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…

Questions about the optimal way to present repository content to authors, submitters, and end-users, prompted this study. The authors examined, through an observation and a survey, the institutional repositories of peer institutions in the ARL for good practices related to the presentation and organization of faculty-authored institutional…

Demonstrating the value of library and information services has been a theme in library discussions in recent years. The application of many different approaches to evaluation has waxed and waned together with the development of theories of evaluation across the humanities and social sciences. Over the past two decades research and activity on…

The Mississippi State University Libraries' Virtual Reference Service collected statistics about virtual reference usage. Analysis of the data collected by an entry survey from chat and e-mail transactions provided librarians with concrete information about what patron groups were the highest and lowest users of virtual reference services. These…

The extent of U.S. librarians' collaboration with international partners in the area of scholarly activity and research publications is still unexplored. Guided by Jane Knight's "At Home" framework for international research and scholarly activity, this study examines the extent of scholarly activity between librarians from the United…

Across the sector, universities are transforming the student experience by reconceptualising the ways in which they partner with students. The academic library is at the heart of the university experience and libraries have a long history of collaboration and engaging with their communities. As such academic libraries are the perfect next frontier…

This study sought to (1) Determine how international students conduct research. (2) Determine whether international students conduct research in the way they perceive that they do. (3) Determine whether international students are efficient in conducting research. This study collected data from 67 international students who attend the University of…

University libraries worldwide are reconceptualising the ways in which they support the research agenda in their respective institutions. This paper is based on a survey completed by member libraries of the Queensland University Libraries Office of Cooperation (QULOC), the findings of which may be informative for other university libraries. After…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to study the impact of internet search engine usage with special reference to OPAC searches in the Punjabi University Library, Patiala, Punjab (India). Design/methodology/approach: The primary data were collected from 352 users comprising faculty, research scholars and postgraduate students of the university. A…

There is a lack of information in the literature about the sources used for research by modern Master of Library and Information Science students in the United States, and so the objective of this project is to understand the use of periodical articles by these students. Specifically: do articles play a major role in student research, how current…

In previous editions of the CAUT Almanac, data for provincial postsecondary education expenditures, total expenditures and university and college revenues and expenditures was reported from Statistics Canada's Financial Management System (FMS), which Statistics Canada last published for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. Statistics Canada will be adopting…

As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, college students across the United States temporarily became online learners regardless of their learning modality preferences. Academic libraries and the student support they offer also went entirely online for extended periods. How did this involuntary online environment affect students' library research?…

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,…

Purpose: The present study aims to investigate the experience, contribution and opinions of users of respective institutional repositories (IRs) developed in India. Design/methodology/approach: The survey method was used. The data collection tool was a web questionnaire, which was created with the help of software provided by surveymonkey.com…

To create more direct and equal collaborations with faculty, the University of Minnesota Libraries in the Twin Cities adapted a new model of engagement: the "Research Sprints." Research Sprints place librarians in direct proximity with faculty to rapidly and collaboratively work on a component of a research project in less than a week.…