While the mission of research libraries remains constant, the nature of research libraries and what they do is changing. Research libraries are taking on new roles in digital scholarship, data management, and scholarly communications. More than ever, libraries know they must align their mission with the objectives of key stakeholders. This article…

Using the "point oh" naming system for developments in librarianship is attracting debate about its appropriateness, basis and syntax and the meaning and potential of Library 2.0. Now a new term, Library 3.0, has emerged. Is there is any significant difference between the two models? Using documentary analysis to explore the terms, the…

In this first issue of "Research Library Issues" ("RLI") in 2019, the authors explore privacy from a legal, digital, and applied perspective, with a focus on the implications and opportunities for research libraries. The current privacy landscape highlights the need for a nuanced understanding of the complicated nature of…

The question to be examined in this essay is whether the practice of scientific libraries (including special libraries and documentation) can rely on well-founded and developed theoretical works or studies as regards the conception of development, the requirements of the scientific and technical revolution, its place in the social division of…

This report is the third in a set of three reports from the project, "Issues in Library Research: Proposals for the 1990s," which was launched in September 1986 to investigate library and information science issues in order to assess the current state of the profession and identify a research agenda to lead into the next decade. This…

Discusses new technologies and the value of one-on-one personalized interaction in the reference environment and reports results of an informal survey of practitioners that investigated their views on the influences of theoretical models and new technologies on reference service. Highlights include collection development; interpersonal relations;…

With the creation of the Office of Scholarly Communication (OSC) in 1990, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) launched an initiative to focus widespread attention on the dysfunctions in the scholarly publishing system. Through the collection and dissemination of data documenting the serials crisis, a bias for action that led to the…

This report presents the research and findings of the 16-member Task Force on the Role of the Special Library in Nationwide Networks and Cooperative Programs. Four working groups studied the following issues: constituencies; network legislation; benefits, barriers, and constraints to and from special library participation in networks; and the…

This synthesis paper provides a state-of-the-art analysis of the field of library and information science based on the results of a content analysis of its literature, including selected journals, conference proceedings, dissertations, and ERIC input. The 18 trends and issues identified by the analysis include developments in technology,…

One in a series of reports on public service studies by academic libraries that are being administered by the Office of Management Studies (OMS) of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), this report on the self-study of the University of California, Riverside (UCR) Libraries includes a brief description of the overall project and an…

This report summarizes a collection of nine essays addressing the future of libraries that were an outgrowth of a study conducted by the Office of Library Programs to develop a research agenda. The study is described in the first of three sections of this report, and abstracts of the essays are presented in the second section. Areas of concern…

This synthesis paper provides a state-of-the-art analysis of the field of library and information science based on the results of a content analysis of its literature, including selected journals, conference proceedings, dissertations, and ERIC input. The 14 trends and issues identified by the analysis include developments in technology,…

This collection of nine essays is an outgrowth of a study which was conducted by the Office of Library Programs to identify researchable issues that could help librarians fill a position of leadership in the information society. An introduction to the collection describes the study and includes a list of the 10 major issues identified by…

The current ARL report summarizes a multi-year effort that captures evidence in the form of narrative profiles as it delivers the message of the value and contributions of research libraries during transformative times. When ARL library directors were interviewed in 2005 and asked to describe a research library in the 21st century, there was…

Not since the age of Gutenberg has an information upheaval so thoroughly disrupted the processes of scholarly knowledge creation, management and preservation as the digital revolution currently under way. Academic libraries have traditionally been structured to effectively facilitate the access, use and storage of mostly static, print-based…