In this paper we analyze the opening hours of 50 randomly selected university libraries (UL) in Austria, Germany, Canada and the USA. The aim of this analysis is to identify possible influences on the extent of the opening hours. Potential influencing factors that we consider are library size and country (state) or linguistic area in which a library is located. The results of the analysis show that larger UL and UL that are located in the United States tend to be opened longer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
*LIBRARY special collections, *COLLECTION development in libraries, *ACADEMIC libraries, *PUBLIC libraries
Abstract
The paper describes the stations of a study tour to selected US American libraries which give particular attention to their special collections and whose special collections contribute to their distinctive image. Of particular interest was the question of what German libraries can learn with regard to practice and strategy related to their special collections. The authors visited among other libraries the New York Public Library, the Pierpont Morgan Library, the Yale University Library with the Beinecke Library and the Harvard College Library with the Houghton Library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]