AASL's new integrated standards are designed to empower leaders to transform teaching and learning. The new "National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries" reflect an evolution of AASL Standards, building on philosophical foundations and familiar elements of previous standards while featuring the…

A library survey was conducted during February 1983 to ascertain the characteristics of the user population, user needs, and user satisfaction with library services in five science and technology libraries at the University of Texas at Austin, including the chemistry, engineering, geology, physics-mathematics-astronomy, and science libraries. A…

A mail survey of 1,682 graduate students and 758 faculty in the Colleges of Natural Science, Engineering, and Pharmacy, and in the School of Nursing at the University of Texas at Austin was conducted during February 1983 to ascertain the characteristics of the science and technology libraries user population, the type and frequency of library use,…

The four papers in this collection consider the attitudes, concepts, and techniques involved in marketing for non-profit organizations, and explore how librarians in higher education can use these ideas to optimize the effectiveness of their service provision in a time of economic constraint. In "Marketing the Academic Library,"…

Building on a prior investigation of users' formulations and needs in fiction, this study was conducted to determine dominant patterns in public library user-librarian search interactions. Based on analysis of 134 actual user-librarian conversations about fiction recorded under everyday library conditions in Danish public libraries in 1976, it was…

Based on the concept that library use measurement should have as its basic starting point the individual patron, a method of data collection and analysis has been developed that explores individual patterns of borrowing over time. The method accounts for the number of visits on which borrowing takes place, number of items borrowed per visit, and…

This collection of library documents, which illustrates current techniques for conducting user studies in order to facilitate specific public services planning and priority-setting efforts at the member libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), contains excerpts from: (1) four general user studies conducted at the University of…

The chapters in this volume, originally presented at the Third Annual Virtual Reference Desk (VRD) conference, "Setting Standards and Making It Real," (Orlando, Florida, November 2001), were organized, revised, and updated to reflect current technology and practice. The VRD conference and the ideas in this book represent the cutting edge…

A pilot survey of academic reference librarians in Nevada determined that 74% of those identified as second-career librarians cited prior work experience as influencing their present approach to work. Effects noted were service orientation, subject expertise, teaching skills, "information provider" philosophy, empathy, and interviewing…

Academic librarians report that use by increasingly large numbers of high school students is creating pressures in budgets, staff, and materials. Indications are that these demands will increase: students are increasingly sophisticated in their information needs; they are mobile; and school library media centers' collections have been weakened by…

Explores issues surrounding efforts to introduce online catalogs to users and presents relevant research results from Northwestern University's "Educating the Online Catalog User" project. Highlights include attitudes and preconceptions about online catalogs and instruction, research on online catalog use, suggestions for online catalog teaching,…

This self-study--part of a series of studies conducted at Michigan State University Libraries--was undertaken to make recommendations for improvements in public services. The study team was directed not to limit its analysis to immediate concerns, but also to take a long-term view of the development of library service. Task forces were organized…

This final report completes a self-study begun in August 1983 by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Academic Affairs Library to provide an opportunity for staff to lay the groundwork for services within a new facility. Broad areas identified for study were: effectiveness of services to users, coordination of public services throughout…

This self-study by Temple University Libraries involved the efforts of 33 library staff members--9 on the study team, and 24 on 4 task forces--over a period of 12 months. Task forces were organized according to four issues: Organization of Public Services, Staffing and Management, Public Service and Technology, and Library Users and Their Changing…

To enable the William R. Perkins Library to focus attention on its collection development operation, a six-member study committee was appointed to review within the present and future environment of the university current collection development policies and procedures and to suggest changes as appropriate to ensure effective use of the library's…