As academic libraries are increasingly supported by a matrix of database functions, the use of data mining and visualization techniques offer significant potential for future collection development and service initiatives based on quantifiable data. While data collection techniques are still not standardized and results may be skewed because of…

This article discusses how college libraries responded to the call of eliminating discrimination and social inequality in campuses where students of color are present. In the late 1960s, many college and university libraries responded to student and faculty demands to broaden the curriculum and opportunities for scholarship by aggressively…

This research is concerned with the pragmatic performance characteristics of competing information technologies (ITs) and services in the university research center, as measured by user demand and choice. Technologies and services studied include: (1) mediated search service operating at cost recovery, open to all; (2) end-user service collecting…

This survey was conducted to determine to what extent ARL (Association of Research Libraries) libraries permit food and drink to be consumed in library facilities, whether there has been a shift in recent times toward a liberalization of policy and practice, how restrictions are enforced, and whether there are particularly successful strategies…

This research extends the "Purdue studies" of research library growth, presenting results that include library statistical trends during a 35-year period, 1951-1985. It serves to update Purdue's 9-report series (1965-1973) and is a validation study of Purdue's growth forecasts, 28 of which were published in 1965, then revised in 1971.…

This kit is based on a review of the organization charts of 71 member libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) gathered in January 1991, compared with an earlier SPEC Kit published in 1986, and contains charts of 29 of the libraries. A summary of the chart analyses presents information about the titles of library directors,…

In order to develop guidelines for the selection of journals by the Center for Research Libraries, a study was done of the use made of the Center's Journal Access Services (JAS), which supplies photocopies of journal articles to member institutions from the Center's collections and from the British Library Lending Division (BLLD). Based on a…

To investigate the experience of American and Canadian university libraries with remote access catalogs, self-administered questionnaires were sent to the 137 directors of all Association of Research Libraries (ARL) libraries and all libraries of Canadian degree-granting institutions. The study was designed to: (1) survey Canadian and U.S.…

This SPEC kit is based on a June 1987 survey of approval plan use by 94 members of the Association of Research Libraries. It reports on the current practices of these libraries, the perceived advantages and disadvantages of using approval plans, and the effect of increased library materials costs and library automation on such plans. It is noted…

Discussion of cooperative activities among libraries focuses on cataloging of Latin American materials among research libraries. Differences in motivation for cooperation in acquisitions and in cataloging are discussed; and a study is described that examined which libraries were providing online cataloging, and differences between OCLC and RLIN…

In 2002, the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), Higher Education Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee commissioned the National Library of Australia to analyse the uniqueness and overlap of Australian university library collections, comparing library collections in each state, using the National Bibliographic Database…

This article describes the current distance education environment for university libraries and the distance education library services for faculty and students. The authors surveyed selected Association of Research Libraries (ARL) members to determine current services and the changes in distance education library services since the 1996 ARL SPEC…

This package of statistics on Colorado's school library media centers (LMCs) is the product of the Survey of School Library Media Centers in Colorado 1994. There are three major components to this profile: (1) a 210-page complete tabulation of the survey's results, arranged by school level and enrollment range; (2) a set of tables reporting…

This report begins by noting that, in the interests of developing a vigorous and professionally active library faculty, a major goal of the James White Library (Andrews University, Michigan) is to recruit, retain and promote librarians who are highly self-motivated and have the ability to support the mission of the library. It then provides…

The topic of this Urban Libraries Council (ULC) Frequent Fast Facts Survey is library staffing. These ULC Frequent Fast Facts Surveys are not intended to be scientific studies of the library community but rather "snapshots" on topics of current interest. Further analysis of the results is suggested, and for that reason, the completed…