Medium-sized Academic Library Research Articles

Instant Access to Fund Accounting Information

ABSTRACT One of the needs of selectors has been to obtain fund accounting information on demand. Most integrated library systems with acquisitions modules make it possible for selectors to view fund information online at their convenience. Fluctuations that occur in fund balances as orders are placed, invoiced, or canceled are more noticable when funds are frequently reviewed online. To help selectors interpret these fluctuations, acquisitions departments need to better define the timeframes or schedules for activities that cause these changes. At a medium-size academic library, arrangements were made for selectors to view fund records online in the DRA (Data Research Associates) acquisitions module. The steps followed are described along with other information to help selectors interpret fund transactions. Short cuts for running and printing the DRA Fund Nesting Report are also included.

Getting blood from a stone: Squeezing an inexpensive lab/electronic classroom into a medium-sized academic library

Realisation d'un centre de formation, equipe de 11 ordinateurs personnels, dans une bibliotheque universitaire. Ce centre sert a la fois a dispenser des cours et a travailler sur les ordinateurs

Cost-Effectiveness and Benefits of Outsourcing Authority Control

ABSTRACT This article illustrates the collaboration of three entities- the library, its online system and the authority service vendor-to achieve online authority control in a medium-sized academic library efficiently and cost-effectively. The authority service vendor checks and revises (as needed) the headings of the library's new bibliographic records, providing new authority records for them. Through a separate notification service, the vendor also provides revised authority records for the existing authority file, alerting the library when in-house online maintenance is needed. In this online environment, authority records and bibliographic records are maintained automatically by the vendor authority service. Thus, using various authority heading reports which can be generated by the local online system in conjunction with the notification service, the library concentrates its authority work on the elimination or correction of obsolete headings. The authority vendor services are effective and reduce the cost of maintaining the online catalog. Ultimately, accurate standardized headings enhance the ease and effectiveness of online searching and retrieval for all who consult the library's catalog.

Book jacket as access mechanism: An attribute rich resource for functional access to academic books

Book jackets provide a model for access to documents on the World Wide Web. They demonstrate a means for making available many of the representational attributes important to making relevance judgments. Such attributes have been posited for retrieval models for some time, but have not been implemented in most formal access systems. Even in the Web environment physical availability is not the same as accessibility. The attribute categories discussed here emerged from 228 book jackets for non-fiction works in a medium size academic library. Models of document searching and book jacket design are discussed in relation to the individual scholarly searcher and new modes of document searching.

Reorganizing collection development and acquisitions in a medium-sized academic library

The University of Dayton Roesch Library reorganized the collection development and acquisitions departments during 1995 and 1996 in order to improve the collection and make the process of acquiring materials more responsive to the needs of students and faculty. The old organization was department-based, with teaching faculty controlling most of the materials budget. The Associate Director for Technical Services coordinated the funds and supervised acquisitions staff. Perceived imbalances in the collection, student and faculty dissatisfaction with the process, and the desire for public services librarians to have greater influence in collection decisions led to a major reorganization. The new model distributes budget authority among all librarians based on subjects rather than academic departments. It empowers librarians to make purchasing and weeding decisions within their subject areas. Book and periodical acquisitions are combined into a single support unit that reports to the Coordinator and Head of Collection Management. The new organization has streamlined acquisitions processes to make ordering simpler, and the time between ordering and receipt has been shortened. The new model shifts the emphasis from process to service.

The Cost of Interlibrary Loan Services in a Medium-Sized Academic Library

ABSTRACT Interlibrary loan has traditionally been the main access to information beyond the individual library collection. The increase in access to document delivery services and full-text databases, however, has created the need to evaluate interlibrary loan services within the overall access environment. One of the most important factors in this evaluation concerns the cost to provide interlibrary loan. The purpose of this article is to provide the results of a study of one year's interlibrary loan expense at the Library at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. The study was conducted to identify areas of greater and lesser interlibrary loan expense, and to serve as a comparison to the results of cost studies based upon data collected from large research libraries. The final results are also intended to serve as a reference point in determining how best to balance the use of interlibrary loan with commercial document delivery sources.

ALCTS heads of technical services of medium-sized academic libraries discussion group, midwinter conference, February 1997, Washington, DC

ALCTS heads of technical services of medium-sized academic libraries discussion group, midwinter conference, February 1997, Washington, DC

Approval Plans for Small College Libraries

Approval plans are perceived for use primarily by large and medium-sized academic libraries. Many librarians continue to assume that approval plans are not an option for small libraries. This paper explores some of the attitudes and issues that might affect librarians in small academic libraries in considering establishing an approval plan. This discussion includes a survey of the perceptions on the use of approval plans by Head Librarians the Pennsylvania State University Commonwealth Education System.

