Search

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the establishment of metrics that can be used by libraries to analyze, anticipate, and plan for resource allocation for specialized print-based collections within an academic library. In the context of transactions associated with the circulation of library materials, that is checkouts, renewals, and holds, the resources this study will propose includes two ratios that can be used for evaluating and justifying continued allocation of library resources to specialized print collections. These ratios proposed are the Proportionate Number (P/N) and Internal P/N (I-P/N) Ratios. Beginning with the conceptual framework of how data driven decision making can contribute to the operation of the library, the study will also provide concrete examples of how to analyze data from an Integrated Library System (ILS). Data will be presented for the case study of Gumberg Library at Duquesne University. The study hopes to address a perceived gap in the literature that percentage of users accessing a collection is often not considered in the analysis of circulation data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Michigan State University Libraries (MSUL) digital repository contains numerous collections of openly available material. Since 2016, the digital repository has been using Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST) subject headings as its primary subject vocabulary in order to streamline faceting, display, and search. The MSUL FAST use case presents some challenges that are not addressed by existing MARC-focused FAST tools. This paper will outline the MSUL digital repository team's justification for including FAST headings in the digital repository as well as workflows for adding FAST headings to Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS) metadata, their maintenance, and utilization for discovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) library makes available its collection on the discovery layer, Primo VE. Users should be able to access all the content seamlessly but, they lack research experience, and the library collection is usually hiding errors that need to be fixed by the Electronic Resources (ER) Librarian. Sometimes, users make false reports to access issues. Students report problems to open access (OA) articles because they do not get linked directly to the desired article. The ER librarian analyzed electronic resource tickets submitted in 2022. These are opportunities to connect with users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a methodology for systematically assessing the cost of journal subscriptions. The authors of the paper (hereafter "the researchers") established ratios comparing the list costs of journal articles as advertised by publishers against the cost per article of journal articles available in aggregated collections in library databases (hereafter "aggregating databases"). The researchers propose that the ratios can be used by libraries wishing to apply a standard methodology for assessing journal packages containing full-text articles. The study may be helpful for those librarians who seek to supplement qualitative information and other quantitative data, such as usage statistics, in order to demonstrate the library's rationale for providing journal access either by purchasing articles directly from a publisher as needed or by continuing to subscribe to an aggregating database. The aggregating databases reviewed in this study included representative aggregating databases commonly associated with the following fields of study: Social Sciences, Humanities, and Health Sciences; however, the methodology described in this article could be applied to other disciplines as well. The results of the study indicated that the ratios for Mean Cost/Package Subscription Price (MC/PSP), Median Cost/Package Subscription Price (MED/PSP) could be used in evaluating journal collections. The researchers suggest that future studies should be conducted to assess resource sharing and the availability of open access resource versions of articles as possible contributing factors to the purchase decisions associated with scholarly journal articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment on university campuses increasingly emphasizes learning outcomes and student success. Academic librarians need to identify relationships between their collection spaces and the learning activities of the university in order to play a role in the environment of assessment. Measuring the proportions of discipline-oriented content of library collections and comparing those proportions to discipline-oriented learning activities produces collection performance indicators. Academic libraries can use collection performance indicators to assess how well their collection spaces correspond to student demand and student success using readily available metrics. Collection performance indicators answers a gap in library literature pertaining to relationships between collection spaces and learning activities by demonstrating the linkages between learning and the demands placed on physical and digital spaces. Collection performance indicators are used to evaluate the collection space in an academic library at a mid-sized American research university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When searching for information in response to a query, their own library's online public access catalog (OPAC) and databases remain the most preferred resource for most aquatic science librarians. This preference does not vary regardless of age, gender, educational degree, position or designation, country classification, or type of library. While the Internet acts as a supplement to the library collection, whenever the requested information is not available at the library, librarians prefer Googling instead of looking at other sources. Other than aquatic science-specific open access repositories and databases, some of the librarians have identified Google Scholar, DOAJ, ResearchGate, and Academia, among many others as valuable resources that help them fulfill their clientele's query. