Describes the implementation of an electronic reserve collection at the Portland State University library. Topics include a survey of other libraries who had started electronic reserve collections; the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA); copyright and intellectual property issues; and a list of helpful Web sites. (LRW)

Discusses the need for libraries to routinely redesign their Web sites, and presents a case study that describes how a Perl-driven database at Southern Illinois University's library improved Web site organization and patron access, simplified revisions, and allowed staff unfamiliar with HTML to update content. (Contains 56 references.) (Author/LRW)

Discussion of the role of academic libraries focuses on a study that proposed and tested a model to explore the use of academic libraries. Investigated service quality factors, resources, and user characteristics, and concludes that use is influenced most by a user's perceived familiarity with the library and its resources. (Author/LRW)

Identifies issues involved with the convergence and/or integration of library, computing, and information technology services in Australian universities. Investigates the impacts of integration of services on university libraries and their clients and recommends strategies for the successful management of convergence and integration involving…

Discusses the results of a survey of academic member libraries of the ARL (Association of Research Libraries) that investigated changes in reference services over the last three years and how electronic resources have impacted them. Topics include remote users; email reference; and live virtual reference. (LRW)

Discusses the development of an electronic reserves software system and related administrative issues at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Topics include staffing; technical and work flow issues; education and training of users, faculty, and staff; assessment; and advice for other libraries building electronic reserve programs.…

The University of Ottawa implemented a "New Professors" Fund as a targeted strategy for establishing a collaborative relationship between new faculty and librarians. An amount of $2000 per professor was earmarked for selection. The rationale, process, and outcomes of the initiative are described. The impact on collection development is…

Ongoing discussion between the Oregon State University (OSU) libraries' acting instruction coordinator and the Assistant Composition Coordinator focuses on improving collaboration between our programs and more effectively integrating the research process into the English composition curriculum. We briefly describe a qualitative analysis of the…

Open access publishing is a hot topic today. But open access publishing can have many different definitions, and pros and cons vary with the definitions. Open access publishing is especially attractive to companies and small colleges or universities that are likely to have many more readers than authors. A downside is that a membership fee sounds…

To transform humanists with Ph.D.'s into academic librarians is the purpose of an initiative recently launched by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The equivalent of an apprenticeship, the program revolves postdoctoral work in an academic library in lieu of earning a master's degree from a library and information studies…

Although fiction plays a prominent role in the interdisciplinary field of medical humanities (MH), it is physically and intellectually isolated from non-fiction in academic health sciences libraries. Using the Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database (LAMD) as a tool for selection and subject analysis, we suggest a method of integrating fiction…

There has been a move afoot in libraries of all kinds to incorporate open source software and applications to better support their rapidly evolving information access and delivery services. There has been particular interest in a specific configuration of open source components?known by the acronym LAMP?that can be used to build fairly complex Web…

In 2001, Janice R. Franklin and Loretta O'Brien Parham attended a meeting of the Southeastern Library Network (SOLINET) Board of Directors, an ordinary enough event. Observing the support that the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries provides its members, they realized there was no such mutual assistance program for the librarians at…

Explores the planning, funding, engineering, designing, and construction of the Elmer L. Andersen Library at the University of Minnesota that combined eight archives and special collection units into a single building. Considers how internal library planning meshes with the architectural design process and how the political process can affect…

The prompt return of checked out materials has been demanded by libraries for more than a century. Together with other measures such as overdue fines, library notices are used to bring in prompt returns by informing the users of their checked out items that will soon be due or are already overdue. The analysis of library notices sent in the past…