Academic libraries in the UK are playing a more prominent role in the mental health and wellbeing of students. Wellbeing collections have emerged as one way to do this but are under-researched. The aim of this paper is to investigate the development of wellbeing collections at UK institutions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a…

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the use of data for assessing library collection utilization, to explore what tools are available to help guide purchasing decisions, and to create a blueprint for applying percentage-based allocation formulas to community college library collection budgets. Because there is little literature on…

What are ways to draw attention to the need for an annual library budget? How can school library leaders advocate for equitable library budgets across a school district? These are questions the library services team of three district librarians researched before taking the first steps toward making transformational change in the Beaverton School…

During the last few years, many academic libraries have accepted the challenge of helping their users locate and acquire the numeric data they need. To meet their users' ever-increasing need for data, librarians are purchasing data sets one at a time ("small data"). This service, though important to our users, raises many issues in the…

How does a smaller, fully online academic library offer a wide and deep collection of academic level e-books to its distance learners in a sustainable and affordable way? The State University of New York (SUNY) Empire State College Online Library, with a staff of four, has used demand-driven e-book acquisitions since September 2013. Despite…

Ongoing electronic resource purchases represent a substantial proportion of collections budgets. Recognizing the necessity of systematic ongoing assessment with full selector engagement, Columbia University Libraries appointed an Electronic Resources Assessment Working Group to promote the inclusion of such resources within our current culture of…

Last fall, Information Today, Inc.'s research division, Unisphere Research, conducted a survey of more than 1,200 public, academic, government, and special librarians with budget authority in North America. The study determined that after a couple of devastating years, most libraries are projecting budget stabilization in 2011. Naturally,…

The ebook ecosystem has experienced many changes recently--having both positive and negative effects for the school library. On the positive side, many publishers have stopped seeing ebooks as the coming of the Apocalypse; instead, they are seeing that the publishing business survives and, indeed, flourishes. The different actors in this arena are…

It has become widely recognised across the academic and research libraries sector that special collections and archives play a key role in differentiating each institution from its peers. In recognition of this, Research Libraries UK (RLUK) established the workstrand "Unique and Distinctive Collections" (UDC) in support of its strategic…

It's no surprise that libraries in "LJ"'s annual budget survey reported an overall downward trend, with the expected decline in total budgets some 2.6% and the change in materials budgets 3.5%. Per capita funding is nudging down after years of steady if sometimes modest increases, with a projected decline of 1.6% in FY10. After all, the country…

Technological innovations have transformed all areas of community college libraries. Automated library systems, office software, and Internet access have altered work processes for library personnel and have changed research methodologies for students and faculty. The purpose of this bounded multiple case study was to explore how the adoption of…

This article reports on "LJ"'s annual book-buying survey of public libraries in which circulation took the biggest leap recorded since the survey was launched in 1999. This year's whopping 5.16 percent increase overall suggests just how many people are saving pennies by borrowing materials instead of buying them. In fact, libraries are being…

For over a half a century, State Library Administrative Agencies (SLAAs) have played a key role in the development and delivery of library services in the United States. While the organization and responsibilities of these agencies vary from state to state, they have two things in common: state-level planning for library services and…

A reference/instruction librarian used targeted outreach to furnish library services to faculty and students while assigned to work in the College of Education during a library renovation project. Due to the success of this temporary assignment, the author has subsequently maintained regular office hours in the College to provide research…

What is the future direction of reference books? What types of policies are libraries implementing regarding the purchase of electronic reference books? Are libraries still buying hard copy reference items when an electronic equivalent is available? This paper discusses a national survey of libraries regarding the purchase and use of electronic…