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…

At the May 1995 Membership Meeting of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), a panel of experts offered four perspectives on strategies and public policy choices involved in defining the rights and responsibilities of copyright owners, users, and the libraries in the networked environment. These perspectives, and an additional paper…

This set of minutes from a semiannual meeting of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) includes three presentations: "The Economics of Document Delivery" by Donald B. Simpson, "Electronic Journal Publishing and Libraries" by Jay K. Lucker, and "Policies and Controversies" by Hugh C. Atkinson. Atkinson reviews…

Arguing that some books and documents must be conserved because they have scholarly value as well as for the information they contain, this report presents reasons for preserving such artifacts and recommends means of developing effective and efficient preservation strategies. Two strategies are suggested. The first advises identifying and ranking…

This addendum is designed to compensate for Altick's omission of materials by or about black writers in "The Art of Literary Research" and to identify some of the most outstanding public, university, and private library holdings in the United States on American blacks, as well as major Afro-American collections. Major public library…

As suggested by a Colorado Academic Library Master Plan developed in 1982, a statewide conference that brought together academicians and librarians was held to explore the role of academic libraries in the information society. People came in teams of three from institutions and included library directors, academic vice presidents, and faculty…

This collection of policies for providing access to the collections and services of research libraries for users who are not associated with the library's parent institution includes six examples of general access policies, three documents on reference service, five statements of circulation policies, and descriptions of four cooperative…

Issues involved in user fees for library services at research libraries are discussed in 29 papers in six sections: (1) general fees for service policies, focusing on library service proposals to the non-University of British Columbia community and including fees to off-campus users at the Universities of Miami and Michigan; (2) effects of fees,…

Materials in this collection were submitted by respondents to a survey which sought specific data on the numbers and types of approval plans in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) libraries, whether such plans are meeting expectations, their relative importance in the library, who makes the key decisions, and the kind of thought and study that…

This paper defines performance measurement as the clarification of objectives and standards, identification of key activities, data collection and analysis, and formative evaluation of services. It then examines some of the factors involved in using performance measurement to evaluate public services activities, and analyzes performance…

This essay focuses on use of the Library of Congress Subject Headings system in online catalogs for the retrieval of information by subject. Among the topics addressed are differences among catalog forms (card, microform, and computer); user interface with different forms of catalog; the types of subject indexes employed in present online…

Sketches author's views of the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), a cooperative library owned by over 100 academic and research libraries, and considers possible future directions. Growth and expansion, center services and collections, challenges to be met (commitment, resource sharing, goals), and CRL as model for academic world are discussed.…

Analyzes traditional roles and services of academic libraries, summarizes new communication links, and suggests major policy areas to be considered by university officers: centralized financial and technological planning, integration of information services with academic programs, access to scholarly resources, electronic publishing, copyright and…

This discussion of the effects of computer technology on the services of research libraries includes descriptions of four information technology services that could replace more expensive traditional services. The efforts of the Research Libraries Group to reshape information services for their scholars is also described. (CHC)

A national cooperative strategy by research libraries is needed in collection development capabilities, technological developments, preservation requirements and the process of scholarly communication. The publications explosion, rapid inflation, and technological advancement have invalidated traditional operating assumptions of research…