Twenty-three scholarly papers and twelve abstracts comprise the content of the eleventh annual Brick and Click Libraries Symposium, held at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The peer-reviewed proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future face of…

Describes a new analytical tool, data envelope analysis (DEA) model, which can provide better understanding of the efficiency of academic research libraries. Reports the results of a study using 1994-1995 Association of Research Libraries statistics together with expert judgments, in terms of constraints, to make the model more applicable to the…

Explores the role of the academic rare book library in terms of its financial justification and concludes that the primary justification lies in its utility as a research library. It is also concluded that institutions unable to support a proper rare book collection might be advised to develop appropriate special collections instead. (19…

Argues that the quality of information provided to scholars by microform sets of manuscript collections, as compared to original manuscripts and critical editions, does not justify the expansion of research libraries' collection boundaries and fiscal responsibilities to include such materials. (CLB)

Provides a critical examination of the methods and procedures currently followed in the national program for preservation microfilming in research libraries and suggests alternative approaches for selecting materials for microfilming. Source literature is discussed as being important to focus on, and the cost and completeness of bibliographic…

First published in 1944, this article predicts unprecedented growth for American university libraries, and examines the underlying causes of this growth. The use of microforms and cooperative cataloging to control library costs is recommended. A brief introduction to the article is included. (CLB)

The first of five sections in this final report for the College Cost Containment Project describes the organizational structure and purposes of the Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC) and identifies the cost containment issues addressed by the project. The remaining sections describe the programs developed by the WRLC as appropriate…

As the price of scientific publications soars to Olympian heights, it becomes imperative to base selection decisions on reliable measures for potential use of the prospective titles. A systematic examination of interlibrary loan (ILL) requests should yield hard facts as to the nature of requests and areas of specialization most dependent upon…

The costs of scholarly publishing have become unsustainable for both research libraries and university presses. This paper discusses how the transition to electronic journal publishing changes the ways in which these two participants in the scholarly communication process begin to analyze and attempt to control their cost structures in order to…

In response to serious concerns about the dramatic increases in college and university costs, the Department of Education solicited proposals in May 1987 for innovative projects to explore means of cost reduction or containment which promise significant cost savings, whether accrued in the short- or long-term. The solicitation for cost containment…

Why does an academic research library, emphasizing bioscience topics, decide to alter access to periodical literature relevant to that subject? This paper discusses how and why a change was made, resulting in access to articles via compact disc (CD-ROM) and not current hard copy issues received on subscription. Issue use and cost are primary…