Despite the clear negative impact of high textbook costs on students, limits--including space, funding, and policies--prevent many academic libraries from fully supporting textbook collections. Partnering with other campus units on textbook lending requires creative thinking but can provide students access to other services in addition to the…

This article provides a case study of how the University of Nebraska College of Law and Schmid Law Library use "buttons" to manage Law College faculty members' and librarians' online presence. Since Google is the primary search engine used to find information, it is important that librarians and libraries assist Web site visitors in…

This article assesses developments in public library provision for Black and minority ethnic [BME] communities in the UK since the publication in 1969 of the results of research into the needs of "Indian and Pakistani communities". It includes a brief discussion of some major societal issues, and then sets public library services in this…

Many colleges and universities are developing distance education options for their current and future students. Library support is vital to the success of this clientele. Academic libraries that do not have Distance Learning Librarians will have to create these types of positions. This article illustrates the experience of one librarian in…

The Penn State Libraries' Open House activities for incoming students find Access Services staff extending beyond their everyday routines to creatively help relieve students' fears of the library and understand how Access Services can help them. Serving on the Access Services Open House Committee offers staff many opportunities for development as…

Through assistive technology, individualized support, and community-based activities, the Inclusive Libraries Initiative is increasing the capacity of rural libraries in Northeast Alberta to attract and serve patrons with disabilities, particularly developmental disabilities. Local public libraries are important natural supports for adults with…

ALI is a project to develop an archive for talking books produced by the Swedish universities. The universities produce talking books from the mandatory literature for students with reading disabilities, including mostly journal articles, book chapters and texts written by teachers. The project group consists of librarians and co-ordinators for…

In April 2005, the University of Maryland Libraries launched "ArchivesUM" (www.lib.umd.edu/archivesum), an online database of finding aids for manuscript and archival collections using Encoded Archival Description (EAD). "ArchivesUM," however, is only the publicly available end-product of a much larger project-an integrated…

The goals of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), as administered by the Library of Michigan, are to support statewide access to information, enhance equity of access by providing special assistance to those with difficulty in using a library, support librarians as they develop information skills and foster innovation and technical…

Five articles describe the involvement of the Government Printing Office (GPO) and four depository libraries in the initial GPO Access Gateway Library Program. Technical issues and innovations are discussed, and the challenges of building such a program are outlined. (AEF)

Results of a national survey on public library outlet Internet connectivity reveal disparities in connectivity, public access provision, and speed of public access Internet services. Disparities have implications for future connectivity policy development like erate, state librarybased connectivity programs, and libraryinitiated connectivity…

This report describes Biblored, the library network in Bogota, Colombia, that received the 2002 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Access to Learning Award. Biblored is a network of 19 libraries that attract about 200,000 users per month and serve some of the poorest neighborhoods in Bogota. The network's success in making information and…

Discusses the following management challenges libraries must cope with in the paradigm shift from print to electronic access to information: becoming involved in network issues; leveraging resources; duplication of effort; partnering; legal, political or economic; standards; remote users; and acquisition, selection and organization of electronic…

To participate in the state grant program of the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), Connecticut is required to prepare a Five-Year State Plan. This plan establishes goals and objectives for the State consistent with the purposes of LSTA, describes the activities that will meet those goals and describes the procedures that have and…

Reference service technology has passed its first stage of insuring more accurate, rapid delivery of information. The second revolution underway will improve on both acquisition and retrieval of data. New technologies must fit into traditional reference service goals. The human should be given first priority. (Contains 46 references.) (Author/AEF)