Describes the Questia subscription-based online academic digital books library. Highlights include weaknesses of the collection; what college students want from a library; importance of marketing; competition for traditional academic libraries that may help improve library services; and the ability of Questia to overcome barriers and…

Describes a study at the University of Idaho that used focus groups to explore information seeking methods and how they had changed over the past few years. Highlights include information sources; criteria used to judge information sources; obstacles to finding information; time spent; values and emotions; and the ideal information source. (LRW)

Discussion of the need for archives to remove duplicate or unneeded materials from their collection focuses on the legal and ethical issues raised for archives by the use of online auction venues in deaccessioning unwanted materials, based on experiences at the University of Wisconsin. (Author/LRW)

Describes an outsourcing project at the University of Florida library in which their supplier of domestic serial standing orders supplied a large percentage of the standing orders with complete physical processing. Discusses cost effectiveness, low error rate, and the resulting improvement in workflow efficiency that made the project a success.…

Discusses leadership theory as it relates to the library profession and the importance of factors to identify individuals who are likely to be successful that can form the basis for recruitment strategies. Describes results of testing recruitment theory in academic and public libraries, and recommends further research. (Contains 50 references.)…

Discusses leadership assessment in academic libraries; explores the topic of leadership assessment through a review of the literature, the arguments on performance reviews, and through an exploration of the societal and institutional context within which these reviews take place in academia; and reviews the leadership roles of library directors.…

Describes the evolution and progress toward a uniquely integrated library and computer services unit at Kenyon College. Discusses its focus on constituencies; merging of the divisions; benefits for students, faculty, administrative units, and the institution; meeting challenges; and generalizing from the model. (EV)

The Louisiana State University Libraries adopted a mentoring program in 1998 to help tenure-track librarians successfully meet tenure requirements. The program was evaluated after the first year and the faculty determined that it was successful; it was implemented on a permanent basis. The program was developed using six basic components. Details…

Examines ARL (Association of Research Libraries) member library Web sites to assess the prominence and extent of scholarly communication information available. Discusses the lack of information on most Web sites regarding scholarly communication; ARL's efforts to encourage librarians' participation in the future of scholarly communication; and…

Illustrates a case of a student art exhibit in the Winthrop University, South Carolina Library, where freedom of expression interfered with employee rights in the workplace. The Dean of Libraries stated that the library could not act as a censor, and that they were obligated to defend the First Amendment; the controversial statue remained, but…

Describes a prototype system--GeoMatch--that allows users to interactively define geographic areas of interest on a background map and to define, qualitatively or quantitatively, the relationship between the user-defined area and the map coverage. The knowledge discovery in database (KDD) factor is analyzed in the retrieval process. The MARC…

Discusses changes in library reference service that have occurred with growing Internet use. Topics include the human factor that is still needed; the nature of reference questions; the goal of user self-sufficiency; the invisible nature of much of librarians' work; and providing real-time, interactive point-of-need service to remote users. (LRW)

Describes a survey conducted among library school graduate students and librarians at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that investigated factors that play a role in information professionals' choice of Internet search tools. Utility functions and ease of use are discussed and the original online survey is appended. (Author/LRW)

Random samples of works were drawn from the catalogs of the Bobst Library, New York University, and the Burke Library, Union Theological Seminary, New York to examine derivative bibliographic relationships. Two sites were chosen to allow a test of the differences in collection development patterns between a university research library and a…

A survey of academic chemistry librarians concerning how they obtain and maintain subject knowledge found: 86% took college-level chemistry courses, 64% have a science degree, and 43% have a chemistry degree. Respondents work on professional development activities such as scanning core science journals, subscribing to science discussion lists,…