As more states adopt the Common Core State Standards, teachers face new challenges. Teachers must unpack these standards and develop explicit learning targets to make these rigorous standards accessible to their students. This task can be especially challenging for special educators who must balance standards-based education with individualized…

Following the devastation of Superstorm Sandy in October 2012, New York City's essential infrastructure needs were made a top policy priority for the first time in decades. The scale and severity of the storm prompted numerous studies to assess the damage and led policymakers to take steps to shore up the city's coastal infrastructure weaknesses.…

In this society of digital environment, to keep pace with the technological change that causes the difficulties of information access together with royalty fees remunerated for making use of copyrighted materials, Creative Commons (CC) license is introduced. However, debates on the issues of copyright and CC license have widely arisen. This…

Among public institutions, the library has great potential for helping the poor and disenfranchised. For many, the library is the only refuge for information, literacy, entertainment, language skills, employment help, free computer use and even safety and shelter. Experts Glen and Leslie Holt, with decades of service to inner city communities…

This article presents a guide to a preconference workshop on the new AASL "Standards for the 21st-Century Learner." This interactive session will help educators to empower their students to think and to create. The session provides a way to understand and incorporate the new standards in a school library program.

This article describes ways of measuring the monetary value of resource sharing across jurisdictional boundaries, using the same "buy once, use many times" logic that is the basic underpinning of libraries. (Contains 4 notes.)

This article provides a practitioner's guide to marketing user-initiated borrowing at the point of need. By reviewing interlibrary loan book requests and manually transferring them to an INN-Reach consortial system, Link+, the University of Nevada, Reno Libraries were able to successfully market the service, deliver materials faster, and save…

Do all schools need brick-and-mortar libraries? In this article, Johnson and Mastrion share their contradictory thoughts to the question. Johnson says some schools don't need library facilities or programs or librarians. These schools' teachers and administrators: (1) feel no need for a collaborative learning space; (2) feel the ability to process…

Using an electronic shelf-reading system a cost-benefit analysis was conducted of an inventory/shelf-reading project in a medium-sized academic library. Analyses include time spent, cataloging discrepancies, books found with active statuses, mis-shelving rate and distance, and subsequent use of found books. Correctly re-shelving "missing"…

This article aims to assist information professionals in developing a resource collection that serves Wind Energy students in academic settings. Traditional as well as Internet resources should be utilized in order to meet the needs of this unique student population.

This study investigates user preferences for reference and technical support, services, and facilities featured in an academic library and Learning Commons through a 23-item questionnaire distributed to building entrants during one 24-hour period on March 14, 2006. Results revealed a strong preference for face-to-face assistance (including…

In February 2008, the faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University made history, unanimously passing a revolutionary open access mandate that, for the first time, would require faculty to give the university copies of their research, along with a nonexclusive license to distribute them electronically. In the press, Harvard University…

Prior to this year, the National Library Legislative Day never really held much importance for the author as a school library media specialist. However, this feeling changed after she attended her first National Library Legislative Day in May of 2008. The goal of this day is to allow everyday practicing professionals to speak with their national…

Academic libraries are turning to automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) as a long-term cost effective means of gaining additional space in their open stacks areas by removing lesser used books and other materials for storage and placement into ASRS bins. The new library building under construction at the University of Nevada-Reno will…

Academic libraries in Japan are well resourced by international standards, and support Japan's internationally recognized research capability well, but there are also ways in which they reflect Japan's strong bureaucratic culture. Recent changes to the status of national university libraries have seen a new interest in customer service, and…