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In 2007, a web-based survey of book conservation practices was conducted to document standard-practice, moderate-use, and low-use book conservation treatments for general and special collections in research libraries in the United States. This paper reports on the findings of a ten-year follow-up survey conducted in 2017 to determine whether and how book conservation treatment practices have changed over the last ten years. Overall, the data indicate that while general collections treatment practices have remained consistent, special collections practices continue to evolve, with many treatments newly qualifying as standard practice in the special collections context since 2007. The data also suggest areas of further research, including how demographic factors may correlate with particular treatment practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With an ongoing focus on accessibility and usability, many academic libraries have developed new ways to improve services for students with disabilities. Library technical services departments contribute to the accessibility of library resources through materials selection, cataloging, and the acquisition of assistive technologies. Library partnerships with an institution’s office of disability services have also proven particularly effective and can help libraries to better identify potential barriers to accessibility and find workable solutions. For students with visual impairments, screen readers, magnifiers, voice recognition software, and braille texts are some of the methods that libraries can use to improve accessibility. This paper offers a case study of the collaboration between the Office of Disability Resources for Students and the University Libraries at the University of Memphis to make a discrete collection of braille textbooks more widely available to students, including the collection management considerations, system configurations, and cataloging procedures that went into the process. This case study provides a simple and cost-efficient example of how libraries can improve services for users with visual impairments that readers will find easy to implement in their own libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which editor discusses articles in issue on topics including adoption of National Information Standards Organization’s Shared Electronic Resource Understanding at U.S. Academic Libraries; and recommendations on vocabularies and standards for capturing metadata.

Many academic libraries collect art exhibition catalogues and juvenile books to support the curriculum, but academic library review sources and book vendors have limited coverage of these niche areas. For more than a decade, Wichita State University has used purchase plans from Worldwide Art Books and Junior Library Guild to acquire print books. This paper discusses the assessment of both plans, how experience with this assessment has influenced development of an assessment plan, and reasons other libraries may want to assess their own niche collecting plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Villanova University's Falvey Memorial Library developed a multiyear comprehensive and strategic collection review of print monographs. In this paper, the authors focus on the operational components of the project, such as generating potential deselection lists with GreenGlass, convening working groups to plan the project, developing strategies for faculty outreach and faculty collection review, and analyzing deselection and retention data. The authors share decision-making processes as well as lessons learned that were involved in the project design and implementation phases throughout the extensive collection review project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies and reviews some of the currently relevant components of collection development that contribute to the need for having a written collection development policy (CDP). The requisite elements for a pertinent and usable CDP are identified, being mindful of the need to customize these policies for each library’s unique needs. The literature review validates the long-standing purposes of CDPs, quantitative studies of existing CDPs, and some of the inherent drawbacks in the creation and application of these policies. The author presents a case study demonstrating the processes necessary to create a CDP for a medium-sized academic library. This includes more current and relevant considerations for a modern CDP. The paper also includes best practices identified throughout the policy creation process, which have the potential to be applied to other similarly situated libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most academic libraries are facing increasing funding challenges that necessitate improved budget communication and advocacy, in addition to the more traditional planning and monitoring of funds. Moreover, electronic resources (e-resources) continue to evolve rapidly, spawning new material types and modes of acquisition. This paper defines four key facets of a materials budget that has been optimized for the e-resources environment and describes a process that can be used to redesign any academic library budget structure for the digital age. Specific examples of important practical advantages that have accrued over the six years since the fully faceted materials budget structure was implemented are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper illustrates the process by which a subject heading is created within the controlled vocabulary of the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). The author details the steps involved in proposing a subject heading for inclusion in the Subject Authority File at the Library of Congress using two case studies as examples, one in which the subject heading was accepted into the LCSH system and one in which the subject heading was rejected despite being revised and resubmitted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports published within the issue which include the analysis of electronic book usage in interdisciplinary research collection, the holistic view of electronic book acquisition, and the optimization for electronic resources.

