The ubiquity of video games in today's society presents unique challenges and opportunities for librarians and faculty. A significant subset of video games use historical periods as a setting, some with greater adherence to history than others. Many students are playing these games and bringing preconceived ideas of the historical period to the…

Roser discusses how both teachers and librarians, whom she calls the preservers of children's reading, should cling tightly to three essential practices to ensure that our children read more, read better, and read more widely. She argues we should: a) keep the classroom library viable; b) preserve, protect, and defend time for self-selected…

The use of bibliographic management software and its internal search interfaces is now pervasive among researchers. This study compares the results between searches conducted in academic databases' search interfaces versus the EndNote search interface. The results show mixed search reliability, depending on the database and type of search…

DATA PRESENTED IN THIS REPORT WERE BASED PRIMARILY ON QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES OBTAINED THROUGH A NATIONAL CENSUS OF SPECIAL LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION CENTERS. THE SURVEY WAS MADE DURING THE PERIOD FROM AUGUST 1961 TO FEBRUARY 1963. ALTHOUGH THERE WERE MORE THAN 10,000 ENTRIES IN THE PUBLISHED DIRECTORY, EXCLUSION OF CANADIAN LIBRARIES AND DELETION…

A qualitative case study highlighting one rural Iowa elementary school provided insight into the issue of small schools without library programs as they are preparing to meet the Iowa reinstatement of the requirement for school library programs. The site was purposefully chosen because it has been operating without a school library program or…

Copyright in the world of digital information is changing at a fevered pace, even as educators and librarians digitize, upload, download, draw on databases, and incorporate materials into Web-based instruction. It's essential to stay abreast of the basics of copyright law and fair use. Kenneth D. Crews has completely revised his classic text to…

This study of library resources was undertaken as a part of a statewide plan for higher education in Texas. The document includes descriptions of library facilities and resources at the University of Texas at Austin, other universities, and public and private junior and senior colleges. The public library network, health science libraries, law…

This annual report of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) contains an overview of activities of the Council between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007. These include programs, awards, publications, advisory groups, grants and contracts, and financial statements. It also includes a list of staff, a letter from the chairperson Paula…

Libraries rely heavily on student workers for the day-to-day running of the library. Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas is no different. We report on Steen Library's training efforts to staff several public service points as well as keep materials on the shelves by cross-training student employees.

This study provides an overview of the various products available for library patrons with blindness or visual impairments. To provide some insight into the status of library services for patrons with blindness, a sample of American universities that are recognized for their programs for students with visual impairments was surveyed to discern…

In this article, the author shares how she became an advocate for school libraries. Moving into a career as a school library media specialist after five-and-a-half years as a teacher, she eventually became a delegate to the first White House Conference on Library and Information Services. At these conferences, she learned where and how decisions…

Preservation has long been considered a fundamental responsibility of research libraries. Data on preservation activities by its members has been collected by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) since 1987, but changing digital technologies and the research, teaching, and learning environments in which research libraries are engaged…

Librarians build collections. To do this they use tools that help them identify, organize, and retrieve items for the collection. Zotero (zoh-TAIR-oh) is such a tool that helps the user build a library of useful books, articles, web sites, blogs, etc., discovered while surfing online. A visit to Zotero's homepage, www.zotero.org, shows a number of…

Bradford's Law has been the subject of much discussion and analysis in library and information science since its formulation in the 1930s and remains frequently debated to this day. It has been applied to various practices within the discipline, especially with regard to collection development, but its relevance to researchers and the potential it…

Educational standards continue to be hot topics of discussion for this year and, no doubt, beyond. The Council of Chief State School Officials (CCSSO) and the National Governors' Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) has initiated a study based on "Common Core" English/Language Arts and Mathematics Standards. The release of…