Vendor‐supplied usage data for electronic resources: a survey of academic libraries

A survey was sent to research libraries in the United States and Canada to learn about the level of effort involved in working with vendors' usage reports, how the data are used, and which data are most useful to librarians in managing electronic resources. Ninety‐two responses were received and analyzed. Lack of standards and inconsistencies in the usage data were identified as issues in effectively preparing the data for further analysis. In fact, the results showed that more time was spent acquiring, reformatting, and manipulating the data than on actually analyzing them. The number of full‐text downloads was specified as the most useful statistic for assessing the use of electronic resources.     

The administration of international exchanges in academic libraries: A survey

For decades acquisition by exchange has been an important feature employed by libraries in the United States and abroad for maintaining international coverage for research collections. Declining resources, however, have pressured libraries into maintaining greater financial accountability in recent years, thereby causing a finer scrutiny of all acquisitions programs including international exchanges.Through a review of the literature and a special survey of thirteen ARL libraries, this study investigates how international exchanges are administered, how their needs and support may be changing, and how they are viewed and valued as acquisition programs by library administrators and collection development officers. It concludes that international exchanges are considered as cost effective and necessary components of acquisition programs in most research libraries. It also demonstrates that only exchanges with the Soviet Union have been adequately researched and that more in-depth research on exchanges with libraries in other countries and regions is justified.     

Developing language and literature collections in academic libraries: A survey

Reports a 1995 survey of Wisconsin academic libraries regarding collection development practices in the subjects of languages and literature. In general, libraries rely heavily on faculty selections and course- relatedness, buying almost exclusively current English language material. An analysis of OCLC holdings indicates that Choice's 1993 “Outstanding Academic Books” are not widely held, confirming the survey results showing an emphasis on local demand over presumed quality.     

Collection development and outsourcing in academic health sciences libraries: a survey of current practices

Academic health sciences libraries in the United States and Canada were surveyed regarding collection development trends, including their effect on approval plan and blanket order use, and use of outsourcing over the past four years. Results of the survey indicate that serials market forces, budgetary constraints, and growth in electronic resources purchasing have resulted in a decline in the acquisition of print items. As a result, approval plan use is being curtailed in many academic health sciences libraries. Although use of blanket orders is more stable, fewer than one-third of academic health sciences libraries report using them currently. The decline of print collections suggests that libraries should explore cooperative collection development of print materials to ensure access and preservation. The decline of approval plan use and the need for cooperative collection development may require additional effort for sound collection development. Libraries were also surveyed about their use of outsourcing. Some libraries reported outsourcing cataloging and shelf preparation of books, but none reported using outsourcing for resource selection. The reason given most often for outsourcing was that it resulted in cost savings. As expected, economic factors are driving both collection development and outsourcing practices.     

Organizational aspects of the virtual library: A survey of academic libraries

The virtual library is presently being investigated across disciplines, often with a strong technological emphasis. The present study takes an organizational approach by placing the virtual library in the context of the academic library, and focusing on opinions of the library directors concerning the virtual library. The problem investigated refers to the propensity of academic libraries to become organized as a virtual library, which is conceptualized in terms of four general models. Directors of academic libraries were surveyed, and the literature on changes in the library organization was reviewed. It has been found that academic libraries exhibit visible organizational changes. When the virtual library is concerned, however, library directors tend to understand it just as digital technology, are mainly supportive of such library, and demonstrate a number of limitations that prevent them from thinking of virtual libraries in more radical terms.     

Acquisitions expenditure by Australian libraries: Report of a survey

Based on a questionnaire survey of Australian academic, special and public libraries, this study seeks to determine the amount that Australian libraries spend on various types of materials. It presents detailed quantitative data on the acquisitions expenditure of the various library sectors in relation to selected categories of materials, and it draws broad conclusions about the present state of acquisitions expenditure and library spending in Australia.     

Leadership: Developing a research agenda for academic libraries

The number of books and journal articles on leadership is large and constantly increasing. Those writings might advance or evaluate different theories and test their application in different settings. The purpose of this article is to stimulate the amount and type of research on the topic appearing in the literature of library and information science. The research discussed is grouped around a conceptual model, one that captures managerial leadership in the information professions.     

