After decades of costly and time-consuming effort, nearly all libraries have completed the retrospective conversion of their card catalogs to electronic form. However, bibliographic systems still are really not much more than card catalogs on wheels. Enriched content that Amazon.com takes for granted--such as digitized tables of contents, cover…

This article reports the findings of a survey examining the current performances of libraries. The libraries that were surveyed this year reported a solid performance in 2005, with a budget growth of 4.7 percent. For the next fiscal year, libraries predicted a 5.5 percent increase in budgets which exceeded the inflation. Many of them, however,…

Late last year, Ohio State University (OSU) library director Joseph Branin graciously invited this author to visit for an up-close look at the William Oxley Thompson library renovation and construction project underway on his campus. He eagerly accepted. Since 2001, when he first began reporting on the project, he has been amazed by the plan, its…

The Web 2.0 "buzz" starts with new technologies such as virtual worlds, cell phones and handheld devices that offer 24/7 web access, tagging, social networks, and blogs and brings together various web capabilities in unique combinations. Web 2.0, however, is about much more than the technology--it is about a change in focus to participation, user…

This article reports that the Scopus Student Ambassador (SAm) program, funded by Elsevier, permitted the University of Connecticut (UConn) Libraries to hire graduate students to teach citation searching, using both Scopus and Web of Science, to other graduate students. The training does not cost the libraries anything, and it is free for graduate…

A report on the activities of the nation's libraries for the year. Included are sections on security, federal and state funding, library cooperation, copyright, technology, cataloging and circulation, CETA, library education, and associations, governance, and intellectual freedom. (KP)

Reader's profiles are obtained through a short questionnaire which is completed by the patron. The profiles are compared with new titles received by the library, and patrons are notified of titles in their interest area by post card. (JAB)

Four new approaches to library user education are briefly described. (KP)

The public library of the British Virgin Islands and its branches are described in terms of services, programs, administration, and staff. (KP)

Discusses the concept of privatization--i.e., the process of turning over public functions to private industry--as it relates to libraries. Charging for services such as online searching and interlibrary loan, the difficulty of pricing, and the effects of entrepreneurial librarianship on service and scholarship are considered. Seven references are…

The success of any institution depends on the honest involvement of the people it serves. Voluntary action is no threat to the library profession, rather, it is a compliment, a vote of confidence which is enhancing the library field in the public eye and is opening up jobs. (12 references) (Author/NH)

Besides the main article by Richard Dougherty, this mini-symposium on library cooperation contains commentaries by Ralph Blasingame, Thomas J. Galvin, Ellsworth Mason, John F. Anderson and Robert S. Ake. (18 references) (NH)

Presents an overview of the impact of fiber optics on telecommunications and its application to information processing and library services, including information retrieval, news services, remote transmission of library services, and library networking. (RAA)

When the first career test, back in high school, pointed to librarianship, Miguel Figueroa "just blew it off." But when a similar test in the senior year of college produced the same result, Figueroa, like the librarian and editor that he is today, did his research and called three libraries (a public, an academic, and a school media…

This article gives details of the developments and changes in the Denver Public Library (DPL). Through a review of advancements in technology, vendor capabilities, staffing levels and talent, as well as outsourcing opportunities, DPL reinvented its workflow and processing. The result? The once giant stacks of books, CDs, videos, and DVDs waiting…