Describes a study that used the Job Description Index to survey job satisfaction of academic library support staff in Alabama. The need for better compensation and opportunities for promotion for academic library support staff is discussed, as well as the need to relate satisfaction to quality of working life issues. (23 references) (CLB)

Describes a study that investigated whether academic library patrons searching Agricola on CD-ROM would be willing to use an online updating system to obtain more current citations, the level of user satisfaction with the updating system, and the cost involved in making such a system available to all patrons searching Agricola on CD-ROM. (Four…

Applies the ideas of Peter Senge's "The Fifth Discipline; The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization" to leadership in academic libraries in transformation. Systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision, and team learning are discussed; and current limitations of organizations are identified. (EAM)

This study determined how the 12 academic libraries in the Council for Interinstitutional Cooperation (CIC) approached the challenge of identifying a constituency for fund-raising development activities. Topics discussed include results of a literature review; university organization for development activities; staffing; examples of achievements;…

Describes the Kentuckiana Metroversity Linking project, a consortium of academic and public libraries using the Z39.50 information retrieval protocol to provide service to Greater Louisville and Southern Indiana. Topics addressed include the Z39.50 standard, the consultant's role, addressing technical issues, Internet vs. dial-in access,…

Presents results of a study of seven World Wide Web-based "What's New" announcement services to determine their relevance for academic library Webmasters, concluding that the use of such services for locating appropriate new Internet resources is problematic. A list of 15 recommended Web-based sources of new sites for library home pages…

Describes a 10-year study of interlibrary loan data from the University of California, Santa Barbara that was used to document the impact of serials cancellations. Also details a project involving a number University of California campuses that uses faxes to fill requests for science and engineering journal articles. (LRW)

Describes a study of State University of New York libraries that determined the cost effectiveness of journal ownership versus access by calculating financial costs of interlibrary loan versus subscriptions. Journal subscriptions in the fields of mathematics and sciences that historically have high prices and low levels of use were studied. (LRW)

Discussion of the World Wide Web and the role of academic librarians as online system developers and designers focuses on usability testing. Usability evaluation at OCLC and at the University of Arizona is described, and the integration of the results into their Web and online product designs is discussed. (Author/LRW)

Defines and discusses strategies for digital preservation. Describes the United Kingdom's CURL (Consortium of University Research Libraries) exemplars in digital archives project "Cedars" led by the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Leeds to address strategic, methodological, and practical issues, and to provide guidance in best…

Reviews the first year of operation of the Researchers' Center of the Queensland University of Technology Library; the Center provides research-level students and academic staff with access to electronic products, on-hand expert advice, and state-of-the-art study space. Discusses the impetus for the Center, issues relating to its establishment,…

Discussion of strategic planning in libraries focuses on a five-step process based on academic libraries. Highlights include a situational and environmental analysis; development of organizational direction, including vision, mission, and objectives; formulation of the strategic plan; implementation; and control, feedback, and evaluation. (LRW)

Considers some of the major technical and organizational issues involved in virtual-catalog production, contrasting them with the traditional union catalog approach exemplified by COPAC, an online public-access catalog composed of academic libraries in the United Kingdom. Suggest a method of integrating these two models of the union catalog.…

Discusses the role of libraries in distance education for higher education institutions. Highlights include new standards from the Association of College and Research Libraries; the need for planning; promoting the library's role; librarians as instructors; proactive service; and a list of distance-education resources available on the Web. (LRW)

Examines how history graduate students seek information and how they use the university library in their information-seeking process, based on interviews at UCLA. Explores the use of new technologies and the reliance that history graduate students place on reference librarians and librarians in special collections. (Author/LRW)