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If an item is not readily available in an academic library's collection, is it quicker to buy it or does is make better sense to borrow it? At a public, four-year institution, acquisitions and interlibrary loan (ILL) are exploring a new relationship to improve the users' experience. The question is determining what triggers the decision to borrow versus buy an item. The exploration is born of the institution's ongoing migration from a traditional to a demand driven based collections strategy. This article will elucidate how acquisitions and ILL can work together to effectively deliver what users need when they need it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presenting Open Access (OA) resources alongside licensed content provides many benefits to librarians, vendors, publishers, and library patrons. However, the tools and collection development practices designed to work with traditionally acquired materials often pose challenges for freely available resources. This paper will address managing open content library collections, and offer an assessment of current delivery models and opportunities for upgrading delivery in the future, including: How to integrate open content into collection development strategies; How to improve the data around open content; How MARC record changes will impact the way users find and access open content; and How library service providers are improving the OA user experience. This paper conveys valuable, up-to-date knowledge of today's OA landscape, and outlines best practices for integrating OA content into library collection development strategies. Related needs, like configuring metadata to maximize visibility of OA content and partnering with publishers and library service providers, are also addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Fall 2017 semester, staff at the Hudson County Community College (HCCC), Library began to notice that many books listed as available in the catalog were often not being found on the shelves when patrons attempted to retrieve them. This situation puzzled library leadership because HCCC had recently conducted an inventory and removed all missing items from its holdings. To determine the cause of this discrepancy, HCCC staff decided to sample the library's collection to determine if books were available at the expected locations. From this, the library found that a high percentage of its books were not present where they were expected to be. In response, library staff implemented a variety of changes to HCCC's shelving and access services operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mounting digital images of art objects on a Web site is only the first step in providing patron access to such materials. Libraries and museums have a responsibility to provide not only high-quality digital reproductions but also high-quality access from an integrated library catalog with controlled vocabulary and consistent access points. While some digital collections may have excellent internal searchability and require no more than collection level cataloging in a library's OPAC, others may demand cataloging of individual components of the collection. A particular collection's significance, its potential audience, the types of access required, as well as factors such as its size and cohesiveness need to be considered before becoming locked into a specific Web design-especially when it is that of another institution. This paper examines several online library catalogs in which records for art objects as well as historical objects and natural history specimens have been merged, with varying degrees of success, and briefly addresses a modest proposal to catalog ceramic objects at the Ohio State University Libraries. The importance of consistent subject access in a merged catalog, regardless of the thesaurus or thesauri used, is stressed. Library consortia and bibliographic utilities may offer an economically appealing alternative for libraries that cannot design and construct their own digital libraries but these external organizations often have limited capability for—or interest in—modifying the design for a particular library and even less interest in cataloging the collections. Libraries, too, must be faulted for simply listing available electronic resources, either alphabetically or in broad subject categories, on a separate portion of their Web page and failing to provide full catalog records in their catalog. Finally, it is emphasized that the current debate over the viability of MARC 21 versus other metadata standards remains largely irrelevant to the importance of continuing to cultivate a monolithic online catalog, maintaining cataloging standards, and not mindlessly developing what amounts to a separate, rudimentary catalog solely for electronic resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In June, 2001 the CITY2000 Foundation donated 500,000 photographic negatives, over 500 audio- and videotapes, and office archives to the University of Illinois at Chicago. The collection represents an image time capsule of a major American city during the year of the millennium. Every class of individual, event of the year, and neighborhood was explored by 200 professional photographers and brought together in this unique archive. As part of its agreement in accepting the archive, the UIC Library committed to making the collection available at least until the year 3000. This paper discusses the steps UIC is taking to make this possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, library collections have vastly changed due to an ever-growing presence of resources available online. Many libraries have experienced a dramatic decrease in the circulation of physical materials with the shift to online availability of materials. It is of great value to ensure libraries are meeting the needs of their users, and this can be accomplished by identifying their information-seeking patterns. The aim of this article is to examine how faculty use the library