The Ohio State University Libraries' Serials and Electronic Resources team tracked reports of problems with electronic resources through a ticketing system, but had not used the system functions to articulate the work involved in supporting such resources. When a new Electronic Resources Officer was hired, the librarian reviewed the type of statistics provided to management and identified an opportunity to more fully document reported problem and staff effort. With the help of team members, a mechanism was created to highlight different types of problems through the application of a controlled vocabulary developed specifically for that environment. Once the vocabulary was available and in use, after some time, terms were evaluated for efficacy, and for how the use of the vocabulary enabled analysis of the trouble-shooting process. Following an analysis by the Electronic Resources Officer of the terms after being in use for some time, the ways that staff were involved in the workflow was changed, leading to faster responses and more consistent communication of information to patrons and vendors. This paper describes the process of developing the controlled vocabulary, the insights found following implementation, and the changes to the workflow that came from that analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public services (PS) and technical services (TS) librarians play equally crucial roles in providing library services to meet user needs to support institutional goals. For PS and TS librarians to develop effective workplace collaborations, both groups must have a better understanding of the other side's perspectives, values, and concerns. This paper sought to learn how librarians in the two areas currently perceive and/or stereotype each other. The authors conducted a survey on cross perceptions of public and technical services academic librarians. The study tested and confirmed assumptions that previous papers have made about the negative perceptions of TS librarians held by PS librarians. Analysis of survey results, however, found that TS respondents expected to be viewed more negatively than was evidenced by the PS responses. Nonetheless, both PS and TS respondents recognized and agreed on the important role that library technical services play within the larger context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current and emerging trends raise questions about the extent to which academic research libraries should continue to seek perpetual access provisions for journal acquisitions. To describe the questions being raised, this paper begins by framing perpetual access commitments within the contexts of the past, present, and future. The paper then assesses current views and practices by describing and analyzing the results of a survey of librarians. The results show that, while the respondents' libraries generally espouse strong commitments to perpetual access, a combination of factors is leading many libraries to take actions that weaken perpetual access provisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2001, the William Madison Randall Library at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington found itself with a substantial collection of art, acquired over time through gifts and purchases to augment existing collections of faculty scholarship and regional materials. What had been tracked in a simple administrative database had become a collection deserving improved access. This paper outlines the acquisition, cataloging, and access issues that shaped the evolution of the art works from their status first as decoration on the library walls, then as fully cataloged library materials in the online catalog, then as digitized images available in a searchable Web tour. Explored are the reasons behind the collection development push and the methods of acquisition, how and why the collection outgrew its original inventory database, and why the university librarian turned to catalog librarians for solutions to improve access by utilizing and linking data existing in separate databases. The paper offers implications and lessons learned that could assist other libraries that may face such a challenge, as well as a literature review of the issues faced in art documentation. Randall Library's experience illustrates how a decision to invest in cataloging an unusual medium can go beyond the basics of author and subject access to create an unusually valuable foundation for promotional, curricular, and Web-based ventures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic libraries have embraced diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles as core tenets for serving their users. Many of these libraries have undertaken a diversity audit of their collections, evaluating content as well as authorship and amending acquisition processes to increase representation of historically marginalized groups. Techniques used in an audit can include comparison to bibliographies and peer institutions, but few libraries have used text mining of bibliographic metadata to uncover the inclusivity of their collections. This article describes one such study, performed at Raritan Valley Community College, to determine whether language displayed in the title, summary, and subject fields was inclusive and welcoming to library users. Prompted by a new functionality available for WorldCat Discovery that would allow for local updates to problematic subject headings, the process involved uploading MARC metadata to Voyant Tools to learn the most frequent terms in each bibliographic field. Results demonstrated that while the metadata includes welcoming language, improvements could be made by updating subject headings, deaccessioning outdated titles, and educating users in navigating the library catalog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of e-book usage in one interdisciplinary research collection, for library and information science (LIS), at a large research institution. Drawing from the social sciences, humanities, and computer science, LIS exemplifies the challenge of analyzing use of interdisciplinary collections that cut across Library of Congress (LC) class ranges normally used to analyze disciplinary differences in the existing literature. The analysis also explores use factors beyond LC class that usage studies rarely examine, including genre and audience level, and changes in use over time across categories. This study contributes both to understanding the usage of LIS e-books as an exemplary interdisciplinary collection and to developing options for analyses of e-book collections that maximize the utility of usage reports despite their challenges. As e-book collections mature and the utility of comparing used versus unused titles wanes, such strategies will become necessary to make more nuanced decisions for e-book collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to the pressure of operating in a steady state of insufficient funding, academic libraries face