The highs and lows of physical browsing: How shelf position affects book usage in academic libraries

In most academic libraries, books are placed on shelves in an order determined by their Library of Congress call number. Many who work in libraries have had the general impression that books that end up on the upper and lower shelves are at a disadvantage for being used. Surprisingly, little research had been done to test this assumption quantitatively. This study sought to address that deficit by measuring 2.25 years of usage statistics of approximately 21,000 books correlated to what shelves they were on.There was a clear preference for in-library use of items stored at the eye level of average patrons. For both checkouts and in-library use, items from the bottom shelf were used the least. When correlated to the different ways books could be discovered and then removed from the shelves, results indicated that physically browsing the shelves biased a patron to choose books at eye level significantly more often and to choose books on the bottom shelf significantly less often.While done in a large, academic library, this research may be useful to any library where books are placed on bookshelves for patrons to browse.     

Providing health information to the general public: a survey of current practices in academic health sciences libraries

A questionnaire was mailed to 148 publicly and privately supported academic health sciences libraries affiliated with Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC-accredited medical schools in the United States and Canada to determine level of access and services provided to the general public. For purposes of this study, "general public" was defined as nonaffiliated students or health care professionals, attorneys and other nonhealth-related professionals, patients from affiliated or other hospitals or clinics, and general consumers. One hundred five (71%) libraries responded. Results showed 98% of publicly supported libraries and 88% of privately supported libraries provided access to some or all of the general public. Publicly supported libraries saw greater numbers of public patrons, often provided more services, and were more likely to circulate materials from their collections than were privately supported libraries. A significant number of academic health sciences libraries housed a collection of consumer-oriented materials and many provided some level of document delivery service, usually for a fee. Most allowed the public to use some or all library computers. Results of this study indicated that academic health sciences libraries played a significant role in serving the information-seeking public and suggested a need to develop written policies or guidelines covering the services that will be provided to minimize the impact of this service on primary clientele.     

Gifts in academic and special libraries: a selected bibliography

From the time the Reverend John Harvard donated his collection of books in 1638 to start the library at the newly established Harvard University [1], gifts have played an important role in the development of collections in U.S. academic and special libraries. Today, gifts are still vital to most libraries as publication costs rise and book budgets shrink. Over the years, much has been written on material gifts to libraries, from their use in collection building to the practical points of handling gifts and donors in the technical services area. Culled from the pool of literature, this annotated bibliography is a collection of many of the most useful and informative sources written on the various aspects of gifts in libraries.     

高校图书馆美学浅议

以广东海洋大学图书馆为例,对高校图书馆美学进行了阐述,指出高校图书馆只有将外在美与内在美结合起来,才能促进高校图书馆的发展。     

Scenario planning: a tool for academic health sciences libraries

Objective: Review the International Campaign to Revitalise Academic Medicine (ICRAM) Future Scenarios as a potential starting point for developing scenarios to envisage plausible futures for health sciences libraries. Method: At an educational workshop, 15 groups, each composed of four to seven Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) directors and AAHSL/NLM Fellows, created plausible stories using the five ICRAM scenarios. Results: Participants created 15 plausible stories regarding roles played by health sciences librarians, how libraries are used and their physical properties in response to technology, scholarly communication, learning environments and health care economic changes. Conclusions: Libraries are affected by many forces, including economic pressures, curriculum and changes in technology, health care delivery and scholarly communications business models. The future is likely to contain ICRAM scenario elements, although not all, and each, if they come to pass, will impact health sciences libraries. The AAHSL groups identified common features in their scenarios to learn lessons for now. The hope is that other groups find the scenarios useful in thinking about academic health science library futures.     

Analysis of web-based tutorials created by academic libraries

This paper aims to analyse the characteristics of tutorials created by academic libraries. It evaluates a sample of 180 tutorials by applying thirty basic indicators referring to general characteristics, content, teaching methodology, usability and technology. The general conclusion is that most of the tutorials are at an early stage of development.     

论高校图书馆讲座的可持续发展

高校图书馆开展讲座服务工作必须在讲座的定位、选题、组织等方面狠下功夫,方能确保其可持续发展。     

我国图书馆评估实践和学术研究进展综述

本文综述了我国图书馆评估实践和学术研究进展。作者依据所查文献的内容特征和我国图书馆评估实践的特点将我国图书馆评估实践和学术研究划分为三个时期,并总结了三个时期的阶段特点。     

End-user programs in medical school libraries: a survey

A questionnaire was sent to all medical school libraries listed in the Annual Statistics of Medical School Libraries in the United States and Canada (1983-1984) asking librarians to describe their end-user programs. Of the 113 responding libraries, 78 had an end-user program. All provided some kind of formal instruction, 39 made equipment available to end users, and 22 provided and administered passwords. The reasons most cited for starting a program were staff interest and patron requests. The two most frequently taught systems were NLM/MEDLINE and BRS/Colleague. In general, respondents felt positive about the programs and planned to continue them. The most frequently mentioned problem was need for more equipment.