and to identify what services and resources are of value to their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital collections, institutional repositories, open educational resources, open access publishing, and new forms of digital scholarship are all ways in which academic libraries are growing their collections from the inside out as well as making this content widely available to other libraries and users. This article will explore national and global trends in library-enabled publishing and content creation, focusing on the kinds of collections being published by libraries, the ways that metadata can bring these collections together for improved access, and the role of consortia in the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mbooks are open-access, digitized books freely available on the Internet. This article describes the Auraria Library's experience of loading brief MARC records for Mbooks into its online public access catalog and looks at some of the issues that arose from the record-loading project. Despite the low quality of the records, librarians in Auraria Library thought that loading them into the catalog was advantageous because of the rich content in the collection and because many of the records could be improved using the global update functionality in the catalog. Making the records available through the catalog, as opposed to merely linking to the entire collection from the Library's Web page, was considered to be valuable because of the aggregation a catalog provides and because the Mbooks collection helped fill gaps in the Library's physical collections. As more open-access, digitized books become available, libraries will need to plan and manage how best to provide access to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access denied turnaway statistics are provided to libraries to help with serials collection development, but very little research about turnaways is available. This article examines the relationship between access denied turnaways and interlibrary loan (ILL) requests at one institution in an attempt to deepen our understanding of turnaways. The study showed that there is a moderate correlation with an overall ILL requests to turnaways ratio of 11.4%. The strength of the relationship and the ILL requests to turnaways ratio do vary depending on the publisher/provider. The article also discusses potential explanations and implications as related to the relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After several centuries of intensive collection development activity, the major research library collections of North America and Western Europe, taken as a whole, can be expected to provide reasonable coverage for all of the world's languages and peoples. One might also expect that any two languages with a similar number of speakers and a similar publishing output might have similar profiles in terms of the amount and quality of materials available to scholars in Western library collections. For the Turkic peoples of the North Caucasus (Kumyks, Karachais, Balkars, Nogais, and a few others), however, this is not the case. This article (which is Part II of a three-part series) demonstrates that, despite the scholarly value, intrinsic interest, and potential geopolitical significance of publications in North Caucasus Turkic languages, these publications are severely under-represented in Western libraries and, relatedly, in Western scholarship about religion, politics, history, culture, war and revolution on the northern perimeter of the Muslim world. Print and online bibliographic resources for the study of the Turkic peoples of the North Caucasus are considered, and are used selectively to assess the strength of Western library collections. Part I of this article appeared in the previous issue of Slavic & East European Information Resources (vol. 18, nos. 3-4). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a trend among academic libraries to increase collaboration between interlibrary loan and collection development to improve patron access to materials and build library collections. Instead of borrowing returnable materials, interlibrary loan may initiate purchases that will become part of the library's collection. This can mean anything from an organizational change combining interlibrary loan with the acquisitions unit or creating new workflows to facilitate purchasing. At the University of North Texas Libraries, the Interlibrary Loan office is a unit of the Access Services Department. Buying instead of borrowing for the ILL unit began with a Demand Driven Acquisitions (DDA) program and has expanded with the establishment of the University of North Texas Libraries' access-based collection development policy. Interlibrary Loan provides “Just-In-Time” (JIT) access to materials not available through regular interlibrary loan sources and adds relevant materials to the Libraries' collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic libraries acquire and steward numeric datasets as well as large collections of image files, audio archives, digital texts, and other non-numeric resources. This article considers how a sample of libraries in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom present these collections and make them available for discovery. And, importantly, the article examines whether these non-numeric collections are positioned on the library Website as research datasets, rather than as artifacts of limited local and/or historical interest. Findings from this analysis may help collection managers and Web designers as libraries define their role in connecting users to research data. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the importance of access to video collections and the process to make the collections available within modern discovery layer tools. Topics include video collections are standard part of academic libraries and an important part of the teaching, learning and research process, the limitation in display options for videos, and testing search interfaces is the best way to secure access to video collection.

