The first Asian Community Library in the U.S. offers a popular collection of print and audiovisual materials in five Asian languages, as well as a special collection in English on Asian Americans and Asian history and culture. Acquisition, cataloging, and political difficulties are also discussed. (Author/JPF)

Describes the process of question referral in California's second-level reference centers where questions are referred by public librarians, and provides examples of questions and sources typical of humanities research. Topics include the varied clientele and the use of databases, reference files, library collections, organizations, special…

The Black Gold Cooperative Library System, an affiliation of six public libraries in southern California, and the Total Interlibrary Exchange, a gorup of 31 private libraries of all types, have mutually pledged tp assist each other by sharing collections and by supporting a centralized information center. Member libraries are given access to the…

This loose-leaf directory of California state agency libraries and information sources lists names of senior staff, address, telephone number, hours, subject strengths, circulation policies, and services of more than 150 libraries and information centers within the California state government. The information was collected through questionnaires…

An examination is presented of costs, measured in time and dollars, resulting from the maintenance of a selective California state documents collection. A discussion of previous research dealing with government documents collections is followed by a brief description of the California state documents depository program. Then the state documents…

A study was conducted of three key availability characteristics of material at the University of California (UC), Berkeley library system: (1) status of materials, (2) time required to obtain them, and (3) their location. These characteristics were examined in light of interlibrary loan criteria set forth in a major report on library cooperation…

Social and economic issues affecting the vitality of public libraries in California are discussed. A 1993 study by the California State Library identified diminishing reference skills and reference collections, reduced funding which impacted staffing, increased demand, technology change, and language/culture issues as contributing factors to…

A sparsely populated, agricultural area, San Benito County (California) provides library services in conjunction with the Hollister city library and in cooperation with the San Juan Bautista city library. Financing comes from the county general fund. There are no written goals or policy statements and no professionally trained librarians. As…

Three articles relate public library services in different areas: Project ASIA, cooperative venture of California public libraries to better meet reading and information needs of Asian community; extension services (additional stations, bookmobile) instituted by Bedford (Virginia) Public Library; and preservation of and access to local history…

Three studies examined public library reference services use by patrons in Anglo, Hispanic, and Vietnamese communities in California. Interview questions concerned search topics, use of staff help, perceived usefulness of search result, successful search strategies, reasons for not seeking help, foreknowledge of sources, reasons for using the…

This is a report on the three-year statewide study of school library facilities, collections, and services maintained by school districts and those maintained by county superintendents of schools, counties, or cities and made available to schools on a contractual basis. Data for the study were collected on questionnaires sent to every elementary,…

The report presents proceedings of a workshop held in San Leandro, California, March 16-17, 1977, to teach librarians about collecting local history and conducting oral history interviews. The workshop was sponsored by the Bay Area Reference Center, located in San Francisco. Speakers included library directors and administrators, manuscript…