Special-subject libraries can be particularly intimidating for casual and seasoned patrons alike. Music libraries, with their variety of materials, formats, and vocabularies, can present particular challenges for the user. With this proposal for a model of service delivery, as well as many tips gained through experience working the front-of-house…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce Desa Informasi (Information Village), an institutional repository project carried out by Petra Christian University Library in Surabaya, Indonesia, and discuss its potential for enabling academic libraries to remain relevant in the digital era. Design/methodology/approach: Definitions of an…

Nancy Fried Foster was an anthropologist hired by University of Rochester's library to study its undergraduates, to help shed light on how they do their research and write papers, and how they spend their days. The results of the study helped guide a library renovation, influenced a Web-site redesign, led to changes in the way the library markets…

This research examined self-archiving practices by four disciplines in seven institutional repositories. By checking each individual item for its metadata and deposition status, the research found that a disciplinary culture is not obviously presented. Rather, self-archiving is regulated by a liaison system and a mandate policy.

This document presents results of the 2006-2007 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Law Library Statistics Questionnaire. Of 113 ARL university libraries, 74 responded to the survey. Results for each library are presented in the following data tables: (1) collections (2-parts), including volumes in library, volumes added, monographs purchased,…

This study examines academic and research librarian positions that require foreign language skills. Technical and public services are most likely to require language knowledge, while administrator and system librarian positions are the least likely. Overall, the requirements show a continued rise until the mid-1980s and a declining trend after…

This paper reports on the evaluation of local usage statistics of a specific set of chemistry journals at the University of Denver in Colorado, USA. The objective of the study is to demonstrate that commercial publishers in chemistry charge considerably more for their journals than those from the non-commercial sector. There are three variables…

Use of the physical collections and services of academic libraries continues to plummet, with some exceptions, while use of electronic networked resources skyrockets. This article frames the extent of this decline with a focus on circulation and reference among ARL University, Medical, and Law Libraries, the Ivy League, other associations,…

This article reports on a study of first-year applied science students at the University of New England in 2007 to determine whether the addition of structured library assistance to an online unit improved the use of journal articles in student assignments. It was found that students using the search strategies provided were more likely to cite…

The topic of academic/research librarians with subject doctorates is largely unexplored in the literature, despite recent efforts to recruit them. Based on survey data gathered from non-LIS doctorate holders currently working in U.S. and Canadian academic/research libraries, this article highlights data and trends relating to these librarians,…

This narrative, single-case study examines how liaison librarians at the University of Minnesota (UMN) came to include advocating for reform of the scholarly communication system among their core responsibilities. While other libraries may hire a coordinator or rely on a committee to undertake outreach programs, UMN has defined baseline expertise…

Each night, around 20,000 people--both adults and children--make the streets of Dhaka (the capital city of Bangladesh) their home. Living amongst the noise, rubbish, and traffic, thousands of families walk down the streets of Dhaka, looking for a safe place to rest for just a few hours each night. Trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, the…

Embedded librarianship in distance learning courses taught within virtual environments such as Second Life is an emerging, leading-edge practice. This paper describes the experiences of librarians embedded in undergraduate English composition courses taught entirely in Second Life and presents the results of an empirical research study to assess…

The University of Westminster began collecting and analyzing vendor usage reports since starting their e-book collections in 2004. They have used the results both to monitor the use of the collections and to calculate basic cost-per-use metrics that have informed decisions on whether to renew particular resources. In 2008, they sought to extend…

York University, Toronto, Canada has been acquiring e-books from different publishers and content providers. At present our University subscribes to electronic content from NetLibrary, ebrary, EBL, Oxford Scholarship Online, Oxford Reference Online, MyiLibrary, Safari, Springer, Oxford University Press, Knovel, Books24x7, Synthesis Engineering…