In May 2013, a space initiative project was launched in an effort to answer the following question posed by the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Library staff: With the increased use of mobile devices and the availability of information anywhere, anytime, what activities or tasks does our user community engage in while at the Library? Data were gathered in several ways— daily counts to determine client workstation occupancy, an informal survey interview conducted three times a day with walk-in clients, and staff observations. Data collection periods were scheduled in summer 2013, fall 2013, and winter 2014. Analysis of the information collected revealed that for many survey respondents, the space represents an extension of their work environment. Although most of the MSK Library’s collection is available electronically, the physical space is important and valued by this user community as a “go-to” place for leisure, work, or library-related activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Availability studies are used to estimate the proportion of items in a library collection that are available to users, and the proportion of items in a library collection that are unavailable to users as a result of system and/or human errors. Sanjeet Mann of the Armacost Library at the University of Redlands used a series of availability studies to more accurately understand and troubleshoot the e-resources access errors that keep undergraduate students at the university from obtaining the full text of electronic resources. In this presentation, Mann shared the details of his process, his results, and the implications of those results for improving local search systems as well as a conceptual model of e-resource availability errors based on the results of his research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Availability studies are used to estimate the proportion of items in a library collection that are available to users, and the proportion of items in a library collection that are unavailable to users as a result of system and/or human errors. Sanjeet Mann of the Armacost Library at the University of Redlands used a series of availability studies to more accurately understand and troubleshoot the e-resources access errors that keep undergraduate students at the university from obtaining the full text of electronic resources. In this presentation, Mann shared the details of his process, his results, and the implications of those results for improving local search systems as well as a conceptual model of e-resource availability errors based on the results of his research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article outlines the use of a collection mapping model of collection assessment in which data visualization tools were utilized in order to provide a unified portrait of a complicated multi-disciplinary collection located in several different physical locations across the Libraries of the University of California Riverside. Through the use of freely-available data visualization software, the massive amount of data generated by collection-centered inventory of the Libraries' Latin American Studies collection can be assessed in a number of different dimensions, clearly illustrating the collection's strengths to stakeholders both within and outside of the libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public and university libraries have embraced placemaking theories to develop user-centric library spaces. Placemaking has largely been overlooked in the context of academic law libraries. This article explores the range of space planning choices available to law libraries as they downsize their print collections. The benefits of reimaging law library space using placemaking concepts are explained. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This essay and checklist document the exhibition Pageant of the Tsars: The Romanov Coronation Albums, held at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens February 16–June 8, 2013. The exhibition focused on the history of the Romanovs through the lens of the coronation albums of the tsars. Based on the collection of five of the seven coronation albums held in the Hillwood library, the exhibition was supplemented with objects from the museum and library collections, loans from other institutions, and electronic versions of the albums available on iPads in the exhibition and via the iBooks store. The show marked the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Romanov dynasty in 1613. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an analysis of the feasibility of a bookless library in a research setting. As spaces for collections are being converted for increased study and community spaces, many libraries have been moving low-use collections to off-site storage. Issues regarding the types of storage spaces available are addressed. Concerns and solutions addressed include electronic availability, virtual browsing, and efficient interlibrary loan services. The article concludes that although moving all materials off site could be adequate for research needs on a short-term basis, the permanent removal of all materials would be undesirable due to a loss of discovery by browsing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses a newly-discovered collection of administrative documents and correspondence from the Russkii zagranichnyi istoricheskii arkhiv [Russian Historical Archive Abroad], which was active 1924–1945. The collection is housed in the Slavonic Library in Prague. It is important for both the history of the archive itself and the history of the Russian emigration. An inventory list of the collection is now available on the library's Web site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the increasing demand for GIS services and collections in libraries, librarians should use every outreach tool available to reach potential audiences. An annual event, GIS Day has a robust and established range of supporting tools that are easily customized for local use. Effective marketing, including visibility and longevity of Web pages, is an effective tool for increasing awareness of GIS services. This study analyzes content of Web pages to evaluate the levels of participation and promotion of GIS through GIS Day at U.S.