Reference transactions in academic libraries have been on the decline since mid-1990. The Academic Library Survey from the National Center for Education Statistics shows an average drop of 25% in reference use from 1996-2004 with higher numbers at some institutions such as the University of Maryland which plummeted 47% (Martell, 2008). The…

In their Top Trends of 2012, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) named data curation as one of the issues to watch in academic libraries in the near future (ACRL, 2012, p. 312). Data curation can be summarized as "the active and ongoing management of data through its life cycle of interest and usefulness to scholarship,…

The concept of the embedded librarian takes subject specialization to another plane. The article that follows discusses the embedded librarian as an evolutionary product and speculates on the reasons driving the change from the library to the department or center for the delivery of information services. Four drivers for change are explored with…

During the 2001-2002 academic year, Augustana College Library (Rock Island, IL) and St. Ambrose University Library (Davenport, IA) began a unique joint venture of peer observation between the reference staff members of the two libraries. Librarians from each college took turns visiting the other library and conducting peer observations of…

Reference e-mail continues to be a vital reference service. This article studies the trends in reference e-mail use over an eight year period. Usage statistics are analyzed particularly in light of the marketing of the service via changes in the location of the service on the official university libraries' Web pages. Included are recommendations…

Embedded librarians are attempting assimilation into a new pedagogical collective outside the library, often with a mission to improve the quality of service to that collective. But like the Borg, embedded librarians may not be achieving the results they envision. This article documents the varied experiences of five reference librarians at Murray…

A new library in San Jose opened on August 1, 2003. This library is the result of a unique collaboration between San Jose State University Library and the San Jose Public Library. The planning for this new library highlighted merging several key areas of operation, including Government Publications. Several years before the two libraries merged,…

Declining reference statistics, diminishing human resources, and the desire to be more proactive and embedded in academic departments, prompted the University of South Florida Library to create a taskforce for re-envisioning reference services. The taskforce was charged with examining the staffing patterns at the desk and developing…

This will be my first time authoring this column, and I'm delighted to have the opportunity it presents to explore the intersection of library technology and public services. As the recent title of the 2008 Internet Librarian conference indicates, "Beyond Library 2.0: User-Focused Tools and Technologies," the tide of what for several years has…

This article reports the results of a survey of cell phone policies in university libraries conducted over a three-month period in 2005. The authors sought information about the libraries' problems regarding cell phone use and attendant noise by students and other library users. The authors began with an 18-question survey of one hundred…

In light of the new emphasis on information literacy, this research updates previous studies and explores current practices in first year library instruction and programming. Academic librarians are reaching out to freshmen seminar programs, first year orientations, Introduction to College courses, and English composition courses to integrate…

The University of Florida Libraries took the opportunity of remodeling its Humanities and Social Sciences library to conceptualize the design of an info commons area for the new building. An Info Commons Concept Team was formed and charged with this task. The team used site visits, surveys, focus groups, and interviews to determine the needs of…