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This article discusses workflows involved with contributing print journal back runs to scanning and storage efforts. The purpose of these efforts was to alleviate space problems in a library by consolidating stacks that were formerly used to house runs of bound journals. This article contributes to the literature on serials withdrawal projects by demonstrating database designs for tracking contributions made to cooperative storage facilities as well as highlighting an innovative solution for tracking the required linear feet for housing bound print collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the paper was to consider the current experience of metric evaluations of serial publications carried out by employees of academic libraries and to develop recommendations for conducting such evaluations. To achieve this objective, relevant publications were reviewed and the relevant experience of the Scientific Library of the Belarusian National Technical University was summarized. Two trends of such evaluations were analyzed, viz. both evaluation for the purpose of improving library collections or information services for library users and evaluation for the purpose of making managerial decisions, assessing the scientific performance of the university, research organization or their units. As for the first trend, the viewpoint that this area of research has lost its relevance has been refuted. Using for evaluation such indicators as disciplinary impact factor and disciplinary susceptibility factor (which is used for the selection of those non-specialized serial publications that cite specialized journals—not are cited by them; herewith the citing activity of an average article from the citing non-specialized serial is calculated) is considered. As for the second trend, the paper demonstrates the important role of metric evaluation of serial publications in which employees of universities and research organizations have published as well as of those serials that are published by academic organizations under analysis in the assessment of universities and research organizations themselves. The approaches to such evaluation, its examples and the experience of the Scientific Library of the Belarusian National Technical University in evaluating Belarusian journals indexed by the Emerging Sources Citation Index™ are considered. The issue of improving the scholarly communication of employees of the university or research organization using the results of metric studies of serial publications is considered as well. Recommendations are given on the use of a number of citation indicators for serial publications evaluations by academic library employees including evaluation for comparative analysis of serials that are indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded™ and by the Emerging Sources Citation Index™. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the developmental strategies, challenges and directions of the institutional repositories of the higher educational institutions in Hong Kong. The study integrates the size, content, full text and public accessibility of these repositories. The paper also compares archived output with research output as registered by the Hong Kong University Grants Committee. Percentages of archived work are low for journal and conference papers, but moderate for graduate theses. These deposit rates reflect the differing institutional policies. In recognizing these challenges, the Hong Kong Open Access Committee has been formed to address regional issues in knowledge sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a landscape of uncertain budgets, it is more important than ever that libraries make the best decisions for their collections. Overlap analysis is an essential part of that decision-making process. In the previous decades, overlap analysis and tools have evolved to meet the challenges associated with analyzing today's complex resources. This case study outlines the overlap analysis workflows and tools utilized by the University of Arkansas Libraries. The paper also discusses the Libraries' processes for creating overlap reports for both full-text and citation-only resources and provides an appendix that details how the Libraries completed select functions outside of vendor-supplied tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Librarians at a large, federally funded, multidisciplinary research organization sought to assess the value provided by the library's collections. One method for capturing this value includes determining how well their library's collections meet researcher needs, as expressed by the materials those researchers choose to cite in the production of new scholarly communications. A cited reference analysis was performed on the publications originating from the institution to provide the necessary data for the assessment, as well as to aid in the creation of a core list of journals which will inform future collection development efforts. This paper fills a gap in the library and information science literature by addressing the citation behaviors of researchers at a large multidisciplinary government research facility, a setting that has not been examined previously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 2018 and 2019, two librarians at the College of Charleston Libraries incorporated cloud-based technologies into their collection management workflows. The following paper was derived from a presentation they prepared for the 2020 North Carolina Serials Conference, which was to be held on March 27, 2020 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper highlights which cloud technologies they use and provides an overview of the literature that has been published on project management and cloud-based technologies in libraries. It includes an explanation of how they use each tool, and provides examples for setting up each tool in different scenarios so that other collection management librarians may implement them into their own routines. The paper ends with an exploration of the advantages and disadvantages of integrating these tools into collection management workflows. Although the librarians had not prepared to discuss the role these technologies may play when working remotely, they have both found them invaluable during this unprecedented time when many librarians are working from home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an investigation of Chinese authors' attitudes towards, and concerns about, academic journals by analyzing their comments posted on a journal review Web site. The