Discusses the need for academic and public libraries to confront the challenges and inevitability of change to retain their relevancy in the information age. Visioning, strategic planning, TQM (total quality management), and Preferred Futuring are considered. (Author/LRW)

Proposes a discipline-based approach to teaching information literacy and argues that the responsibility should be shared throughout the academic institution, rather than limited to the library. Discusses content versus process as the focus of teaching and presents an outline of the complementary responsibilities of librarians and classroom…

Describes the University of the West Indies, focusing on the St. Augustine (Trinidad) campus and the library's involvement with maintaining, preserving, and disseminating postgraduate student theses. Explains quality control efforts and considers implications for the types of scholarship performed by academic librarians. (LRW)

Presents a user-based approach to exploring the possibility of adding user-oriented class associations to hierarchical library classification schemes. Classes not grouped in the same subject hierarchies yet relevant to users' knowledge are obtained by analyzing a log book of a university library's circulation records, using collaborative filtering…

Explains portals as tools that gather a variety of electronic information resources, including local library resources, into a single Web page. Highlights include cross-database searching; integration with university portals and course management software; the ARL (Association of Research Libraries) Scholars Portal Initiative; and selected vendors…

Describes a survey conducted at Pennsylvania State University, Behrend College that investigated students' experience with and reactions to a new electronic reserve system (ERS). Results document active use, a preference for ERS over traditional reserves, and enthusiasm with enhanced access, especially for off-campus students. (Author/LRW)

Discusses affirmative action strategies in academic libraries that have attempted to improve the percentage of minorities in librarianship. The importance of stressing the value of greater cultural diversity within the academic library is discussed, and specific tools that can be used to increase the number of minorities are described. (39…

Describes the development and operation of an electronic serial, "The Public-Access Computer Systems Review." Its evolution from the Public-Access Computer Systems Forum--a computer conference on BITNET run by the University of Houston libraries--is explained, and two sidebars describe other conferences and electronic serials available…

Examines the environmental context that is shaping academic libraries and computing centers and their interdependence. The strengths of a partnership of these two information service organizations are discussed, and potential areas of tension between them are considered. Resulting changes in the nature of information work are suggested. (16…

Discusses six aspects of compact disc (CD-ROM) publishing: (1) development costs; (2) design considerations; (3) marketing; (4) software design; (5) hardware; and (6) the library market. (MES)

Discussion of the library, its information providing function, and the systems librarian examines: (1) the impact of information technology on libraries; (2) library organization charts; and (3) position advertisements--who are systems librarians, what do they do, and what should they do? (seven references) (MES)

The literature of reference service emphasizes service at the reference desk and overlooks other activities of reference librarians. Self-evaluation studies would enable reference librarians to identify what they do and assign a time and value to each task. Such studies should be the first step in planning and structuring a reference department.…

Describes the use of slides for bibliographic instruction at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The advantages of a slide/lecture format and the cost of slides are discussed, and tips for producing and using slides are offered. (nine references) (MES)

Argues that preservation and collection development can be effectively coordinated only when the underlying political forces driving these two operations are defined and compared. The discussion explores some of the functions and values of preservation and collection development from a primarily political point of view in three contexts:…

Discusses the application of new generation, external broadband telecommunications networks to academic library reference services. Several of the prominent networks are described, a selected bibliography of 20 recent publications is provided, and addresses for obtaining further information are listed. (CLB)