Identifies core journals in environmental geology and explores facets of interdisciplinarity to consider the visibility of this field to collection-development librarians. Intercitation analysis of citing and cited patterns in 1995 articles revealed the journal network of environmental geology. Titles clustered into three categories:…

Reviews six reference materials for young people: "The New York Public Library Kid's Guide to Research"; "National Audubon Society First Field Guide. Mammals"; "Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary"; "Encarta Africana"; "World Fact Book, 1998"; and "Factastic Book of 1001 Lists". Includes ordering information.(AEF)

Discusses DVD (digital video disc) technology and considers its future possibilities. Highlights include laserdiscs, DVDs in academic-library collections, public-library experiences with DVDs, and problems with changes in video formats and technological obsolescence. (LRW)

Describes the role of librarians at National Public Radio, emphasizing the immediacy and accuracy needed at this special library. Discusses journalism, reference materials, clipping files, customer satisfaction, preservation concerns, and funding. (LRW)

Describes a survey of academic political science librarians that assessed the overall quality of political science books published by 62 publishers, both academic and commercial. Results are reported, analyzed, and compared to a similar survey of members of the American Political Science Association. (Contains 9 references.) (Author/LRW)

Presents an annotated bibliography of 38 outstanding reference sources published in 1999 suitable for small to medium-sized libraries selected by the American Library Association's Reference and User Services Association's (RUSA) Reference Sources Committee of the Collection development and Evaluation Section. Categories include, general, language…

Examines issues and decision-making involved in restricting Internet access in libraries, for the most part favoring filtering devices. Questions to consider when selecting a filtering program are provided. Some of the better filtering programs are described, and Web addresses are included for each. Security risks associated with Java and…

Discusses the development of a library acquisition allocation formula at the University of Technology, Sydney. Covers the items included, consultative process adopted, details of the formulae derived and their implementation. (Author)

Suggests that different groups in the public library's environment adhere to different sets of values, interests and benefits when evaluating the library's effectiveness. Groups surveyed in this research comprised city councilors, community leaders, friends of the library, librarians, library managers, library board members, and library users. Of…

Even though endorsements of written collection development policies abound in the professional literature, many academic libraries do not have them in place. Interviews with several Louisiana librarians reveal possible reasons for that disparity. Instead of spending time devising policies that quickly become inflexible and outdated, bibliographers…

Reviews advantages and disadvantages of off-campus library materials shelving in the context of Yale University Library's planning for its new Off-Campus High Efficiency Shelving Facility. Discusses issues raised by the task of deciding what materials go in, who makes the decisions, how to identify what goes on, and how faculty are consulted in…

Presents a model of the relation between the circulation at a large library, the collection at that library, and the size of the user population. Analysis of data at United States academic research libraries reveals a square-root law describing this relation. Explores theoretical foundations and speculates on bibliometric implications. (Author/AEF)

Presents a case study to test whether two large ARL libraries adequately collect the monographic publications of their local faculty members. Discusses the many difficulties in acquiring faculty member publications and concludes by suggesting means to improve acquisitions. Considers implications and applicability of these two case studies for…

Describes a research project that focused on the evaluation and promotion of electronic journals in academic libraries in the United Kingdom and in North America. Topics include changing role of the serials librarian; costs; consortia purchasing; relationship between libraries and publishers; and collaboration to ensure interoperability.…

Describes a grant-funded research project to relocate selected print journal runs, for which an electronic version is available, to remote storage from the shelves of campus libraries at the University of California. Includes project objectives, criteria for journal selection, and phases of the grant. (LRW)