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With the growth of international student enrollment in Chinese universities, user perception has become an area of developing research in academic libraries. China's policy of opening up has led to the education and economic reforms allowing major universities to enroll international students. These changes have created an increasing need for libraries to be responsive to the information needs of these students. In order to serve these students better, universities will be expected to further understand how academic library services are currently perceived by international students. This is particularly the case at Wuhan University, which has experienced significant growth in international student enrollment. This study aims to discover the met and unmet needs as well as barriers encountered in library use by international students. Based on the information gathered, recommendations and future strategies will be formulated to improve the understanding of the information needs of non-native Chinese speakers in both the provision of services and the building of collections. The findings of this study reveal that Chinese academic libraries are considerably well perceived by international students. It also indicates that they have differing purposes, and differing needs for library services and information resources. This paper acknowledges that the study is limited to Wuhan University; however, there is a need for further studies on non-Chinese speakers, particularly, international students to obtain important information on their perception of library services and information resources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

2007 data from LibQUAL+™ and the ACRL Library Trends and Statistics database were analyzed to determine if there is a statistically significant correlation between library expenditures and usage statistics and library patron satisfaction across 73 universities. The results show that users of larger, better funded libraries have higher expectations for information resource availability, but not higher satisfaction scores. Furthermore, the data show no significant correlation between library usage statistics and user satisfaction. The researchers conclude that the lack of expected correlations could be attributed to limitations in the LibQUAL+™ method of measuring patron satisfaction, or the difficulty of using the quantitative measurements found in ACRL statistics to try and accurately predict user satisfaction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article examines on how undergraduate students beliefs underlying their problem solving ability and style plays a role in influencing their perception and selection of information sources. It relates that evaluating and selecting quality information resources are essential and become key components in bibliographic instruction and information literacy training. The study indicates that students prefer to use sources that are not necessarily reliable and accurate, however, it suggests that users frequently turn to information sources they choose rather than those suitable for their tasks. In addition, the study helps to explain how students users with different characteristics view sources differently and help identify key factors and their influence on the source selection behavior.

As libraries experience changes in their environment, communicating to stakeholders about the changes as well as the library's mission, strategies, and responses to the changes is critical. Such communication serves well to inform how the change management integrates with the mission of the library so that stakeholders have a shared understanding of the changes taking place, as well as to build and develop their support and confidence in the organization. This study discusses findings of an exploratory analysis in which 111 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Web sites were surveyed to gain insights into the academic library's current practices of communicating the library mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the surface, SFX, utilizing the concept of context-sensitive linking among library resources, promises the ability to obtain full text effortlessly. This paper reports on the results of a three-fold study—online survey, focus group interviews, and sample testing analysis—to examine library end-user and librarian expectations and experiences using SFX. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the development of collaborative virtual reference service in China. It is natural for libraries to provide a virtual reference service (VRS) as information resources become more Web based and more actively used by patrons outside the walls of libraries. Virtual reference, also called digital reference and online reference, refers to delivering a library reference service by electronic means, from asynchronous via e-mail, Web form, to real-time via chat, Web push, co-browsing, Voice over and IP. In China, more and more libraries have realized the importance of offering a VRS, hence some local VRS systems have been developed to provide better responses to patrons' information needs. These local efforts have contributed a lot to the advance of VRS technologies, but as far as CVRS is concerned, only preliminary experiments have been conducted, such as those by the National Library of China and Shanghai Library. The aim of the DCVRS project is initially to provide Chinese academic library patrons with the best possible reference service, and then to gradually expand the service to public libraries, special libraries, and the information services community.

Discusses the value of research library catalogs in helping library patrons to access information resources they need. Explanation that the increasing practice of including Web sites in the catalog has raised issues of the catalog's accuracy and reliability; Discussion on Web-based resources; Examination on the reliability and accuracy of free Internet resources cataloged in academic library online public access catalog; Definition of catalogs.

University libraries have invested a large amount of resources into digitizing information for the Web, yet scholars and practitioners question the value of this investment due to a lack of use of university library website resources (ULWR). Addressing this concern, researchers have investigated the use of ULWR and offered insights into the problem. However, studies have employed a single perspective rather than a comprehensive approach; as a result, the findings shed light on only part of the use issue. Also, existing studies have consistently reported that users with different academic roles have distinct usage patterns of ULWR and information sources. But they have not considered a wide range of users or systematically investigated such differences. This study examines these differences. This study examines (a) the user perspective, derived from technology adoption literature; (b) the website design perspective, embedded in human computer interaction literature; and (c) the library service quality perspective, based on information science literature. The second area is addressed by surveying a wide range of users, categorizing them based on their academic role differences, and then comparing their use of ULWR and information sources, thereby highlighting distinctive usage patterns. Research based on the responses of 315 participants shows that while users favorably rated factors derived from the perspectives of user and library service qualities for ULWR use, they perceived university library websites as somewhat difficult to use. Also, distinct user patterns are observed in this dataset. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Information inequity is a central concern of the digital age. Many recognize the role of public libraries in bridging such inequities. Unfortunately, however, public libraries are often limited by the funding available to them. This study used a geographic information system (GIS), inequality measures, and multiple regressions to analyze statistics from the Public Libraries Survey (PLS) collected by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and from census tract data. It evaluated the levels of public library funding and services and tested how these resources vary with neighborhood income and urbanization levels. This is one of the few nationwide multivariate studies of neighborhood-level variations. The study revealed significant funding and service variations across the nation's 9000 library systems. Distributions of digital materials, full-time staff with a master's degree in library and information science, and library programs were especially disparate. Library systems in lower-income or rural neighborhoods were relatively less funded and offered fewer information resources. Interestingly, the only variable that was not significantly associated with neighborhood income was the number of public Internet terminals. This suggests that recent funding and research efforts may have made a difference. Similar funding efforts are encouraged for other types of library resources such as staff education and training. In light of the prevalent disparities in resource levels across neighborhoods, the study calls for a fundamental evaluation of the funding mechanisms for libraries. Also, information behavior research should investigate how this structural information inequity affects individuals’ information use decisions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Reviews two information resources on library users. 'The Relationship of Library User Studies to Performance Measures: A Review of the Literature,' a periodical by Ronald R. Powell; 'User Surveys (SPEC Kit #148),' a research conducted by the Association of Research Libraries' Office of Management Services.