This study investigates how article downloads from ScienceDirect changed after Temple University Libraries downsized its all-inclusive Elsevier big deal bundle to a selective custom package. After the libraries lost current-year access to nearly half of Elsevier's active journals, the total downloads from Elsevier journals declined by 16.2 percent…

Research support services at The University of Queensland Library (UQ Library) have evolved in response to the global and national drivers, which have impacted on broader University strategy. UQ Library's success in responding to these drivers has involved leveraging the information within, and capacity of, the institutional repository, the core…

In the future, what role will the academic research library play in achieving the mission of higher education? This essay describes seven strategies that academic research libraries can adopt to become future-present libraries--libraries that foster what Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown have called "a new culture of learning." Written…

Although cited reference studies are common in the library and information science literature, they are rarely performed in nonacademic institutions or in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences. In this paper, we analyze more than 400,000 cited references made by authors affiliated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration between…

There is a new buzzword in education: "MOOCs." These massively open online courses (MOOCs) can serve hundreds or thousands of students without the institutional hurdles found in classes at a university, such as acceptance requirements and physical location. Some schools are working with partners like Udacity and Coursera, while others…

Assessment in United States higher education has become very important in recent years. Virtually all colleges and universities are now striving to prove through empirical evidence that they are committed to improving student learning. Created in late 2005, the US Department of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education was charged…

Data curation is a concept with many facets. Curation goes beyond research-generated data, and its principles can support the preservation of institutions' historical data. Libraries are well-positioned to bring relevant expertise to such problems, especially those requiring collaboration, because of their experience as neutral caretakers and…

Using citation analysis, the authors examined the journals cited in theses and dissertations over the first five years of the Water Resources Graduate Program at Oregon State University. These journal titles were compared to the titles predicted as being important in the 2003 Oregon State University Libraries new program (Category I) review. A…

E-readers are increasingly popular personal devices, but can they be effectively used for the needs of academic libraries' clients? This paper employs an evidence-based approach that examines the role and efficacy of implementing an E-reader Loan Service at McGill University Library. Suggestions are offered as to what lending model and device…

The Ohio University Libraries has been a part of the university's Freshman Year Experience (FYE) classes almost since their inception. Over the past ten years, we have tried many variations on the "library day" lesson plan, with various (low) success rates. For fall of 2010, the FYE coordinator asked for an extremely simple plan: just…

Macquarie University Library's planning for a new library coincided with a major renewal of the university's curriculum and research activity. This provided a significant opportunity to re-think the presentation of the library collections in the new environment. This article describes how strategic alignment with university goals and the framework…

The library environment has drastically changed since 1992 when Bostick's Library Anxiety Scale was developed. This project aimed to develop a scale specifically for undergraduate students. A three-stage study was conducted, using students of Kuwait University. A variety of statistical measures, including factor analysis, were used to process the…

From a fledgling technology with no proven business models, electronic books (e-books) have grown in importance usurping traditional formats as an acquisitions budget line in many academic library contexts. Business models include purchase, subscription, and pay per use. In academic and research libraries, web based e-book delivery is the dominant…

Accreditation is critical to the viability of institutions of higher education. Each of the six regional groups that accredit two- and four-year institutions has standards specifically addressing online or distance learning. In general, these standards require institutions to show that distance learners have adequate access to appropriate library…

"Research Library Issues" ("RLI") focuses on current and emerging topics that are strategically important to research libraries. The articles explore issues, share information, pose critical questions, and provide examples. This special issue presents a report released by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Joint Task…