This Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) kit examines the practices of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries in the area of cultural diversity programming. These libraries were surveyed to determine if they offered a program which supported ethnic/cultural sensitivity training in the workplace. Survey responses…

Based on responses to a survey from 79 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries, this Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) kit explores how these libraries are currently addressing management issues associated with materials budgets. The survey addressed the following broad areas: how libraries define their materials…

This directory of organizations and agencies that survey academic libraries for statistical information on a regular basis includes 104 organizations representing state and federal agencies, college and university administrative bodies, accrediting organizations, all types of library organizations and associations, and publishers. The directory…

This SPEC kit presents the results of a survey which determined employment practices of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries in 1990 in the areas of cultural diversity, minority recruitment, and affirmative action. Categories surveyed in the area of minority recruitment include hiring activities, advertising available…

This SPEC KIT presents survey results and documents from 53 U.S. academic members of the Association of Research Libraries in 1990 who provided current information on student employment policies and practices. The survey results identify the following employment policies and practices: (1) funding sources and wages; (2) duties and rewards; (3)…

This paper examines the relocation of Athabasca University, an open-access, distance education institution, from Edmonton to Athabasca, Alberta, Canada, and the effect of that move on the library. Factors that helped make the move successful are discussed, including the 5-year institutional planning process; a government grant for the purchase of…

The rising prices of journals and serials--major information sources for academic and research communities--are explored in this work, which presents two contractor reports on the topic. These two reports are introduced by an overview and summary together with recommendations for further Association of Research Libraries (ARL) action, short…

This collection includes four handouts: (1) "Selection Critria Considerations for Computer-Based Resources" (Linda B. Richardson); (2) "Software Collection Policies in Academic Libraries" (a 24-item bibliography, Jane W. Johnson); (3) "Circulation and Security of Software" (a 19-item bibliography, Sara Elizabeth Williams); and (4) "Bibliography of…

A two-part text, "Science Resources: A Self-Paced Instructional Workbook," was designed to provide science students at Mississippi State University with: (1) instruction on basic library usage and reference tools common to most scientific disciplines; (2) materials adapted to specific disciplines; and (3) services available to them from the…

For years librarians discarded historical curriculum collections because they were not current, and because the libraries did not have adequate space to store them. Therefore, records of trends in subject content taught to generations of children and young people from kindergarten through grade 12 were unwittingly destroyed. In response to this…

Developed at the beginning of the decade to serve as a union catalog for identifying the holdings in all University of California (UC) libraries, the MELVYL online catalog as of October 1989 contained 10 million holdings for over 5 million monographic titles of print and nonprint materials, and more than 1.2 million periodicals holdings which…

This summary of the activities of the third of a three-phased self-study, initiated in 1987, provides a current overview of preservation problems in the University of Southern California's (USC) Central Library System, focusing particularly on the organizational structure of the preservation activities and on recommended solutions for ensuring the…

This report updates a 1979 article from the Bay State Librarian about censorship in Massachusetts libraries from 1966 through 1975. Compiled using data from the American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF), the report provides information about censorship attempts and actions between 1976 and 1982. The definition of…

Focused on the development of definitions and guidelines for management statistics, this Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) kit is based on the responses of 91 academic members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to a survey investigating their internal uses of statistics, external statistics reporting, and tools for…

This paper is based on two fundamental premises: (1) that the characteristics inherent in information (reproductivity, volatility, and value) combined with the technical capability provided by the new information technology (access, storage, communication, and control) have created the prospect of a new range of internal and external networking…