This article presents interesting articles that explore several different areas of reference assessment, including practical case studies and theoretical articles that address a range of issues such as librarian behavior, patron satisfaction, virtual reference, or evaluation design. They include: (1) "Evaluating the Quality of a Chat Service"…

After providing background to Continuing Professional Education (CPE) of librarians in Hungary, this article outlines the content of a course that seeks to make Hungarian librarians familiar with free Internet resources that are usable for library technical services and reference. One of the most important topics covered in the course is the…

AskNow! online answers Australia-wide, the first nation-wide chat reference service, has been a successful exercise in collaboration and cooperation. This article examines some of the lessons learnt, the challenges of collaboration and possible future directions. AskNow!, an initiative of the Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL), commenced…

Twenty-one scholarly papers and fourteen abstracts comprise the content of the ninth annual "Brick and Click Libraries Symposium," held annually 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…

This book is designed to help novices get started in providing services to patrons of their library. By separating professional tasks from others, an indication is made when expertise is needed above and beyond the use of common sense and natural organizational skills. The book covers the realm of a librarian's responsibilities, offering advice on…

As K-12 schools connect to the Internet, a new means of communication opens up to educators and students. This updated digest describes some sample services and resources available to the K-12 community via electronic mail. Information sources covered include: question answering services, including AskERIC and the Online Writing Lab; listservs or…

This paper describes the evaluation of a current awareness or selective dissemination of information (SDI) service at New Mexico State University. To provide expanded library services to faculty, a current awareness service was offered to 18 science departments in 1991. A profile for each researcher enrolled was entered into a program and was run…

Working in a cooperative team environment across libraries and job classifications, librarians and support staff at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) have mounted several successful web projects, including two versions of the Libraries' home page, a virtual reference collection, and Science Library "ANTswer Machine." UCI's…

This document contains papers and transcripts from a university faculty colloquium which shared views about teaching methods and information on successful approaches. Following a copy of the colloquium announcement and a brief introduction, the main section presents transcripts of the presentations. The first discusses the structure and role of…

This annotated bibliography focuses on academic library usage of audiovisual (AV) methods of instruction, particularly for the enhancement of the reference teaching function. The bibliography's objectives are as follows: to identify current trends with regard to AV methods in library orientation and bibliographic instruction; to isolate instances…

This report, written for a National Archives Staff training program, presents the results of a survey which sought information about the administration of the government documents sections of the National Library of Canada, the National Archives of the United States, and 12 selected American state archives and state libraries. The survey gathered…

This paper presents a description of the Old Dominion University's (Virginia) Reference Librarian Orientation Program designed to ease the transition of reference librarians new to the school and its reference department. The program introduces the reference librarian to the library, the reference department, and the university itself and consists…

The fourth in a series, this publication presents a statistical picture of Illinois Public Libraries during the 1990-1991 fiscal year. Its purpose is to provide librarians and trustees with statistics that can be compared to those of other libraries of similar size and environment to determine whether the library is above or below the average for…

This guide provides a review of the relevant literature on desalination within the collections of the Library of Congress. While not intended as a comprehensive bibliography, this guide is designed as a quick and ready reference source for the reader, and includes the following sections: (1) articles that provide introductions to the topic of…

This paper examines the means by which the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) preserves historically valuable documents while still making them available to those who initially created them. The paper compares the policies for handling requests for access by donors of material and procedures for accessioned records among the three…