Describes activities by the American Bar Association and other groups aimed at educating the public about their legal rights and responsibilities, including informational pamphlets and brochures issued by state bar associations. These public service information pamphlets are listed by state and the address of each state's bar association is…

Digital reference services at university libraries in Australia and New Zealand are a recent phenomena dating back to the late 1990s--following the developments in Web-based online library services. This paper examines the move towards the provision of e-mail reference services based on the study of 16 randomly chosen university libraries in…

The explosion of information and the popularity of the Internet and commercial search engines have required librarians to take a fresh look at their profession. The overwhelming amount of information now available has brought new demands and expectations. The need to bring information to the remote user has encouraged the creation of many…

Discusses electronic reference service from a teen's point of view and from the school library media specialist's view. Considers traits that attract teens, including anonymity, speed, and convenience; and explains concerns of media specialists, including quality of electronic resources, how to provide access, library instruction options, and…

Reports on a Delphi study developing consensus about the information needs of members of the Women's Studies faculty at the University of Michigan. Discusses the implications of the findings for future research in collection development, instruction, and reference service. Also presents the consensus on top priority and lowest priority issues.…

Discusses the general benefits of library networking in terms of selection, acquisition, organization, storage of and access to information, and the specific benefits of and barriers to special library networks. Examples of networking by special librarians are given, and suggestions are made for special librarians wishing to participate in formal…

Discusses the information-seeking and information-using behavior of artists, particularly in the applied arts, and art historians. Topics include visual information; technological and intellectual aspects of access to visual information; physical characteristics of art works; cataloging and indexing tools; access to images; and the role of…

Discusses the evolution of GIS (geographic information systems) services and the roles that reference and public services professionals may play in providing this technology to users: developing collections to incorporate GIS; providing access to spatial information and software tools; and facilitating intellectual access to GIS concepts and…

Discusses the impact of Internet access on library reference services based on 1994 interviews with almost two dozen university librarians. Highlights include library policy, overcrowded workstations and methods of controlling use, recreational use of terminals that interferes with more formal library use, restriction as a form of censorship, and…

Discusses kinds of problems public librarians encounter in the process of providing legal and health information. Data are compared from two surveys of reference librarians who provide legal and health information services in Ontario (Canada) public libraries, and implications for collection development are suggested. (17 references) (LRW)

Argues that, with the trend toward viewing reference librarians as information brokers and the reification and privatization of information, the traditional goals of libraries and librarianship are being lost, i.e., providing free and open access to books and information to promote informed democracy and the public good. (63 references) (EAM)

Considers how to plan for online reference services. Highlights include local access to databases, including CD-ROM and database licensing; local gateways; online search services; and planning considerations, including cost, locating online information, telecommunications and computing infrastructures, and equal access. (Contains 15 references.)…

Argues that the technical and conceptual foundations of reference librarianship must change if it is to survive the information age. Proposes a new model of service, called "access engineering," in which information seekers are treated as consumers, and technology is used to route information to them on demand. (nine references) (NRP)

Discusses the need to change reference service in academic libraries to meet changes in user needs and customer service technologies. Topics include convergence of information services and technologies; portable computing; new values; new service models; on-site integrated services; and remote integrated services. (Contains 27 references.) (LRW)

Discusses the increasing demand for digital reference services from government Web sites via email, and describes a partnership between the Government Printing Office and the federal depository library at the University of Illinois at Chicago to create electronic access to the Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN). (Author/LRW)