Reports on results of an exploratory study of perceptions of collections by librarians in an academic library that provides both traditional and networked information services. Five librarians from a Midwestern university library were interviewed. Findings indicated an uncertainty about the virtual world in two particular areas: collection and…

Describes the Lippincott Library (Warton School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) online chat reference service for students/faculty/staff to ask questions through chat and get an immediate response using a commercial service provided by LivePerson. LivePerson is a real-time text interface between the user who seeks information and the operator…

AskNow! online answers Australia-wide, the first nation-wide chat reference service, has been a successful exercise in collaboration and cooperation. This article examines some of the lessons learnt, the challenges of collaboration and possible future directions. AskNow!, an initiative of the Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL), commenced…

Twenty-one scholarly papers and fourteen abstracts comprise the content of the ninth annual "Brick and Click Libraries Symposium," held annually at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The peer-reviewed proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future…

The number of electronic resources has climbed up steadily in recent times. Some of these e-resources are reference sources, mostly in Science, Technology and Medicine (STM), which publishers convert to electronic for obvious reasons. The library budgets for materials usually have two main lines, budget for one time purchase (monographs) and…

This book is designed to help novices get started in providing services to patrons of their library. By separating professional tasks from others, an indication is made when expertise is needed above and beyond the use of common sense and natural organizational skills. The book covers the realm of a librarian's responsibilities, offering advice on…

As K-12 schools connect to the Internet, a new means of communication opens up to educators and students. This updated digest describes some sample services and resources available to the K-12 community via electronic mail. Information sources covered include: question answering services, including AskERIC and the Online Writing Lab; listservs or…

This paper describes the evaluation of a current awareness or selective dissemination of information (SDI) service at New Mexico State University. To provide expanded library services to faculty, a current awareness service was offered to 18 science departments in 1991. A profile for each researcher enrolled was entered into a program and was run…

Working in a cooperative team environment across libraries and job classifications, librarians and support staff at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) have mounted several successful web projects, including two versions of the Libraries' home page, a virtual reference collection, and Science Library "ANTswer Machine." UCI's…

This document contains papers and transcripts from a university faculty colloquium which shared views about teaching methods and information on successful approaches. Following a copy of the colloquium announcement and a brief introduction, the main section presents transcripts of the presentations. The first discusses the structure and role of…

This annotated bibliography focuses on academic library usage of audiovisual (AV) methods of instruction, particularly for the enhancement of the reference teaching function. The bibliography's objectives are as follows: to identify current trends with regard to AV methods in library orientation and bibliographic instruction; to isolate instances…

This report, written for a National Archives Staff training program, presents the results of a survey which sought information about the administration of the government documents sections of the National Library of Canada, the National Archives of the United States, and 12 selected American state archives and state libraries. The survey gathered…

This paper presents a description of the Old Dominion University's (Virginia) Reference Librarian Orientation Program designed to ease the transition of reference librarians new to the school and its reference department. The program introduces the reference librarian to the library, the reference department, and the university itself and consists…

The fourth in a series, this publication presents a statistical picture of Illinois Public Libraries during the 1990-1991 fiscal year. Its purpose is to provide librarians and trustees with statistics that can be compared to those of other libraries of similar size and environment to determine whether the library is above or below the average for…

This guide provides a review of the relevant literature on desalination within the collections of the Library of Congress. While not intended as a comprehensive bibliography, this guide is designed as a quick and ready reference source for the reader, and includes the following sections: (1) articles that provide introductions to the topic of…