In 2007, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) initiated an annual survey of school library media programs. The development of this longitudinal survey project was mandated by the AASL Board and advocated by the division's Research and Statistics Committee and Independent Schools Section. The launch of the second year of the survey…

A 2007 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) survey indicates that research libraries are rapidly developing publishing services: 65 percent of 80 responding ARL member libraries currently deliver or are in processing of planning these services. Established journal titles dominate this emerging publishing sector and are the main drivers of…

An application of the contingent valuation method (CVM) for estimating the economic value of a regional public library service is described, and some of the key methodological issues surrounding CVM and other stated preference techniques are discussed with reference to library use and funding contexts. Given the range of valuations that can result…

Every year, more and more reference sources go from print to online, from the stacks to the library's homepage. The librarians at Quinnipiac University's Arnold Bernhard Library in Hamden, Connecticut, realized that these subscriptions are more than the occasional web offering to supplement the library's mission. They have become an important…

People do not want to talk about failure, and technological innovations that do not work out are especially difficult for librarians to discuss. Technological failures are expensive in terms of money and time lost, and they are often minimized by library directors in their annual reports in favor of reporting more positive outcomes. Today's…

According to the results of LJ's latest annual referenda survey, covering measures held between December 1, 2006, and November 30, 2007, voters approved both operating and building referenda at very high rates. If a library reported a referendum this year, chances are they are in high spirits. Operating referenda, with 69% of measures succeeding,…

We report on a citation analysis of Ph.D. dissertations in plant biology and zoology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, undertaken to test the common assumption that scientists favor current research to such an extent that journal backfiles can be de-emphasized in academic library collections. Results demonstrate otherwise. The study is…

"Rapidly changing" is the term most often used these days to describe the landscape of scholarly communication. Scholars have to clear new and higher hurdles as they bump up against copyright and fair-use issues, open-access mandates, and a baffling array of publication and dissemination models. Where can researchers find a guide to lead them…

This article describes the use of chat widgets on library websites and how it affects daily work and organizational culture. The use of chat widgets can be as simple or confusing as the website itself, but it helps to make choices that fit the web design and the organizational culture. Too often change is driven from outside, which can make…

Institutional archives have always provided a sense of history and unity for most universities. This is especially emphasized for the Kansas State University at Salina photographic collection. The school has gone through four different name changes in the last fifty years and the library has amassed an overwhelming assortment of photographs…

Much has been written about scholarly communication with studies investigating the drivers for research and publishing. For academics in particular, publication is a major determinant of a successful case for continuing employment, promotion and the winning of competitive research funding. The purpose of this paper is to inform understanding of…

Revitalization is what Morningside College had in mind in 2006, when it lifted a ban against eating in the library. That is when its library cafe, which opened a year earlier, began offering sandwiches and soups that could be carried into study areas and computer labs. Morningside has joined those that are casting aside their libraries' stuffy…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has placed a significant focus on standards. Understandably, classroom teachers are focused on effectively covering their content area standards and are often reluctant to add information literacy skills to their lessons because they see no direct connection to the state achievement tests. However, a close…

Mobile learning has increasingly become interwoven into the fabric of learning and teaching in the United Kingdom higher education sector, and as technological issues become addressed, this phenomena has accelerated. The aim of the study was to examine whether learning using a mobile learning device (Samsung NC10 Netbook) loaded with interactive…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to verify and estimate the impact of the antecedents of Programme satisfaction and to explore its link with student loyalty in the higher education (HE) sector in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Design/methodology/approach: A Programme Experience Questionnaire (PEQ) was developed, based on the National Student…