This report focuses on practices related to the selection and presentation of commercially available electronic resources. As part of the Digital Library Federation's Collection Practices Initiative, the report also shares the goal of identifying and propagating practices that support the growth of sustainable and scalable collections. It looks in…

This SPEC (Systems and Procedures Exchange Center) Kit presents the results of a survey of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries designed to provide a description of how they are responding to demands for greater hours of access and service. Survey responses indicate what hours of access and service libraries are providing and…

This paper provides guidelines for establishing a parliamentary research service. The following steps are described: (1) establish a robust democracy as the context for the parliamentary research service; (2) counter alternatives to a parliamentary research service, e.g., personal staff, party-based research, university contacts, interest groups,…

In the 1970s and early 1980s, a few library researchers and scholars made a case for the importance of public libraries' acquisition of popular music, particularly rock music sound recordings. Their arguments were based on the anticipated historical and cultural importance of obtaining and maintaining a collection of these materials. Little new…

Cost benefit accounting is not being used in academic reference libraries today but administrators are beginning to require quantitative evaluation of services provided. Several systems are described and evaluated. (35 references) (DH)

Report of a conference held at Wichita State University, October 6-7, 1972. (DD)

Article on computer technology and college libraries reprinted from College and Research Libraries, May 1971. (IR)

The films and taped records in the Theatre Collection of the Research Library of the Performing Arts are intended to be used as research tools for scholars, students, writers, directors, designers and performers. A brief look at this project is presented. (NH)

Discusses the role of librarians in university and research libraries, noting basic personal qualifications (problem-solving and managerial abilities, undergraduate preparation), and basic assumptions that must underlie planning for library education programs to produce professionals prepared to cope with the real world. (EJS)

This study, conducted at a separate serial card catalog in a major research library, measures the success of more than 400 patrons in the retrieval of serials. Patron interviews supplement data analysis to determine approaches, success rate, and underlying reasons for success or failure. An appendix includes the survey questionnaire. (Author/RAA)

Presents the expectations of academic research libraries in the hiring of entry level librarians relative to academic and work experience. Results of a survey indicate that skills in management, automation, research, and writing are highly desirable. (RAA)

Examines the policies and practices developed by Sandia Laboratories Technical Library to acquire, process, announce, and promote the use of the technical reports literature in microfiche format. The use of COM for various internal processing functions is also described. (Author)

This study applied an analytical technique called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to calculate the relative technical efficiency of 95 academic research libraries, all members of the Association of Research Libraries. DEA, with the proper model of library inputs and outputs, can reveal best practices in the peer groups, as well as the technical…

The rationale for using Activity-Based Costing (ABC) in a library is to allocate indirect costs to products and services based on the factors that most influence them. This paper discusses the benefits of ABC to library managers and explains the steps involved in implementing ABC in the user services area of an Australian academic library.…

Discusses some problems in accessing the microform collection of the Research Libraries of the New York Public Library using the library's printed and online catalogs. Creation of an in-house automated microforms database is described, including software, selection and downloading of records, updating, and searching the database. (MES)