Today's scholars face an outstanding array of choices when choosing search tools: Google Scholar, discipline-specific abstracts and index databases, library discovery tools, and more recently, Microsoft's re-launch of their academic search tool, now dubbed Microsoft Academic Search. What are these tools' strengths for the emerging needs of…

The year 2011 was the PALNI (Private Academic Library Network of Indiana) consortium's "rookie season" for the implementation of Primo, the 2010 Discovery Layer 500 race winner. In this article, the authors report on their transition to the cloud within Ex Libris Ltd.'s Primo TotalCare environment: their preparation, the steps involved…

The "Nonbook Materials Core Collection" is one of H. W. Wilson's new subscription-based electronic core collection development databases. It is a new addition to the five-volume core collection series formerly known as the "Standard Catalog Series." Other titles in this series have long been staples of collection development resources for both…

The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a quantitative analysis exploring the interaction and relationship between the online database and electronic journal collections at the J. N. Desmarais Library of Laurentian University. A very strong relationship exists between the number of searches and the size of the online database…

Social networking and other Web 2.0 technologies led the social whirl of the information industry. Publishers and librarians tried to keep their products and services relevant by mixing authoritative content with user involvement, but that was not enough. Enhancing interfaces, adding new forms of content, and making strategic acquisitions--all are…

The ability to search and receive results in more than one database through a single interface--or metasearch--is something many users want. Google Scholar--the search engine of specifically scholarly content--and library metasearch products like Ex Libris's MetaLib, Serials Solution's Central Search, WebFeat, and products based on MuseGlobal used…

The Association Supporting Computer Users in Education (ASCUE) is a group of people interested in small college computing issues. It is a blend of people from all over the country who use computers in their teaching, academic support, and administrative support functions. ASCUE has a strong tradition of bringing its members together to pool their…

More than 100 colleges and universities have arranged to give people using the Google Scholar search engine on their campuses more-direct access to library materials. Google Scholar is a free tool that searches scholarly materials on the Web and in academic databases. The new arrangements essentially let Google know which online databases the…

School library websites are a necessity. The earliest adopters have now had almost 10 years for development and redesign. Many sites have gone through numerous iterations with major improvements each time. Issues of cost, time, technology and training have made the discussion more a matter of deciding what to include and how to structure the sites…

Today's school libraries must meet student needs as both a physical and virtual space. Existing both offline and online, they must offer around-the-clock access as well as instruction and guidance that support the face-to-face interactions of students with librarians and classroom teachers. Although students are often technologically proficient,…

This study reports on exploratory research that investigated biology teachers' perceptions of their online information seeking practices and how these practices influenced their instructional planning activities. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the results of an online survey and ten in-depth interviews measuring use of specific online…

Considers trends in the information technology field that affect libraries and librarians. Discusses search paradigms, including web search engines, visual displays, multimedia searching, and multilingual searching; expanding online databases; computer technology, including voice recognition; work and learning environments; knowledge management;…

These proceedings document the fifth year of the "Brick and Click Libraries Symposium", held annually at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. Thirty five peer-reviewed papers and abstracts, written by academic librarians, and presented at the symposium are included in this volume. Many of the entries have…