Discusses acquisitions budgets, price increases, and their effect on academic library collections, based on the broader economic situation. Topics addressed include changes in the publishing industry; the increasing numbers of publications; the role of technology; ineffective responses of libraries; and the need for libraries to change their…

A survey of gay and lesbian library services of 250 public and college libraries revealed small and insufficient collections, a lack of book lists and other guides, frequent challenges, and limited community outreach programs. Interviews with proactive responding librarians provide some strategies for change. (Author/AEF)

Outlines methods that the Florida Center for Library Automation (FCLA) has developed to estimate transaction costs and overall demand for NOTIS services. Transaction resource usage analysis is discussed, record structures are explained, institution collection size is considered, and usage and response time by hour of day is described. (six…

A selection of academic libraries was studied to examine ownership of best-sellers from 1940 to 1990. The trend is to keep a higher percentage of older best-sellers in fiction than newer ones. Nonfiction appears to be more sporadic but still follows this trend. Findings indicate new collection development policies may be needed to protect…

Identifies core journals in the life sciences for Cornell University researchers by analyzing the frequency of Cornell-authored citations in Biosis Previews between 1996 and 2001. Discusses distribution, Bradford's Law of Scatter, the 80/20 Rule, and prices, and recommends this methodology to provide guidance on which titles to purchase for…

Securing adequate insurance coverage is an important aspect of preserving library collections. Insurers determine rates, within an institution's limits of coverage, based on the library building's environment and the library's estimate of the collection's replacement cost. Methods of categorizing and projecting these costs are explored with…

This study examines the research behavior and information-seeking habits of 23 interdisciplinary professors at the University of Western Ontario. Highlights include use of library and other information sources; rankings of information sources; and problems, including time management and inadequate library collections. (Author/LRW)

Reports on results of an exploratory study of perceptions of collections by librarians in an academic library that provides both traditional and networked information services. Five librarians from a Midwestern university library were interviewed. Findings indicated an uncertainty about the virtual world in two particular areas: collection and…

This study examines and evaluates security issues in academic libraries and examines how educators in institutions of higher learning deal with them. Security issues include: the theft of library materials, the mutilation or vandalism of library materials, dealing with deranged and/or disruptive patrons, and assaults on library patrons and staff.…

This guide was developed to help students and researchers conducting undergraduate-level research find collections of Vermont materials throughout the state. It is not a catalog of specific titles or archival collections, nor is it comprehensive. Information about 38 libraries, all of the academic libraries in the state, some of the larger public…

Arguing that Africana librarianship developed in response to changes in the traditional image of Africa and that it influenced that image in turn, this paper focuses on the individuals who shaped Africana librarianship in the United States. The topics discussed include the earliest American examples of Africana librarianship as witnessed in the…

For years librarians discarded historical curriculum collections because they were not current, and because the libraries did not have adequate space to store them. Therefore, records of trends in subject content taught to generations of children and young people from kindergarten through grade 12 were unwittingly destroyed. In response to this…

Developed at the beginning of the decade to serve as a union catalog for identifying the holdings in all University of California (UC) libraries, the MELVYL online catalog as of October 1989 contained 10 million holdings for over 5 million monographic titles of print and nonprint materials, and more than 1.2 million periodicals holdings which…

This summary of the activities of the third of a three-phased self-study, initiated in 1987, provides a current overview of preservation problems in the University of Southern California's (USC) Central Library System, focusing particularly on the organizational structure of the preservation activities and on recommended solutions for ensuring the…

This bulletin highlights data on library staff, operating expenditures, and collections reported by 2,881 institutions of higher education on the 1985 Survey of College and University Libraries. Overall survey results are discussed; summary information is provided for library operating expenditures and titles and volumes; and the use of indices…