This paper discusses the establishment of a research service in the Norwegian parliament. The first section presents some general assumptions regarding a research service in parliament. The second section describes the first initiative, a mandate in the 1970s to establish a commission to clarify the need for such a service. The third section…

To meet user needs, the founders of a digital research library (DRL) must establish the repository of electronic scholarly materials and implement tools to use it; organizational, fiscal, and institutional commitments must be made. The establishment of DRLs is directly related to the changes taking place in the library profession. (Author/AEF)

Describes the framework in which the research library at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) reengineered its technical services operations. Focuses on the activities of the "Before Team" in evaluating, measuring, and redesigning the work processes that occur before the library receives an item. Discusses the results. (Author/AEF)

Identifies attributes that directors of the academic libraries in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) need. Present-day directors must possess a wide variety of attributes and are less likely to remain in the same position for as long as their predecessors did. With the aging population of academic librarians, matching the right individual…

Over the last decade, an increasing number of academic institutions have built satellite campuses and developed online courses to meet the needs of distance learners. As these academic institutions have expanded, demand for library service has increased significantly. In an attempt to expand its course offerings to distance learners, Regent…

Storing and curating authentic academic literature and making it accessible for the long term has been a time-honoured task of national libraries. By guarding existing knowledge and facilitating its use to produce new insights, national and university libraries have formed an integral part of the research environment, complementing the roles of…

Over the past 10 years, many changes have affected the roles of librarians and other professionals in research libraries. The changes have been caused, in part, by technological advances, reorganizations, more focus on libraries as learning organizations, the use of teams and team-based approaches to tasks, and a recognition of diversity's…

The program of the 128th meeting of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is designed around the notion of examining rapid changes taking place in individual institutions and becoming agile enough to adapt, to manage change, and to learn how to effectively lead libraries through these turbulent periods. The program is divided into three main…

Views academic libraries through the lens of the assessment and accountability movements. Illustrates how a research library at the University of Rochester (Rochester, New York) has created an assessment environment in an effort to focus on educational impact. Discusses principles of good practice, and formal and informal evaluation. (AEF)

Describes the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) advisory committees in terms of research, public, college and university, and special libraries. All four of the type-of-library advisory groups work to shape OCLC policies and programs, according to the particular needs of each group. OCLC's financial and programmatic success depends upon…

Integrating science and technology libraries into a single unit involves identifying what is unique about each, addressing user and staff concerns, establishing new communications patterns, encouraging staff participation in the change process, and redirecting identity and loyalties to the larger entity. Progress-to-date is described in…

Identifies some of the significant changes underway within and outside libraries and analyzes their potential impact on research libraries. Explores issues important to serials managers. Discusses strategies for data gathering to support management decisions and outlines unresolved questions that await future developments or require additional…

Fremont Rider's 1944 book, "The Scholar and the Future of the Research Library", had a major impact on research library thinking. The issues raised by Rider, such as research library economics, collection, acquisition and management policies, and library cooperation still resonate today, although his technology solutions have long since been…

The "Leadership Role in Library Fund Raising" was selected as the program theme for the 120th meeting of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to call attention to the changing scene of fund raising in higher education. Session 1 set the stage with an overview of the leadership role of library fund raising in the context of the…

This document consists of the five issues of the bimonthly ARL (Association of Research Libraries) newsletter which cover the year 2000. Each issue includes some or all of the following sections: "Current Issues"; reports from SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), Coalition for Networked Information, Office of…