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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]

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 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.

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]