Quantitative literacy is an essential twenty-first century skill that universities are heavily invested in teaching to students. The social sciences play an important role in these efforts because they attract students who might otherwise avoid data and mathematically oriented courses and because they ground quantitative reasoning in political and…

This article describes the implementation of an interdisciplinary design studio as a means to teach creative problem-solving through project-based learning. "Learning and Innovation Skills" has been designated as a core skill that students need to be successful in today's world, and project-based learning is one approach to helping…

As academic libraries struggle to remain relevant when technological advancements and electronic resources threaten to make them obsolete, libraries are learning to re-invent themselves by molding and adapting staff skills to cultivate innovative outreach programs. The Science Outreach Committee of the John D. MacArthur Campus library at Florida…

This case study describes a library outreach effort to university staff members employed by the campus child care center. Authors planned an instructional session to introduce child care staff members to library resources, focusing on the curriculum collection as a source of supplemental materials for classrooms. Surveys were administered before…

In January 1989, the Library Instruction Forum of the Virginia Library Association sent a two-page questionnaire to each of the 82 academic libraries in Virginia to obtain information on current bibliographic instruction activities within the state. Designed to encourage cooperative development of new instructional programs and techniques and…

Because reference librarians at San Antonio College (Texas) often found themselves facing the difficult situation of assisting students who were struggling with ill-conceived, faculty-designed library assignments, they developed a 2-hour workshop for faculty on the construction of course-related assignments. This collection of workshop-related…

This Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) kit is based on information from 22 of the 71 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries that responded to a 1986 survey of 91 ARL academic libraries concerning the analysis of professional and non-professional positions, and on information collected from 17 additional libraries that…

At the request of the Pennsylvania State University Library, the Office of Management Studies surveyed Association of Research Libraries (ARL) members requesting information and documentation illustrating the organization, nature, and level of the library instruction function at their institutions. A review of the responses from 64 of the 94 ARL…

This set of materials reports the needs assessment and implementation of a library staff development project funded by a Chicago State University grant. Because of the limited opportunity provided for all library personnel to improve their job skills, a proposal for a staff development program was submitted to the university granting office. A…

A serials cancellation pilot project was conducted by the Pittsburgh Regional Library Center (PRLC) from August 1981 to December 1983 in order to demonstrate the utility of using a large online union list of serials for making and reporting collection management decisions. A total of 21 academic libraries and one public library from Pennsylvania,…

Based on the comprehensive library self-study method developed by the Association of Research Libraries' (ARL) Office of Management Studies (OMS) and first used as the Management Review and Analysis Project (MRAP), this resource notebook presents surveys and diagnostic aids, OMS self-study reports, and ARL member library documents related to…

This document examines the changes in organization and staffing of preservation programs since SPEC (the Systems and Procedures Exchange Center) surveyed members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) in 1985. It is based on responses of 109 ARL libraries to ARL preservation surveys, and additional contacts with 21 ARL libraries that have…

This report describes and presents the results of a survey designed to obtain information on the preservation and conservation policies and procedures, staff, facilities, and expenditures of 18 academic libraries in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. The goals of the survey were to inform each library surveyed of its strengths and weaknesses in the…

Based on the results of a June 1984 survey of 30 Association of Research Library (ARL) member libraries, this kit contains documents related to automation training programs for ARL library staff members. A summary of survey results indicates that few libraries performed formal needs assessments before embarking on programs related to automation…

A survey of 33 academic libraries in Louisiana was conducted in the spring of 1983 to determine the techniques used during the 1981/82 academic year to impart bibliographic or library instruction to students and faculty. A total of 27 responses were received. It was found that all but five of the respondents had a library instruction program; the…