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In 2007 the Ottenheimer Library at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), decided to extend library privileges gratis to members of the community as a gesture of good will and a potential tool for fund-raising. Privileges extended include borrowing items from the circulating collection and use of reference materials (paper and electronic) and other non-circulating materials in the library building.Purpose: This paper reports the results of the five-year experiment to extend borrowing privileges to community users.Methodology/Approach: It describes the findings of a Web-based survey conducted to obtain information on demographics and community users’ perception of the value of library privileges (Dole and Hill, 2012) and the results of an appeals letter sent to solicit donations and to study the correlation between community users’ receiving library privileges and donating.Findings: Although these users had said that they value the services the Library extended to them and were more likely to donate money (Dole and Hill 2012), few did donate as a result of the appeals letter.Research Limitations: This paper reports on the responses of community users at one North American academic library and may or may not provide guidance for other libraries contemplating approaching community users for donations. The results of this study may or may not be generalizable to all academic libraries.Originality/Practical Implications: There has been little research that attempts to assess community users’ perception of the value of an academic library’s extending library privileges to them. Previous studies surveyed librarians about their perceptions of the pros and cons of extending privileges.

Purpose: The development of the 'Knowledge Portal' is the attempt to develop a central access system in terms of a 'single point of access' for all electronic information services. This means that all these sources - from the library's catalogue and full-text in-house applications to external, licensed sources - should be accessible via one central Web service. Design/methodology/approach: The Knowledge Portal is a piece of software and a real library application, based on Primo, a commercial product, which has been enhanced through a cooperative project from ETH Libraries (Libraries of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich) and ExLibris. The new portal will be the result of integrating this new metasearch and the library's homepage. Findings: The paper gives an overview of the general idea behind this complex and clearly user-oriented project and shows which steps are necessary for its launch. Originality / value: The paper gives an example of how to organize cooperation between quite different project partners and shows the complexity of setting up a portal as the single point of access.

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to present the e-book as one of several information resources in academic libraries in the context of e-learning.Methodology/approach: Theoretical and research approach through the content analysis method and evaluation of services on the web pages of academic libraries of the University of Zagreb on the basis of selection criteria.Results: Findings showed that the e-book is a visible part of information resources, and as such, is an integral part of learning in academic libraries’ landscape. Research restrictions: No research restrictions.The originality: This is the first research of this kind.Contribution: The encouragement of other academic libraries to include this type of e-resources to the library website and thus contribute to increase the quality of library service.

One of the advantages of the world wide web is that we can now make literature which was before known as unused available to users. This is also true in the case of graduate and postgraduate theses which are important but underused parts of library collections.They are a result of research work and an important source of information for students and researchers. In this paper some advantages, disadvantages and unresolved questions regarding web access to theses and dissertations are presented.Results of the research, made in 2009 at all four Slovenian universities revealed how students use theses and dissertations of their predecessors and how they would use them if they were available in the ETD collection on the world wide web. Students’opinion on including their theses in such collections is presented, too.

In 1989, the American Library Association published the well-known Final Report of the Presidential Committee on Information Literacy. Since then, the information-developed world has seen numerous activities for upgrading information literacy at all levels of education, in the economy and in everyday life. Efficient use of knowledge in society is strongly emphasized and, linked to that, the importance of education and training of information users, as well as the upgrading of information literacy, especially in the context of higher education. Information literacy is increasingly recognized as a basic skill in the process of learning and adapting to the changing living and working environment of today’s information society. Students face dilemmas in the selection of information resources and challenges for their efficient and responsible use on a daily basis. Academic libraries respond to this challenge by offering different information literacy programmes. This paper presents the findings of a pilot survey on education and training of users of library information services, conducted in September 2004, and some forms of information literacy programmes carried out by the academic libraries at the Slovenian Universities. It also proposes some approaches towards the development of information literacy in all segments of Slovenian society.

The contribution presents basic information about academic libraries and their promotion. Librarians should have promotion knowledge since they have to promote and market their libraries. The paper presents the definition of academic libraries, their purpose, objectives and goals. Marketing and promotion in academic libraries are defined. The history of academic libraries and their promotion are described. The contribution presents results and the interpretation of the research, based on the study of users of the Library of the Department of Library and Information Science and Book studies. A new promotion plan for libraries based on the analysis of the academic library environment is introduced.

The paper presents some results of the user study, conducted in 1998, among the users of the Osijek Faculty of Education Library. The objective of the study was to determine the scope of library usage, the degree of users’ dis/satisfaction with library services, holdings and the staff. The results indicate that there are differences in library usage between two main user groups – students and teachers. They differ, among other things, in the objectives of library visits, the scope of library usage, the degree of satisfaction with the library and its services, the familiarisation and the level of usage of information technology.Differences in behaviour between these two groups indicate the necessity of a different approach by the library personnel, e.g. intensified work on students’ education.The analysis of the questionnaire leads to the following conclusions:1. Two main user groups of the Faculty of Education Library differ in their requests and needs.2. The degree of dis/satisfaction depends on the group the user belongs to.3. Library users from the fields of arts and humanities, and natural sciences, use information technology to the same degree.