-based Association of Research Libraries academic libraries and their host universities. Results indicate a range of involvement, with some libraries participating in numerous events while others are not taking full advantage of this valuable outreach opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The illustrative power of a set of repeat photographs is often stronger than that of other scientific output, but historical photographs are also a very useful research tool and object. Here we demonstrate how historical photographs in Ethiopia are used in studies on landscape and land use changes, soil erosion and geomorphology, history and historical context, livelihood and archaeology. Further, using the case study of Ethiopia, the location, accessibility and quality of digital archives of historical photographs is discussed as well as the way in which they can be used in research. Historical landscape photographs that are available in major archives may now largely be traced and often obtained through the Internet, as libraries increasingly are digitising collections and making them available online. Institutions that do not make at least part of their collection available online see decreasing numbers of end users, as opposed to a majority of archives which revaluate their collection by making it available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the summer of 2004, Georgia Southern University began a library construction project that was to last 4 years. An important aspect was the installation of an Automated Retrieval System (ARC) to house a substantial portion of the library collections so that more space could be available for students, faculty, and the services to meet their needs. This paper traces the development of the use of the ARC to house collections, with emphasis on how materials were selected for the two phases of the project and how catalogers have adapted to the idea of collections that can only be browsed virtually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author discusses shortening reference collections in libraries. Several opportunities and choices are available through trimming collections according to the author. Discussed are how several librarians met the demand for various collections through the reallocation of space at their library. A library reference department's usefulness can be made better through the creation of digital repositories of unique or hard-to-find information. The author also believes that library employees can schedule activities that build connections between the library and the community.

South Pointe Hospital is a community hospital that originally had few electronic resources available. This article describes how the library gradually acquired an electronic journals collection that started with just 2 titles and grew to a list of over 6000 titles including open access publications. The journals' online usage statistics were used to justify and increase the library budget, which enabled the library to purchase more titles as journal infrastructure software. Even though the collection had been created, it must be maintained and promoted; this article briefly discusses the need for education and promotion of the resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the development and growth of the Canadian Forces Virtual Library (CFVL), a collection of electronic resources for education and professional development available to military and civilian staff of the Canadian Department of National Defence. The CFVL aims to provide the maximum of depth and breadth of content within the special conditions of its environment: English/French bilingualism, secure military computer networks and a large, sometimes far flung organization with fanny remote or "nomadic" users. The Canadian Forces Health Services benefits from the most recent expansion with the addition of six health and medicine databases from Ebsco. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the process of transforming the Arkansas Periodical Index, which began as a card file index in the University of Arkansas (U. of A.) Libraries, to an online database. As in many other states, in-house indexes were compiled to cover local history journals and subject-related magazines. A variety of software now exists to mount locally created databases, one option being the choice to use the same turnkey software that runs the library's online catalog. We began by converting our card files to a local Inmagic DB/Textworks database. The U. of A. received the 1991 Gale Research Award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Library Services for that design. We later mapped the database structure to MARC fields and mounted it as a Web-accessible database through our library OPAC vendor, Innovative Interfaces, Inc. (III). The authors begin with a brief history of periodical indexing, the reasons for choosing MARC formatting, and the field mapping required. The article explains the development of the database to include other publication formats, such as material from biographical compendiums, newspaper indexing, and university publications. The mapping incorporates indexing several publication formats in the same database. It also provides fields for linking citations back to the OPAC records, where users may find call numbers for journals or books, be connected to the full text of articles when available, or to an association's own website when applicable. We address some of the concerns for libraries in developing indexing projects. The article offers a mapping table of migrated fields that can be used by others wanting to encourage the rediscovery of local print periodicals and to expand access to the various materials otherwise buried in the library's special collections. The Arkansas Publications Index was released in April 2005 and is available free at http://arkindex.uark.edu/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning in July 2002, the Health Sciences Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill underwent an 11 million dollar renovation. During three phases of the renovation, parts of the collection were inaccessible to patrons. In order to continue to make the library's collection available, library staff created a paging system. Patrons submitted requests for needed library materials using paper and electronic forms and library staff retrieved the requested items. The paging service was modified three times based on prior experience. Patrons were generally satisfied with the service. The renovation ended in December 2004. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a slightly abridged edited version of a final report detailing the background and implementation of a project that introduced electronic book (e-book) collections to Essex Public Libraries during 2004. The research considered e-book collections available for borrowing on a PDA (HP iPAQ) and collections downloadable on to the borrower's PDA or PC (OverDrive, ebrary). The project, sponsored by The Laser Foundation,1 consisted of a partnership consisting between Loughborough University,2 Essex Public Libraries3 and Co-East.4 In addition to a discussion of the findings of the research, guidelines are offered to other public library authorities considering the adoption of e-book collections and mobile technology. Two articles based on this research have been published elsewhere considering the evaluation of the iPAQ trials (Dearnley et al.,2004) and the provision and uptake of OverDrive and ebrary (Dearnley et al.,2005) collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the Humanities and Social Sciences Library of University of Alberta. The library is situated at I-01 Rutherford Library, Edmonton, Alberta. Primary users of the library have free access to the collection. While consortial partners and external users have access via interlibrary loan. Free on-site access is available to any user. The library's collection focuses on the areas of humanities and social sciences. There are a number of unique archival collections preserved at the University of Alberta, housed at the University of Alberta Archives and at the Canadian institute of Ukrainian Studies. The strengths of the collection in humanities include literature (primary and secondary works), philology, language teaching and learning, applied linguistics, cultural studies, popular media, and folklore.

