Zines have begun to gain a place in higher education as pedagogical tools studied or made by students, and many academic libraries maintain zine collections. The library literature reveals little about how nonlibrarian faculty use zines in their classrooms. This paper describes the results of a survey of faculty from a range of academic…

An academic library that focuses on delivering a personalized service is examined within the context of the boutique library model. It is suggested that a critical success factor in adopting a personalized, boutique-style service is acquiring knowledge and insight of our users. This, together with appropriate evaluation, will assist with providing…

Most academic libraries are members of at least one consortium, and many belong to multiple consortia. However, consortia vary widely in the services they offer and in how they are structured. This project, carried out in the fall of 2009, focused on a review of fifteen academic library consortia that: Included two-year colleges, either…

Many academic librarians use online information literacy tutorials as an alternative or a supplement to in-class library instruction. Tutorials created with streaming media software such as Camtasia Studio have become increasingly popular. Librarians at a mid-sized Midwestern university have created several such tutorials demonstrating various…

This report contains the results of the Association of Research Libraries' survey of academic Health Sciences libraries for 2004-05. Data are presented on collections, expenditures, and personnel and public services. Out of 113 ARL university libraries, 67 responded to the survey. Health Sciences libraries reported median values of 243,011 volumes…

The University of Texas at Arlington's Library began using an online chat reference in 2002. The service, called Collaborative Digital Reference Service, later became "Ask a Librarian." Slightly over one year later, the library joined the University of Texas System's "Ask a Librarian" service. Both services are powered by…

A personnel appraisal tool was developed at the Iowa State University Library for professionals supervised by the Assistant Director for Technical Services and the Head of the Monographs Department, to evaluate both their supervisors' performance and the appraisal review as an educational tool to improve administrator performance. A Technical…

This study focuses on the planning necessary to support library instruction for an online public access catalog in an academic library. The installation of an online catalog is viewed as an opportunity for librarians to teach effective use of the library catalog. The project report consists of a review of the literature pertaining to the…

This report documents the operations of a Virginia Commonwealth University library work group charged with investigating the feasibility of establishing a collection of municipal publications originating from the Richmond area. A brief description of the activities of the group is followed by recommendations in three areas: collection…

Effective management and the importance of feedback in relation to improvement are becoming critical issues for libraries. Upward appraisal evaluates managers' performance based on input from their staff, rather than the traditional top-down evaluation format in which a manager is evaluated solely by their superior. This paper discusses the…

This article briefly outlines the need for evaluation, the benefits that can accrue to both the individual and the institution, and the similarities and differences between performance evaluations for non-teaching faculty (counselors and librarians) and teaching faculty. The Red Deer College performance evaluation package is discussed in detail.…

This report describes a four-day institute funded by the U.S. Office of Education to increase the utilization of government publications by extending the knowledge of academic reference librarians about them. Librarians from 25 universities attended the institute. Discussion of the use of government publications was divided into three broad…

The impact of an introductory library skills course is evaluated through the use of a difference of means test, the t-test for significance. The purpose of the course is to provide a basic introduction to the efficient and effective use of academic libraries and their resources. Each of 55 undergraduates was pretested to determine his/her entry…

Developed in response to issues raised about the circulation of bound periodicals, the cost of photocopies, and the condition of the photocopiers, this report of the Joint Committee to Study Library Periodical Services at the Virginia Commonwealth University libraries recommends goals for periodicals services for both campuses of the university.…

Six point-of-use audiovisual programs were developed by librarians as part of a library instruction program in Alexander Library at Rutgers University to illustrate the basic skills needed in using the library's print collections in the social sciences and humanities. Topics for the 16mm filmstrip cartridges were (1) Tour of Alexander Library; (2)…