This article describes the development of the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA). The VIVA statistics-processing system remains a work in progress. Member libraries will benefit from the ability to obtain the actual data from the VIVA site, rather than just the summaries, so a project to make these data available is currently being planned. The…

It seems, at times, that a frantic race persists to ensure that a child, in the crucial learning stages of early elementary education, acquires the appropriate reading level before he or she "gets behind." Though there are obvious issues with branding a book "Grade Level One" or "Reading Level 2.2," it is nevertheless…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the initiative of the University Grants Commission of India in setting up the Infonet Digital Library Consortium (The Information and Library Network) in order to provide access to scholarly communication to the academic community in India. Design/methodology/approach: The context of higher…

The authors are both managers in OhioLINK libraries and have complex experiences working within a variety of simultaneous library consortial agreements. Their librarians'-eye view of consortia allows for a discussion of the nature of that landscape, some perspectives on the benefits and advantages of consortia as well as thoughts on the challenges…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of The Bridging Worlds Conference which was held in October 2008 in Singapore. Design/methodology/approach: One of the main topics the National Library Board of Singapore, the organising party, wished to address was the roles cultural institutions, such as libraries, may play in…

Libraries are making diverse contributions to the development of many types of digital repositories, particularly those housing locally created digital content, including new digital objects or digitized versions of locally held works. In some instances, libraries are managing a repository and its related services entirely on their own, but often…

India is a huge country with a population of more than 1 billion. In India, by tradition, education and learning are highly valued. In fact, India has one of the largest higher education systems in the world, with regard to the number of institutions. Education is a necessity. It is the most effective instrument with which to imbue people with the…

Worthington, Ohio, has deep library roots. A library has been part of its history since the planning by settlers before the city's birth in 1803. Among the treasures brought by James Kilbourne and the Scioto Company from Connecticut to the new, planned community they built was a collection of books for their new subscription library. The books…

In this article, the author discusses a project they undertook to reshape the libraries' Web services of the University of Houston site. The site had been in a state of flux and it needed a new structure for both managing and organizing it. She realized the staff was looking for a Web site that was more "Web 2.0" in nature. Web 2.0 is often…

As campus renovation projects go, the Ohio State University's plan to turn its main library into "a library for the 21st century" is ambitious. The author describes the decade-long, $109 million transformation of the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library. The overhaul calls for a complete replacement of all mechanical and electrical…

The study investigated networking courses offered in accredited Library and Information Science schools in the United States in 2009. The study analyzed and compared network syllabi according to Course Syllabus Evaluation Rubric to obtain in-depth understanding of basic features and characteristics of networking courses taught. The study embraced…

This article presents an approach for developing a theory related to university library group work. Next, it reviews generic group-related phenomena indicated by the approach, applying these phenomena to university libraries. Finally, the article surveys this theoretical development, revealing that most of it remains to be accomplished.

A network of 49 public, academic, and special libraries supplies a variety of services through contractual arrangements within its own membership and outside of it. (Author)

Interlibrary lending is often overlooked when resource-sharing operations are evaluated. The relevant literature shows a lack of current lending studies. It can be difficult to convince administrators that lending should be considered to be as important as borrowing in spite of the fact that one cannot operate without the other. 26,800 cancelled…

While the traditional uses of InterLibrary Loan (ILL) can be cumbersome, much of the work is now done electronically. Google and WorldCat can tell patrons which libraries in their areas owns the the titles they want, but they cannot always tell patrons whether there is a copy on the shelf available for loan. Several ILS vendors and OCLC are…