This article focuses on the Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. Syracuse University provides library services to meet the instructional and research needs of its students, faculty, and staff; to fulfill regional and national commitments to resource sharing; and, as resources permit, to meet the research needs of alumni and the Syracuse community. Visitors are welcome to use the Library's collections for research and study purposes. These materials include collections housed in Library stacks; government documents; reference collections; current periodicals and newspapers, except those held on reserve; and microform collections. Unless they are registered as guest borrowers, visitors may use Library resources only in-house. Depository collections of the U.S. government publications, and help in using them, are freely available to all visitors. With the exception of these depository collections, the Library may at times give priority in service to University-affiliated users, and may limit visitors' access to selected facilities, collections, and services.

Many libraries in the US provide information about their cataloging department homepages as segments of their technical services homepages. However, in case of the Arabian Gulf university libraries, all the library Websites focus on general collections and services available to their patrons and there is a lack of information on various departments within the library. Very few library Websites have information about the cataloging departments. Only the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) library Website provides a separate Website for its Cataloging Operations Division. The study also found that the exploitation of Web-based cataloging resources by catalogers of the KFUPM library has resulted in enhancing the quality and efficiency of cataloging work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2002, the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), Higher Education Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee commissioned the National Library of Australia to analyse the uniqueness and overlap of Australian university library collections, comparing library collections in each state, using the National Bibliographic Database (NBD) available through the Kinetica Service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The awareness of Web sources in reference service has risen in recent years as many reference librarians have become more Internet-minded. During the reference process, we often ask ourselves: can this question be answered by using the Web? The use of Web sources is expanding the amount of available reference information, enhancing individual libraries' collections, and, hence, providing better user service. There are many benefits in using the Web sources in reference service. There are also some drawbacks. Some useful Web sources are reviewed. The Web, when used properly, provides reference librarians with a valuable resource option to help improve their services in an effective manner. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Libraries and archives are the subject of increasing depredations by thieves and vandals. One effective means of protection against losses to such criminals is sequestration of intrinsically valuable library and archival materials and making them available through a restricted access reading room. The identification of users of library and archival collections in such reading rooms is carefully authenticated. The actual use of the collections is done under constant staff scrutiny and is well documented. Response to reading room theft should be carefully choreographed but decisive. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article provides answers to queries related to access services. A reader asked if other college libraries have their DVD collections available for browsing. Another wanted to know how many requests are filled by other one-person interlibrary loan (ILL) departments. One person wanted to know how far away college students were required to live to avail of shipment services for interlibrary loan books. A plan to build a library help desk in a site where a college teaches outside its campus is mentioned.

