The independent research libraries have diverse origins and have traveled many paths toward today's complex of library resources in this country. The motives for their founding are many, and their varying sizes belie the uniform significance of their collections to the national resource. (Author)

Theoretical foundations are examined and shown to be faulty. The term "adequate" cannot meaningfully be applied to a university library collection because the library's contribution to education is not measurable. Practical measurements such as expenditure per student, quantity standards, and collection growth rates are considered. (Author/JAB)

Since 1910 academic libraries have been essential resources to the colleges and universities they serve. These libraries have demonstrated an extraordinary ability to adapt to an everchanging environment. It may be time now for academic libraries to define and shape the environment as well as adapt and respond to it. (Author)

As the university or research library grows it loses sights of any objective for existence except existence itself. In the end it collects as much as it can and selects little or nothing. (Author/MM)

Librarians and Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) personnel were interviewed at eight urban college and university campuses to determine the extent to which their respective libraries have responded to educationally disadvantaged students. (Author)

This paper contrasts myths (false beliefs) and realities of two points of view concerning the role of the college library in learning--primary role, or secondary support role to classroom learning. Skills learned in using a college library are highlighted as necessary to acquiring an education and for lifelong learning. (EJS)

Research groups could do much to improve both the services offered by a library and its role in the academic community. (12 references) (Author)

Information technology plays a role both in library administration and in the use of information resources. Viewed in historical perspective, the "computer era" is just beginning, and the prospect of the "electronic book" is good. Librarians must be computer-literate and lead students and the public in the use of new…

Digital technologies should be considered a method of preservation for library materials. Current conservation strategies of restoration, deacidification, and microfilming are expensive, and they limit access. Digitization offers improved access while preserving materials and reflects a change in the library role from depository of printed…

Discussion of way in which books have functioned within framework of American librarianship highlights acquisition of books (libraries attempting to fill needs of everyone in geographical area, libraries devoted to filling needs of self-selected part of society, libraries devoted to collecting particular subject), and role of private collector of…

The author predicts the future of university libraries by exploring changing patterns in campus finance and administration and by investigating the interaction between the central campus administration and the library administration. (Author/SJ)

Responds to the suggestion that services provided by research libraries must adapt to changing research patterns. It is argued that research patterns need to be evaluated as well as described, and that research libraries must define their goals and relate activities to those goals as well as to current research patterns. (seven references)…

Discusses issues of copyright and the transfer or use of intellectual property as they relate to librarians. Topics addressed include the purpose of copyright laws, financial losses to publishers from pirating, cultural views of pirating, the fair use doctrine, concerns of authors of scholarly materials, impact of increasing library automation and…

The academic librarian in the period since 1876 has consistently promoted greater access to informational materials. Several periods represent an approximate emphasis in chronological sequence; these are: (1) accumulation of materials, (2) organization of resources, (3) personal assistance to readers, (4) organization patterns, and (5) physical…