incessant pressure to use space differently. As a result, libraries are aggressively withdrawing materials to relieve cramped shelves and reduce overall collection footprints. Selection for withdrawal may be based on various factors, but of concern is the withdrawal of materials for which copies are currently held in shared print repositories. Recent publications point to the need for thoughtful and strategic evaluation of shared print for quality and completeness, plus the evaluation of copies considered for withdrawal to ensure the perseverance of our print heritage. This study focuses on the comparison of fortyseven monographic titles cataloged as identical items that show broadly varying differences in editions, printings, condition, and preservation and repair. Survey data collected includes information about bibliographic accuracy, printing and binding variances, completeness, physical damage, chemical deterioration, provenance, and presence in the HathiTrust. The results show wide variability in the accuracy of cataloging records, historical use, physical condition of the materials, and the ability for those materials to be successfully digitized in the future. These results are illustrative of the strong potential for variation in "identical" bibliographic holdings among the broader academic library community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic libraries supporting education and library science programs collect youth literature to support courses that teach students to evaluate and use books with children and teenagers. Although children's and young adult literature with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) content is often controversial, this literature is being discussed in both the education and library literature. This paper discusses the literature on LGBTQ youth literature, explores the extent to which academic libraries supporting education and library science programs collect recently published LGBTQ youth literature, and concludes that academic librarians responsible for youth collections should evaluate their LGBTQ holdings to ensure that they are meeting the needs of future teachers and educators for access to these books. The paper offers suggestions for assessing collections, locating LGBTQ youth titles, and updating selection procedures to build a more inclusive collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out several challenges for libraries and collection development librarians as they seek to remain relevant in a rapidly changing environment. These include changes in ease of information access, increasing interest in unmediated access, ubiquity of similar (even identical collections), and the need to develop unique collections that meet local needs and interests and to develop and promote tools that enhance the use of these collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a personal overview of the development of collection development and management as a specialization within the practice of librarianship. It gives particular attention to the activities among academic librarians and in academic libraries in the 1960s and 1970s that led to the creation of special interest groups within the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines existing library and personnel literature to determine whether any strides have been made among academic libraries in determining cataloging productivity benchmarks. The perceived importance of performance evaluations based on quantitative and qualitative standards is explored, as is the intended effect of established cataloging production norms. The pros and cons of cataloging benchmarks are analyzed from four different perspectives: library administration, library human resources, cataloging managers, and cataloging staff. The paper concludes that additional research is needed in order to determine whether established production cataloging benchmarks are feasible and meaningful within academic libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic libraries face many challenges in collecting and maintaining streaming videos, particularly as demand for this unique format continues to increase. At the Oviatt Library at California State University, Northridge, it was determined that streaming video activity needed to be examined and that there was a strong need to develop a workflow for incoming video requests. A Video Streaming Decision Tree Committee composed of librarians and staff from various units within the library including collection development, acquisitions, cataloging, and music and media. Its charge was to create a decision tree workflow for incoming streaming video requests. The committee designed and implemented a detailed decision tree that accounts for many of the complexities of streaming video. This paper discusses various factors involved with collection development for streaming video and provides a detailed description of the committee's workflow for the format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technical services functions in academic libraries have evolved in response to fiscal pressures and advances in technology. In this study the author investigates how technical services in large research university libraries are adapting to support the changing roles of academic libraries. The author conducted hour-long phone interviews in early 2014 with the representatives from nineteen out of the twenty-five university libraries in the Technical Services Directors Large Research Libraries Interest Group. This paper presents the results and discussion based on the interview data: use of the name, Technical Services; new and emerging functions of technical services; organizational structure of technical services units; change drivers that are affecting technical services now, and those that will soon; and challenges in managing technical services. Five models of a technical services organizational structure were developed from participants' organizational charts and interview data. This research also highlights the skills needed among technical services personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demand-Driven Acquisition (DDA) has been commonly adopted by academic libraries in the United States for acquiring e-books in recent years. Implementation of the e-book DDA model varies by library. This paper introduces and demonstrates a scenario analysis approach for libraries to evaluate, identify, and select a DDA plan that works best for them based on their DDA program data. This approach helps address some key questions facing libraries with a DDA e-book program: How may a DDA program be evaluated under different scenarios? Does a short-term loan (STL) option make sense? And, is the current DDA implementation a good fit for the library? The implications and related issues are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports published within the issue on topics including conservation of documentation; public libraries and academic libraries.