views of 338 authors about 13 Chinese academic journals in the library and information science field were collected. Using word frequency, word co-occurrence, and factor analysis, their comments were processed and the important factors extracted. The authors addressed a series of aspects regarding the journal itself, the review and publication process, and the service provided by editors. The paper provides a unique opportunity to understand Chinese authors' views using a direct source. © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study that explores the requirements and level of acceptance for the Koha open source software implementation in Malaysian academic libraries. This is a qualitative study based on interviews with system librarians from library application and system divisions in 5 Malaysian universities. The interviews were conducted to understand the technology acceptance, system quality and system information, beliefs and attitude of librarians and to provide insight into a user and open system relations. These factors can be critical in order to understand what may hinder the acceptance of open source systems in Malaysia academic libraries. The findings disclose that the level of acceptance of the Koha open source system among Malaysian librarians is high as they are satisfied with the information quality, system quality and system platform. They have positive intentions to use this system and believe it meets their current and future information needs. The requirements of its implementation are focused on perceived usefulness (technology), attitude toward using (users), and perceived ease of use (system). The subsequent influencing factors are a reflection of Koha system stability and users' acceptance of this system's information quality, system quality, librarians' awareness, satisfaction, user confidence level, support for library standards, highly integrated modules, a web-based solution, intention to use a system, and actual usage of an open-source system. Practical implications include cost savings, outsourced system maintenance, and accessibility of the system after office hours. The Koha open-source system is a new paradigm in system solutions for libraries in Malaysia. The results of the current study are applicable to other library settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines what can be learned about a library's electronic social work journal collection from usage statistics, survey data, faculty publications, and an examination of open access (OA) availability. A collections analysis was completed using data from two sources: a custom report by 1Science and results of a faculty survey on top journals for teaching. After creating a list of journals important to social work, top journals were identified by article downloads, faculty-authored publications, and references to faculty-authored papers. A publications analysis using faculty websites and author searches in Web of Science was also completed, to provide local, contextual data. SHERPA/RoMEO was used to determine the journals' OA level and archiving policy. Library coverage for the journals was also included in the analysis. Results show that the McGill University Library has access to almost all of the journals identified as important to social work. Nearly one-third of publications authored by the McGill University School of Social Work since 2006 are OA, and more than half of the faculty in the school have at least one article published in an OA journal. While this is a good start for librarians who want to help faculty and students understand OA publishing and access, there is room for outreach in this area. While these results will aid librarians supporting faculty, students, and practitioners in the field of social work, a secondary aim of the study is to demonstrate a method that can be used by librarians undertaking similar analyses in other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: This paper presents the results of a survey of academics affiliated to the universities that are members of the Consortium of Academic Libraries of Catalonia (CBUC) and an analysis of the availability in the libraries of these universities of the references cited in a sample of articles published by these academics. The results reflect the major importance that researchers assign to scholarly journals as the main source of scientific information. Most state that they use electronic journals either exclusively or in any case more than print journals, a preference that is higher among younger scholars. With regard to frequency of reading, four out of ten researchers state that they read journals virtually every day, while nine out of ten report that they do so at least once a week. Scholars claim that the obstacles they face when trying to download an article are related to the lack of subscriptions. However, the availability study showed that most of the articles cited in their publications are available at least at one of the CBUC libraries. Though most researchers keep a copy of the articles they consult, just over a third of them use some kind of reference management software. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Academic library consortia, faced with requirements of assessment and accountability, are increasingly pressured to measure the impact of their networked electronic services. Studies on usage of electronic library resources and electronic journals, in particular, proliferate; relatively few focus on the academic library consortium. This paper gives an overview of one assessment tool, MINES for Libraries®, as implemented in the Scholars Portal service of the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL). The novel contributions of this study are twofold: firstly, the creation of peer groups within an academic consortium for comparison purposes, and secondly, the use of regression analysis to explore the correlation between usage and three separate variables outside the MINES survey — library print holdings, library acquisitions budget, and sponsored research revenue. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The profusion of data created by modern research has brought about increasing discussion on the practice of data management and the development of such infrastructure. Many universities and libraries are exploring how to address this issue using institutional repositories, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Library being one of them. As part of the exploration, the author conducted a case study of datasets at major institutional repositories. This paper visits the issues relating to data archiving, reports common practices of data treatment at institutional repositories, and presents a list of recommendations for experimenting data archiving at the HKUST Institutional Repository. