Research Library Collections Research Articles

Internet Resources for Tests and Measurements

SUMMARY The reference collections of most research libraries contain a readily identifiable collection of standard paper sources used in locating tests and test-related materials for education and psychology. Yet currently there is no electronic equivalent, no set of Internet resources that has been identified as constituting an online literature on tests and measurements. This study attempts to investigate what resources are now available on the Internet for tests and measurements, and identifies the most useful ones. In order to keep the study manageable, the emphasis is on resources for psychological testing, with some educational psychology materials included as well. Whenever possible, evaluative summaries of these resources have been included.

The impact of electronic globalization on foreign document collections in the United States

A survey was administered to foreign documents librarians at 132 research libraries in the United States and Canada to determine current collecting practices and policies among those libraries with strong foreign-documents collections. The results show a continued reliance on print format with a slowly increasing use of electronic resources. Also indicated is a trend towards integration of foreign documents into the general collection management policies of research library collections.

COPAC: New research library union catalogue

COPAC is a new union OPAC which provides free access to the information contained in the main online catalogues of a number of important academic research library collections. At the moment records are contributed by the university libraries of Cambridge, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, Oxford and Trinity College Dublin. All these libraries are members of the Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL). At the time of writing, records from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine and London University Library (Senate House) are being loaded and the online databases of the remaining twelve CURL member libraries will be added in due course.

A Special Case? Preserving and Funding Heritage Collections in Research Libraries: The British Example

‘Heritage’ material is dispersed among many UK libraries and archives, and arrangements for safeguarding it are not working satisfactorily. Main causes of difficulty appear to be shortage of good management and advice; shortages of money, which have led many libraries to sell ‘heritage’ material; the speed with which problems multiply; and the speed necessary for action to be taken to save material before sale or dispersion. Machinery is needed to help to identify ‘heritage’ material in institutions of various kinds and specific material in danger or under threat of dispersal. Several bodies exist that can provide advice and financial assistance to libraries in difficulties, but there are serious gaps. An official statement of guidance and advice to all institutions should be drawn up. The problems discussed are unlikely to be confined to the UK.

Western European Political Science: An Acquisition Study

National bibliographies from 1990 for France, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Iceland, and Catalonia (Spain) formed the basis for a study of U.S. and Canadian acquisitions in the field of Western European political science materials. Of the materials deemed important to be available in at least one research library in the United States or Canada, 15 percent of French, 30 percent of Italian, 55 percent of Swedish, 19 percent of Catalan, 75 percent of Icelandic, and 57 percent of Belgian materials were not found in a search of RLIN and OCLC. The citations were further examined for patterns of ownership, and it was found that in some cases traditional collecting patterns and agreements still seemed to be functioning to bring some materials into libraries, but in other cases a lack or decline of traditional commitments meant that these countries were particularly underrepresented in research library collections. Factors in addition to acquisition funding were identifies as important in providing for adequte collecting levels. These include adequate staff in collection development and acquisitions, as well as attention to cataloging these materials and making information about their availability accessible

Continuity and Change in Brazil and the Southern Cone: Research Trends and Library Collections for the Year 2000.

Continuity and Change in Brazil and the Southern Cone: Research Trends and Library Collections for the Year 2000.

Continuity and Change in Brazil and the Southern Cone: Research Trends and Library Collections for the Year 2000

Continuity and Change in Brazil and the Southern Cone: Research Trends and Library Collections for the Year 2000

Information Sources in Educational Research Literature

In this paper, we focus on the manner in which research information is disseminated to other researchers and to practitioners. We show a continuing reli ance on journals and a continuing tendency to rely on more recent literature (espe cially journals) in research reports. In addition, we list the 15 journals most fre quently cited in the sixth edition of the Encyclopedia of Educational Research. A comparison of this list with previous studies revealed considerable shifts in the prom inence of journals related to educational research since the third, fourth, and fifth editions of the Encyclopedia. In addition to indicating trends in educational research literature, these results suggest potential areas of interest and emphasis both for the individual reader and researcher and for the compiler of general and research library collections in education. The results also suggest sources for disseminating informa tion most rapidly to the widest possible audiences. IN THIS ARTICLE we explore the manner in which researchers disseminate information to other researchers and to practitioners. An understanding of how research is disseminated can help users of research identify sources in which they are likely to find current information on educational topics. In addition, a knowl edge of dissemination patterns will help researchers identify channels for publish ing the results of their research. What forms of research do experts in educational research most often cite? How recent are these citations? What specific sources are cited most frequently? How have citation patterns changed in recent years? To answer these questions, we examined a systematic random sample of every fifth reference from the lists of references in the sixth edition of the Encyclopedia of Educational Research (Alkin, 1992). We then categorized these references by date of publication and nature of the source. As indicated in Table 1, most of the citations referred to journals (35.6%) and to single-author books (34.4%). Of all the citations, 31.2% referred to sources

