Although fiction plays a prominent role in the interdisciplinary field of medical humanities (MH), it is physically and intellectually isolated from non-fiction in academic health sciences libraries. Using the Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database (LAMD) as a tool for selection and subject analysis, we suggest a method of integrating fiction…

School library websites are a necessity. The earliest adopters have now had almost 10 years for development and redesign. Many sites have gone through numerous iterations with major improvements each time. Issues of cost, time, technology and training have made the discussion more a matter of deciding what to include and how to structure the sites…

As teachers, scholars, and students in disciplines well beyond the arts attempt new approaches to teaching and learning--approaches that require the integration of visual materials into their curricula and research--they are encountering organizational and financial barriers. Traditional approaches to the development, management, and delivery of…

About 18 months ago, we at the reference desk of the Vigo County Public Library (VCPL) in Terre Haute, Ind., noticed a troubling fact. Many of our small, local, nonprofit agencies did not have Web sites, making it difficult to locate and share information about these groups with the community. We began to ponder that if we, as information…

There has been a move afoot in libraries of all kinds to incorporate open source software and applications to better support their rapidly evolving information access and delivery services. There has been particular interest in a specific configuration of open source components?known by the acronym LAMP?that can be used to build fairly complex Web…

The prompt return of checked out materials has been demanded by libraries for more than a century. Together with other measures such as overdue fines, library notices are used to bring in prompt returns by informing the users of their checked out items that will soon be due or are already overdue. The analysis of library notices sent in the past…

For more than five years the Houston Public Library has collected statistics for measuring networked collections and services based on emerging guidelines. While the guidelines have provided authority and stability to the process, the clarification process continues. The development of information discovery software, such as federated search tools…

Evaluation in Library and Information Services has traditionally focused on quantitative measures of input and output. This trend has been generally reflected in the emerging efforts relating to the evaluation of electronic information services (EIS). Less well developed are qualitative approaches to evaluation of EIS. Issues that feature high on…

Blogging offers an alternative and sometimes superior way to communicate with library patrons. It provides an opportunity to speak more directly to them, and it does so in a manner that is more comfortable and convenient for all involved. A library's Web site may be the only interaction that patrons have with the organization, so it makes sense to…

From 2000-2004, the Auburn University Montgomery Library measured electronic book usage. Electronic book usage increased while use of the printed collection decreased. Subject areas most used resembled those reported by larger institutions, supporting the idea that some subjects are amenable to electronic use regardless of institutional size and…

New consortial buying models have dramatically increased the availability of online resources, particularly journal articles, in the universities and technical institutes of developing countries. The degree of acceptance and pattern of use of such materials is of great interest to library collection development. Ankara University surveyed faculty…

What is the impact of an academic library consortium on the perceptions of library services experienced by users of the member institutions' libraries? What is the impact of an academic library consortium on the perceptions of library services experienced by users of the member institutions libraries? In 2002 and 2003, OhioLINK (Ohio's consortium…

It seems that the demand for public access computers grows exponentially every time a library network is expanded, making it impossible to ever have enough computers available for patrons. One solution that many libraries are implementing to ease the demand for public computer use is to offer wireless technology that allows patrons to bring in…

In response to the changing educational landscape of the community college, reference librarians must adapt their service to fit the information needs of their patrons. One such update is synchronous digital reference, which applies instant messaging technology to library service. Todd Library at Waubonsee Community College (Sugar Grove, Illinois)…

Although major strides toward the inclusion of GLBT images in North American libraries have indeed been achieved, censorship is alive and well where children's literature is concerned. It is plain to see that libraries have become a major battleground for the free flow of information about and for GLBTQ children and families. This article…