The ERIC Database

Abstract

The ERIC database is available in many free Internet versions, mainly from ERIC clearinghouses. Paying for access to ERIC through a commercial vendor is a decision that needs to be justified by all libraries with finite budgets. This case study attempts to determine the relative merits of the features and functionality of the various free versions of the ERIC database in comparison with one commercial version. Conclusions are shared about decisions reached at one academic library. The conclusion centers on whether libraries can forgo a commercial version of the ERIC database.     

ILL-List Conspectus

Abstract

The paper analyses the trends of information delivery at the Knust library. It reviews the history of cooperation, conventional practices in information delivery, and current trends in Ghana. CD-ROM and online facilities, which are the two main tools for electronic information delivery, are highlighted.

The paper reveals that there is a general acceptance among members of the academic community that electronic information delivery services have had considerable impact on their work. The paper looks into the future of document delivery and proposed possible ways of enhancing and sustaining the existing facilities.     

Books Effectively Censored: Discrimination at a University Library: Alumni the Target

Abstract

This article presents the results of a study performed on the interlibrary loan patron request records at the library of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, an urban commuter college with a specialized curriculum. The findings suggest that the increasing availability of electronic full-text resources has had a significant impact on the volume of faculty and graduate student interlibrary loan borrowing of nonreturnable, photocopied materials. This appears to be the case across disciplines and regardless of the currency of the needed materials. The downward trend in demand for these materials may be outpacing actual full-text availability. This may suggest that content is being replaced with convenience. This could have implications for reference librarians and their role in the research process. Declining demand may also provide interlibrary loan librarians and their staff opportunities to alter their services and develop new skills.     

Researching Russian Laws

Abstract

The article discusses online sources dealing with current Russian laws and regulations. Included are websites from branches of the federal government, commercial databases and commercial information systems.     

Implementing an Image Database for Complex Russian Architectural Objects: The William Brumfield Collection

SUMMARY

With support from a National Endowment for the Humanities Reference Materials Program grant for 2006–2008, faculty and librarians at the University of Washington (UW) are collaborating with William Brumfield (Tulane University) to preserve and catalog the latter's unmatched collection of Russian architectural photographs, create metadata describing the photographs, and make images and text widely accessible as part of an innovative web-based educational and research resource. Building on experience gained through the creation of an experimental pilot database, project staff are adapting emerging standards (METS and CCO) to a custom design that presents images from the Brumfield Collection within their architectural, geographic, and chronological contexts, both as interrelated views of individual structures, and as buildings that share certain structural and stylistic features with other buildings within and beyond the Russian cultural continuum.     

Business and Economic Database Access in Libraries Serving Midsized Accredited Business Schools

This study extends earlier ones focusing on the database offerings of large academic business libraries. It focuses on libraries that serve “midsized” Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accredited schools of business in the United States that have undergraduate and MBA programs, but do not have PhD programs and tend to not offer separate business libraries. Using a survey, this study aims at collecting and sharing data that offer benchmarks for libraries to compare their offerings and to support the justification of the addition of desired databases.     

Library Collections for the Support of Academic Sport Management Programs

Sport management is a relatively new and rapidly growing academic discipline. Despite the proliferation of sport management programs in the United States, a review of the library literature reveals few publications concerning library support for such programs. In addition to providing background knowledge about the sport management discipline, this article provides practical information for academic librarians by recommending essential databases, journals, academic publishers, industry publishers, and associations in the arena of sport management.     

Fast-Paced,Romantic, Set in Savannah: A Comparison of Results from Readers' Advisory Databases in the Public Library

Readers' advisory databases are used by public librarians to assist patrons in finding books based on the facts of the plot, the factors used to describe the appeal of the book, or read titles similar to another book they have read. Librarians depend on these databases to give a complete view of the titles available given these limiters, and may assume that identical searches in each database would give similar results. This study compares search results from four databases to see the extent of crossover within those results, using fact-based searches, appeal factor searches, and read-alike searches.     

Gender,Science, and Technology:

The present bibliography grew out of a need to provide a basic working list for participants in a conference held at the University of California, Davis in April of 1988. Originally consisting of publications of conference participants, it grew from a specialized working document into a more comprehensive monograph bibliography, at first with a simple snowball method; and subsequently, with the aid of two major bibliographic utilities: the University of California's system-wide online catalog (Melvyl), and RLIN (the cataloging database of the Research Libraries Group).