Discusses use of the World Wide Web to enhance use of library special collections. Highlights include Web site development at the University of Idaho; starting with basic content and then adding on in increments, incorporating Cascading Style Sheets and other improvements; nontraditional outreach on the Web; and electronic mail. (LRW)

Demonstrates that a broadened concept of staff development is important and possible. Describes the steps one library took in establishing a staff development plan; the committee that developed the programs; successful programs; and how, with modest expenditures, an investment can grow and provide benefits. Appendixes contain memos and an…

Provides an introduction to this theme issue by reviewing the status of bibliographic instruction, particularly in academic libraries, over the past decade. Topics include criticism, the need for evaluation, practical and theoretical viewpoints, the need for collaboration, the impact of technology, the need to recognize cultural diversity; and…

Examines the relationship between and among designers, text, and users of the Galter Health Sciences Library Web site at Northwestern University by applying reader-response criticism. Highlights include Web site design; comparison of designers' intentions with the actual organization of knowledge on the Web site; and compares designer's intentions…

Evaluates universe coverage, data coverage, and response rates of the Academic Libraries Survey. Includes examination of survey design and data collection, perceptions of regional survey coordinators, and reporting by public versus private institutions. (Author)

Discusses the evaluation of academic library reference librarians' effectiveness in providing services to patrons using electronic sources based on experiences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Topics include core technical competencies for subject specialists and reference desk service; the Internet; and methods of evaluation.…

This theoretical essay uses tacit knowledge, the often-undocumented wisdom of experts, to explore future prospects for academic librarians. Identifies traditional and emerging valuations of the academic librarian held by higher education stakeholders and explores practical implications for university funding using the philosophical stance of…

Over 500 libraries have employed OCLC's iCAS and its successor Automated Collection Assessment and Analysis Services (ACAS) as bibliometric tools to evaluate monograph collections. This examination of ACAS reveals both its methodological limitations and its feasibility as an indicator of collecting patterns. The results can be used to maximize the…

This article evaluates the Legal Information Skills Tutorial (LIST), a successful multi-media online learning project at the University of Melbourne Law School based on the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) Information Literacy Standards. (Council of Australian University Librarians, Information Literacy Standards (2001)…

In 2003, during the Biennial migration of academic librarians to the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) conference, several of the programs in Charlotte, NC, discussed the recruitment and retention of the next generation but with an obvious lack of input from newly recruited librarians. In response, with Liza Posas, a library…

After a brief career in musical theater, Micki McIntyre entered the graduate library program at Columbia University, where she noticed a poster advertising free tuition to library employees. "There was a vacancy at the health sciences library, and that's how a theater major became a medical librarian." She's a medical librarian with…

Many movers and shakers inspire admiration and even awe, but those who inspire love are the mentors who have changed lives. That is why many grateful librarians nominated Linda Golian-Lui and George Oberle. Both of them were accidental librarians, work-study students whose supervisors encouraged them to become paraprofessionals, and then…

Contents of outreach position announcements posted in "College and Research Libraries News" from 1970 through 2004 were examined. Ads fell within three broad groups: distance education, multicultural services, and specialized. Overall, outreach positions have been on the rise with the exception of multicultural services librarian positions that…

To address competitive threats, academic libraries are encouraged to build robust Web sites personalized to learning and research tasks. Through an evaluation of Association of Research Libraries (ARL)-member Web sites, we suggest how library Web sites should evolve and reflect upon the impacts such recommendations may have on academic libraries…

A one-time survey may give a falsely precise indication of local usage. Examining four iterations of a library assignment survey reveals large within-discipline variation; even individual faculty members are inconsistent in their use of library assignments from year to year. Additional causes of variation include changing faculty and pedagogy.…