The preservation of paper-based artifacts is an essential issue for collection management in academic libraries. In recent years, the library science profession has often favored reformatting through microfilm or digitization, assuming too quickly that information matters, whereas an artifact's medium does not. However, much recent humanities…

Public libraries have evolved into a primary source of Internet access in many communities, generating wide-ranging impacts in the communities that public libraries serve. Based on the findings of the 2007 Public Libraries and the Internet study, this article examines the ways in which the Internet access delivered by public libraries affects…

An application of the contingent valuation method (CVM) for estimating the economic value of a regional public library service is described, and some of the key methodological issues surrounding CVM and other stated preference techniques are discussed with reference to library use and funding contexts. Given the range of valuations that can result…

Many scholars and professionals have noted in recent years that the United States is experiencing a transformation to an economy based upon knowledge. However, researchers have only begun to explore how the essence of such an economy, the creation of wealth by organizations through their use of information, works empirically. This study provides…

The purposes of the study were to explore the role of Canada's public libraries in developing the public's information literacy (IL) skills, to explore current IL training practices, and to explore the perspectives and IL experiences of individuals who visit public libraries to access the Internet. This article documents the second phase of a…

Place reminds us to tailor our professional work to the shifting concerns, and indeed the shifting criteria, of our shifting constituencies, rather than to a placeless professional vision of what librarianship, society, and literacy should be. Every place maker must make do, make sense, and make place in an environment that is technologically…

Discusses the ways in which the commercial sector can support traditional library services and create innovative products and services to meet future information needs. Eight references are cited. (FM)

The pervasive, personal crisis of intimate partner violence (IPV) demands community information resources in workforce, health care, mental health, public housing, criminal justice, and social service arenas. Although generally underutilized, public libraries have a pivotal role to play as the only public institution specifically structured to…

Evaluates the Prince George's County Memorial Public Library's approach to providing access to its services for children, and examines policies, regulations, practices, and conditions that affect such access. Six references are cited. (FM)

Examines literacy as a discourse of power as it applies to linguistic minorities in this theoretical article. Literacy needs to be redefined for librarians to be able to provide people whose languages are not the dominant or official ones in society with appropriate literacy services. Contains 51 references. (Author/LRW)

Ranganathan believed that effective reference service depended on the intuitive "flair" of the librarian and on the use of an analyticosynthetic classification scheme. (Author)

Search theory is applied to scanning library shelves or catalogs for items of immediate utility. (Author/AB)

Discussion of the Library Bill of Rights focuses on paternalism and the dangers of Internet filtering, in response to a previous article that advocated revision of the Bill of Rights. Topics include ethical presuppositions; censorship; philosophical foundations; access; social contract theory; and utilitarianism. (LRW)

Conspectus tools are used to gather collection data for a variety of reasons. Criticisms of the instruments are equally varied. Conspectus users frequently express uncertainty about the accuracy and validity of judgments about collections based on conspectus evaluations. An overview of decision-making research demonstrates that uncertainty is…

The present study was conducted to explore library users' desired service quality levels on the twenty-two core LibQUAL+ items. Specifically, we explored similarities and differences in users' desired library service quality levels across user groups (i.e., undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty), across geographic locations (i.e.,…