Expanding on previous research, the authors applied quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate Web usability policies, standards, and guidelines (PSGs); resources; and usability testing, including mobile testing and usability laboratories, at the academic members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Survey results indicated…

This report suggests that Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan's "Five Laws of Library Science" can be reordered and reinterpreted to reflect today's library resources and services, as well as the behaviors that people demonstrate when engaging with them. Although authors Senior Research Scientist Lynn Silipigni Connaway and Associate Research…

For nearly a decade now, librarians have discussed and deliberated ways, for the sake of convenience, to integrate internet-like searching into their own catalogs to mimic what academic library patrons have been using outside the library. Discovery tools and web-scale discovery services (WSDS) attempt to provide users with a similar one-stop shop…

The impacts of the Internet on library services and information usage since the advent of the World Wide Web have been significant, changing patron expectations for libraries, the ways in which libraries can reach patrons, the amount of information available, the job requirements of librarians, and the roles that libraries can play in their…

After providing access to over 100 video interviews conducted by a professor with notable entertainers and personalities from film through an institutional repository, an experiment was conducted to discover whether a larger audience could be gained by adding a subset of 32 of these videos to YouTube. The results, over 400,000 views, indicate that…

This issue of "Research Library Issues" ("RLI") presents an introduction article and two companion articles, which highlight Net Neutrality. The introduction article, "Why Net Neutrality Matters and What Research Libraries Can Do about It" (Mary Lee Kennedy), explains that the fundamental intent of the open internet…

In the last two decades, fundamental changes in information distribution, in the general economy, and in the behaviors of faculty, students, and library staff have problematized the question of an academic library's value and how it can be measured. This article reviews those changes and, drawing on research linked to the Collegiate Learning…

Library pathfinders are a time-tested method of leading library users to important resources. However, paper-based pathfinders suffer from space limitations, and both paper-based and Web-based pathfinders require frequent updates to keep up with new library acquisitions. This article details a step-by-step method to create an online dynamic…

The use of interactive web technologies on public library web sites in the United States has been a topic of much discussion in recent years, and a shift in certain types of user services is underway. Terms like "Web 2.0" and even "Library 2.0" have become common in library literature and at conferences as those on the early…

As the corpus of gray literature grows and the price of serials rises, it becomes increasingly important to explore ways to integrate the free and open Web seamlessly into one's collections. Users, after all, are discovering these materials all the time via sites such as Google Scholar and Scirus or by searching arXiv.org or CiteSeer directly.…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how federated search engines are incorporated into the Web sites of libraries in the Association of Research Libraries. In 2009, information was gathered for each library in the Association of Research Libraries with a federated search engine. This included the name of the federated search service and…

This article highlights various literature covering a broad range of topics that are of interest to public services librarians, from collections and user services to one's own research and professional development. Although addressing many topics, these authors have all used or advocate for solid research methods and data analysis in their works,…

Measuring website success is critical not only to the web development process but also to demonstrate the value of library services to the institution. This article documents one library's approach to the measurement of website success. LibQUAL+[TM] results and strategic-planning documents indicated a need for a new type of measurement. The…

A library's Web site is well recognized as the gateway to the library for the vast majority of users. Choosing the most user-friendly Web architecture to reflect the many services libraries offer is a complex process, and librarians are still experimenting to find what works best for their users. As part of a redesign of the Oregon State…

Twenty-three scholarly papers and eleven abstracts reflect the content of the seventh "Brick and Click Libraries Symposium," held annually at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future face of…