It's More Than Rock n' Roll: The Literature of Rock Music in the Research Library

ABSTRACTA case has recently been made in these pages for the inclusion of rock music in research library collections. This article argues that the literature of rock music should also be collected in order to overcome gaps in current collections. The case for the inclusion of this material is based on its importance as a major part of an influential form of literary expression (new journalism), and for the unique view it gives of many of the major social issues of the post war years. A brief, annotated bibliography of recommended titles is included.

The shrinking national collection: A study of the effects of the diversion of funds from monographs to serials on the monograph collections of research libraries

A precipitous rise in the price of library materials, especially serials; an increase in worldwide publication output; and a decline in the funding base of research libraries have resulted in a drastic erosion of the purchasing power of research libraries. This erosion of purchasing power has in turn directly resulted in a reduction of the number of nonserial printed materials acquired by academic research libraries in the United States in the latter half of the 1980s. This study is a comparison of the number of nonserial imprints acquired by the 72 Association of Research Libraries members whose bibliographic records for the imprint years 1985 to 1989 are included in the 1991 edition of the OCLC/AMIGOS Collection Analysis CD-ROM database. The results of the study confirm that there was a decline in the holdings of the 72 libraries from 1985 to 1989 by language and subject groupings. This led to a greater concentration on a core of materials by the 72 libraries.

Literature Loss in Anthropology

Literature loss has a dual meaning. In the research process, it refers to the difference between what exists in some published form and what is likely to be found in a literature search. On an institutional level, it refers to the declining ability of American research libraries to maintain comprehensive collections in the wake of the extraordinary growth and price inflation of scholarly literature since the I970s. Recent technological innovations in the library field provide the means not only to measure literature loss on an institutional level but also to alleviate it in one's own research work. An application of this technology to the field of anthropology is presented here in two parts: (i) an analysis of the growing gap in anthropology between book publication output and the aggregate holdings of 70 institutions in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and (2) a discussion of the relevance of the new technology to the closely related question of information retrieval in the research process. Underlying any analysis of literature loss is the problem of assessing the size of the universal stock of academic books in a given field. That problem has no definitive solution or any prospect of one. Moreover, even if accurate book-publication figures could be compiled worldwide, it would hardly make sense to consider them as realistic or worthy goals for research library collection development. The ancient ideal of the Library of Alexandria-to hold everything ever published-has been considered impossible and undesirable since the early part of this century. For the purpose of the analysis presented here-to assess the financial performance of American research libraries within reasonable bounds-book-publication output is derived from the Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC) Union Catalog (OLUC) bibliographic database. The decision to use this database recognized the utter infeasibility of attempting to locate the publication lists of hundreds of university and trade publishers, scholarly societies, research bodies, and the like, and involved the simplifying assumption that just about any book that appeared over the past decade in the Americas or in Europe would have shown up in the OCLC-OLUC system, which contains the shared cataloging of more than 4,800 libraries, including the Library of Congress, in 26 countries. That part of book output that is held in at least one of the 70 ARL institutions is derived from a different database, the OCLC/AMIGOS Collection Analysis Computer Disk (CACD), developed in I989, which records ARL holdings by year of publication. Figure i compares the aggregate holdings of 70 ARL institutions with total book output in all areas of anthropology for the period I978-87.2 Line A shows that output fluctuated from a high of I,II3 titles in I980 to a low of 934 titles in i982. On average, I,008 titles were published annually, with a standard deviation of 40. Line B shows that holdings in anthropology of the 70 ARL institutions fluctuated from a high of 694 for titles published in I980 to a low of 507 for titles published in I987. On average, 6o6 titles were acquired per year of publication, with a standard deviation of 56. Overall, ARL holdings in anthropology dropped from 66% of book output in the late I970S to 53% in the late I980s. Underlying the deteriorating position of American research libraries are certain inflationary tendencies built into the scholarly communications system. During the I978-87 period, the average price of a hardbound book on anthropology increased I67%, from $18.23 to $30.49 (Bentley I99I:404), and the cumulative inflation rate for institutional subscriptions to anthropology and sociology joumals increased 327%, rising to 45I% by I99I (Carpenter and Alexander I99I:59). Line C demarcates the mainstream literature, books held by at least io% of ARL institutions, from the gray

