Many movers and shakers inspire admiration and even awe, but those who inspire love are the mentors who have changed lives. That is why many grateful librarians nominated Linda Golian-Lui and George Oberle. Both of them were accidental librarians, work-study students whose supervisors encouraged them to become paraprofessionals, and then…

Contents of outreach position announcements posted in "College and Research Libraries News" from 1970 through 2004 were examined. Ads fell within three broad groups: distance education, multicultural services, and specialized. Overall, outreach positions have been on the rise with the exception of multicultural services librarian positions that…

To address competitive threats, academic libraries are encouraged to build robust Web sites personalized to learning and research tasks. Through an evaluation of Association of Research Libraries (ARL)-member Web sites, we suggest how library Web sites should evolve and reflect upon the impacts such recommendations may have on academic libraries…

A one-time survey may give a falsely precise indication of local usage. Examining four iterations of a library assignment survey reveals large within-discipline variation; even individual faculty members are inconsistent in their use of library assignments from year to year. Additional causes of variation include changing faculty and pedagogy.…

For as long as libraries have charged fines for books returned after their due dates, this familiar practice has excited comment and controversy. Fines are thought by many to deter patrons from keeping materials too long. However, others believe there is little persuasive evidence that fines are more effective at minimizing overdues than are…

In 2003, Penn State Libraries implemented payroll deduction and collection agency programs to gain better control of accounts receivable. The author reports on the implementation processes and first year outcomes of the programs. She recommends careful consideration of several questions before implementing such measures.

Academic libraries increasingly rely on Interlibrary Loan (ILL) departments to obtain research materials. This adds to the workload of ILL at a time when many libraries are experiencing budget cuts and dwindling staff. Collaboration between ILL and Reference can assist ILL by providing searching expertise. Collaboration is facilitated by the…

This article describes a qualitative upward evaluation of the leadership performance of library managers. Follow-up studies were conducted, focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of the qualitative approach to upward appraisal. The authors discuss pros and cons to guide others who might use this methodology for upward appraisals in the…

This article analyzes the concept of the Invisible Web and its implication for academic librarianship. It offers a guide to tools that can be used to mine the Invisible Web and discusses the benefits of using the Invisible Web to promote interest in library services. In addition, the article includes an expanded definition, a literature review,…

When a university acquires the library of a national institute and the institute's active and worldwide membership expects continued and uninterrupted access to services from the collection, shockwaves can reverberate throughout the university's main library and among its staff. This was especially true for the Reference Department of the…

People look at one billion dollars in one of two ways: if it is the result of the long, hard effort of years of fundraising, they rejoice; if it signifies an astronomical budget deficit, they cringe. How, then, should people respond as a community to reaching the $1 billion mark ($1,242,436,438, to be exact) in this year's spending for public…

Academic library faculty require a supportive atmosphere in order to successfully engage in research and publication. At Oregon State University, the Library Faculty Association (LFA) provides venues for peer criticism of manuscripts and presentations and for the discussion of professional issues. A survey of LFA members on their level of…

The misconceptions that students bring with them, or that arise during instruction, are a critical barrier to learning. Implicit-confidence tests, a simple modification of the multiple-choice test, can be used as a strategy for recognizing student misconceptions. An important issue, however, is whether such tests are gender-neutral. We analyzed…

A brief picture of the academic library of the future is presented and anxiety is expressed over the impact of technology-enhanced and online education, which has become a critical part of educational enterprise, on these libraries. The growing need for expanding the people's role as educators and scholarly publishers into agents of literacy and…

In 2005, the University of Texas (UT) at Austin made some surprising national headlines when it removed the book collection from its undergraduate library. Behind the sensational headlines, the move was in fact more "life-as-usual" than "radical change." In today's academic libraries, technology is constantly redefining library…