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gray literature is considered an important source of factual and up-to-date information however it is often neglected doing empirical research. It is first study in context of Pakistan that explores gray literature, its access, usage, management and issues faced by academic libraries. A self-developed questionnaire was employed to collect data from a total of 74 respondents (one respondent from each university preferably serial librarian or in charge) working in university libraries of Punjab Province and Islamabad (the capital city) Pakistan. Only one and concerned library and information science (LIS) professional involved in collection development process/department was approached. The findings of the study revealed that three major types of gray literature accessed by academic libraries were theses/dissertations, annual reports and catalogues. The theses/dissertations are accessed by libraries as a follow-up of parent organizational policy. The gray literature is shelved separately and prominently in the libraries; however, non-availability of proper collection development policy for gray literature emerged as major issue in academic libraries followed by budgetary constraints and lack of awareness. The t-test result revealed the need of various types of gray literature in libraries and also highlights creating awareness of various types of gray literature among the library community. The finding of the study is the helpful for university authorities, academic libraries and working library professionals to manage gray literature in a better way and increase the usage of gray literature in academic writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper examines the recent literature on the presentation of e-books in college and university libraries, focusing on three mechanisms for discovery and access: e-book vendors' interfaces, library catalogs (OPACs), and resource discovery tools (RDTs). If libraries rely on vendors' interfaces, patrons must search on multiple platforms, many of which have limited and idiosyncratic search mechanisms. The most common strategy for discovery and access—including e-books in the library catalog—brings its own set of challenges, including limited availability of records, lack of standardization, difficulties managing the addition and removal of titles, and the generally low quality of vendor-supplied records. Likewise, libraries that use resource discovery tools face another set of difficulties: incomplete coverage, reliance on metadata from external sources, problems with subject headings and authority control, difficulties with guest-user access, and continuing dependence on vendors' platforms for access to full text. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The growth and availability of electronic journals offer libraries the opportunity to provide end users with quick and easy access to more journals than ever before, thereby creating a complex new workload in academic libraries. Libraries have addressed the evolving challenges unique to electronic resources by creating new policies and workflows and dedicating staff to work on the processes, despite the lack of best practices. In the fall of 2009, a survey was distributed to ninety-five libraries at peer institutions to gather information about their policies and practices for cataloging and managing electronic journals in order to gauge the current status of electronic journal management among these peer institutions. This paper reports on the survey findings related to cataloging approach, sources for bibliographic records, methods for identifying problems, and the staff and staff hours dedicated to electronic journals. Serials Review 2011; 37:267-274. © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Librarians in the Metadata & Cataloging Department at the North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries embarked on a comprehensive project to document and review the Libraries'' serials and electronic resources workflow with the goals of introducing greater efficiency, clarity, and simplicity into processes across the serials unit and of increasing training opportunities for department-wide understanding of the serials lifecycle. This paper examines the method used to observe and collect information about serials and electronic resources work, the process of synthesizing that information into a graphical representation of the serials lifecycle, and the workflow analysis undertaken to introduce improved serials processes. The value of the project is demonstrated through a discussion of efforts for workflow education, analysis, and improvement at the NCSU Libraries directly instigated by review of the process documentation by technical services staff members. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper opens discussion about the periodicals that are left behind in the debate over the transition from print to electronic journals in academic libraries, particularly college libraries. The author annotates 100 English-language print magazines titles that support a liberal arts curriculum and the leisure reading of an American college community. These titles should be maintained in print versions for browsing and usefulness, even if online availability exists. Magazines, with their mix of articles, illustrations, sidebars, tables, charts, graphs, lists, and short features, still have an important place in college libraries. Serials Review 2007; 33:165-171. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tracked journal subscription and format data for a sample of 515 journals in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) university member libraries from 2002 to 2006. During this period, subscriptions to journals in print format decreased by 32 percentage points, whereas journals obtained in electronic format increased by 34 percentage points. Findings show journal collections in ARL university libraries reached a "tipping point" between 2005 and 2006 and that, for the first time, electronic journals dominate print subscriptions. Serials Review 2007; 33:4-13. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the Minnesota State University System/Project for Automated Library Systems (MSUS/PALS). Implementation of the X12 invoice; Electronic data interchange; Interface between PALS library system and Faxon Co. INSETS: Sidebar 1: EDI.;Sidebar 2: X12..

