A librarian at Hazelden Library, a non-profit foundation focusing on chemical dependency treatment, publishing, and education, gives a personal account of the steps used in determining the dollar value of providing library services in a specialized health-care library. After evaluating survey results and reviewing the library's 1998 statistics,…

Discusses the current state of academic reference services from a library administrator's point of view. Highlights include statistics that show a lack of quality reference service that meets users' needs; a decline in the demand for reference services; the role of technology; and changing attitudes about education, including increasing…

Contains data on state library agencies, including these agencies' governance, staffing, income and expenditures, electronic services, and services to libraries. Data are from the State Library Agencies Survey. (Author/SLD)

Discusses Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) that converts existing telephone lines into digital circuits which transmit data at 256Kbps to 7 Mbps. Describes ADSL, unique features of "Megabit Services" and initial deployment, costs, and impact on library services (extra bandwidth for Internet services, multimedia or other…

Discusses approaches to reference services in academic libraries in light of new technologies and emphasizes the need to maintain the personal element, based on experiences at Northeastern State University (Oklahoma). Topics include roving librarians; desktop video conferencing; Internet media and the World Wide Web; and remote users. (LRW)

A discussion and summary of landmark court cases involving the fair use clause of copyright law provide numerous guidelines that encourage legitimate fair use of copyrighted materials. Emphasizes implications for librarians and others within higher education. (Author/LRW)

Discusses the trade union library system in China that has fallen on hard times amid economic and social changes of the past 20 years. Focuses on a history of the trade union library movement; services provided by trade union libraries; problems faced by union libraries; and reform of trade union libraries. (AEF)

This interview focuses on usability testing, one method for evaluating whether library Web sites are useful for users. Discussion includes: benefits and drawbacks of usability testing; why it is important; lessons learned from testing; advice for someone interested in doing a study; and recommendations. (AEF)

Presents an overview of the Prime Time Family Reading Time program, a family literacy program that is based in public libraries and incorporates the presentation of children's literature with the discussion of humanities-based questions for low literacy, at-risk parents and their children aged six and older. (Author/LRW)

Includes five articles. Topics include requirements for a content standard to describe computational models; architectures for digital rights management systems; access control for digital information objects; LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) that allows libraries to run Web caches for specific journals; and a Web site from the U.S.…

Examines the practical details of setting up live online reference services in libraries. Topics include choosing software; differences between licensed and hosted applications; models used to implement virtual reference services; how libraries are using these services in day to day operations; and marketing strategies. (Author/LRW)

Summarizes universe data on libraries in 2-year and 4-year degree-granting postsecondary institutions. Includes information about services, staff, collections, and expenditures. Data are from the Academic Libraries Survey of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data survey. (SLD)

Discusses the reading program of the Literacy Resource Center at Cramlington High School in New Zealand. Describes how the librarian considers the whole curriculum to experiment with new ways to promote reading for pleasure. (JOW)

Many libraries are expending an increasing part of their collections budgets on electronic resources. At the same time many libraries, especially those which are state funded, face diminishing budgets and high rates of inflation for serials subscriptions in all formats, including electronic resources. Therefore, many libraries need to develop ways…

In an effort to establish benchmarks for comparison to national trends, a web-based survey explored the research, publication, and service activities of Florida academic librarians. Participants ranked the importance of professional activities to the tenure/promotion process. Findings suggest that perceived tenure and promotion demands do…