Increasing demand for biotechnology and biomedical resources prompted the Engineering Library at the University of Colorado at Boulder (UCB) to complete a collection assessment of the journals, books, and other resources provided by the University Libraries. This paper presents a variety of methods for evaluating library collections and describes…

Genre is a hot issue in readers' advisory (RA) circles right now. Many people are looking at how genre functions and morphs. Studying a genre is not a new idea. Over two decades ago, and even longer in less formal ways, librarians began gathering to study genres--asking such questions as in what genre does this book fit and why, what are its…

According to the Internet World Stats (2010), the growth rate of internet usage in the world is 444.8 % from 2000 to 2010. Since the number of internet users is rapidly increasing with each passed year, e-learning is often identified with web-based learning. The institutions, which deliver e-learning service via the use of computer and internet,…

The author recently asked his colleagues, "How can libraries determine the value in collecting, managing, preserving, and/or cataloging e-resources?" hoping to challenge readers to come up with some thoughtful opinions and useful tips. Not surprisingly, he received a handful of substantially different but uniformly provocative and creative…

There is a general perception that as librarians, we know what constitutes and defines a rare book, that our heritage book collections are well-documented and their future survival is planned for and secure. This discussion paper asks whether our definitions of heritage material might be too narrow and whether they reflect the reality across all…

In this fully updated revision, expert instructor and librarian Peggy Johnson addresses the art in controlling and updating your library's collection. Each chapter offers complete coverage of one aspect of collection development, including suggestions for further reading and a narrative case study exploring the issue. Johnson also integrates…

As schools struggle to meet federal testing requirements, the importance of having highly effective teachers in every classroom has never been greater, and, given the current downward trend in the economy, there are more teaching applicants than ever. School districts would benefit from a streamlined process to interview and select only the most…

How can the average educator who teaches online, without experience in evaluating emerging technologies, build on what is successful and modify what is not? Written for educators who feel ill-prepared when required to evaluate e-learning initiatives, "Evaluating e-Learning" offers step-by-step guidance for conducting an evaluation plan of…

SETDA and NASTID's "Technology Tools for Schools Resource Guide" provides definitions of key technology components and relevant examples, where appropriate as a glossary for educators. The guide also presents essential implementation and infrastructure considerations that decision makers should think about when implementing technology in schools.…

Various normalization techniques to transform journal impact factors (JIFs) into a standard scale or range of values have been reported a number of times in the literature, but have seldom been part of collection development librarians' tool kits. In this paper, JIFs as reported in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) database are converted to…

In high-level education such as university studies, there is a flexible but complicated system of subject offerings and registration rules such as prerequisite subjects. Those offerings, connected with registration rules, should be matched to the students' learning needs and desires, which change dynamically. Students need assistance in such a…

Objective: The purpose of this article is to describe the method of item selection tested in the development of the Adolescent Domain Screening Inventory. Method: The convenience sampling frame used for these analyses consisted of 26,781 Communities That Care Youth Surveys. The three item selection methods were used to assess known instrument,…

This article examines what is desirable in online reference books in science and technology and outlines a framework for evaluating their interfaces. The framework considers factors unique to these subject areas like chemical structures and numerical data. Criteria in three categories, navigability, searchability, and results, were applied to five…

Reformers suggest that parental choice will improve equity by making it possible for parents to select better schools for their children. A key assumption behind this claim is that parents choose from a set of schools that range in quality. Data from this longitudinal interview study suggest this assumption may be false. In one Midwestern city,…

This investigation elicited the perceptions of thirteen of the most successful research supervisors from one university, with a view to identifying their approaches to selecting research candidates. The supervisors were identified by the university's research office using the single criterion of having the largest number of completed research…