Analyzes trends in the library automation marketplace. Market shares for online vendors are examined in terms of total installations, academic libraries, public libraries, revenues, differently sized systems, and foreign installations. Hardware availability, operating systems, and interfaces with MARC are also discussed for each vendor. A source…

Discusses the benefits and drawbacks of fee-based services offered by tax-supported libraries and describes their rationale, extent, and cost-benefit potential. Research services, video rentals, online searching, and interlibrary loan services are among the fee-based services described. (KRN)

Discusses the commitment of universities to developing and using knowledge for the improvement of society, highlighting efforts in library and information science. Describes service learning that includes community service; community-building initiatives by librarians; and four examples of service learning in programs of library and information…

Discusses the results of a survey of academic member libraries of the ARL (Association of Research Libraries) that investigated changes in reference services over the last three years and how electronic resources have impacted them. Topics include remote users; email reference; and live virtual reference. (LRW)

Open access publishing is a hot topic today. But open access publishing can have many different definitions, and pros and cons vary with the definitions. Open access publishing is especially attractive to companies and small colleges or universities that are likely to have many more readers than authors. A downside is that a membership fee sounds…

To transform humanists with Ph.D.'s into academic librarians is the purpose of an initiative recently launched by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The equivalent of an apprenticeship, the program revolves postdoctoral work in an academic library in lieu of earning a master's degree from a library and information studies…

In 2001, Janice R. Franklin and Loretta O'Brien Parham attended a meeting of the Southeastern Library Network (SOLINET) Board of Directors, an ordinary enough event. Observing the support that the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries provides its members, they realized there was no such mutual assistance program for the librarians at…

Examination of corporate donations of cash, products, service, and expertise to libraries highlights industry contributions in 1980; why corporations give; examples of corporate donations to various libraries (Brooklyn Public, New York Public, Altoona Area Public, Boston Public); planning fund-raising compaigns; and seven strategic planning…

Presents the expectations of academic research libraries in the hiring of entry level librarians relative to academic and work experience. Results of a survey indicate that skills in management, automation, research, and writing are highly desirable. (RAA)

A survey of 83 academic public service librarians to ascertain the extent to which they were aware of, involved in, or affected by retrospective conversion projects found that the role of public service librarians in such projects is limited. A need for improved communication between public and technical services librarians is indicated. (13…

Presents the annual review of library building projects that includes statistics for new buildings, additions, and renovations. Highlights include information for academic and public libraries, including costs, funding, and size; a six-year cost summary; and a listing of architects. (LRW)

Iowa State University's cost study proves academic librarians can keep cataloging in-house and save staff costs. Several factors play a role in the productivity surge at ISU: increasing use of shared cataloging; growth of online authoring files; expanding role of support staff; increasing automation of catalogers' work; and structural flattening…

The American Library Association's (ALA) Annual Conference, June 24?30, in steamy Orlando, drew 19,575 people, including 5,739 exhibitors, the lowest total since Miami in 1994, not counting the SARS-shadowed conference in Toronto last year (see statistics, p. 15). Although this years conference was filled with exciting events, this abstract is…

On January 15, 2005, a standing-room-only crowd of librarians listened as a panel of experts, moderated by Columbia University's Jim Neal, voiced support for the National Institute of Health's (NIH) proposal to mandate free online access to the research it funds. This article briefly discusses some personal accounts where open access would have…

This article describes how the 2006 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in New Orleans will long symbolize the significance of libraries and librarians to a convention city--and to the community around it. As the first major convention in the Crescent City since the ravages of Hurricane Katrina ten months earlier, the conference…