The "ARL Annual Salary Survey 2006-07" reports salary data for all professional staff working in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) libraries. It is the most comprehensive and thorough guide to current salaries in large U.S. and Canadian academic and research libraries, and is a valuable management and research tool. Data for 9,824…

Beyond collecting traditional circulation statistics, tracking in-house use of library materials is a significant measure of how patrons use our resources. In our pilot project, Lending Services staff members conducted nightly pick-ups of library materials left on tables, in carrels, in study rooms, as well as books cast aside in the stacks areas…

The Penn State Libraries' Open House activities for incoming students find Access Services staff extending beyond their everyday routines to creatively help relieve students' fears of the library and understand how Access Services can help them. Serving on the Access Services Open House Committee offers staff many opportunities for development as…

The provision of equitable library services to distance learning students emerged as a critical area during the 1990s. Library services available to distance learning students included digital reference and instructional services, remote access to online research tools, database and research tutorials, interlibrary loan, and document delivery.…

The literature on information literacy often assumes that there is an inherent link between the need for information literacy and what is commonly referred to as the information explosion. This assumed link is reflected in programs of information literacy instruction offered by academic libraries. This article argues that the basic concepts of…

This report marks the second release of library statistics data from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). It contains data on state library agencies in the 50 states and the District of Columbia for state fiscal year (FY) 2007. The data were collected through the State Library Agencies (StLA) Survey, the product of a cooperative…

Given the many changes in our students and their study and research practices, libraries are finding it necessary to seek new ways to reach these students. The Undergraduate Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign created a new model to do so. Librarian's Office Hours are a hybrid of reference and instructional services that…

Library patrons familiar with Web searching conventions often find library searching to be less familiar and even intimidating. This article describes and evaluates a series of usability research studies employing two different and popular methodologies: user-centered redesign and usability testing. Card sorting and affinity mapping were used to…

In 2004, Sampson-Livermore Library at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, began circulating laptops to its patrons. After a small pilot project, full-scale implementation occurred and the service proved to be very popular. Policies and procedures were adjusted at several steps along the way to accommodate lessons learned from the…

In the early 1990s, numerous academic libraries adopted the web as a communication tool with users. The literature on academic library websites includes research on both design and navigation. Early studies typically focused on design characteristics, since websites initially merely provided information on the services and collections available in…

To assess their knowledge, use, and attitudes regarding peer-to-peer (P2P) applications, this study surveyed academic librarians (n = 162) via a mail-in survey. Correlations between the sample characteristics (age, gender, year of MLS, type of library job) and P2P knowledge, use, and attitudes were also explored. Overall, academic librarians…

A brief questionnaire was sent to a random selection of 70 librarians in the State University of New York Librarians' Association Directory to determine the frequency of their use of humor at the reference desk and in the library instruction classroom, their perceptions of classroom humor, and their reasons for using humor in these situations.…

This paper examines attitudes toward and practices concerning preparation and storage of archival copies of dissertations at the 15 Ohio doctoral granting institutions. The purpose of this study is two-fold: to determine the extent to which archivists and graduate school deans are aware of the preservation standards regarding theses and…

This document consists of all 11 issues of this newsletter published in 1993 (November-December was a combined issue). The newsletter reports on cooperative national and international preservation activities and is written primarily for university administrators and faculty, library and archives administrators, preservation specialists and…

A survey of librarians in LIBRAS, a consortium comprising 16 Chicago-area liberal arts college libraries, tested two hypotheses: (1) the salary level of the group with faculty status is significantly greater than that of the group without faculty status; and (2) there is a statistically significant correlation between the amount of professional…