Differing from those of their liberal arts and Association of Research Libraries counterparts, today's comprehensive universities face a variety of unique challenges and opportunities when it comes to assessing their collections. This article looks at the different needs and interests of comprehensive universities and focuses on the challenges…

Discusses cataloging policy at the University of Alabama libraries that allows the acceptance of LC (Library of Congress) classification call numbers from OCLC cataloging into the local database without shelflisting, and describes a study that measured error rates for locally unshelflisted samples to determine the disarrangement of the local…

This report is structured to educate East Carolina University about library materials preservation. The library-wide preservation program began at Joyner Library in 1993 with the organization of the Preservation and Conservation Department. The planning phase of the preservation program began in 1995 with the appointment of the…

Discusses the acquisition of library materials in electronic formats, particularly CD-ROMs and machine-readable data files (MRDFs) in academic libraries, and considers possible problems that can result related to collection development policies. Cooperation in the selection process between subject collectors and technical experts is suggested.…

This document reports results of an online survey that examined practices and procedures in the management of electronic resources in 65 academic library reference departments. Responses are related to: (1) student population; (2) library use by community people; (3) number of public access workstations, workstations with World Wide Web access,…

Discussion of the development of periodical collections in college libraries describes strategies for building the collection, including collection use studies, collection development policies, and bibliographic instruction programs. It is suggested that access to the collection be enhanced by improvement of available indexing such as CD-ROM…

Discusses collection management in academic libraries in light of computer-mediated access to remote electronic databases and online resources. Topics include the library collection, ownership of versus access to information, the selection process, collection evaluation, collection development policies, materials budget, serials, and user liaison.…

The Peer Reference Counseling Program at Valdosta State University (Georgia) is a program designed to provide students with a unique opportunity to work at the Reference Desk at Odum Library. This program employs minority students and trains them to work at the Reference Desk answering basic reference questions and utilizing as well as…

This issue presents 42 articles that provide an overview of current reference services in all types of libraries in Illinois. Highlights include designing reference areas; policies and manuals; the reference interview; reference tools; automated databases; resource sharing; services to youth; services to special populations; and reference…

Discusses the impact that network technology, electronic publishing, and Internet communication are having on collection development policies in research libraries. Highlights include changes in the research library environment, including financial difficulties; scholarly communication; workstations for material selection; and materials in…