The conservation and well-being of exotic animals is core to the mission of zoos, aquariums and many small nonprofit wildlife groups. Increasingly, these organizations are committed to scientific research, both basic and applied. To ascertain the current state of the libraries that support their efforts, librarians at the San Diego Zoo conducted…

As library collections increasingly become digital, libraries are faced with many challenges regarding the acquisition and management of electronic resources. Some of these challenges include copyright and fair use, the first-sale doctrine, licensing versus ownership, digital preservation, long-term archiving, and, most important, the issue of…

Libraries are evolving into learning laboratories or "libratories"--environments where a wide variety of learning activities and projects can take place. Part project space, part design studio, part community meeting and presentation space, and part research and development lab, libraries of the future will have a new alphabet of services--the new…

Ireland has a rich and long history. It is a land of fable and of strife, from the legendary warrior Fionn Mac Cumhaill (anglicized as Finn McCool) and the god-like Tuatha De Danann to the potato famine and the more recent Troubles. In the last decade, Ireland has experienced an economic boom and assumed a new place in the political landscape via…

Introduction: Our aim is to compare the advantages and problems of e-book acquisition identified in research literature to those experienced by two Swedish university libraries. Method: A literature review was used to identify the main issues related to acquisition of e-books by academic libraries. The data for comparison were collected through…

A study was conducted to determine the impact of the use of audiobooks with struggling readers in a school library audiobook club. The participants met weekly in the school library with the school librarian and researchers to discuss audiobooks and make reading recommendations to their peers. Standardized test data as well as pre- and post-study…

As federal government information is increasingly migrating to online formats, libraries are providing links to this content via URLs or persistent URLs (PURLs) in their online public access catalogs (OPACs). Clickthrough statistics that accumulated as users visited links to online content in the University of Denver's library OPAC were gathered…

There are plenty of products out there for making information accessible to all users, but how can administrators and managers determine which are the most practical and economical for their particular library? Mates, former director of the Ohio Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled, strips away the technical jargon and introduces dozens…

Two hundred years ago, literacy meant being able to read and write. Today people find themselves with many literacies in a nation that is considered ninety-nine percent literate. The plethora of literacies has just given birth to another term--transliteracy. Transliteracy is the ability to read, listen to, view, understand, synthesize, and apply…

Patient activation is a new term for a perennial problem. People know what they need to do for their health: exercise, eat right, and get enough rest--but how are they motivated to actually do these things? This is what patient activation is. From this author's vantage point as a medical librarian, public libraries are well-placed to be part of…

This paper is based on the author's empirical experience in assisting cultural immersion programs through developing multicultural collections, promoting diversity resources, and creating a supportive information environment for faculty and students. After summarizing the significance, goals, learning objectives, and program models of cultural…

Collection development librarians have long struggled to meet user demands for new titles. Too often, required resources are not purchased, whereas some purchased resources do not circulate. E-books selected through patron-driven plans are a solution but present new challenges for both selectors and catalogers. Radical changes to traditional…

At most colleges and universities, there are a number of small, nonlibrary collections across campus, such as those found in student centers or academic departments. Historically, at American University, partnership with these collections was done through absorbing them into the main library collection. Recently, however, the Library has seen…

Celebrating original voices, highlighting what might otherwise be lost--the "Library Journal" book editors try for a list of best books that they think will make a difference in everyone's reading lives. In other words, they had rather offer readers a sharp, interesting list that challenges than a list no one could complain about--or discuss. A…

Closing a school library is not like switching out a broken computer with a working computer unit. Nor is it like moving a classroom of desks from one building to another. The collection is a wealth of information that is built and maintained to support the curriculum and student interests. It is a collection of categorized knowledge that must be…