A literary scholar interacts with various other speakers at the Fleur Cowles "Fleur" Symposium 2000 (Austin, TX) and makes his own case for the necessity of physical materials that are always yielding new insights. He rues the apparent denigration of paper materials and the reduction of books even in research libraries and suggests that research…

Discusses the importance of including bilingual English/Spanish picture books in library collections, introduces some recent titles, and describes some programming ideas. Topics include second language study, children teaching English to Spanish-speaking parents, cultural studies, and bilingual presentations. (LRW)

Describes how well libraries meet the needs of lesbian, gay, and bisexual young people. Highlights include fiction resources of school and public libraries; mechanisms used to identify and locate relevant novels and picture books; research on patterns of fiction holdings; and the effects of censorship and legislative pressures. (Contains 56…

Examines the economic behavior of academic research libraries, arguing that academic research libraries seek to maximize universities' utility by expanding library collections. Findings are consistent with those from a previous study using a different ranking system and sample data and reconfirm that library collections contribute significantly to…

Uses measures drawn from the "Information Power" guidelines for school library media programs and data from a national survey to compare the performance of the states in providing library collections and services in public schools. Tables present data on sample size, collection effort scores, and service scale scores. Raw data on collections and…

Reference materials used by librarians responding to reference requests and by patrons at the Iowa State University Library were analyzed to determine which subject areas of the collection received greatest use, and whether subject areas and types of materials used by librarians differed from those used by patrons. (19 references) (MES)

Describes Germany's national engineering library, the Technical Information Library, and discusses its usefulness as a model for a similar library in the United States. Highlights include a discussion of the library's history, facilities, collections, services, online catalog, and clientele. (JMV)

Reflects on changes in information technology and current and possible future trends. Topics discussed include technological innovations and their chances for success; information technology devices; finding market niches; and implications for libraries, including the future of print books and projections of electronic access and publishing. (LRW)

By reflecting the new global community in staffing, collections, programs, exhibits, and services, public libraries will be fulfilling their role in the acculturation and education of new citizens, as well as contributing to greater community understanding and a new world order. A sidebar lists seven steps for serving recent immigrants. (AEF)

Describes the development of the Louisiana Online University Information System (LOUIS) that was designed to improve user services and make more effective use of collections. Topics include library cooperation, higher education and academic libraries, the Louisiana Academic Library Network, systems support (including training), future…

Examines the history of telephone directory collections in libraries and describes a survey of telephone directory use at the Colorado State University libraries. Data collection is described, and implications for more effective use of such collections are suggested. An appendix lists sources that augment telephone directory collections. (16…

In tomorrow's research library, students and researchers will be able to find and retrieve a variety of materials without leaving their computer workstations. Traditional library facilities will be augmented by "virtual libraries" with primarily electronic, not physical, access to collections. This trend will require redefinition of services and…

Discusses library resources for genealogical research, including bibliographies of family histories, guides to genealogical resources, periodicals, indexes, CD-ROM products, electronic bulletin boards, and nonprofit services. An annotated list of 13 titles for a basic collection is included. (MES)

This 1990 survey examined cultural diversity in 30 Association of Research Libraries member libraries in relation to recruitment of librarians, minority internship programs, multicultural services librarians and programs, and collections. Results indicated that research libraries are making increased efforts to create a culturally diverse…

Examines the impact of the transition of the Federal Depository Library Program from print collections to a mix of print and electronic materials. Considers library collections and services; discusses reference service within the context of Zipf's Law; and presents a case study of the University of Florida documents reference services. (Author/LRW)