The "Best of the Literature" column is intended to keep librarians, administrators, and staff up to date with the most recent, relevant, and useful literature of the field. In the last few years, students of color across the nation have spoken out about their experiences of racism and racial microaggressions on their campuses. They have…

This article reports on a content analysis of research articles focusing on library services in distance education published between 1999 and 2009. The study identified 472 articles on the topic and analyzed the citations, abstracts, and indexing to determine major topics, issues, and trends discussed; methodologies used; and major journals…

This article explores the questions to what extent educational research addresses library use in education and how the library can contribute to intercultural education. The focus is primarily on elementary education in Europe. Analysis of research publications was based on searches for peer-reviewed journals in international databases, literary…

Designed as a supplement to the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) Libraries' review of their current situation, this report presents an assessment of administrative support and staffing of the libraries in the LACCD, and offers recommendations for maintaining and improving their operations. Following introductory comments on the…

Zero Based Staffing/Services (ZBS/S)--a management tool designed to portray the relationship between the people or staff of an agency and the services they perform--was used in this study to inventory library services and staffing at the Central State University Library and provide a long-range planning analysis for library and university…

Based on responses to a survey of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) members in March 1988, this Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) flyer and kit are designed to assist administrators of large academic libraries in the selection of useful methods of conducting user surveys for particular library concerns. The flyer provides a brief…

This report of the 95-member Council for the Comprehensive Plan for Libraries, which included representatives from government, libraries, and the public sector, is not intended to answer all the questions for all those concerned about the future of libraries, but rather to bring focus to the issues and to set a direction for solving the problems…

The first article summarizes the findings of four studies which used unobtrusive testing techniques to evaluate library reference services. The validity of this testing method and the conclusions reached are discussed, and suggestions are made for improving reference services in five related articles. (CLB)

One in a series of reports on public service studies by academic libraries that are being administered by the Office of Management Studies (OMS) of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), this report on the self study of the Michigan State University Libraries includes a brief description of the overall project and an executive summary of the…

This discussion report identifies key issues in the management of special collections material in the 21st century. The report uses a broad definition of "special collections," which encompasses distinctive material in all media and attendant library services. The group's main focus was on 19th- and 20th-century materials, including…

This study reports the findings of two surveys conducted in 1983 by the University of Wisconsin-Stout's (UW-Stout) Library Learning Center. The main objectives of these surveys were to question users with regard to which library services and resources users are aware of, which ones are used by what groups, how they are used, and what value is…

The major purpose of this brief descriptive study was to determine the levels of professional and support staffing within the administrative, technical, public, and media services areas of Pennsylvania's private college libraries. The study also includes comparative data on student assistant staffing. Questionnaires were mailed to library…

This report is the fifth biennial survey of statistical information on 116 Pacific Northwest academic libraries. After an introduction which explains the data collection process and identifies some possible trends in the data, data tables present information for each of the institutions surveyed according to institutional category: four-year…

A comprehensive survey of the faculty members and graduate teaching assistants at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), was conducted in April 1987 with a response rate of over 75% (N=1,275). The purpose of the questionnaire--a product of discussions with the Faculty Senate Library Committee and library and campus administrators--was to…

This report is the result of a self-study undertaken by the staff of the University of Miami's Otto G. Richter Library as part of the Academic Library Development Program (ALDP), a management self-study program developed by the Association of Research Libraries' Office of University Library Management Studies. The basic responsibility for the…