In this installment of "Conversations," Mel Bach, head of collections and academic liaison at Cambridge University, discusses her work on decolonization within the Cambridge University Libraries. The discussion includes a history and description of the Decolonisation Working Group, including its membership and some of its earliest efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patricia Hudson moderated a panel discussion on the past and future of serials featuring Steve Cohn (Director of Duke University Press), Maria Collins (Head, Acquisitions & Discovery, North Carolina State University), and Ben Mudrak (Global Communications Manager at Research Square). A question and answer period facilitated further discussion of the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Troubleshooting when a link resolver goes wrong can be difficult as it usually relies on the user to report the problem. Using data on interlibrary loan requests that have been cancelled because the materials are available online is one way that libraries can examine where link resolvers may be failing. For the 2012/2013 school year, the Samford University Library looked at this cancelled interlibrary loan request data to determine where their new link resolver and knowledgebase needed further customization to improve the user experience. This process not only identified a number of problems all along the link resolution chain, but it also put in place an ongoing process for identifying and troubleshooting link resolution issues in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paul Meek Library at the University of Tennessee at Martin (UTM) migrated to the FOLIO platform in July 2021. Consequently, the library decided to make the transition from EZproxy as the primary off-campus authentication system to OpenAthens. In this article, the authors describe the two-phased implementation process and discuss how staff collaborated closely with EBSCO throughout the process. Lessons and tips learned during the implementation will be addressed. In addition, EBSCO's inputs and suggestions are included in relation to UTM's implementation experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the current practices of institutional repositories at master''s and baccalaureate institutions (M&BIs) in the United States. The focus includes repository content composition, operational style, development history, and accessibility. The research studies a group of institutional repositories through the analysis of their content elements. The article also discusses important management issues and identifies challenges. This research can provide a valuable resource to other libraries of similar type and size for the planning and implementation of new repositories, as well as assess the current environment of institutional repositories. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Jan Mayo reviews Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Action: Planning, Leadership, and Programming; Michelle Schonken reviews Meeting the Challenge of Teaching Information Literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluating journals can be challenging, especially for new researchers. This article discusses the application of information literacy skills and techniques, such as lateral reading, in the context of teaching researchers to evaluate journal quality and avoid predatory journals. Many libraries focus information literacy efforts on helping students develop skills in reflective discovery, evaluation, and ethical use of information. But information literacy skills are critical for lifelong learning, and similar techniques can be applied to help faculty and other researchers evaluate publication venues. This article will examine the connections between information literacy skills and scholarly communications, and will offer methods and practices for readers who wish to build on these connections in their own work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The West Virginia University Libraries migrated to OCLC's Hosted EZproxy service in 2020. The Libraries' main goals with the migration were to reduce staff time spent on proxy maintenance, customize user access to resources, and increase analytics about resource usage. The migration process involved sending configuration and user data to OCLC, updating vendors with a new IP address and proxy URL, and creating specialized user groups. The following details the Libraries' experience during this project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on various seminars and conferences about serials acquisition in academic libraries. Potomac Technical Processing Librarian Conference; Society for Scholarly Publishing Seminar on the Digital Delivery of Scientific Information to Libraries; Focus group section about the future of `Ulrich's,' a long-time serials reference tool.

Describes developments in electronic journals availability in Great Britain and the methods employed by university libraries to disseminate information on electronic journals. History of electronic journals; Introduction of the National Pilot Site Licence Initiative; Proposal for the National Electronic Site Licence.

