At most colleges and universities, there are a number of small, nonlibrary collections across campus, such as those found in student centers or academic departments. Historically, at American University, partnership with these collections was done through absorbing them into the main library collection. Recently, however, the Library has seen…

Academic libraries have traditionally collected reference statistics using hash marks on paper. Although efficient and simple, this method is not an effective way to capture the complexity of reference transactions. Several electronic tools are now available to assist libraries with collecting often elusive reference data--among them homegrown…

Enrollment of international students in colleges and universities across the United States is growing. The relocation process can be arduous for international students as they face many barriers transitioning to a new environment. With retention as a key component in the success of academic institutions, what resources and services can academic…

A survey was done of instructors at two satellite campuses located at a distance from the main campus of the University of Lethbridge in order to ascertain both utilization and awareness of library resources and services. Results were enlightening, indicating that lack of awareness and communication is one of the biggest obstacles for these…

In 2005, the authors reviewed citation help in databases and found an error rate of 4.4 errors per citation. This article describes a follow-up study that revealed a modest improvement in the error rate to 3.4 errors per citation, still unacceptably high. The most problematic area was retrieval statements. The authors conclude that librarians…

Cumberland University (CU), where the author serves as a library technical assistant, is a small, private liberal arts college located in Lebanon, Tennessee, about 30 miles east of Nashville. CU was the first college in Tennessee to have campuswide wireless internet access, and organizations such as the Alumni Association have a strong presence in…

During the summer semester, the Vise Library at Cumberland University (CU) began working on its "digital makeover." It has six goals: (1) Create a more user-friendly and dynamic website; (2) Activate and maintain accounts on social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter; (3) Produce a library blog that allows students, staff, and…

Advocates of unions frequently argue that unionization results in benefits for libraries in general and for librarians. Previous data to support this position have been scattered, incomplete, and inconclusive. This study analyzes data on 1,904 academic libraries, 334 unionized, to explore whether there is a relationship between a librarian-union…

Virtual reference is a service that makes particular sense in a state like Montana. The fourth-largest state by geographic area but 44th by population in the U.S., it has about one library per 11,392 residents. Montana's libraries, including the libraries of Montana Tech of the University of Montana, where the author currently serves as a…

This report summarizes research into the current application of fair use to meet the missions of U.S. academic and research libraries. Sixty-five librarians were interviewed confidentially by telephone for around one hour each. They were asked about their employment of fair use in five key areas of practice: support for teaching and learning,…

Academic libraries routinely negotiate layers of change as embedded organizations in higher education institutions. Facing competing demands with limited resources gave rise to the question: how do academic library deans effectively lead their organizations in times of change? A Delphi Method study was conducted to identify successful leadership…

In August 2010, "Wired" magazine declared, "The Web is Dead. Long Live the Internet." Citing the rise of IPad & Smartphone sales and the rapid explosion of application-based software to run various programs on multiple computing devices--but especially mobile computing devices--people spend more hours than ever connected to or "on" the Internet…

Background/Context: The management, processing, and transformation of information constitute central tasks in education. Education informatics intersects the theories and practices of both informatics and education. In particular, informatics aids in the systematic incorporation of technology as educational stakeholders represent, process, and…

While interactive hands-on instruction is usually considered the best approach for engineering students for both their academic courses and for library instruction, the size of the engineering student population compared to the number of instructors and the available classroom space means that engineering librarians, like engineering faculty, may…

Innovations in search and retrieval have provided librarians with some of their most exciting challenges as a profession. Yet even as new tools flood the academic library commons, direct, person-to-person information counseling is still needed, some would say more than ever. Consequently, it can be very useful to study how users conduct new…