Discusses the mission of public libraries in light of the decision to purchase Madonna's book "Sex." Three viewpoints are presented: a critic of selection policies that are too broad in the name of intellectual freedom; the director of a small public library with a limited budget; and a library historian. (Contains 18 references.) (LRW)

This paper presents a brief history of the management of the University of Maryland at College Park (UMCP) Libraries. An Introduction addresses these questions: Why tell a history of the management of the Libraries? Why a history right now? What is the recommended methodology for creating a history of the management of a library? The paper…

How do academic libraries set about creating a body of knowledge and begin to convert traditional print collections to a digital format in order to satisfy what today's researchers want? This article examines previous methods of selection and collection building, and applies those supporting principles to today's collection-building efforts for…

A policy and procedure manual for all members (new and current) of the church or synagogue library staff is valuable because it preserves continuity in library administration, gives an easy reference to policies and procedures, helps maintain efficiency and effectiveness, provides a first step in establishing a new library, and provides a guide…

Very little has been written about Bible college libraries in the United States, even though they have been in existence since the early 1880s. This study presents the history of Cincinnati Bible College Library, tracing its development from its inception in 1928 over the years and showing how it has followed the mission statement of its parent…

Created in response to requests from library science faculty for a student edition with a focus on the planning and policy issues germane to all academic libraries, this new text is a revised and abridged version of the fifth edition of "Lyle's Administration of the College Library (1992). The ten chapters of this edition include six chapters from…

This book, written by graduate students at the Catholic University (District of Columbia) School of Library and Information Science, examines current priorities, policies, and practices of public libraries. Following an introduction, "Reinventing Libraries: Responding to the Forces of Change" (Lisa Crisman), chapters include: (1) "A…