“From Picas to Pixels” editor Chad Hutchens takes a look into a herbarium library collection that is quickly being digitized and will be available in the new JSTOR Plants database. Dr. Ronald Hartman, curator of the Rocky Mountain Herbarium, discusses the physical collection of thousands of plants, as well as the scope of the collection. Larry Schmidt, science and engineering reference librarian at the University of Wyoming Libraries, talks about digitization efforts and the development of the Rocky Mountain Herbarium online databases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article focuses on the library of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Anyone may visit the Rutgers University Libraries, its online catalog and web pages. Use of licensed electronic resources is unrestricted on campus, but restricted off campus to Rutgers faculty, students, and staff. Roughly 40% of the circulating Slavic and East European collection pertains to Russian history and literature and is in the Alexander Library; the next largest group or roughly 8,000 volumes pertain to Hungarian literature and history. One-third of each of these collections is in Russian or Hungarian. There are smaller but undetermined Slavic collections at Rutgers in the Annex and the Dana Library in Rutgers-Newark, both of which are included in the estimate of 25,000 volumes. The Library of the American Hungarian Foundation at 300 Somerset Street in New Brunswick is affiliated with Rutgers University Libraries. Roughly one-fourth of its collection was cataloged in IRIS and RLIN by 2003 and available for circulation to Rutgers users and through interlibrary loan.

This article focuses on the King Library, Miami University, Oxford. The website of the library is www.lib.muohio.edu. The general collections in King are available for use to anyone who is in the building, and anyone may walk in. Current hours are posted on the library web page under Hours. Some of the Russian collection is in an off-site storage facility, the Southwest Regional Depository, and these items must be recalled, which takes two business days. It might be best to request these through Interlibrary Loan. Books circulate only to people connected with Miami University or to people living in the area who have joined the Friends of the Library organization. All others can borrow books though Inter-library Loan at their home institutions. The books in Special Collections are in a discrete area on the third floor of King Library, which has different hours and rules for access. Hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., or by appointment. Each person using materials is required to have a photo ID.

The NISO KBART Automation Recommended Practice supplies instructions to content providers for automatic, behind-the-scenes transfer of library-specific subscriptions from a content provider to a knowledgebase vendor. These extensions of the well-established KBART (Knowledge Bases And Related Tools) Recommended Practice, NISO RP-9-2014, are anticipated to move knowledgebase configuration activities, which are painstaking and time-consuming for library staff, to automatic programs that can update the settings in a matter of minutes. This increase in data accuracy will result in improved electronic product access services to end users and better information available to libraries for their own collection management activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's insights on the criteria that describes a research library and its services. The author says that the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) considers the importance of collections, expenditures and staffing, while photocopiers with available papers have not been enumerated in the statistical count. She mentions that the interlibrary loan is the only measure for service category. She features the study by Ying Zhong and Johanna Alexander participated by 300 students and librarians regarding helpful library services in academic work achievement which showed that library facilities and electronic resources are the top answer. Moreover, the importance of paying attention to patrons, free printing expectations and print management system are also discussed.

This article focuses on W.A.C. Bennett Library, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia. The W.A.C. Bennett Library has a special Doukhobor Collection, which deals with the settlement of the Doukhobors in late 19th- to early 20th-century Canada. The database is comprised of approximately 120 primary source items such as manuscripts, photographs, books and book chapters, magazine articles, and financial documents dating from 1898 to 1930, and is brows able and searchable at www.lledocs.lib.sfu.ca/projects/ Doukhobor-Collection. Access to the library collections and resources is available to members of the Simon Fraser University community members of the general public with purchased extramural library cards are welcome to use library resources within the Simon Fraser University Libraries.

This article focuses on the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland. The website of the library is www.nlm.nih.gov. The reading rooms are open to the public and are accessible to disabled persons. Visitors must sign in at the guard stations and provide valid picture identification. After obtaining a library card, visitors may access books, journals, and audiovisual materials from the closed stacks for use within the Library by requesting them via the library's online catalog, LOCATORpIus. Materials may not be removed from the Library. Most of the general and historical collections are available through interlibrary loan to any library. The Library holds the world's largest collection of scholarly biomedical literature, including works from virtually every country and in most written languages. In addition to clinical medicine, the Library maintains extensive international collections in medical anthropology, history of medicine, bioethics, health policy and economics, and related fields. The collections include over 7 million books, journals, manuscripts, microforms, pictures, audiovisuals, and electronic media.