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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]

As institutions shape collections to meet current and future needs, effective management of high density storage facilities and collaborative collection building will be vital to the success of academic and research libraries. The Oak Street Library, the University of Illinois's high density storage facility, holds the largest single concentration of library materials on campus with a collection of more than 4 million items. These holdings include transfers from the main book stacks and other departmental libraries on campus, blanket orders and library gifts that are added directly to the Oak Street Library collection, and material held in trust for consortial partnerships. The collection represents collaborative collection building locally between subject specialists, library divisions, and central services, as well as cooperative agreements with consortiums such as the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) and the Consortium of Academic Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI). This article describes building a large collection through unconventional means, demonstrating the benefits of effective collaborative collection building and management of shared and other non-traditionally acquired collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes how the Southern Illinois University Medical Library employed ArchivesSpace to create a searchable, online presence for part of its existing physical archive collection. ArchivesSpace is an open-source web based archival management system. The Medical Library, with cooperation from the IT department, used our institutional servers to store data, but users may also pay for third-party hosting. As this paper demonstrates, ArchivesSpace is inexpensive and relatively simple to set up and use and may be a good option for hospital libraries or other smaller libraries that are interested in online archival management tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do we engage with our community in a more meaningful way? How do we make the user experience the center of all we do? What impact are we having and how do we measure it? In an effort to better answer these questions and make a tighter connection between library objectives and the broader needs of the community, the Oak Park Public Library embarked on a journey to “turn outward.” Following the Harwood model for community engagement, Oak Park has made strides in unifying its internal operations and strengthening strategic partnerships. Its intention is wider and deeper community impact. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the spring of 2013, the University Library at the University of Illinois at Chicago was in the unique position of having access to two discovery systems, Summon and WorldCat Local, at the same time. When tasked with choosing between the two systems, librarians undertook a usability study of Summon and WorldCat Local. The goal of this study was two-fold: to test the ease-of-use of each discovery system with an eye toward identifying one tool to retain for the longer term, and to learn about the search behaviors of different types of user groups. Eighteen subjects, consisting of undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty, participated in the study. Participants performed usability tasks using each tool and answered pre-task and post-task questions. While there was no clear preference among study participants for either discovery layer, individual groups did express preferences. Faculty, for example, preferred Summon to WorldCat Local at a rate of five to one. The study findings are explored in detail through an examination of the three major data sets produced by the usability test instrument: results derived from tasks performed by participants as part of the study; themes and trends identified by the investigators within the recorded participant tests; and discovery tool preferences as determined from pre-task and post-task questionnaires administered to study participants. This study has implications for librarians engaged in information literacy instruction, those considering implementing discovery tools, as well as for librarians currently using Summon or WorldCat Local at their libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discovery tools are the next phase of library search systems. Illinois State University's Milner Library implemented EBSCO Discovery Service in August 2010. The authors conducted usability studies on the system in the fall of 2010. The aims of the study were twofold: first, to determine how Milner users set about using the system in order to better inform customization choices, which in turn would create better search experiences, and second, to find out whether discovery tools fix the problems of federated search. With federated search technology, users often felt frustrated by the search experience. Some reasons for the frustration included a desire for better ways to determine the relevancy of search results and for more information about the material included in the records. The authors determined that while many federated search problems were solved, some issues persisted. Overall, the move to EBSCO Discovery Service at Milner Library has been a positive experience for its users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Library Web sites must compete against easy-to-use sites, such as Google Scholar, Google Books, and Wikipedia, for students' time and attention. Library Web sites must therefore be designed with aesthetics and user perceptions at the forefront. The Music and Performing Arts Library at Urbana-Champaign's Web site was overcrowded and in much need of a user-focused redesign. This article presents a usability study that compared participants' use of the old site versus the new site to determine if performance improved on the redesigned site. Participants were asked to complete library-related tasks on both the old Web site and on the redesigned Web site to determine if they could both complete more tasks and complete tasks more quickly on the new site. Participants showed a marked improvement on the new site, and their “think-out-loud” responses to the tasks helped further improve site design and wording. Participants were also surveyed about their perceptions of ease of use and navigation on the old and new sites, and in general, the new site was preferred by participants and seen as a great improvement. Future studies will aim to further involve students and faculty in addressing terminology and site organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 1991-2001 comparative analysis of science journal cancellations in a medium-sized academic library provides data different from a national "Annual Periodical Price Survey Report" (APPSR). After canceling 50.3 percent of Booth Library's most expensive STM (scientific, technical, and medical) journals, data show that the average cost of a science journal in the library at Eastern Illinois University is more than what the average cost should be for a medium-sized academic library. If cost determines the academic nature of a scholarly journal and its appropriateness for types of libraries, then this analysis means that some medium-sized academic libraries, such as Booth, subscribe to STM titles that are more suitable for large research libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This project investigates the feasibility of creating a digital library for outreach documents, called an Outreach Information System, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The history of outreach publishing, with emphasis on recent changes and challenges to libraries, is presented. There were a number of desired outcomes for this project. A testbed of digital documents that could be used to test a search and retrieval interface would be created. Methods of markup for electronic documents currently under production would be explored. Conversion of paper documents into electronic form, with an attempt to predict the feasibility of a large-scale conversion project, would also be explored. Archival needs of a digital library for outreach would be assessed. Metadata creation, with special emphasis on outreach documents, is discussed. Search and retrieval needs for the system are discussed. Existing and needed partnerships for further expansion of the Outreach Information System are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Features the Cooperative Collection Management (CCM), a program adopted by the state of Illinois encouraging libraries to work together in managing and assessing collections. Illinois State Library and the Illinois Board of Higher Education as fund contributors; Thrust and objective of CCM; Projects sponsored by the CCM.