Describes a program developed by the Youth Services Division at the Queens Borough Public Library's Central Library to help teenagers maximize growth opportunities, build self-esteem, and see the library as a life resource. Highlights include securing funding through LSCA (Library Services and Construction Act), recruiting participants, and…

Describes techniques for providing individualized library instruction for international students as exemplified by the program at Western Carolina University (North Carolina). Discusses four steps: identifying new students; meeting them and giving written invitations for instruction; interviewing; and giving library tours and instruction tailored…

Discussion of the transformation of the Federal Depository Library Program from a distribution program to one for electronic access focuses on cataloging operations and new services to support the requirements of GPO Access. Highlights include standards for bibliographic control and Internet publishing. (Author/LRW)

Reports on the first national conference of REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library Services to the Spanish Speaking. Discusses REFORMA's activist history and describes conference programs geared toward promoting cultural awareness to help libraries build relationships with Hispanic and Latino communities. Attendees shared concerns…

Discusses the leadership skills necessary in libraries to address two current society trends: (1) a desire for empowerment by both staff and users; and (2) the demand for adding value to people's lives. Highlights include library service improvements; responsibility; the need for libraries to change; and compelling visions of the future. (LRW)

Discusses reference service to international students, potential miscommunications, and problems with the three kinds of questions in the reference interview. Notes the attributes of the neutral question and describes how librarians can maximize its effectiveness by making a "statement of intent" that provides a comfortable framework for…

Describes the IMPEL (Impact on People of Electronic Libraries) project that investigated the social, organizational, and cultural impacts of the increasingly electronic environment experienced in academic library and information services in the United Kingdom. Topics include librarians' perceptions of their role and future role; subject…

Describes the Libraries Online program by Microsoft and the American Library Association that provides low-income communities with access to online information by wiring public libraries to the Internet. Highlights activities at the Brooklyn Public Library and discusses earlier pilot projects, including the Technology Resource Institute for Public…

Reports on an exploratory case study of intermediation in a hospital digital library information service. Focuses on intermediation where user-intermediary communications were conducted through an asynchronous text-based digital medium. Contributions of the study are evidenced in a descriptive framework of nine categories of factors perceived as…

Addresses issues of access and policy in developing Web-based interactive reference services via academic library home pages. Discusses results of a national survey that showed that less than half of surveyed institutions use Web-based interactive reference as an extension of traditional reference services. Tables include findings. (Author/LRW)

Describes changes in the undergraduate library at the University of Washington that resulted in combining the reference and computer support desks into one service desk. Discusses benefits and drawbacks to the new service and considers training, communication, the librarians' changing work environment, and expanded services. (Author/LRW)

Discusses the combination of school and public library facilities. Includes six essays that relate experiences and opinions regarding public libraries that have some cooperative agreement with school or university libraries to share services and facilities. (LRW)

Describes the teen area of the Solon Branch library in Cuyahoga County (Ohio). Highlights include the collection; catalog computers; hours and teen traffic; planning the space, including extra display units of bulletin boards; teen programming, including monthly programs and a summer reading program; and the teen advisory group. (LRW)

The conclusions reached at the conference "Rare Book and Manuscript Libraries in the Twenty-first Century," (Houghton Library, Harvard University, 1992), summarized in this essay, provide a context for the "Flair" Symposium. Some issues have changed; others have not. Newer technologies have produced aids and challenges for…

Examines how librarians are customizing their services and collections for handheld computing. Discusses the widest adoption of PDAs (personal digital assistants) in libraries that serve health and medical communities; PDA-friendly information pages; the reference focus; journals and databases; lending materials; publicity; use of PDAs by library…