The Ohio State University Libraries (University Libraries) entered into a three-year read and publish pilot agreement with Taylor & Francis in 2020--the first read and publish agreement for The Ohio State University and the first such deal for Taylor & Francis in the Americas. This study provides an overview of University Libraries' motivations behind the agreement, the lessons we learned implementing and supporting the agreement, and the open access publishing outcomes of the pilot agreement that ended December 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In April 2010, the University of Colorado Boulder (CUB) Libraries implemented a patron-driven acquisitions (PDA) e-book program through Ingram Content Group's on the MyiLibrary platform. CUB's PDAprogram expanded to include all campuses within the University of Colorado (CU) system, launching a collaborative pilot project for shared purchasing and shared cataloging of e-books among five geographically separate and diverse CU libraries in December 2011. The PDA program affects the catalogs, cataloging departments, and cataloging workflows of each library. This paper describes the CU PDA program with a focus on how MARC records are prepared and distributed to the CU libraries, both before and after titles are purchased. It covers factors that impact editing and customization of the records such as the quality of vendor-supplied data, local needs, and best practices for Prospector, a regional unified catalog in which all CU system libraries participate. In addition, the authors share their strategies for detecting and correcting cataloging errors that occur and their methods for handling PDA titles duplicated in other e-book packages available at CU libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological advances, budget cuts, reorganizations, downsizing, outsourcing, expanded roles of professionals, and changes in the information world are redistributing the workload between professionals and paraprofessionals in academic library technical services units. Today, paraprofessionals manage major functional areas in technical services and dominate the technical services work force. The roles of paraprofessionals have expanded to include duties once considered the sole responsibilities of professionals in technical services. In 2011, the author conducted a survey to understand more about the roles of technical services paraprofessionals in academic libraries during the previous five years. This paper analyzes the survey results and provides insight into the roles of paraprofessionals in technical services in academic libraries by examining required educational degrees and high-level skills for paraprofessional positions, complex duties that are regularly assigned to paraprofessional positions, and staff development incentives and opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stemming from a previously published serials literature review by Library Resources and Technical Services (LRTS), this paper provides a review of a subset of the serials literature published in 2008 and 2009 focusing on open access (OA). The broader scope of the serials literature sets the stage for a culture of openness receptive to the OA movement. Catalysts to this movement, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) mandate, university OA policies, and increased emphasis on self-archiving in institutional repositories (IRs), are of interest to serials and electronic resource professionals who steward academic research collections. This interest is exemplified by the significant number of open-access-related articles intertwined throughout the serials literature of 2008 and 2009. Topics covered in this article include the NIH mandate, universities' responses to the NIH mandate, overviews of OA, the IR as a model of OA, strategies for supporting IRs, and evaluation of the effects of OA on scholarly communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over time, the University Libraries at Bowling Green State University incorporated several departmental or satellite collections into the catalog, only to expunge them later at the request of either the department or the library administration. To avoid past problems, the library took a new approach to a request to catalog a collection of VHS cassettes and DVDs for the Dr. Ralph H. Wolfe Viewing Center. This paper describes how the authors used a lightweight content management system to create a video catalog database that the Viewing Center's staff could easily update and manage. The solution presented here might be useful for other libraries facing similar requests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-books have become a substantial part of many academic library collections. Catalog records for each e-book title enhance discovery by library users, but cataloging individual books may be impossible when large packages are purchased. Increasingly, libraries are relying on outside sources for their e-book catalog records, which may come from vendors or third-party record services and are frequently included in the price of a subscription. Rather than handling individual items, catalogers find themselves managing and manipulating large sets of catalog records. While dealing with the records in batch is the only practical way to provide access to the large sets, batch processing does bring about a new set of challenges. This paper will explore the challenges of managing Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) records for the Springer e-book collection at the University of Illinois at Chicago University Library. It discusses tools and methods to improve record quality while working in a consortial setting. It provides lessons learned, continuing challenges of working with vendor records, and some steps that might help other libraries expedite the process of getting vendor records into the catalog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the ongoing conversation about Library 2.0, which