Developing collection-level surveys to expose hidden collections in special collections and archives departments within ARL libraries has received a great deal of scholarly attention in the recent years. Numerous standards have been explored, and each has its strengths and weaknesses. This paper summarizes some of the major initiatives in…

This article discusses the accessibility of two content management systems, Berkeley Electronic Press's Digital Commons and OCLC's CONTENTdm, widely used in libraries to host institutional repository and digital collections content. Based on observations by a visually impaired student who used the JAWS screen reader to view the design and display…

The "Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) Almanac of Post-Secondary Education in Canada" is a source for the most current statistical information available on post-secondary education in Canada. The Almanac provides statistics on the following: (1) university and college finances; (2) academic staff salaries and gender; (3)…

This article discusses best practices for evaluating open source software for use in library projects, based on the authors' experience evaluating electronic publishing solutions. First, it presents a brief review of the literature, emphasizing the need to evaluate open source solutions carefully in order to minimize Total Cost of Ownership. Next,…

Presents detailed data on the status of academic libraries in 1996, as well as detailed historical comparisons with previous years, focusing on comparisons since 1990. Data were collected from the Academic Libraries Survey, which was part of the 1996 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. (Author/SLD)

It has been a decade since the first aggregator journal packages began to become available at academic and public libraries throughout the United States of America. During these 10 years, the library and information science community has published numerous articles on the pros and cons of this method of delivery and these collections, more than…

Examines the relationship between and among designers, text, and users of the Galter Health Sciences Library Web site at Northwestern University by applying reader-response criticism. Highlights include Web site design; comparison of designers' intentions with the actual organization of knowledge on the Web site; and compares designer's intentions…

Discussion of diversity in higher education focuses on a comparison of Stanford University and UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) libraries' responses to increasingly diverse student populations from 1960 to 1990. Historical backgrounds are given and recommendations for promoting diversity are considered. Contains 70 notes. (LRW)

Describes a study that examined an experimental multi-site image distribution scheme among museums and universities in California, The Museum Educational Site Licensing Project, whose content was primarily digital images and metadata. Discusses barriers to using digital images; digital image distribution; comparing digital images to analog slide…

Describes a study of 150 university library Web sites in four English speaking countries. Results showed that the visual display of information was similar in all countries, but there were differences in content, including the availability of encyclopedias, request forms, pathfinders, and remote access. (Author/LRW)

Contrasts online searching in industry and academia in terms of trust placed in the searcher, numbers of systems/databases searched, comprehensiveness, decision making and dependency, reference interviews and the timeframe for search requests, nature of searches, use of selective dissemination of information, library/quick reference searching,…

This paper discusses digital libraries on the Internet. The resource repository hierarchy, consisting of two major paradigms, search engines (SEs) and digital libraries, is presented. SEs are classified into three categories: basic-SE, directory, and meta-SE. The following six major characteristics of a library are summarized: collection of data…

Explains President Clinton's donation of books about the United States to the Peking University Library and compares it to a donation of Chinese books from the Peking University library to the library of Kapiolani Community College (Hawaii). Suggests appropriate directions for U.S.-China academic library cooperation and for international academic…

This case study at the Idaho State University library examines the relative merits of the features and functionality of the various free versions of the ERIC database in comparison with a commercial version. Recommends a commercial version of ERIC to take advantage of the enhanced search features. (Author/LRW)

A comparison of subject- and publisher-based book approval plans for academic libraries found publisher-based plans to be more successful for purchasing domestic publications, and subject-based plans for international ones. Library collections, organization, and vagaries of the publishing industry form the basis for selecting the plan which is…