Fewer employees, shorter hours, diminished collection budgets, reduced programs and services--all at a time of record library usage. In this book, library expert Carol Smallwood demonstrates that despite the obvious downsides, the necessity of doing business differently can be positive, leading to partnering, sharing, and innovating. This…

Reports on Bill and Melinda Gates's tour of Alabama, the first state to be wired to the Internet by the nonprofit Gates Library Foundation, and the model for connecting 1000 more libraries this year. Mutual appreciation between Alabama librarians and the Gateses resulted. An interview with Bill Gates focuses on challenges libraries face in…

Discusses statewide initiatives in information services and resource sharing in Kentucky. Describes developments of the Kentucky Library Network; the EMPOWER Kentucky initiative; the Strategic Information Technology Plan; Online Computer Library Center's (OCLC) FirstSearch for resource sharing; and future perspectives. (AEF)

Broward Community College South and North Campus Libraries have successfully become partners with the Broward County Library System. Commencing in the early 1980s, the joint-use facilities were pioneers and are now models for other institutions across the state and nation that are planning similar projects. The fear of leaders involved with the…

In 2005 many California Public Library staff members attended focus groups on the status of California Library Services Act (CLSA) cooperative system services, which were held throughout the state in late November and early December and focused on four general questions: (1) What works well now in cooperative library services? (2) What does not…

The purpose of this study was to obtain descriptive information about the nation's public library connectivity, use, and costs related to the Internet. The study gathered data from a national sample of public libraries from the period between May and July 1997. Unlike the 1994 and 1996 students, the 1997 study drew a new library sample that…

Examines the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) which provides access to the state's public library resources; federal, state, and regional information resources; and other electronic information resources. Describes OPLIN's role in Ohio, hardware and services provided, mission, origin, funding, staff training, databases, future plans…

This publication establishes goals and specifies priorities for the State of Louisiana consistent with the purposes of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). Four goals are listed, with accompanying activities, procedures, and evaluation for their implementation; the fourth goal specifies four priorities. The goals are: (1) To administer…

The Memex Research Institute (MRI), an independent nonprofit research and development organization, has created an electronic library program of shared research and development to make the collective vision of Vannevar Bush's "memex" more concrete. Program is working toward the creation of large, publicly available indexed electronic image…

A collection of eight articles discusses resource sharing in a variety of settings. Highlights include: community networks, document delivery in library consortia, Internet access for schools, automation and resource sharing at community college libraries, lending of special collections materials, cooperative rural library services, and web sites…

Building joint-use libraries to foster new types of learning and collaboration is a growing phenomenon that is of great interest to academic library planners around the world. Noteworthy among these efforts, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in San Jose, California, is a collaboration of a metropolitan university library and a major public…

This paper describes the equipment selection procedures, resource sharing agreements, serials directory information, and collection development activities of A.S.A.P. (As Soon As Possible), a school library-directed fax consortium in Colorado consisting of 14 high school library media centers, two alternative schools, two academic libraries, one…

The need for a reconsideration of policy in the Utah library community is driven by three factors: (1) the success of the Upgrade Process and state development grants in developing local library service; (2) the rapid expansion of revolutionary network technology; and (3) changing patterns of federal funding. This paper focuses on specific…

Discusses how the resources of public libraries are now available to distant learners through telecommunication services. Highlights increases in library Web access, revitalizations of libraries, and increases in library use. Summaries key items in one university-public library cooperative agreement. (AEF)

The eight papers in this collection focus on library activities in various geographical regions, e.g., Asia, Oceania, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Western Australia: (1) "Future Approaches and Prospects of Computerised Information Network among the Countries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)" (Abdullah…