At the University of New Hampshire, serial publications took 80% of the acquisitions budget, yet staff knew less about that portion (6,000 titles) of the collection than any other. Librarians surveyed faculty to determine interdisciplinary use, cost of a "better" collection, acceptability of document delivery and interlibrary loans, and…

Includes three reports: one from "Library Journal" that reviews significant issues of the year, including budget reversals; Internet filtering, digital copyright, distance education, and electronic books; one that discusses school librarianship, including staffing, collection development, and information literacy; and one that discusses…

Develops a comprehensive, unified, explanatory theory of librarianship by first making an analogy to the unification of the fundamental forces of nature. Topics include dependent and independent variables; publishing; acquisitions; classification and organization of knowledge; storage, preservation, and collection management; collections; and…

Summarizes the development of science and technology in the Arab Gulf States and discusses the collection building of the libraries in the region, focusing on problems of censorship and finance. Current purchasing methods are described, and the need for automation in acquisitions work and for centralized and cooperative purchasing is discussed.…

Identifies library values affected by technology, including respect for and privacy of the individual, equality of user needs, and freedom of purpose and access. Fundamental changes that may result from technology are predicted in the areas of the library role, functions of staff, fees for services and document delivery, and costs of local and…

Describes a program developed at the University of California at Santa Barbara library to make students more aware of the diverse population and to support the new ethnic studies curriculum. Topics addressed include library instruction; teamwork and diverse representation; developing library collections; cooperative teaching; and student response.…

Discussion of developing racially diverse collections in academic libraries focuses on an Afrocentric approach. Topics addressed include valuing diversity; Afrocentricity as a framework for diversity; barriers to building Afrocentric collections; and resources for building Afrocentric collections, including black-owned publishers, African American…

Discussion of the projected growth in ethnic and racial minority groups focuses on diversity in libraries and suggests strategies for assessing current library practices and planning for the future. Topics addressed include leadership, including goals, objectives, and policies; staff development; and program development, including outreach…

Discusses library resource sharing. Highlights include access to information, document delivery, interlibrary loan, and the social, economic, and technological complexities of new mechanisms; and traditional roles of libraries that provide both opportunities for cooperation and paradoxes for the continuation of selection, archiving, and…

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.…

Discusses library collection evaluation and its relationship to the acquisitions budget. Topics addressed include the publishing industry; library services that are more user centered; acquisition of versus access to sources of information and knowledge; the concept of value; library accountability; objectives and setting priorities; and levels of…

Outlines goals and guidelines for developing Native American collections in libraries. Prominent publishers of relevant materials are identified and titles for a core collection are discussed, including reference and Native American subject area materials. (EA)

Discusses policies and attitudes prevalent in public libraries that encourage female users and discourage male users. The lack of technical books that may appeal more to men is examined, the lack of appropriate reviews is described, subconscious classism is suggested, and differences in fiction preferences are discussed. (two references) (LRW)

Describes methodology for analyzing MARC (machine-readable cataloging) records of highly circulating titles to document common characteristics for collection development purposes. Application of the methodology in a university library is discussed, and data are presented on commonality of subject heading, author, language, and imprint date for…

Argues that library skills and methods used for organization of information are needed to organize Internet information resources. Four aspects of information organization are discussed: recording existence and identity of information bearing entities; acquiring these entities; providing name, title, subject, and other access information; and…