Profound changes due to Open-Access (OA) publications lead to organizational changes in universities and libraries. This study examines Israeli librarians' perceptions regarding their role and the academic library's role in promoting OA-publications, including the barriers, challenges, needs, and requirements necessary to promote OA publishing.…

Beginning with a discussion of how collections diversity has been conceptualized and assessed within the literature, we then analyze four areas in which professional practices and modes of thinking create barriers to collecting materials from historically marginalized voices. Specifically, we discuss how metadata practices can obscure these…

In December 2012, the University of Saskatchewan Library's University Archives and Special Collections acquired the complete image collection of Courtney Milne, a professional photographer whose worked encompassed documentary, abstract and fine art photographs. From acquisition to digital curation, the authors identify, outline, and discuss the…

What do school librarians fear most? Hands down, their biggest fear is a formal challenge to a resource in the school library. There are no accurate statistics about the number of challenges to school library resources. The staff of ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom estimates that only about 20 percent are reported to ALA annually. For the…

This bibliographic essay examines the difficulties associated with the selection, licensing, acquisition, and management of e-books in academic libraries. The potential advantages of e-book technology are likely to be realized only to the extent that they advance the economic goals of e-book suppliers and are consistent with the legal framework…

Collection development librarians have long struggled to meet user demands for new titles. Too often, required resources are not purchased, whereas some purchased resources do not circulate. E-books selected through patron-driven plans are a solution but present new challenges for both selectors and catalogers. Radical changes to traditional…

One of the biggest challenges confronting university students with print disabilities, such as blindness, is accessing the written word. In the past it was necessary to read text books onto cassette tape or turn them to Braille so these students could access the text books. Technological advances are making university life increasingly accessible…

This paper presents a summary of the first survey of public library authorities in the UK to explore Sunday opening, undertaken in 2007 as part of the Clore Leadership Programme. It provides a snapshot of Sunday opening practice, set against a context of societal, economic, and policy developments, and examines whether Sunday opening furthers the…

This article discusses the processes that occurred when the Library, Controller's Office, and Information Technology Department agreed to create an interface between the Library's Innovative Interfaces patron database and campus administrative software, Banner, using file transfer protocol, in an effort to streamline the Library's accounts…

This paper takes a theoretical and practical approach in defining the "problem" of homelessness in libraries. The author examines three fundamental problems on homelessness. The three fundamental questions are: (a) Who are the homeless? (b) Why are they homeless? (c) What are their information needs in libraries? These questions are important in…

The University of York is among the top universities in the United Kingdom, yet has not adopted all manner of electronic media. The University Library attempts to meet the demands placed upon it by its academic and student users for electronic media of all kinds, while working within a sometimes frame work that does not encourage exploitation of…

This essay explores some of the conflicts faced by the author, a liaison with book-selection responsibilities to a university English Department. These conflicts include: trying to fill gaps missed by profiles set up with our book vendor; trying to achieve a reasonable balance between canonical and non-canonical texts; between primary texts and…

The "Victorian Free Library Service Board Act" of 1946 was the culmination of a long campaign to replace the mechanics' institute model of library provision with free libraries funded by state and local government. Given that library reform required legislation by the state government, this paper is mainly concerned with the political…

The New Thought movement is the focus of an exercise in developing a core collection to support research in a defined subject area. The authors outline the New Thought movement's conceptual and historical development and apply this outline to the selection of library resources. A sample collection development policy is included; such a policy is…

The shift in policy from market driven behaviour towards a more cooperative tertiary sector is having an effect on New Zealand academic libraries and their relationships. Despite this, there has been no investigation of collaboration specifically targeting New Zealand tertiary libraries. This research project examine the state of collaboration…