Discussion of knowledge-based systems focuses on expert systems used by libraries for technical services and collection management. Highlights include knowledge acquisition; system development issues, including staff time and costs; cataloging; acquisitions and serials control; material selection; preservation; and examples of existing systems.…

Presents a simple four-step method bibliographic instruction librarians can use to teach students how to design an effective search strategy. Using the image of a clock face, students learn how to make explicit connections among the search statement, types of library materials, and access tools in formulating a research plan. (22 references)…

Describes strategies that academic libraries can use to stretch the collection budget in the face of increasing costs. Collection management measures are discussed, including cancellations, coordinated buying, and cooperative databases; budgetary strategies are described; and political factors are considered, including faculty support,…

Ralph A. Ulveling's 1951 challenge to the American Library Association (ALA) policy on censorship is described. Ulveling's proposal to segregate materials containing propaganda and the efforts of the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee to address lack of consensus in the profession and librarians' role in protecting intellectual freedom are…

Argues for the importance of authenticity in children's picture-book folktales. The need for source notes, authors' and publishers' responsibility to provide them, and librarians' responsibility to consider them when selecting, using, and reviewing folktales are stressed. Source acknowledgment practices are explained, and examples with…

Discusses libraries' participation in consortia, cooperatives, or networks to help cope with the financial pressures created by more available materials and less money. Reasons for participating are examined, factors to determine the value of belonging are suggested, cost factors are considered, and cooperative collection development is described.…

Offers definitions, statistics, and suggestions for public librarians working with homeschoolers. Library concerns are addressed, including censorship, negative staff attitudes, technology demands, and administrative limits; and ways to make homeschoolers more welcome are suggested, including compiling homeschooling resource materials, library…

Considers the relationship of the quality of images with the needs of users of digitized manuscripts. Highlights include goals of digitization; for whom to digitize; experiences of the National Library of the Czech Republic digitizing and providing electronic access to historical documents; preparation of manuscript descriptions; usability of…

An experiment involving 10 university libraries and their patrons suggests that libraries may eventually buy access only to the specific journal articles that scholars want to read, rather than subscribe to the journals' complete contents. Three subscription types are being tested. So far, institutions are buying the least traditional form: access…

This interview with Ian Winkworth explains the Hybrid Library of the Future (HyLife) project at the University of Northumbria (United Kingdom) that was developed to help achieve integrated access to combined electronic and printed library services. The focus of the project is not on the technology, but on the educational, social, and…

This investigation at California State University, Chico seeks to identify those variables that prove indicative of the demand for monographs by subject. Analyzes interrelationships among circulation, expenditure, and enrollment by subject and develops a model for allocating subject funding based on circulation statistics. (Author/LRW)

Discussion of ready reference and current events collections in high school libraries focuses on a comparison of two CD-ROM services, EBSCO Topic Search and the SIRS Researcher. Considers licensing; access; search strategies; viewing articles; currency; printing; added value features; and advantages of CD-ROMs. (LRW)

Availability in electronic format of scholarly and scientific literatures and other forms of information has altered challenges faced by library collection managers. Drawing on ideas of the multi-library consortia, which have grown up partly in response to the advent of electronic resources, librarians have devised new criteria and means of…

Three attempts at consensus lists of evaluation criteria for the Web are compared with reviews in "Choice" magazine. There is little agreement on the most important/appropriate criteria for a Web site's value, and few of the criteria appear in the sample reviews, suggesting a continued lack of consensus. The extreme rapidity of change in the Web…

Librarians at Harvard University have written the most comprehensive guide to selecting research collections for digitization. This article applies the Harvard Model to a digitization project at Indiana University in order to evaluate the appropriateness of the model for use at another institution and to adapt the model to local needs. (Contains 7…