The AAU/ARL Global Resources Program (GRP) was launched in 1997 with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to improve access to international research resources through cooperative structures and new technologies and to help libraries contain costs. A joint initiative of the Association of American Universities (AAU) and the Association of…

Libraries are under pressure to prove their worth and may not have achieved this fully successfully. There is a resultant growing requirement for value and impact measurement in academic and research libraries. This essay reviews the natural history of library performance measurement and suggests that proof of worth will be measured by the…

This paper reports the results of recent research examining the holdings of Australian research library collections recorded in the WorldCat database using OCLC WorldCat Collection Analysis software. The objectives of the research are: 1. To better understand the distribution of printed monographs amongst Australian research collections in order…

This research explores the extent of service quality in Spanish university science and technology libraries, based on the expectations and perceptions of their users: faculty and researchers. Users' information behavior is analyzed with the specially designed BiQual tool, which reveals specific needs such as the greater importance of electronic…

Purpose: This paper aims to survey the web sites of the academic libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (USA) regarding the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies. Design/methodology/approach: The websites of 100 member academic libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (USA) were surveyed. Findings: All libraries were found to be…

This report summarizes research into the current application of fair use to meet the missions of U.S. academic and research libraries. Sixty-five librarians were interviewed confidentially by telephone for around one hour each. They were asked about their employment of fair use in five key areas of practice: support for teaching and learning,…

It comes as no surprise that different generations respond to and utilise emerging technology in vastly different ways. However as more Millennials take on leadership positions within academic libraries, their attitudes towards and uses of technology may bring conflicting expectations for leadership to the forefront. What are the generational…

Like many libraries, Seton Hall University Libraries has suffered budget cuts that forced a reduction in serial subscriptions. As science librarian, I report on my efforts to streamline subscriptions and to address the question "Why are science journals so expensive?" Our science journals are significantly more expensive than journals in…

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) has a long history of data collection, environmental scanning, and trends analysis. Its most recent work, "Futures Thinking for Academic Librarians," uses a 15-year horizon to look beyond the worries of the current economic cycle and the short-term future in order to anticipate the changing…

Though the core mission of a university library--to provide essential support for teaching and research remains unchanged--the library cannot escape budgetary constraints. It has to compete for resources with other departments and programs in the university. Times are hard, with some states currently reporting unprecedented budget deficits with…

This essay updates the two articles that were previously published in the Winter 1975/1976 and 1984 issues respectively of "Education Libraries," and featured the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Test Collection. At the time of the writing of the 1975/1976 article, the collection was known as The ETS Test Collection. However, since the collection…

Four librarians from Irish university libraries completed the U.K. Future Leaders Programme (FLP) in 2010. In this article they recount their experience and assess the effect of the programme on their professional practice and the value for their institutions. The programme is explored in the context of the Irish higher education environment,…

Intranets can be crucial tools in fostering communication within an academic library. This article describes the successful implementation of an intranet wiki at the San Diego State University Library & Information Access. The steps involved with implementing, marketing, and supporting the MediaWiki software are described, and the results of a…

Gathering qualitative information about usage behavior of library Web sites is a time-consuming process requiring the active participation of patron communities. Libraries that collect virtual reference transcripts, however, hold valuable data regarding how the library Web site is used that could benefit Web designers. An analysis of virtual…

We investigated whether American dissertations that were deposited in university libraries or disseminated on microfilm prior to 1978 were "published" for copyright purposes. This question has direct bearing on the copyright status of these works today. In the absence of a directly relevant legal decision to clarify the matter, the…