In addition to building a new facility and providing innovative services to its students/faculty/administration, the Valley Library of Oregon State University, winner of the Gale Group/Library Journal Library of the Year Award, has created partnerships with public libraries, the business community, school districts, and other academic…

Discusses expectations of public library reference service and the reality of what librarians can provide amid declining resources. Suggests reference librarians should define the gap between potential and reality in reference service, and inform the customers about how little money it would take to provide better service. Argues that librarians…

Addresses areas which school library collections improved during the Library Power grant years, factors contributing to collection development improvements, how the collection formed the basis for collaborations between the librarian and teachers, and contributions of the collection to teaching and learning. (AEF)

Examines implications of the Year 2000 Problem for libraries in the next millennium. Discusses planning ahead for on-time subscription service delivery; preventing a domino effect on cataloging service; vendor preparations; examples of librarians' perspectives; checking for compliance; and a bibliography of sources. (AEF)

Describes how the Rochester Public Library (Minnesota) managed public access to the Internet for both residents and non-resident patrons. Discusses user needs, staff involvement, system software, fees, and handicapped accessibility. (LRW)

Asserts that library services for distance education students should be tailored to their specific needs, utilizing online technologies in combination with traditional services. States that statistics show that many community college libraries do not provide special services for their distance learners. Profiles Rio Salado College and details the…

Examines implications of undergraduate students' patronage of Barnes & Noble bookstores instead of libraries. Students' reasons for preferring Barnes & Noble included the atmosphere; more materials and easier access; more convenient hours; and organization of materials that is easy to understand. (AEF)

Presents a summary of the ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) New England Chapter Serials Interest Group's Fall 1996 program on electronic serials. The program's four principal speakers each dealt with a major aspect of electronic serial management: collection development, public services, cataloging, and systems. This report…

Outlines the process for developing an online training course for faculty who will teach entirely online. Highlights include an emphasis on pedagogy over technology; collaboration and discussion; a virtual library with relevant course resources that also serves as an introduction to general online library services; and keeping instructors current…

Examines innovative ways for school libraries to collect organize, and make effective use of student work. Highlights include recognizing original work; student writing; student posters of favorite books or characters; databases for organizing information; videotaping of students' activities and presentations; electronic products; events;…

The desire to better serve small business users for their government information needs led to a study of small business executives in New Jersey. Research findings provided further motivation, guidance, and input for development of a successful Internet training program. The authors' experiences showed academic librarians could improve…

Discusses ethical issues concerning public Internet access in academic libraries. Highlights include intellectual freedom, censorship, technical aspects of limiting or restricting use, legal liability for public use of computers for illegal purposes such as child pornography, and the importance of priority use of terminals by the primary academic…

Explains why the Internet is not replacing libraries. Highlights include the lack of substantive material that is available; problems with finding what is there; the lack of quality control; physical difficulties with reading electronic texts; high costs of digitizing; and lack of access to older material. (LRW)

Within the U.S., information is a good in the "sphere" of basic welfare and security, and therefore (following Walzer's theory of justice), it should be distributed on the basis of the principle appropriate to the meaning of goods in that sphere-communal provision based on need and not on the basis of the distributive principle…

Examines users' accounts of asking reference questions in Canadian public or academic libraries. Discusses problems, including failure to conduct a reference interview, unmonitored referral, and failure to ask follow-up questions; and considers how the availability of electronic resources, including the Web, has changed reference transactions and…