has focused on user participation and emphasizes efficiency in delivering library services to users, this paper draws attention to a practical application in technical services: using Web 2.0 tools to enhance performance in the cataloging department. From his position as the coordinator for non-Roman cataloging in a large academic library, the author shares his experience using a blog and other Web 2.0 tools to improve section management and professional activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Staff members at North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries have identified the need for name authority control within E-Matrix, a locally developed electronic resources management (ERM) system, to support collection intelligence, the process of collecting, collocating, and analyzing data associated with a collection to gain a sophisticated understanding of its qualities for strategic planning and decision making. This paper examines the value of establishing authority control over organization names within an ERM system in addition to describing NCSU's design for conducting name authority work in E-Matrix. A discussion of the creation of a name authority tool within E-Matrix is provided along with illustrations and examples of workflow design and implementation for the assignment of authoritative headings. Current practices related to authority control and ERM systems in academic libraries and within organizations such as the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) are also investigated and summarized to provide context for this project. Future possibilities for the use of this type of authority control on the part of librarians, vendors, and standards bodies are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the comparative findings of two studies undertaken at the University of Florida Libraries comparing online journal usage statistics derived from COUNTER-compliant publishers. The analyses conducted in 2005 and 2006 were not intended to be rigorous scientific studies. Instead, the statistical assessments were intended as tools for determining trends in the costs and use of online journals at the University of Florida. The studies also explored the relationship between the large publisher online journal packages (the so-called Big Deals often licensed through consortia arrangements) and online journal usage, and the effects of Big Deal packages on library budgets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cataloging Department at the Ohio State University Library continuously reviews workflow to see which areas need improvement. In 2004, the Cataloging Department began receiving complaints about the time it took to locate unprocessed materials within Technical Services. Locating these materials was difficult and time consuming, causing problems for both patrons and staff. The author reports on a project that examined the workflow of unprocessed materials in the Cataloging Department at Ohio State. Using the instructional design ADDIE model, a new workflow was designed and implemented to ensure that items could be located, processed, and delivered to patrons in a timely manner. The paper concludes with suggestions applicable to other libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While nearly half of all academic libraries use formulas to allocate firm order funds on behalf of particular departments or subject areas, few have adopted systematic methods of selecting or weighting the variables. This paper reviews the literature on library fund allocation, then presents a statistically informed method of weighting and combining the variables in a fund allocation formula. The regression-based method of fund allocation uses current, historical, or hypothetical allocations to generate a formula that excludes the influence of non-relevant variables as well as the influence of arbitrary or non-systematic variations in funding. The resulting fund allocations are based on the principle of equity-the idea that departments with the same characteristics should receive the same allocations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hierarchical Interface to Library of Congress Classification (HILCC) is a system developed by the Columbia University Library to leverage call number data from the MARC holdings records in Columbia's online catalog to create a structured, hierarchical menuing system that provides subject access to the library's electronic resources. In this paper, the authors describe a research initiative at the Cornell University Library to discover if the Columbia HILCC scheme can be used as developed or in modified form to create a virtual undergraduate print collection outside the context of the traditional online catalog. Their results indicate that, with certain adjustments, an HILCC model can indeed, be used to represent the holdings of a large research library's undergraduate collection of approximately 150,000 titles, but that such a model is not infinitely scalable and may require a new approach to browsing such a large information space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A perpetual access right to an electronic journal, defined as the right to permanently access licensed materials paid for during the period of a license agreement (not to be confused with the right to copy journal content solely for preservation purposes), is a concern of increasing importance to librarians as academic libraries discontinue paper subscriptions and retain electronic-only access. This paper explores the current environment for perpetual access to electronic journals. The authors report on analysis of the contracts between a large, research-level university library and 40 publishers of electronic journals, as well as ten large electronic journal aggregators. The authors seek to determine the frequency of contractual provisions for permanent access rights for the years of active subscription in the event an electronic journal contract is terminated for