Proposes a method of building local library support through the addition of genealogy and local history collections. Suggestions concerning types of information, media, collection development, and implementation are included. (JVP)

Reports the results of an unobtrusive study, from a user's viewpoint, of reference services available in the Suffolk Cooperative Library System. The study raises questions of policy centering around user expectations of library reference services. (RAA)

Discusses issues regarding training for computer-based reference services, including who is to be trained and who is responsible for training, and summarizes the training offered to date by search service suppliers, database suppliers, library schools, and extension programs. Available training materials are also considered. (Author/FM)

Librarians at Onondaga Community College (New York) view their function in the education process as librarian-teachers who instruct students in the access routes to information, and who enrich and augment the course curriculum while encouraging life-long habits of inquiry. (JG)

Summarizes current reference-services costing practices and reveals problems with these practices. Suggests six ways that current costing practices of reference services can be improved. (AEF)

Because freely accessible resources allow searching without the constraints of costs for connect times, the Internet resources profiled in this article are intended for browsing. Includes references for some valuable patent information but not for extensive patent searching. (AEF)

Provides an annotated listing of various Internet sites, many that are starting points for exploration of specific health subject areas. Special considerations for locating and selecting health and medicine resources are also provided. (Author)

Presents a selective annotated list of environment-related Web sites for reference use. The term "environment" has been considered both broadly and traditionally in compiling this list of useful content-based and linking sites. (Author)

A survey at the University at Albany (New York) on user satisfaction with reference services gathered information on behavioral characteristics of librarians: interest, confidence, friendliness, and enthusiasm, as well as on patron comfort and overall satisfaction. Analysis of the data (n=100) indicates that user satisfaction depends on more than…

Discussion of the use of interactive television highlights a program by the Minnesota State Law Library that provides reference services to prison inmates. Time, cost, and quality of reference services are considered versus on-site visits; technical difficulties are discussed; and a sidebar describes two other library experiments with interactive…

Asserts that ever-increasing Internet access is rendering the functions of reference librarians obsolete. Presents the points of view of several two-year-college librarians, who insist that libraries will always require experienced reference librarians to act as organizers and guides to information seekers. Also discusses librarians' changing…

Discusses the Open Source Software method of software development and its relationship to control over information content. Topics include digital library resources; reference services; preservation; the legal and economic status of information; technical standards; access to digital data; control of information use; and copyright and patent laws.…

Discusses the application of win-win mindsets and strategy in the employment of LIS (library and information science) graduate assistants in academic library reference services. Considers recruitment, training and support, transition, treating graduate assistants as colleagues, differences from graduate assistants who are not LIS students, and…

Examines the following elements of scaffolding, providing insight into the librarian's role as educator: attention, ownership, collaboration, appropriateness, modeling, support, adjustment, and internationalization. A sidebar lists 10 ways to recognize a constructivist children's reference librarian. (AEF)

Describes principles underlying the development of guides for electronic indexes such as the Catholic Periodical and Literature Index (CPLI): begin with basic steps, keep it simple, answer questions most frequently asked, be consistent, emphasize search techniques that use the strengths of the index. Includes a copy of the guide for the CPLI on…