An increasing number of institutions are freeing up shelf space in their libraries and moving in student services as well as a coffee shop and other lures such as flexible seating arrangements. Librarians are taking down the silence signs in all but the quiet study room and urging members of the academic community to meet, talk, research and…

The trajectory of U.S. higher education in the next 20 years is portrayed by some as an arc of potential disaster and by others as a slightly upwardly inclined plane that may have some dips along the way. Generally these scenarios focus on the teaching and learning program of higher education institutions and give very little attention to the…

Studies about diversity initiatives in academic libraries have primarily focused on large research libraries. But what kinds of diversity work occur at smaller libraries? This study examines the status of diversity initiatives, especially those aimed at students, at national liberal arts college libraries. Results from a survey of library…

This paper describes the automated copyright clearance process for electronic reserves materials by the electronic reserves staff at the Information and Library Services (ILS), at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC). Besides the standard practice to handle and post required course readings in digital format for UMUC's distance…

More than a project, The Big Shift is an epic library tale for the ages. What starts as a simple collection shift grows into a major space-planning project, a lesson in catalog maintenance, and thanks to Hurricane Ike, a disaster recovery effort. The Big Shift tells the story of how the University of Houston Libraries handled the numerous…

University College Dublin became the first library in the Republic of Ireland to trial patron-driven acquisition (PDA) as a collection development tool in 2013. A total of 42% of UCD Library's book budget was allocated to the project, which included both electronic and print books. This article describes the twelve month project from the tender…

Libraries are important to universities, and they have two primary features: readers as well as collections are highly professional. In this study, based on the experimental study with five millions of users' borrowing records, our discussion covers: (1) the necessity of recommender system for university libraries; (2) collaborative filtering (CF)…

"Research Library Issues" ("RLI") focuses on current and emerging topics that are strategically important to research libraries. The articles explore issues, share information, pose critical questions, and provide examples. This issue includes the following articles: (1) Special at the Core: Aligning, Integrating, and…

With their explosive sales and widespread availability over the past few years, e-books have definitively proven that they're here to stay. In this sequel to her best-selling book of the same title, expert Polanka dives even deeper into the world of digital distribution. Contributors from across the e-book world offer their perspectives on what's…

This publication follows the tradition of publishing selected papers from Pacific Islands Association of Libraries, Archives and Museums (PIALA) annual conferences. This 20th annual conference was held in Weno, Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia, November 15-19, 2010. The volume begins with a listing of the members of the PIALA 2010…

Public health librarians face many challenges in collection development because the field is multidisciplinary, the collection's users have varied needs, and many of the essential resources are grey literature materials. Further, little has been published about public health selection tools. However, librarians responsible for these areas have a…

The changing environment of academic libraries in Pakistan demands new competencies for future academic librarians. This study defines and validates competencies for entry-level professionals keeping in view the needs of the next five years. Top-level library managers of selected universities and post-graduate level colleges participated in the…

Technical procedures of Syracuse University Libraries are described in this manual which is divided in two parts: (1) description of the general organization of Syracuse University Libraries collections and the various ways to obtain access to them; and (2) detailed technical procedures to be followed when adding or removing material from the…

The crisis in collection development afflicting most members of Association of Research Libraries since the 1970s moved Indiana University Libraries to undertake a rationalization of their budget allocation procedure in light of a comparative study of peer institutions and to draft a new policy based on regional cooperation. (6 references)…

Collection development in the highly specialized area of the United States merchant marine, which includes navigation, marine engineering, shipping, naval architecture and shipbuilding, and seamanship, requires familiarity with the national and international organizations, governmental and other, which regulate and oversee the marine industry.…