Economic considerations of user charges are presented along with economic principles and implications of charging for specific library materials and services. Alternative pricing policies and their implications are described, and, to illustrate the complexity and subtle effects of charging, a numerical example for interlibrary loans is also given.…

Proposes that academic libraries become actively and directly involved in providing teaching, research, and community services. The development and implementation of such services is discussed. (FM)

Overview of the search for standards for American college libraries provides a brief background and discusses qualitative versus quantitative standards, the Association of College and Research Libraries' 1975 revision of the 1959 "Standards for College Libraries," and the future of the standards. Twenty-six references are cited. (EJS)

Examines the concept of service quality in libraries. Highlights include assessment; service quality versus user satisfaction; measuring service quality, including SERVQUAL; planning; experiences at Texas A& M University in cooperation with ARL (Association of Research Libraries) that resulted in LibQUAL+; and conceptual issues. (Contains 54…

Provides a brief overview of focus groups; discusses the use of undergraduate focus groups on two campuses of the University of California library system; describes methodologies used, including interviews and questionnaires; and describes new directions the libraries were led as a result of student input. (Author/LRW)

Discussion of the role of academic libraries focuses on a study that proposed and tested a model to explore the use of academic libraries. Investigated service quality factors, resources, and user characteristics, and concludes that use is influenced most by a user's perceived familiarity with the library and its resources. (Author/LRW)

This discussion of the problem of funding college and university media centers outlines the general categories of available support, assesses current prospects of attracting funds for instructional technology in higher education, and explores the implications that a media center poses for a library's internal budget policy. Twenty-nine references…

This study applied an analytical technique called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to calculate the relative technical efficiency of 95 academic research libraries, all members of the Association of Research Libraries. DEA, with the proper model of library inputs and outputs, can reveal best practices in the peer groups, as well as the technical…

The rationale for using Activity-Based Costing (ABC) in a library is to allocate indirect costs to products and services based on the factors that most influence them. This paper discusses the benefits of ABC to library managers and explains the steps involved in implementing ABC in the user services area of an Australian academic library.…

Discusses the new emphasis in special collections, especially in academic libraries, on the promotion of materials. Highlights include the economic basis of promotion; exhibitions; classroom ventures; the Web; seminars and other discussion groups; creative writing courses; one-time events; friends, tourists, and the public; and reference services.…

Discusses service standards (level of excellence or adequacy in performance of library service) and their incorporation in the accreditation process for hospital library service and academic health sciences libraries. The certification program developed for health sciences librarians by the Medical Library Association is reviewed. Fifty-nine…

Identifies leading issues in academic reference service based on survey of literature with emphasis on 1970s and 1980s--bibliographic instruction, computer-based reference and biliographic services, personnel-related topics (specialists, generalists, professional development, nonprofessionals in reference service), measurement and evaluation, and…

Introduces four models of data library development for meeting information needs for machine-readable data files--University of Florida facility, University of British Columbia Data Library, Data and Program Library Service at University of Wisconsin, and online numeric Kentucky Economic Information System at University of Kentucky. Four…

Examines academic library service to labor groups, particularly in the area of Internet training. Results of an informal survey of 53 academic libraries in schools with labor study programs in the United States and Canada indicate that few provide direct services to labor unions, and provides an example of one that does at Cornell University.…

This naturalistic study examined the role of nonverbal communication in the academic library. The decision to approach or not approach a reference librarian was studied through the use of Mehrabian's immediacy metaphor, and it was hypothesized that the nonverbal behavior of the librarian is related to the user's decision. Contains 53 references.…