This research brief describes recent methodological initiatives with the Public Libraries Survey. It describes how starting with the 2022 data, Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) updated geographic identifiers to better align Census Bureau geography types with the library's legal service area, with the goal of enabling data users to…

"Developing Collections to Empower Learners" examines collection development in the context of today's shifts toward digital resources while emphasizing the foundational beliefs of the school library profession. Writer Sue Kimmel includes practical advice about needs assessment, planning, selection, acquisitions, evaluation, and…

The mere fact that a library service is being used does not mean that the service makes a difference or has a positive impact on the user. This has significant implications for Special Library and Information Services (SL&IS) that have to constantly prove that they add value. Because of the difficulty of measuring impact effectively, the…

Have you ever had a teacher say, "I'd love to bring my classes to the library more often, but we just don't have enough time because we have to prepare for our state standardized tests?" This response stems from a misconception about the role of library media centers and library media specialists. In some school environments, the library media…

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)

Uses accreditation and Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) sectional standards/criteria, higher education outcomes-assessment research findings, and recent performance-effectiveness studies to identify institutional outcomes to which academic libraries contribute, describe specific performance indicators whose measures of impacts…

Despite setbacks and hazards, libraries today are a more vital and a more appreciated part of our lives than ever before. (Author/NH)

The concept paper prepared by the American Geological Institute (AGI) Committee on Geoscience Information is evaluated and areas which need more detailed plans if the geoscience community is to be persuaded of the need for a library network are discussed. For example: the concept plan does not display adequate awareness or concern for the role of…

The U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) sponsored the symposium "Scholarship and Libraries in Transition: A Dialogue about the Impacts of Mass Digitization Projects" in March 2006 at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. The symposium was organized with a keynote and several other individual presentations, as well…

As institutional roles change in response to contemporary pressures on them, new opportunities arise for combining forces to achieve common objectives. With today's technological revolution in handling information, the role of the public library is both challenged and reaffirmed. Resources may be allocated from state and national levels of…

This issue of "Illinois Libraries" is a report of the Illinois White House Conference on Library and Information Services, held in Springfield, November 12-14, 1978. After a brief introduction, the planning process for the conference is described, including committee work, timetables established, the efforts of state agencies, delegate…

A ten-week institute was developed to train library students in the western United States for work in state library agencies. Learning activities included lectures, guest speakers, discussions, role-playing, field trips, four weeks of field work, case studies, research, and report writing. The focus was on state library history, special aspects,…

The impact of the College Level Examination Project (CLEP) upon the total community has been good but not widespread enough to be classified "successful." Within the academic community there has been the overwhelming acceptance of CLEP and a continuing upgrading of credits to the benefit of the student, with a growing standardization of…

The Independent Study Project of the Dallas Public Library has as its primary goal the testing of the feasibility of utilizing an existent public institution, the library, for enabling qualified persons to earn credits toward a degree through independent study and examination. More proximate goals are: (a) the assessment of demand locally for…

The increase in interlibrary loan (ILL) service, the desire of more institutions to share resources, and the unstable nature of grant funds to support such activity, led the Metropolitan Detroit Medical Library Group (MDMLG) to adopt a formal voluntary interlibrary loan agreement in 1970. In brief, the agreement states that borrowing libraries…