Describes a study that examined the citation patterns of 579 randomly selected citations from 167 French and German monographs published in 1984, and compared the findings with those of earlier studies of American and British humanities monographic and journal literatures. The implications for library collection development are discussed. (24…

Argues that preservation and collection development can be effectively coordinated only when the underlying political forces driving these two operations are defined and compared. The discussion explores some of the functions and values of preservation and collection development from a primarily political point of view in three contexts:…

Responds to the suggestion that services provided by research libraries must adapt to changing research patterns. It is argued that research patterns need to be evaluated as well as described, and that research libraries must define their goals and relate activities to those goals as well as to current research patterns. (seven references)…

Reviews the experiences of 12 research libraries that participated from 1984-86 in the retrospective conversion of approximately 21,000 data records describing archival materials using RLIN (Research Libraries Information Network). Factors affecting the amount of time spent on the project--the integrity of finding aids and authority work--are…

Outlines the development and implementation of the New York State Program for the Conservation and Preservation of Library Research Materials, highlighting specific grants awarded to the 11 Comprehensive Research Libraries. The decision of the 11 research libraries to redefine themselves as a consortium is discussed and their priorities are…

Discusses the importance of strategic planning in academic libraries. Topics addressed include the culture of the research institution, benefits of strategic planning, empowerment of the library through planning, and a framework for the planning process. Examples of planning from two university libraries that involved staff, faculty,…

Reports on a survey of 25 large research libraries concerning their anticipated use of local systems and bibliographic utilities in 1992. Topics covered include acquisitions, cataloging, database maintenance, record transfer, and authority control. (MES)

Reviews and describes in detail the procedures of three cataloging projects outsourced with OCLC for a rare book collection of over 10,000 items and a backlog of 30,000 additional titles in the Marian Library of the University of Dayton, a research library focused on Mary, the mother of Jesus. (Author/LRW)

With today's relatively flat budgets, research libraries are finding their buying power further diminished by the hyperinflationary costs of library materials. Yet technology innovation, coupled with organizational restructuring, is enabling libraries not only to provide more high-quality information services but also to achieve unparalleled…

Fourteen years after its establishment, the Distance Learning Section is one of the fastest growing sections in the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association. Based on Section archives and secondary literature, this article traces the organization's development from its beginnings as a…

This paper reports on the outcomes of research assessing the nature and extent of print journal cancellations by Australian research libraries since 1990. The cancellation activity of two groups of libraries, one representing the national and state library sector and the other the university library sector, was examined. These two groups were…

Research libraries were among the first to embrace and exploit the potential of the World Wide Web after its debut in the 1990s. They quickly began constructing virtual information landscapes, including policies, services, and collections that not only shaped but also defined the realms of possibility within such terrain. In their roles as both…

"ARL Statistics 2005-06" is the latest in a series of annual publications that describe collections, staffing, expenditures, and service activities for the 123 members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Of these, 113 are university libraries and 10 are public, governmental, and nonprofit research libraries. Data reported by libraries…

The "ARL Annual Salary Survey 2006-07" reports salary data for all professional staff working in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) libraries. It is the most comprehensive and thorough guide to current salaries in large U.S. and Canadian academic and research libraries, and is a valuable management and research tool. Data for 9,824…

With the expansion in quantity of full-text content material made available through online database subscriptions, aggregator services, and over the Internet, the need for print materials seems to have diminished over recent years. Growing, too, are the numbers of students taking advantage of distance learning opportunities, scattered miles and…