During one week in 1981, 648 telephone reference questions were analyzed at medium-sized public library. Subject-oriented question analysis revealed little relationship between subject of question, answer format, and complexity level; significant correlation appeared between answer format and level of complexity. Sample coding form and statistical…

This 16-article issue focuses on history, policy, services, users, organization, evaluation, and automation of the archival reference process. Collections at academic research libraries, a technical university, Board of Education, business archives, a bank, labor and urban archives, a manuscript repository, religious archives, and regional history…

Chronicle of development of career resources centers in community college learning resources centers (LRCs) includes characteristics of community college students, advantages of housing such centers within LRCs, planning process and organization of career resources center, and acquisition of career information in print and media sources and…

A free national library service providing recorded and Braille materials to blind and physically handicapped persons is administered by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), Library of Congress. In this directory, NLS network libraries and machine-lending agencies are arranged alphabetically by state. Within…

This annual report details the activities and accomplishments of the Library of Virginia for the 12-month period ending June 30, 1998. Following letters from the Chairman and the State Librarian, the document reports on: "The Common Wealth" exhibition; acquisitions; conservation and preservation; Virginia Center for the Book; dedication of the…

This document contains statistics and input-output measures for Colorado school libraries and media centers. High schools, middle/junior high schools, and elementary schools are each subdivided into sections by population. Each section includes the school identification (district, address, city, county, zip code); respondent identification (name,…

First sale and fair use are two copyright principles of use in academic libraries that need to be reexamined in an information age offering possibilities of universal access and perfect distribution in the electronic document. Library services that are perhaps most affected by these concerns are in provision of electronic reserves and collections.…

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…

Anthropologists at seven universities were surveyed to determine their methods of information retrieval, choice of information sources, perception of the adequacy of library service, and information needs. Results show that journals, field data, and maps are important sources; interlibrary loan is often used; and the majority of needs are met by…

Presents a survey of 56 federal depository libraries in Illinois which covered the following: the depository name, the librarian's name, percentage of federal depository documents selected, collection strengths, length of retention, access to documents, Internet access, staff time devoted to collections and services, professional activities, and…

Identifies current challenges to children's library services including inequality in access to information; integration of information skills in the classroom; rising costs, low budgets, and increasing demands; the state of book collections; and the need for research at state and national levels. Local examples of successful solutions are…

Describes library services that are offered at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), which is located at the University of California at San Diego. Topics discussed include the user population; online searching; microcomputer use; electronic networks; current awareness programs; library catalogs; and the slide collection. A sidebar outlines…

Six papers from a seminar on special collections in research libraries address special collections and the scholarly community; the function of special collections in research and education; services and development issues; the evolving character of special collections; special collections in emerging information delivery programs; and the…

Describes a study conducted at Punjab University (Pakistan) that measured the rate of availability of documents needed by users based on Paul Kantor's model of availability analysis. Results are compared with four studies conducted in the United States using the same methodology, and factors related to document unavailability are discussed.…

Describes the Center for the Electronic Texts in the Humanities (CETH), a joint project of Princeton University and Rutgers University (New Jersey) to provide a national focus for humanities computing. Examines the evolution of CETH as its role has changed with the growth of the humanities computing community and the impact of the digital…