Focuses on the importance of disaster plans for college libraries. Points to be considered when planning for disasters; Features of recovery plans; Rescue efforts in the periodicals area; Periodicals replacement process; Reference serials replacements.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought innumerable changes to the lives of individuals and institutions across the country and around the world. In this uncertain time, access to information is crucial. Electronic resources were a significant content type for libraries prior to the pandemic, and the pandemic has only increased the importance of access to these collections. With the increasing reliance on electronic content and services, some libraries are having to make rapid shifts and transitions that may change the job duties of personnel, potentially bringing new personnel into the area of electronic resources work. This column seeks to assist such personnel, particularly in the areas of ethics and equity concerns in the electronic resources field. This column reviews the literature, offers resources for further reading and consultation, and considers how the COVID-19 pandemic may be affecting these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calculating the cost-per-use of serials is a common practice in academic libraries, but the accuracy of these calculations requires accurate, comparable usage counts, and shortcomings of previous standards have made obtaining such counts difficult. Librarians may also want to exclude some uses, for example of open access articles, from their cost-per-use calculations, but these uses have often been difficult to identify. This column discusses two recent developments, the adoption of COUNTER Release 5 and the release of an online tool called Unsub, that will lead to improvements in usage counting and a significant readjustment of cost-per-use calculations for many libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting electronic resources in a physical space takes ingenuity and cross-library partnership. This article discusses a collaborative approach to promote electronic resources by an outreach librarian and an electronic collections librarian. As members of the teaching and research assistance team, the librarians observed how students relied on "big name," multidisciplinary databases and were often intimidated by the expansive list of digital materials and electronic resources available to them. A literature review on the topic of similar promotional activities introduces the pop-up methodology used for the event. The purpose of the collaboration was to not only promote ebook collections but to also create awareness of the library outside of the traditional space, and librarians as resources. This collaboration resulted in student-librarian engagement, and a spike in ebook use was reported for the collection promoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For academic libraries, because budgetary pressures are nearly universal, it is imperative to evaluate journal packages regularly. This article presents an overview of the data and methods that the NC State University Libraries traditionally uses to evaluate journal packages and presents additional methods to expand our evaluation of publishing and editorial activity. We describe methods for downloading and analyzing Web of Science citation data to identify the most common publishers for NC State affiliated authors as well as the journals in which NC State authors publish most frequently. This article also demonstrates a custom Python web scraping application to harvest NC State affiliated editor data from publishers' websites. Finally, this article discusses how these data elements are combined to provide a more comprehensive evaluative strategy for our journal investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to build upon the research of Brett, the author categorized over three hundred e-resources troubleshooting tickets at The University of Alabama Libraries into a coding scheme originally created by Goldfinger and Hemhauser with the goal of cross-comparing the results with that of two other research libraries. The results of the analysis shed light upon the most commonly reported types of problems among the three institutions, and patterns emerged that could be indicative of industry-wide concerns. The author also developed a more specific, local classification schema in order to identify areas in which local solutions could be implemented to improve user experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have increasing opportunities to identify themselves and raise the profile of their research and scholarship through online researcher identity management and researcher profile systems. This column provides a basic introduction to researcher identity management and examines four widely used researcher profile systems: Google Scholar Citations, Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID), Scopus Author ID, and Web of Science ResearcherID. System benefits and comparisons are provided, with the purpose of helping researchers and librarians to select appropriate researcher identity management tools to support their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As ebooks make up an ever-larger portion of academic library catalogs, it is becoming increasingly problematic that licensing agreements, digital rights management (DRM), and technical issues make it difficult to share them between libraries. This column examines some of the various models libraries and consortia are using to find ways to share ebooks despite the existing barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to highlight the status and application of automated serials control in three central university libraries in India—namely, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). All three libraries have started to automate their serials processes, choosing either the Libsys or Virtua integrated library systems. AMU and JMI selected Libsys, while JNU installed Virtua—a product of VTLS Inc. Findings suggest that reasonable progress has been made with the use of different features of serials control systems in all these libraries. This information is helpful for other universities where libraries want to start the automation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graduate students at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, funded by an Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant (Experience Assessment: UX-A), were tasked with conducting two space assessment studies in the University of Tennessee Libraries. This article reflects on their experiences in conducting the study by understanding the history of academic library and library space assessment. The researchers provide an overview of their learning experience and best practices in space assessment. They also reflect on their experiences as UX-A students who had the opportunity to benefit from experiential learning and mentoring from experienced practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zines are alternative, do-it-yourself (DIY) publications created outside the parameters of academic and commercial publishing. Their lack of reliable conventions with regard to frequency, authorship, and content presents special challenges to catalogers. This article explores these challenges and offers examples of how they might be addressed from perspectives gained from the author's professional practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CNI-ARL