The university and its library are signs of advancement, yet they can also project an alien, elitist, and forbidden goal to minorities. Libraries should insure that collection policies reflect minority presence. Increasing staff diversity and developing the potential for minorities to excel within this key traditional symbol of the university…

This study compares libraries of 222 public historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) with those of traditionally white public colleges in 18 states by analyzing number of volumes, staff, and salary totals. In general, HBCUs and non-HBCUs are equal in volumes per student; HBCUs are superior in library staffing, and non-HBCUs are ahead…

Addresses the process of journal deselection from the point of view of justice and argues that when journal cuts are necessary, libraries should first, reduce all departments to core holdings; second, ask departments with expensive journals for permission to implement an efficiency principle; third, if refused permission, implement an equal…

Reports on the second stage of the New Zealand University Libraries Effectiveness Study, which identified dimensions of effectiveness in New Zealand academic libraries and examined parallels with dimensions of organizational effectiveness in a similar study of public libraries. Each libraries' staff rated the library's performance against 99…

Discusses the use of the World Wide Web by academic libraries for reference and instruction. Widespread availability of software for browsing, creating, editing, and mounting World Wide Web pages necessitates discussion on the development of a library Web site; Hyper Text Markup Language; software evaluation; suggestions for writing Web pages; and…

Discussion of monographic acquisitions in academic research libraries focuses on a study that employed descriptive methodology to analyze changes in collecting patterns between 1985 and 1989 in the aggregated resources base of 72 Association of Research Libraries members. Recommendations for further research are suggested. (Author/LRW)

Discusses how library technology initiatives fit into local organizational contexts to meet the needs of users; examines the conditions existing prior to local initiatives and how organizations have responded; and presents organizational models for technology in the humanities. Highlights the electronic text initiative at Pennsylvania State…

Describes the organizational goals and training objectives of the staff development policy; areas of training; training programs; broadening staff experience through participation in library activities; the role of total quality management; the staff development group; continuing professional development; and budget. Includes guidelines for staff…

Describes a project conducted at the University of Oxford (England) that examined the use of resources by trainee secondary history teachers to determine what history interns are taught about resource use, how approaches to resource use in their lesson planning change, and how libraries can better support trainee history teachers. (LRW)

Explored user perceptions of dependability and accuracy of Texas A&M library services through focus groups. Reports user difficulties in locating materials, inaccurate catalog and circulation records, inadequate signage, searching the online catalog, and late notification of interlibrary loan arrivals; and discusses the library's efforts to…

Discusses the use of academic library circulation statistics to assess whether user needs are being met and describes a study at Stetson University that investigated collection development practices by comparing circulation statistics for books selected by faculty in support of departmental curricula with those of librarian selections. (Author/LRW)

Describes the development and evolution of an online introductory course to library research, which integrated information literacy into the curriculum at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Discusses results and evaluation of assessment, redefining the course as a result, creation of prototypes for additional assessment, and future…

Discussion of problems that users have with Web searching focuses on a study of undergraduates that investigated three instructional methods (instruction by example, conceptual models without illustrations, and conceptual models with illustrations) to determine differences in knowledge acquisition related to three types of knowledge (declarative,…

Analyzed annual electronic journal usage data for the NorthEast Research Library (NERL) consortium. Discusses the high degree of skew in journal use; describes results of a cluster analysis that revealed three distinct groups of institutions based on journal use; and recommends that institutions consider their consortial membership and organize…

Discussion of evaluating academic journals for collection management decisions focuses on a methodological framework for evaluating journals not ranked by impact factors in Journal Citation Reports. Compares nonranked journals with ranked journals and then applies this framework to a case study in the field of medical science. (LRW)