The "Best of the Literature" column is intended to keep librarians, administrators, and staff up to date with the most recent, relevant, and useful literature of the field. In the last few years, students of color across the nation have spoken out about their experiences of racism and racial microaggressions on their campuses. They have…

This article reports on a content analysis of research articles focusing on library services in distance education published between 1999 and 2009. The study identified 472 articles on the topic and analyzed the citations, abstracts, and indexing to determine major topics, issues, and trends discussed; methodologies used; and major journals…

This article explores the questions to what extent educational research addresses library use in education and how the library can contribute to intercultural education. The focus is primarily on elementary education in Europe. Analysis of research publications was based on searches for peer-reviewed journals in international databases, literary…

This paper surveys the history and development of some of the major theories and concepts of leadership: (1) the trait approach--research focusing on personality characteristics presumed to set leaders apart from others; (2) leader behavior--what leaders actually do; and (3) situational variables--characteristics of the particular situation.…

Program presentations on issues related to bibliographic control and access to collections and business meeting minutes are combined in this report. Under the program title, "The Sum of the Parts: Sharing Responsibility," the following addresses are included: (1) "The Building Blocks: Elements in a System of Distributed…

Examination of appropriateness of productivity measurements to assess performance of special libraries defines the concept, discusses problems in their use, and gives guidelines for implementation. Results of use of productivity measurements in Library of Congress and State Department library are reported, and productivity measurements are…

This kit is based on a review of the organization charts of 86 member libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) gathered in spring 1986, compared with two earlier sets of charts published in 1973 and 1977, and contains charts of 61 of the libraries. Nearly one-fourth of the charts studied are under revision, indicating that changes…

The purpose of the study reported here was to determine the effectiveness of the revised New York State Depository System, which had been operating for more than two years when the survey was conducted. Data were gathered from the depository libraries about their organization, bibliographic control and staffing, and to determine whether or not…

Describes the background, goals, methods, and results of a needs assessment study at the New York Public Library. This structured, phased self-examination was designed to form a consensus about the institution's long term needs and priorities. (CLB)

This kit is based on a review of the organization charts of 71 member libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) gathered in January 1991, compared with an earlier SPEC Kit published in 1986, and contains charts of 29 of the libraries. A summary of the chart analyses presents information about the titles of library directors,…

This SPEC kit is based on a June 1987 survey of approval plan use by 94 members of the Association of Research Libraries. It reports on the current practices of these libraries, the perceived advantages and disadvantages of using approval plans, and the effect of increased library materials costs and library automation on such plans. It is noted…

This report begins by noting that, in the interests of developing a vigorous and professionally active library faculty, a major goal of the James White Library (Andrews University, Michigan) is to recruit, retain and promote librarians who are highly self-motivated and have the ability to support the mission of the library. It then provides…

This paper examines developments at 26 universities to identify patterns and models of telecommunications information planning and decision-making. The study was designed to determine how telecommunications information (TI) policy questions are resolved on university campuses, and by whom. An important aspect of the study was to determine the role…

Serials collections are a costly but essential part of a library's periodicals holdings. Jacksonville State University Library's (JSUL) budgetary problems have forced librarians to examine their serials closely in terms of cost factors, indexing, expected usage, and curriculum and research support. The purpose of this project is to assess JSUL's…

Discusses need for research in library and information science from perspective of an academic library director. The current state of information science research, areas where research might be undertaken, economics, library schools, librarians as managers, and the impact of new information technology on research are examined. (Six sources are…