Special Collections in Research Libraries: Problems and Perspectives

‘Special collections’ may comprise rare books, manuscripts, institutional archives, maps and other non-book collections in a library, but the types of groupings are not consistent across different types of library nor across countries. The humanities researcher clearly has a need for material in special collections. Funds for acquisitions and staff are becoming increasingly short at a time when information technology offers new possibilities of accessing and exploiting special collections, including collections held in other libraries and countries. Much progress has been made, especially with automated short-title catalogues; other useful steps include the implementation by the Research Libraries Group in the US of the newly developed MARC format for archives and manuscripts control in the Research Libraries Network and the adoption by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe of a recommendation on retroconversion. Most of the activity so far is, however, neither well co-cordinated nor adequately resourced. One practical approach might be for European libraries and other repositories to consider the potential for a Latin-language database to be set up with the advice of ‘users’ and potential host-database holders.

Reference Collection Development Using the RLG Conspectus

Reference collection development should be seen as an integral part of the overall management of academic research library collections. The reference librarian benefits from participation in the de...

Sources of Information in Educational Research Literature

This article examines some ways in which research information is disseminated to researchers and practitioners. The analysis shows an increasing reliance on journals and a continued tendency to rely on more recent literature (especially journals) in research reports. In addition, the article lists the 15 journals most frequently cited in the fifth edition of the Encyclopedia of Educational Research. A comparison of this list with previous studies indicates considerable shifts in the prominence of journals related to educational research since the third and fourth editions of the Encyclopedia. In addition to indicating trends in educational research literature, these results suggest potential areas of interest and emphasis for both the individual reader and researcher and for the compiler of general and research library collections in education. The results also suggest sources in which information might be disseminated most rapidly to the widest possible audiences.

Synergy for Research Library Collections

Etude de ce que represente le developpement des collections d'une bibliotheque de recherche, notamment dans le contexte actuel de restrictions budgetaires qui doit conduire les bibliotheques a mettre en place une politique de cooperation et de partage des ressources avec d'autres bibliotheques. (INTD)

Preservation Programming in Major Research Libraries

Preservation of library materials in the general collections of major research libraries is a pressing concern today. In order to discover the status of preservation programming in major libraries, a questionnaire was sent to all ARL library directors. The results of the survey produced valuable information concerning brittle books and about general and national preservation programming. Based on the results of the survey, the author recommends that a national set of standards for preservation programming be established and that a journal devoted to general collection preservation be created.

Conservation of Research Library Collections at the American Museum of Natural History

The research Library of the American Museum of Natural History has been actively concerned with the conservation of its collections for more than a decade. In addition to the 400,000 volume monograph and serial collection, the Library is striving to preserve its rare book, photographic, archive, manuscript, film and art and relia collections. Since 1973, significant grant funding, the institution of conservation policies and prioritizing the apportionment of budget funds have enabled the Library to make important conservation strides in both its general and special collections. A wide disparity in the condition of different materials exists because of the age and breadth of the Library collections, and up to 30% of the general collection can be considered unique or rare. About five years ago, a conservation self-survey was conducted by the Library staff of all the collections, and recent conservation policy-making decisions and goals have been based on that survey.

Evaluating the Sociology Collection

This article defines a method of evaluation of sociology collections in academic and research libraries. Three parts of a collection are examined, the journal collection, the basic book collection, and recent monograph acquisitions. The evaluation takes into account both the quantity and quality of a library's holdings and allows the evaluator to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the collection. An attempt is also made to establish standards for the evaluation that permit comparisons to be made with other sociology research collections.

Describing Reproductions

In an attempt to determine whether further research and discussion is justified in the area of the description of reproductions of previously existing works, this project estimated what proportion of a research library's collection existed in multiple physical manifestation throughout the bibliographical universe. Between a fifth and a third (21-32 %) of the sampled collection was found to be in multiple manifestation. There was less diversity of media in multiple manifestations than expected: 13% of the manifestations identified were microforms, 3.4% were in other media. Seventy-five percent of those works found in multiple manifestation had only one other manifestation identified; the largest number of multiple manifestations identified for one work was 83.

Research Library Collections in a Changing Universe: Four Points of View

Research Library Collections in a Changing Universe: Four Points of View