Tufts University Hirsh Health Sciences Library created a Facebook page and a corresponding managing committee in March 2010. Facebook Page Insights data collected from the library's Facebook page were statistically analyzed to investigate patterns of user engagement. The committee hoped to improve posting practices and increase user engagement…

In 2007, New York University's Bobst Library assembled a group of staff charged with suggesting improvements to circulation policy. As a result of these efforts many changes were implemented at the beginning of the 2007-2008 academic year, including extended loan periods and the elimination of routine daily overdue fines. The changes were…

Automated storage/retrieval systems (ASRSs) are playing an integral part in today's library operations and collections management. Eastern Michigan University installed an ASRS as part of the new Halle Library, which opened in May 1998, to provide "storage" for up to 800,000 items. Over the past 10 years our policies and procedures have…

This article discusses some of the premigration tasks at Minnesota State Mankato in preparation for migration to a new integrated library system, ALEPH. The authors describe the review of circulation policies to make sure that only relevant, current data and practices were carried over. There is emphasis on the need for ongoing review of policies…

Library literature from the late 19th century to the present offers numerous guides to materials selection. Yet, collection development policies and lists of selection criteria are inadequate for humanities electronic texts. Libraries, humanities disciplines, and electronic texts are too complex for any rigid approach to acquisition. To meet goals…

Five Grand Challenges are proposed for library research: (1) Library service: Could library services be made more meaningful? (2) Library theory: Who knew what when? (3) Library design: Have digital libraries been designed backwards? (4) Library values: How neutral can libraries be? (5) Library communities: How do communities differ? (AEF)

Examines four significant unanswered questions related to children's and young adult services in public libraries. After reviewing the existing knowledge base that can serve as scaffolding for the needed research, the author suggests strategies for refining and implementing this research agenda. (Contains 62 references.) (Author/AEF)

Presents four challenges faced by libraries and proposes research designs to address each of them. The challenges involve: invisible infrastructure; content and collections; preservation and access; and institutional boundaries. Proposes a mixture of research methods that includes surveys, case studies, documentary analyses, and policy analyses.…

Libraries throughout history have utilized some method of communicating resources and services to their communities. Verbal communication progressed into newsletters, event calendars, bookmarks, and posters. More recently, technological advancements have allowed individuals to communicate ideas beyond the confined pages of a book or newsletter and…

Following a library-wide brainstorming session and retreat, the Dean of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library tasked an ad-hoc committee to discuss implications for the library and its users if certain processes were implemented or eliminated in order to streamline the processing of serials. As the library's collection continues to shift from…

This article describes the current distance education environment for university libraries and the distance education library services for faculty and students. The authors surveyed selected Association of Research Libraries (ARL) members to determine current services and the changes in distance education library services since the 1996 ARL SPEC…

The shift in policy from market driven behaviour towards a more cooperative tertiary sector is having an effect on New Zealand academic libraries and their relationships. Despite this, there has been no investigation of collaboration specifically targeting New Zealand tertiary libraries. This research project examine the state of collaboration…

This publication brings together for the first time in a single volume the status of public library standards in the United States. Based on a master's thesis submitted to the Department of Library Science at The Catholic University of America by Mrs. Marian Magg, the study has been brought up to date and also expanded. This bulletin provides not…

During the last decade, research has become increasingly important to the profession of librarianship. Seven library schools now have doctoral programs, foundation grants have stimulated and supported scores of major projects, and the research method has been recognized as an accepted technique for solving library problems. The increasing volume…

Traditionally, archivists have been involved mainly in the intellectual preservation of library materials and the selection, appraisal, processing, and cataloging of library collections. Due to the relatively short (approximately 50 years) stability of the paper commonly used for printed and written documents since the mid-nineteenth century, the…