A literary scholar recounts his personal experiences with manuscripts and archival materials of great variety and sees a pendulum shift back toward examining original source materials. Special collections need to reinsert themselves into the mainstream of intellectual life and promote themselves to students and scholars more effectively. (Author)

Presents interviews with Fred Kent, founder of the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) and Phil Myrick, PPS's assistant vice president, about transforming libraries into desirable public spaces. Discusses qualities people value in public spaces; great library buildings and what they are doing right; the first thing library directors should do when…

Discusses the control of digital content and the stakes for libraries and our democratic culture. Highlights include copyright term extension, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, use of contract law to limit the public domain, database legislation, trademarks versus the public domain, the void in our cultural vocabulary, and the concept of the…

Describes a statewide language-development program developed among Maryland's city, county, and regional library systems to help parents prepare their preschoolers for success in school. Discusses child development, the role of libraries, storytelling training, and preschool literacy efforts by the Public Library Association; and lists Web…

Presents ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) guidelines for library instruction and services for distance education. Highlights include the lack of service issues addressed in digital library discussions; distance students' characteristics; the library's role; and remote service to distance users. (Author/LRW)

Discusses the importance of libraries, books, and reading. Highlights include: the role of libraries in our culture; literacy, reading, and writing as the essence of thinking; the relationship between the book and the reader; and the impact of information technologies. (MES)

Addresses the Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds' experiences working with school libraries and the lessons learned from the Library Power initiative, including: how school libraries can support national education goals, particularly in meeting the challenges outlined in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001; current threats to library reform; and how…

Considers the response of the public library to public demand for goods and services. The discussion makes distinctions between needs and wants and considers the roles of the public and private sectors in meeting user wants and needs. (two references) (MES)

Discusses the traditional role and functions of research library technical services departments and examines the impact of electronic information and information technology on technical services. It is argued that technical services units will stagnate if they do not accept the responsibility of becoming technologically adept. (19 references) (CLB)

Looks at the issue of professional relationships between teachers and librarians and how those relationships affect curricular decisions. Suggests teachers and librarians see each other as team-teachers who support each other's programs. (MG)

Argues that school libraries should maintain a commitment to encourage reading and have concern for the enrichment of the individual's imaginative and creative life. Describes a variety of ways the school libraries in the United Kingdom promote reading. (RS)

Discusses the current widespread acceptance of the public library model for prison libraries, in which preferences of the inmates are the chief consideration in programing and collection development. It is argued that this model results in recreational programs and collections that fail to fulfill the prison library's role in education and…

Reviews common technical services policies relating to circulation, cataloging, and collection development that routinely prevent full access to public library resources for children and adolescents. It is argued that technical services librarians can work closely with those in youth services to ensure intellectual freedom for children and youth.…

Details the design, financial support, organizational structure, and evolution of a program to facilitate the automation of small public libraries in Massachusetts and to promote resource sharing among those libraries. A sidebar by Governor Dukakis expresses his views on the role and importance of libraries. (MES)

Reviews publications that examine the quality of American higher education and suggest methods for improving education at the baccalaureate level. The discussion covers the treatment of the role of college libraries in these reports, reactions of librarians to the reports, and the need for librarians to gain full participation in the education…