Demonstrating the value of library and information services has been a theme in library discussions in recent years. The application of many different approaches to evaluation has waxed and waned together with the development of theories of evaluation across the humanities and social sciences. Over the past two decades research and activity on…

The Mississippi State University Libraries' Virtual Reference Service collected statistics about virtual reference usage. Analysis of the data collected by an entry survey from chat and e-mail transactions provided librarians with concrete information about what patron groups were the highest and lowest users of virtual reference services. These…

To understand and share the feelings of students one must see the world through their lens. Empathic design includes aspects of empathy and offers a means for a practical application of the concept by encouraging organizations to put themselves into the shoes or situation of their users so as to better understand users' needs. Program evaluation…

This article reports the findings of a study exploring the nature and extent of research on diversity in library and information science (LIS) doctoral dissertations from 2000 to 2009. By systematically examining the last decade of dissertations in the field, this study is meant to reveal the levels of interest in diversity research among doctoral…

Considering the importance of subject retrieval for scientific visibility, and the need to guide authors in self-archiving their papers in institutional repositories of university libraries, this study observed the patterns and strategies used by authors while indexing for keyword assignment. The study examined four categories of analysis:…

February 12, 1924, is a landmark date in the annals of American music. The story of that snowy afternoon in New York has become almost legendary -- and the tale has undoubtedly become embellished in its telling and retelling over the past 100 years. The occasion was a concert titled "An Experiment in Modern Music," presented by Paul…

The work of subject liaison librarians in academic libraries has morphed to include a variety of roles that reach beyond the traditional. This study captures responses of 1,808 participants from land-grant, Oberlin Group, and Association of Research Libraries (ARL) institutions to a questionnaire about subject liaison librarians. The questionnaire…

The IFLA Trend Report identified five trends that will impact the information environment (IFLA, 2015), such as access to information with new technologies, online education for global learning, hyper-connected communities, and the global information environment. The faculty at San José State University (SJSU) School of Information (iSchool) is…

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…

University libraries worldwide are reconceptualising the ways in which they support the research agenda in their respective institutions. This paper is based on a survey completed by member libraries of the Queensland University Libraries Office of Cooperation (QULOC), the findings of which may be informative for other university libraries. After…

Association of College and Research Libraries' (ACRL's) "2016 Top Trends in Academic Libraries" noted a "shift to the incorporation and integration of more continuous, ongoing, flexible, and sustainable review of collections," and "an increasing need" to align collection development with "institutional research…

While the mission of research libraries remains constant, the nature of research libraries and what they do is changing. Research libraries are taking on new roles in digital scholarship, data management, and scholarly communications. More than ever, libraries know they must align their mission with the objectives of key stakeholders. This article…

With this issue of "Research Library Issues" ("RLI"), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) (re)turns its collective attention to research data management (RDM), a topic consistently identified as a top priority by ARL library directors, and a topic of several recent ARL publications. This is a pivotal moment for the…

This paper explores how internationalization is understood and experienced in German academic libraries. Its main purpose is to move the discussion of internationalization in academic libraries beyond the boundaries of English-speaking North America by investigating a European perspective. Its secondary purpose is to investigate the role of…

An academic library that focuses on delivering a personalized service is examined within the context of the boutique library model. It is suggested that a critical success factor in adopting a personalized, boutique-style service is acquiring knowledge and insight of our users. This, together with appropriate evaluation, will assist with providing…