Arguments for and against library service fees for users are presented, and models for setting such fees are illustrated in terms of profit maximization and maximization of user benefits. (FM)

Discussion of young adult library services focuses on the results of a survey of New Jersey public libraries. Highlights include job titles; population served; job responsibilities; young adult services; young adult staff; policy of information provision; young adult research preferences; and recommendations for future research. (LRW)

Circulation policies are guidelines used by staff and patrons when checking out materials. These policies usually address issues such as the number of items a patron may borrow, the length of time items may be kept, and if there will be consequences for nonreturn of materials. This article addresses issues library media specialists may want to…

While the USA PATRIOT Act has altered how certain types of federal intelligence investigations affect libraries, the act also greatly alters how researchers can study information policy issues related to libraries. To date, the gravity and scope of the act's implications for researchers of library services, resources, operations, and policies have…

In this article, the author describes what components should be included in a comprehensive policy for public wireless usage in a library. He lists four basic steps, which include: (1) Introduce the service; (2) List the technical requirements; (3) Spell out disclaimers on access, assistance, and liability; and (4) Alert users to security concerns.

Describes a model which uses patron arrival rate, length of time on the terminal, and library service policies to determine the minimum number of terminals needed. The model is then used to compare the effects of various service policies on the minimum number of terminals. (CLB)

This paper discusses library development in the changing environment arising within the forthcoming Information/Knowledge Society. The role of the library as a social institution is examined in the context of the evolution of the whole literary and knowledge system. Ideas about conceptual changes to be introduced by the library in order to respond…

The results of a survey of seventy-six academic library members of the Association of Research Libraries revealed that the reference departments in many academic libraries are operating without a formal policy statement. A draft outline of a reference service policy manual produced at the University of Massachusetts library is included. (NH)

This paper summarizes the history of privacy as it relates to library records. It commences with a discussion of how the concept of privacy first originated through case law and follows the concept of privacy as it has affected library records through current day and the "USA PATRIOT Act."

Approval plans are used by many libraries as an adjunct to title-by-title selection, and sometimes as a substitute for it. The author examines this approach to purchasing library materials, considering positive and negative effects approval plans may have on collection balance as well as on acquisitions budgets and workflow. The article also…

A number of evangelical Christian authors have wrestled with the subject of intellectual freedom--few, though, in the context of Bible college libraries. The secular concept of intellectual freedom is incompatible with Bible colleges in that it is absolutist and shuns any standard of morality. Theological, educational, and pragmatic factors…

Personal Digital Assistant serials are not just a subset of electronic serials from an acquisitions/collection development point of view because of their total dependence on patron-owned technology. Even if viewed as a "free" resource there are issues of expense and effort involved in gathering, classifying, and providing access and awareness of…

FloriNet--the Florida Library Online Resource Information Network--was first envisioned by a Florida Network Planning Task Force in 1994 as the aggregate of networked information in Florida libraries, including library networks, independent libraries, statewide databases, Free-Nets, and as-yet unimagined information resources. This document is a…

The purpose of this study is to summarize and evaluate the Alameda County, California library system's two years of operation under a no-fines policy and a centralized overdues facility, leading to recommendations for future action. The objectives of the study are to: (1) present an historical summary of the changes in the library policies and…

This essay addresses the trend in online searching toward increased end user access of online systems. Highlights include recent developments in end user searching (raw materials, marketing, recognition); appropriate end user searches; psychology of end user searching; the role of the librarians; library policies; and change. Four sources are…