any cause other than breach by the licensee. Costs and formats of any granted perpetual access are considered. The paper concludes with an exploration of the potential impact of the perpetual access clauses libraries are accepting in licenses, the possible lack of continuing access, and options for addressing the situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results from a fall 2003 survey of heads of cataloging at Association of Research Libraries United States academic libraries. The survey focused on the current number of professional catalogers and their responsibilities as well as future projections for demand for catalogers and thoughts about their roles. The study found that the numbers of professional catalogers are remaining constant or decreasing, and approximately one third are projected to retire in the next decade. In addition, the role of the professional cataloger is perceived as continuing to evolve toward more cataloging-related activities and management and less direct cataloging. Most respondents predicted the professional cataloger has a role in the future and felt prepared for that future. Some respondents suggested that metadata cataloging would be a rowing role in that future. This paper concludes with additional questions about the future of professional catalogers and cataloging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In fall 2002, the University of Tennessee Preservation Office conducted a condition survey of circulating materials in the school's John C. Hodges main library. The objective of the collection condition survey was to evaluate the physical condition of the collection and the effect of human and environmental factors in order to develop a long-range preservation plan. The project used a random sampling method, and a database and online survey form created with SPSS software. The results of the survey contribute an understanding of the national preservation picture. Locally, the results indicate action should be taken in several areas, including environmental conditions, staff and patron education, and reformatting. Other libraries in the early stages of establishing a preservation program can employ the techniques used in Hodges Library to develop their own preservation plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the contribution of the Library of Congress (LC) catalog cards to libraries in the U.S. LC for over 50 years, has been the major cataloging agency for the U.S., of which it had already sold a total of over 500 million cards to serve catalog library collections all over the world. LC has considered it a great service to librarianship with its goal of maintaining bibliographical control over the increasing amounts of published materials. One of the problem of LC in the U.S. is how they can widen coverage so that all of the titles received in other American libraries will be cataloged. A survey was conducted which shows that the orders sent to LC represent an average of 82.2 percent of the total needs of the ten libraries.

Library gifts-in-kind are a mixed blessing: their potential utility must be weighed against the resources required to add them to a collection. Understanding the value such materials can bring to the library is essential. In academic libraries, donations from faculty members may be assumed to be more appropriate and useful additions to the collection. This evaluation used multiple methods to assess the value of several hundred gift books donated by a professor in support of the Spanish program at Concordia University. Parameters examined include age, language, subjects and their relation to the curriculum, usage, and availability in other libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pernkopf Atlas of Anatomy consists of anatomical drawings created by Austrian physician Eduard Pernkopf, an active member of the Nazi Party during World War II. While the book was known for its highly detailed anatomical drawings, in the 1990s it was determined that Holocaust victims were likely used as subjects for the drawings. Using a survey, the authors aimed to gather information about the presence of this monograph in academic libraries today to provide best practice recommendations for academic libraries in their approach to ethically questionable materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After migrating to Ex Libris's Alma and Primo for its integrated library system (ILS) and discovery layer, library staff at Simon Fraser University (SFU) maintained duplicate database information in a locally developed electronic resources management (ERM) system known as the CUFTS ERM for fifteen months. The CUFTS ERM provided the data for the library's public-facing database list known as the CUFTS resource database (CRDB). A database search function had been on Ex Libris's Primo roadmap for product development and was announced six months after the library went live with Alma and Primo. However, the new Primo database search function lacked the ability to replace the CRDB. Members of the library's ILS Steering Committee who managed Alma and Primo were concerned about significant negative impacts on end-users if the library adopted the Primo database search function to replace the CRDB. The steering committee formed a task group to investigate options for creating a database list from Alma records to reduce duplication of staff time and effort, and systems resources, and to replicate the main functions of the existing CRDB for end-user discovery and access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic libraries are increasingly purchasing electronic books (e-books) via demand driven acquisitions (DDA) programs. However, there is no guarantee about the quality of DDA titles. This is especially true for consortially managed DDA pools or when pools include all titles from selected publishers. This study analyzes data from EBSCO’s GOBI acquisitions platform to assess the quality of the pool and purchased titles from the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL) publisher-based DDA program. Results showed that most available and selected titles were appropriate for academic libraries. Popular and lower level academic titles made up a relatively small portion of the DDA pool but were selected at a proportionally higher rate than other titles. The DDA pool was weighted towards titles that had been previously purchased by few GOBI libraries, but users tended to select titles that had been purchased by more GOBI libraries. Implications of these results are discussed from the point of view of a consortium member library using the DDA program as a supplement to its broader collections of print and e-books. