This article asks the question: How well versed are school librarians on issues related to labeling and rating systems? As school librarians continue to design and implement resource location schemes to assist patrons, they must recognize the difference between using labels to create interest in books or implementing labeling and rating systems…

In this study, researchers sought to capture students' authentic experience of finding books in the main library using a GoPro camera and the think-aloud protocol. The GoPro provided a first-person perspective and was an effective ethnographic tool for observing a student's individual experience, while also demonstrating what tools they use to…

A halo of signs, some stuffed into thick plastic sheaths while others curled under yellow tape, cluttered the service desks of the New City Library. They bleated out messages of closings, procedures, and warnings. Their number undermined their cause. All too often a customer would ask a question that was answered by the very sign they had pushed…

One never gets a second chance to make a first impression. During these tough economic times it's important to promote the school library media center's program and collection as integral parts of the learning process. The changing landscape of librarianship demands a wide selection of approaches to promote library resources. Ideas, strategies,…

An interview discussing informational graphics in libraries. (PF)

Contains 18 questions for librarians to ask that relate to the young adult sections in public libraries. Addresses issues such as signs, types of materials, local information, seating, paperbacks, types of shelving, displays, free handouts, and weeding the collection. (LRW)

This manual outlines the procedures to be used for producing and placing signs within the libraries of the University of California, Riverside and presents examples of signs which conform to the library sign policy. The sign policy itself is described as well as procedures for requesting new or revised signs and for sign removal. Drawings of…

Librarians at Indiana University Northwest Library surveyed patrons on how to make the library's collection and services more accessible by improving signage. Examines the effectiveness of signage to instruct users, reduce difficulties and fears, ameliorate negative experiences, and contribute to a user-friendly environment. (AEF)

This College Library Information Packet (CLIP) Notes provides information on displays and exhibits in small college and university libraries. Displays and exhibits have long been an accepted yet under-documented are of library work. This survey presents a collection of data and supporting documents about current display and exhibit practices in…

Many public libraries in the United States have undertaken the planning process suggested by the Public Library Association. They have incorporated into their mission statements some of the Association's eight basic library service roles as local priorities. This study explored the relationship between the chosen service role of 12 public library…

Three brief articles examine common beliefs which detract from the issue of national standards for library service; present suggestions for small library management; and describe the small Library Development Center at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. (CDD)

Concerned with increasing the accessibility of the collection of the Engineering/Math Sciences (EMS) Library at the University of California at Los Angeles through the use of self guidance systems, this practical study focused on the problem context, general library guides, and library signage in reviewing the literature, and conducted a survey of…

After undertaking the time and energy consuming task of reference assessment, the library might discover that it needs to tweak delivery of service, weed and update the collection, upgrade workstations, or advance marketing strategies to get patrons to use reference materials and services. Like any other product or service, reference departments…

Presents a methodology for describing, analyzing, and evaluating the public service functions of serial file systems, and describes a user study conducted in a university departmental library to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of its system in enabling students new to the library to locate known-items in the serials collection. (CDD)

Discussion of joint-use, or cooperative, libraries focuses on a partnership between public and school libraries in Nevada. Highlights include benefits in enhanced services, user needs, location of facilities, administration and planning, financial issues, facility maintenance, remodelling, and signage. (LRW)