Digital Scholarship Planning Workshop at Brown University, November 8-10, 2017, was an intensive, focused workshop for institutions at all stages of the digital scholarship planning process. This report, based on one participant's experience, touches on some of the highlights and takeaways from the sessions, which focused on campus needs and partnerships; staffing; governance and funding models; the applications of library and other content collections in teaching, learning, and research; student roles in digital scholarship; space and place; and the institutionalization of digital scholarship. A fundamental concept of the workshop was the acknowledgement of the wide variety of models and services digital scholarship can encompass and the critical need for each institution to pursue digital scholarship services that are in line with its strengths and the needs of its particular constituencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conference report covers a lightning talk from the 2022 North Carolina Serials Conference on the topic of OpenUNC, a collaborative website that shares information about and links to open access efforts and content from institutions in the University of North Carolina System. Site background, content, and opportunities for use are covered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2016, a collection assessment project evaluated print serials and book collections at Johns Hopkins University in preparation for an upcoming renovation of the Eisenhower Library. Project metrics provided librarians with both goals and measures of success that varied by humanities, social sciences, and science and engineering—such as estimated number of volumes, decision type, and the percentage of serials staying or moving out of the building. A feedback loop with data visualizations helped reduce anxiety and improve communication across library departments by illustrating volume estimates, linear feet, and shelf height by decision type. Key takeaways include lessons learned about necessary data proficiency for academic librarians and the need for better data from our library software and applications to facilitate future collection evaluation projects for weeding off-site serials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this interview from March 2017, Kay Teel, metadata librarian for serials and arts resources at the Stanford University Libraries, discusses the issues involved in providing access to serials through an institutional repository. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jill M. Church reviewsResponsive Web Design for Libraries: A LITA Guide; Catherine Johnson reviewsClassroom Assessment Techniques for Librarians; Jan Mayo reviewsThe Quality Infrastructure: Measuring, Analyzing, and Improving Library Services; Elizabeth Parang reviewsReinventing the Library for Online Education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This case study describes the second part of an experiment using a bundled database subscription model. Texas A&M University (TAMU) Libraries pursued a multiyear agreement with ProQuest to address “administrative churn.” This agreement was known as “ProQuest Comprehensive.” During 2014, the final year of the agreement, the TAMU Libraries considered renewal and assessed support for ProQuest Comprehensive. The company is a well-recognized information provider, but to date there are no studies assessing bundled ProQuest content. This article will outline the evaluative criteria developed to assess ProQuest Comprehensive and the steps TAMU Libraries undertook to determine what ProQuest databases to renew, what databases to cancel, and the challenges encountered in the decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This guide presents several fundamental principles for the evaluation and selection of online resources in academic libraries. It first describes the universe of scholarly documents: the narrow scope of most academic library collections; the distinctions between information, documents, titles, information resources, and products; and the striking variations in impact and importance that can be seen among both articles and journals. Second, the article discusses the ways in which libraries can help meet academic needs by selecting only high-quality resources that strengthen the links between course requirements and broader educational goals. Specifically, it addresses the distinction between students’ wants and needs, the primacy of content, the importance of comparative assessments, the advantages of title-by-title selection, and the need for resource coherence by subject or function. Third, the article presents seven guidelines for assessing and promoting cost-effectiveness—guidelines that focus on indirect costs, opportunity cost, sunk costs, the difference between views/downloads and academic use, the need to avoid ongoing financial commitments, the evaluation of cost for resources with a finite lifetime, and the impact of librarians’ decisions on the pricing strategies of vendors and publishers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the importance of newspapers to research, education, and economic development for Nigeria and advocates the need to preserve newspapers. The authors discuss critical preservation issues related to newspapers and emphasize the urgent need to address their deteriorating state in Nigerian academic libraries. The article also examines the binding preservation method practiced among academic libraries and observes that the method is not adequate. It recommends that academic libraries in Nigeria should adopt the digitization model for newspaper preservation. The article identifies the digital divide, poor technological infrastructure, inadequate funding, lack of expertise, and copyright prohibitions as challenges of digitization and makes recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The increasing prevalence of ejournals in library collections has impacted many aspects of library operations. Libraries have had to rethink workflows, processes, staffing needs, and other factors to account for the differences between print and online journals. The management of ejournals can often cross departmental boundaries and bring into question current workflow. To address the changing landscape of journal management, the University at Albany Libraries developed two teams: one to implement batchloading ejournal records and a second to address ongoing management and related policies. As a result of using a team approach for these responsibilities, the University Libraries was able to streamline processes, reduce duplication of effort across departments, coordinate policies and procedures, improve communication, and develop best practices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Resource discovery services (RDS), also called web-scale discovery services (WDS), have attracted considerable attention in recent years. This article aims to provide an environmental scan of the adoption of RDS in UK higher education libraries and provide an analysis of RDS resource usage data to gauge whether RDS have an impact on the overall usage of ejournals and ebooks. Findings show that there appears to be a positive impact in most cases, although the extent of this impact varies across libraries and publishers. There is undeniably a degree of complexity in the usage analysis owing to the multidimensional nature of the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]