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the emergence of electronic resources (e-resources), librarians developed licensing guidelines, standards, models, and understandings to educate, increase efficiencies, and retain rights afforded by copyright law. To reduce licensing burdens, the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) released the Shared E-Resource Understanding (SERU) in 2008, a set of “understandings” created and agreed upon by libraries and vendors. The author conducted a survey in 2017 of licensing practices and SERU use at libraries. The survey analyzed 108 responses from US academic libraries signing at least one license in the twelve months preceding the survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study surveyed the current state of knowledge about, and application or use of, Resource Description and Access (RDA) among American public library catalogers. In 2017, an online survey request was e-mailed to four thousand libraries for the person or persons most responsible for cataloging to complete the questionnaire. More than three hundred libraries responded. The data expose serious concerns with RDA adoption within the public library sector. While a majority of catalogers know about RDA, their working knowledge about it differs substantially depending on whether they work in rural or urban library settings. Regardless, 22 percent of respondants still had not heard of the RDA standard until completing this survey. While further training and educational opportunities (along with funds) for catalogers nationwide would help minimize this disparity, LIS schools also can play a role by educating more thoroughly the next generations of catalogers in this newer descriptive standard. Coming on the brink of a shift in the theoretical framework of the RDA standard, from the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) model to the IFLA Library Reference Model (LRM), public library catalogers risk falling even farther behind in their knowledge and compitency with the RDA standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign language journals are important components of interdisciplinary area studies collections at research libraries. In the US, although these are low-use materials almost by definition, they are indispensable for many types of research. Coordinated collection development among key libraries with shared interests in these materials is often the best way of broadening the collective collection, strategically reducing duplication to free up resources for broader acquisitions while relying on collection sharing infrastructures to implement shared access to the journals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It can be difficult to find time and motivation to effectively address collection management for materials in specialized areas that fall outside the primary scope of one's usual responsibilities. The pressure of crowded shelves in the authors' largest library and the associated difficulties of helping users locate materials led a team of faculty librarians and staff to evaluate and consolidate an "orphaned collection" of books in health and medicine call numbers. The authors describe how a project team established a data-informed evaluation and weeding process that minimized affective decision-making and considered the nuances of collection management between disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have tried to identify factors that make electronic books (e-books) in academic libraries more likely to be used. For instance, are demand-driven acquisitions used more than titles in packages? Are e-books in the sciences used more than e-books on art? Most of these studies are limited to one or two variables. This study introduces logistic regression, which can incorporate multiple variables to determine which factors are the most useful in predicting e-book usage. The variables considered in this study are LC class, university press or other publisher and platform. In the collection studied, the classes with the highest odds of being used were A (General Works), followed by F (History of the Americas), H (Social Sciences) and Q (Math and Science). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As research libraries continue to expand the scope of content they acquire, manage, and make accessible, the preservation charge within organizations is broadening. Libraries and other cultural heritage institutions must balance the preservation of books, manuscripts, archives, and audiovisual materials with born-digital and digitized content. As preservation challenges and strategies evolve, professional positions in preservation must also evolve to meet the needs of academic and other cultural institutions. The ability to quantify how preservation positions are changing, and to identify the required skill sets and educational backgrounds needed for preservation professionals, is central to navigating this shift. To begin to address this, the authors collected and analyzed announcements for professional preservation positions in libraries and archives from 2004 through 2015. They compared the contents of announcements between earlier and more recent years to identify potential trends in preservation employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]