National and Institutional Policies on Open Access in the United States

National and institutional policies on open access are not yet fully established in the United States because of the manner in which the open access movement has evolved. In this report, the authors illustrate how the open access movement has evolved within each community libraries, universities, publishing companies, government agencies, the professoriate, public interest groups, and the U.S. Congress and note what trends now are beginning to emerge.     

Open Access Publishing in Business Research: The Authors’ Perspective

Open access (OA) publishing is now accepted as an integral part of the emerging trends within scholarly communication. Business librarians, like their subject specialist colleagues in other disciplines, are increasingly called upon to interpret scholarly communication trends to their faculty. This study surveys 1,293 business faculty from American schools of business accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Issues explored include business faculty publishing practices within the discipline and how these affect academic advancement, obtaining articles for their own research, electronic publishing, self-archiving, and their perceptions about OA publishing generally.     

Adopting and Implementing an Open Access Policy: The Library’s Role

With the support of the library, the faculty, and the administration, Allegheny College recently adopted the strongest type of Open Access policy, a mandate for all faculty scholarship to be placed in the college’s institutional repository. The library’s Head of Technical Services tells how the policy came to be approved and how it is being implemented by the library.     

Interlibrary Loan's Efficacy in Meeting Students’ Expectations to Acquire Textbooks: Results From a Study Conducted in a Large Research Library

Students look to interlibrary loan (ILL) as a mechanism for acquiring textbooks. What are the students’ expectations of ILL and can ILL meet those expectations, especially given that textbooks are perceived as difficult to borrow? This article reports the findings of a survey designed to determine the expectations of students who had placed ILL requests for textbooks. By analyzing the records for those students’ requests using data from ILLiad, the degree to which students’ expectations can be met was determined. Students’ flexibility with editions provides ILL staff methods to increase fill rates and improve service.     

How Do We Market to Distance Populations,and Does It Work?: Results From a Longitudinal Study and a Survey of the Profession

This article discusses the results of a longitudinal survey conducted by Kansas State University Libraries to assess the marketing of library services to the university's distance education population. The latest implementation of the survey revealed overall similar or increased awareness of and satisfaction with library services compared to the previous survey. Also included are results of a survey of library professionals on best practices for distance education librarians. Findings include the importance of developing relationships with campus distance education offices and faculty and the need to be persistent with marketing efforts to a changing population.     

Research note: Research in library and information science in a developing country—Nigeria

Factors that inhibit the advancement of research in library and information science in Nigeria include, for instance, the poor dissemination of research findings, noncollaborative research with those in other fields, academic and professional ineptitude, inadequate funding, societal indifference to research, and inefficient use of the knowledge and skills gained from doing research. This article discusses the implications of these shortcomings to the profession and to information services, as well as offers recommendations.     

“Sharing My Bias”: We're From the Government,and We're Here to Help

This article describes reference skills as a sharable resource, particularly in light of the development of e-government and the demands it places on public services staff in libraries.     

“What Is Bought Is Cheaper Than a Gift”: The Hidden Burdens of Gifts-in-Kind and Policies to Help

Abstract

Accepting donations has been a fundamental aspect of librarianship for years. The world’s greatest collections, from Carnegie Libraries to the Library of Congress, have been built by the generosity of others. Yet, in the modern era, gifts-in-kind are offered more democratically and come with mixed quality. This has led to a shift in how libraries look at gifts-in-kind as often more burdensome than genuinely helpful. This is because gifts come with costs to the library that donors fail to consider, and some gifts are offered with ulterior motives. To navigate these burdens and still encourage a generous public, libraries must have a clear written gift policy to ease stresses and anxieties on both the donor and the institution. In the case of academic law libraries, they often don’t share the exact experience of other libraries; however, they face some of the same challenges and require a written gift policy all the same. Examining the gift policies of other law libraries can establish a framework of essential elements when establishing a new gift policy at an institution.     

Presidential Spotlight: Reflection and Advocacy—Creating and Addressing Elements Central to Leadership and Higher Education

Drawing from my experiences as President of the Central States Communication Association, I examine how service allows for opportunities to create relationships, identity, and leadership in profound ways. I then consider how Communication scholars can unite to resolve ongoing economic issues that threaten both communication pedagogy and research. The academy as a whole faces serious economic challenges; this essay identifies some of these specific problems and potential action steps that academic associations can take in an advocacy role on this front. This is done in the hope that associations or even individuals begin (or continue) thinking about what they can do to help address the economic issues in higher education that so many face across the academy.     

Different Paths,Different Voices: The Historical Contexts of Women’s and Minorities’ Access to Broadcasting

This essay extends Susan Carter’s (2004) models of women’s access to broadcasting to include racial and ethnic minorities. It investigates the different historical contexts of female and minority access to commercial broadcasting, and argues that women and minorities have rooted their media access in different models. The intersection of race and gender, combined with an evolving cultural, political, and regulatory environment, has had a powerful influence on which of the three access models were used by women and people of color.     

A Landscape Archive: Methods for Interaction Design,Preservation, Access,and Mapping—A Case Study

ABSTRACT

The National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway) acquired the archive of Tim Robinson in 2013. Robinson is a cartographer and writer who lived, studied, and documented the landscape surrounding Galway Bay over the course of 40 years. This article describes the methods taken for the digital preservation, access provision, discovery, and digital mapping of this landscape archive. It describes a user interface that allows exploration and discovery of the landscape archive on a digital map, linked to the archive, which allows the user to interact with the material from a perspective of place. The aim of this is to provide an enhanced user experience and create potential for teaching, research, and community engagement. The archive can also be accessed using more traditional hierarchical archival discovery interfaces and is selectively digitally preserved and accessible as a digital archive.     

Access to learning resources for students on placement in the UK: what are the issues and how can we resolve them?

AIM: To compile a list of the issues regarding access to learning resources which affect students on placement in the UK and suggest some ways in which these can be resolved. RESULTS: Issues relating to PC access, network access, software, firewalls, disciplinary procedures, electronic information resources, virtual learning environments, service level agreements, physical access to libraries, book loans, reading lists and course committees are identified and discussed in relation to NHS libraries. CONCLUSIONS: Successful resolution of the IT and library issues, which are increasingly inter-linked, can help to ensure that students have a positive placement experience. Resolution will depend on close, regular liaison and can be assisted by negotiation of a clear Service Level Agreement.