A year-long study involving 29 libraries (11 public, 5 academic, 1 combined academic/public, 6 special, 1 combined public/school, and 5 school) was undertaken in FY 1984 to monitor the usage of an existing union catalog--the Washington Library Network Resource Directory--and determine what policies and protocols should be considered when preparing…

Discusses issues of identifying, storing, handling, and providing access to rare books and materials in institutions without special collections departments. Suggests that although many community colleges do not collect rare materials, they may nonetheless be in possession of books that are rare and that should receive special care. (ontains four…

Traces the role of Geoffrey Cochrane Remington, Sydney solicitor and businessman, in free public library development in Australia. Describes how the Munn Pitt Report on Australian libraries and Remington's acquaintance with John Wallace Metcalfe of the Public Library of New South Wales led to the birth of the Free Library Movement in 1935, and…

The University of Chicago's Joseph Regenstein Library Bookstacks Department has used process mapping and continuous improvement to successfully improve its overall operations. The most recent efforts focus on Lean manufacturing, an initiative centered on eliminating waste in manufacturing processes. The conversion of the Bookstacks Department from…

This article analyzes a textbook collection project that spanned three semesters at the University of Minnesota. The project consisted of collecting extra copies from professors in several departments and placing the items on reserves for short term circulation; there was a small amount of money dedicated to the project. An analysis of circulation…

This article reports the results from a national survey of experiences in postsecondary education of students with visual impairments in gaining access to textbooks. Participants were members of listserves sponsored by the student affiliates of the American Council of the Blind and the National Federation of the Blind. While the majority of…

This article discusses the importance of designing a library media center that engages students in constructing new knowledge. The author describes the planning stages of a new library facility. In the early planning stages, the author focused on the expectations of the administration. She soon realized that they had included all the…

As America entered the information age, libraries were no longer being pictured as a vital part of family life. Instead, technology became the critical resource for a middle-class family. In addition, state and national accountability and assessment initiatives forced school library media specialists (SLMSs) to demonstrate that the school library…

While the need for a data retention policy is rapidly becoming clear to schools, little guidance is available for crafting one. Most schools depend on backup and recovery plans that generally focus on individual servers or devices. However, retention policies also need to focus on the type of data contained on those servers and how it will be…

Promoting services is a conundrum for any organization. This is especially true for an academic library promoting distance library services. Systems thinking, process mapping, team learning, and diffusion of information practices offer ways of thinking about promoting services that help those involved find novel ways to approach promoting distance…

As blogging software has grown increasingly user-friendly, many libraries are employing blogs to make their web presence as inviting and interactive as their bricks-and-mortar counterpart. Libraries are reaping the rewards, too: well-written, frequently updated public blogs help librarians relate to their patrons, generate support for new building…

This document reports data for the law and medical components of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) university libraries in the United States and Canada. Tables of summary data for collections, expenditures, and personnel and public services are presented separately for law and medical libraries by fiscal year. In addition, footnotes to…

This annual report summarizes activities of the Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) for the fiscal year (FY) 1993. It begins with a letter from the director who gives an overview of the report and a listing of the Library Service Executive Board. The following general areas are then discussed: (1) agency services including the summer reading…

This document represents the five-year Arkansas State Plan for the operating in accordance with the Library Services and Technology Act in Arkansas (fiscal year 1998-2002). The following are covered: vision statement; a description of the types of libraries in Arkansas (public, school, post-secondary education, special, and State Library); an…

Two hundred eighty-three sources are included in this bibliography dealing with libraries, archives, and librarianship in the islands of the South and Central Pacific. Twenty-six island nations are covered, with brief narrative summaries of the library situation given in some cases: (1) American Samoa, (2) Belau, (3) Cook Islands, (4) Easter…