Reports results of public library survey conducted by a Public Library Association committee that was established to study library investment practices and assess the need for establishing an investment management service. Revenue sources, investment patterns, benefits of pooling, and a proposed management service are highlighted. Six sources are…

Presents overview of three decades of library automation: the 1960s, dominated by primitive local systems; the 1970s, dominated by large multitype and multipurpose networks; and the 1980s, which will be dominated by a return to local systems. Bibliographic utilities and library networks and cooperation are noted. Twenty-one references are listed.…

Contends that network resource sharing is a service that is not appreciated by public library patrons, who accept only immediate delivery as acceptable access to materials. Improvement and expansion of local holdings is suggested as an alternative to expensive networking arrangements. Twenty references are included. (RAA)

Discusses ways in which academic libraries are responding to rising costs of serials. Topics addressed include pricing by publishers; the effect of journal cancellations on research activities; interlibrary loans and document delivery services; coordinated cancelling; electronic journals; and experiences at the University of Arizona. (LRW)

Considers the impact of electronic information on libraries. Topics discussed include user needs; the accuracy and reliability of information; equity of access to information; cooperation and coordination; prospects of a paperless society; and integrating technology with other elements of information, rather than replacing all elements with…

Discusses academic and public libraries that expand the range and type of their services via fee-based information services and private information businesses that charge fees. Questions of billing the total cost to the patron versus part of the cost are considered; and the impact of such fees on library cooperation and networks is described. (six…

Discusses consortium-based licensing as a means of meeting libraries' information resources needs. Topics include information needs, the need for more affordable information, requirements for libraries and for vendors, competition across disciplines, saving money, pricing and market practices, experiences at OhioLINK, and future possibilities.…

Two-year continuing education project jointly sponsored by Oklahoma County Libraries System and South Oklahoma City Junior College is described. (KP)

Describes cooperative approach to municipal documents control by Urbana Free Library (Illinois) and City of Urbana. Highlights include basic elements (organizing documents into numbered series, microfilming, producing microfiche for distribution, computer-assisted indexing, providing access to indexing by computer-output microfiche and online…

Argues that dissatisfaction with the organizational structure of library networks, combined with advances in electronic information formats and microcomputing, may drive libraries to decentralization and a return to local systems. Changes that networks might adopt to provide an effective network governance structure are discussed. (five…

Jennifer Duvernay, a science reference librarian at Arizona State University (ASU), feels it is very important to make sure that the information shopping experience is completely satisfying. "I'd like our students to choose to come to us because they have good experiences with us, trust us, and like us, despite [the availability of] plenty of…

Innovations from Google[TM] and Amazon[R] are clear wake-up calls that as a profession and an industry things need to be done differently. Automation vendors and librarians must work together to ensure that the profession is positioned to take advantage of changing culture and technology to assume a rightful place at the table where rich and…

The surprising success of Live Homework Help, a product of Tutor.com unknown to libraries before 2001, is in very large part owing to the company's effort to understand library funding and help libraries tap into all kinds of potential funding sources. The story is a model for partnerships between other companies and libraries. For the people of…

Discussion of efforts by federal, state, and local government agencies to enhance the library resources and services available to older citizens highlights the roles of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) and the Administration on Aging (AoA), cooperative agreements, and descriptions of state and local programs.…

Discussion of the effect of computer technology on library automation and networking highlights added benefits and added costs, autonomous past, pressure for standardization, rise of bibliographic utilities (e.g., OCLC, Research Library Information Network, Washington Library Network), return to decentralization, distributed processing,…