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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.

This article seeks to understand the current state of the field of special collections library administration in the United States. Using a dataset gathered through publicly available information about special collections directors from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), Independent Research Libraries Association (IRLA), and the Oberlin Group institutional members, the authors explore the educational backgrounds of directors, the types of positions they held prior to taking on their current roles, and the effect of gender on leadership advancement. This article also discusses the similarities and differences between institution types as well as promotions within institutions and across types of institutions.

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.

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.

The online catalog, commercial discovery layers, the open Web, and books available for browsing in libraries all aid in the process of discovery of resources. An absence of books means one fewer discovery method available. It is important, therefore, that libraries retain physical books in open stacks to offer communities a hands-on opportunity to discover and use resources. Applying the same expertise and human insight to decisions about the collections libraries make immediately available on site also affords an opportunity to increase the effectiveness of in-person discovery. This article makes a case for open stacks in the design of libraries.

The authors investigated quantitative methods of collection use analysis employing library data that are available in ILS and ILL systems to better understand library collection use and user needs. For the purpose of the study, the authors extracted circulation and ILL records from the library's systems using data-mining techniques. By comparing these data to records of books acquired in a four-year period, the study reveals generally good collection use as well as some unmet collection needs. The study also offers a method of compiling and sharing these multiple types of usage data among work groups to create feedback mechanisms to inform the work of selectors and suggest modifications to collection development practices.

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.

As undergraduate students increasingly rely on the Internet as their primary method for gathering sources, they often overlook the rich and varied resources available to them in library collections. Furthermore, students often lack the sophistication to effectively seek out and use information, an ability generally referred to as information literacy. Political scientists and librarians at one institution sought to address the gap in student information literacy skills by creating and implementing a semester-long library lab component integrated into the required research methods course within the political science department. This article presents the steps taken to implement the lab component, including the student learning outcomes we sought to address. We also focus on the measures we used to assess the impact of the lab component. Students who participated in the lab component demonstrate markedly improved information literacy skills compared to those who did not.

The purpose of this article is to describe the scope and depth of the historic corporate annual report collections in twelve academic/research libraries in North America. For many decades, a few major academic business libraries have been collecting and preserving corporate Annual Reports (ARS), the reports sent to shareholders documenting the financial status and future plans of the company. Today these historic collections provide more than a record of the companies' finances; they provide a glimpse into the social and cultural thoughts from the past and the corporate stories of individual companies. Digitization of these reports has only just begun; so, except for fewer than 900 companies (most of which have been on the Fortune 500 list), the companies included in these historic annual report collections are not available electronically. The combined collection of the twelve libraries includes reports from nearly 38,000 different companies. Stanford, Harvard, and Western Ontario have the largest collections. Harvard and Columbia have collections with significant historic depth, while Purdue has a collection with important late-twentieth-century holdings. The overlap of the collections is much smaller than was anticipated. The two largest collections, Stanford with over 18,000 companies and Harvard with over 11,000 companies, have only 3,668 companies in common. The overlap of companies between the largest five collections is only thirty-three companies. This research identifies these collections as unique and therefore valuable to the study of specific company histories and the industrial development in North America. Librarians need to preserve these collections and work toward digitizing them.

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.

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. (Contains 1 figure and 7 notes.)

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. The study revealed that at a state level, university library collections have a high level of uniqueness. Further investigation of the trends identified by the study would be beneficial and would assist decision-making on future co-ordination of access to more diverse information resources for the Australian university community. (Contains 11 tables and 30 endnotes.)

Describes the library collection at Gallaudet University and discusses deaf-related information available via the World Wide Web which is particularly suited as a communication medium for the deaf community. Discusses subject specific, special purpose, and comprehensive Web sites for deaf people, their families, and involved professionals, and considers implications for librarians. (Author/LRW)

Examines commercial electronic document delivery services that are available to academic libraries. Highlights include collection development issues; criteria for selection and evaluation; remote access systems, including CARL UnCover 2, Faxon Finder and Faxon Xpress, ContentsFirst and ArticleFirst, and CitaDel; and on-site access systems, including ProQuest and Adonis. (four references) (LRW)

Describes the resources available to scholars in the library and information science collections of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Western Ontario. For each university, the description includes a history of the development of the school of library and information science as well as resources found in special collections and archives. (CLB)

Briefly reviews education for map librarianship and identifies map collections available to schools of library education. The discussion covers concepts critical to library work with maps and suggestions for including those concepts in various curricula. (seven references) (Author/CLB)