AV), nor has any other category undergone so many changes in format. The transitions from vinyl records to 8-tracks to audiocassettes to CDs and from film reel to 3/4" U-Matic to VHS to DVD have impacted library services tremendously. The…

This report of the 95-member Council for the Comprehensive Plan for Libraries, which included representatives from government, libraries, and the public sector, is not intended to answer all the questions for all those concerned about the future of libraries, but rather to bring focus to the issues and to set a direction for solving the problems…

Comments on impact of photocopying, networking, and resource sharing on acquisitions programs of research libraries and describes fiscal situation in academic institutions, specifically in Massachusetts Institute of Technology libraries. Electronic publishing, role of research library as subscriber and intermediary, and communication between…

Shelf browsing demands open access for the browser and a resources arrangement that groups related concepts together and thereby permits retrieving hitherto unknown items by association. Many resources, especially in large academic libraries, are technically open to the public but arranged in a way that prevents shelf browsing according to the…

There is an electronic revolution in the library which may prove to be a revolution in the humanities and in the nature of learning and education. The humanities are an essentially human enterprise of which the record reposes in books in libraries. The central role of libraries in preserving these ideas must survive the electronic revolution.…

Thirty-eight articles focus on future trends in computers, automation, and advanced technologies in technical operation of libraries. Highlights include personnel, organization, file management, access and delivery of materials, online catalogs, cataloging, union lists, serials, government publications, indexing, binding, nonprint media,…

Intended as a basis for continuing and expanding cooperative network activities, this publication presents five comprehensive reports developed in 1981/82 which assess the academic libraries of the 16 public and private postsecondary educational institutions in Alabama. The five reports cover collection development, staff adequacy, space…

From an organizational approach to virtual or digital libraries (V/DL), this study places V/DL in the context of the academic library, focusing on relevant opinions of library heads. Findings suggest that the library heads typically understand V/DL as digital materials, are mainly supportive of V/DL understood in this way, and demonstrate the…