In the spring of 2017, digital librarians and digital collection managers at member institutions of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) were surveyed on practices and policies surrounding takedown requests in openly accessible digital collections. The survey collected basic demographic information surrounding the digital repositories…

Evidence-based practice (EBP), like information literacy, is concerned with an individual's knowledge, skills, and attitudes relating to using information. EBP is now a professional competency in fields as diverse as social work, nursing and allied health fields, and public policy. A comparison of the Association of College and Research Libraries'…

This user's guide was developed to advance local planning at ARL member libraries. It is written for library leaders writ large and for anyone leading or contributing to research library planning processes. Users do not need advanced facilitation skills to benefit from this guide, but facilitators charged with supporting scenario planning will…

While there is general agreement regarding the educational and cultural advantages of exhibits, research and academic libraries often adapt the operating guidelines and procedures of exhibit planning and installation from museums and other non-library institutions. To discover procedures and policies developed specifically for research libraries…

This article describes the card-sorting techniques used by several academic libraries, reports and discusses the results of card-sorting usability tests of the Western Michigan University Libraries' Web site, and reveals how the WMU libraries incorporated the findings into a new Web site redesign, setting the design direction early on. The article…

Makes a case for an in-house minor repairs workshop to treat circulating materials of a small research library. Preservation methods, materials, and training are discussed, and useful reference sources are mentioned. (JD)

Recent years have seen increased interest in extending the concept of budgeting to include activities related to planning, coordinating, and monitoring the entire operation of a library. There is strong evidence that the budgeting technique used can affect management potential. About 80% of total libraries use traditional line item or lump sum…

Reviews the history, literature, and methodology of collection evaluation or assessment in American research libraries; discusses current problems, tools, and methodology of evaluation; and describes an ongoing collection evaluation program at the Stanford University Libraries. (Author/MBR)

To a large extent, research library planning practices are still in an experimental stage, involving efforts to apply proven management methods to academic situations. Important recent developments in this field are: 1) there is a common recognition of the need to involve the librarian in the top administrative councils of the university and to…

A user contacts a reference librarian when he needs assistance to solve a methodological problem in getting information from the scholarly record. The reference librarian then takes on the user's problem. There are two responses the reference librarian can make: (1) teach the user how to access the scholarly record for his immediate purpose, or…

The 1990-91 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) preservation questionnaire, the results of which are reported in this volume, was designed to yield statistical information on the current level of preservation efforts in research libraries and on the key organizational, functional, and fiscal components that characterize preservation programs.…

A March 1980 Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) survey on preservation indicated that more than half the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) membership were operating some type of active preservation program. This kit on basic preservation procedures contains policy statements, guidelines, and procedural instructions (many…

Delineates the types of decisions involved in the preservation of library collections and suggests decision-making structures and criteria for each type of decision. The information gaps which limit the ability to make intelligent preservation decisions are also discussed. (Author/JL)

Results from a 1978 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) survey on planning for, and conversion to automated acquisitions systems, and the effects of such systems on library operations and use, organization and staffing, and management information, indicate that 38 of 77 responding libraries had instituted some kind of automated acquisitions.…

This collection contains data from a 1976 survey on organization, staffing, and operation of the gifts and exchange functions of member libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and 26 primary source documents. Source documents in the kit include: (1) annual reports from Columbia University, University of North Carolina, and Ohio…