Coalition Building to Build Collections

A collection development project to assess the African American materials in a medium-sized academic library is described. Techniques are presented for examining a library collection from an interdisciplinary point of view. Results of the assessment were used in such a way that the project took on a life of its own and is now an ongoing process to develop this part of the collection. This article presents a view of a continuing strategy of collaboration to develop a collection by incorporating efforts from various elements of the university community, as well as the larger community. Elements influencing the process inlcude: individual and gruop initiatives, the particular library environment, and funding support. The role of the librarian as a generalist, adding a broad perspective to the process, emerges.

Ergonomics and the Catalog Librarian

As online public access catalogs become more prevalent, one might expect catalog librarians to become more dependent upon the use of VDTs, leading to concerns about possible physiological effects of VDT use, greater availability of ergonomic furniture, and increased interest in identifying work to be done away from the computer terminal. Responses to a questionnaire sent to heads of cataloging in 185 medium-sized academic libraries in the U.S. suggest That, although catalogers spend more time at VDTs than they did five years ago, offline cataloging and editing and a variety of processes related to the maintenance of manual files are not unusual and that ergonomic furniture, other than pneumatically adjustable chairs, it not widely available.

Retrospective Coversion of a Medium-Sized Academic Library

Even a successful retrospective conversion project requires a great deal of time, money, staff and problem-solving. The University of Idaho Library is a medium-sized academic library and a member of WLN. This arlicle describes the methods Ihe library used to convert its collection, and examines the problems encountered with each method.

The Middle Road

Bibliographers at medium-sized academic libraries who are assigned to selecting contemporary foreign literature in the original language are often faced with a number of difficulties, ranging from lack of appropriate selection tools and limited knowledge of the language and its literature to severe budgetary constraints. Identification of prominent authors thus becomes an important task. The article outlines a method for developing a contemporary author list for one exemplary language: German. The appendices contain an annotated bibliography of sources useful in generating such a list and the names of 50 important contemporary authors writing in German.

Achieving Client-Centered Collection Development in Small and Medium-Sized Academic Libraries

This article presents a model for collection development appropriate for libraries whose primary purpose is to support undergraduate education. After a discussion of the organizational prerequisites for client-centered collection development in small and medium-sized academic libraries, a step-by-step approach to the implementation of such a program is sketched. It is argued that academic libraries following this strategy can create a decision-making structure whereby important collection development initiatives are taken by the library with the advice and consent of the teaching faculty.

Automation and the Assistant System at the Stevens Institute of Technology Library

Stevens Institute of Technology's Samual C. Williams Library has been pursuing automation for over 22 years. First they developed inhouse systems and then commercial systems. Four years ago they purchased Library Automation Products'"The Assistant." A microcomputer-based library automation system, it offers a catalog, circulation, serials, acquisitions and accounting for medium-sized academic and special libraries. Vendor support has proven to be as important a factor as a system's functionality, and evaluation of library automation systems should always include contacting libraries that already use the systems under consideration.

Deposit Accounts and Their Economic Impact in Medium-Sized Academic Libraries

Traditional fiscal policies as applied to acquisitions are increasingly becoming inadequate in view of continuing escalation of numbers and costs of print materials and relative constancy of library budgets. Some book vendors, capitalizing upon this situation, have developed as an innovative means to enable the library to stretch its dollars. This study defines deposit accounts, presents a case study of the use of deposit accounts in one medium-sized academic library, and suggests that deposit accounts contribute significantly to cost effective collection development.

Science and Technology Book Reviews as Supplements to an Approval Program

A study of periodicals containing science and technology book reviews was conducted to ascertain their value as book selection tools to supplement an approval program in a medium-sized academic library. Both subject specialized periodicals and general science periodicals were surveyed. The productivity of their book reviews was measured by the percentage of selected titles that were not already acquired by other means, principally approval. In this paper the data from the study are presented and the characteristics and relative usefulness of each periodical are discussed. The results can be an aid in deciding whether it is worthwhile to use book reviews as adjuncts to an approval program.

Organization for collection development in medium-sized academic libraries

A survey of medium-sized academic libraries was conducted to ascertain their organizational structure for collection development, and its effect on the activities performed. Two survey instruments were developed, one for chief collection development officers, and one for librarians with collection development responsibilities. The study revealed that librarians defer collection development to other responsibilities and perform few of the activities they feel are desirable for collection development. Librarians in separate collection development departments were less likely to defer collection development to other activities, and performed more collection development activities than their colleagues in other types of libraries. It was recommended that a library of this size locate librarians with primary assignments in collection development in departments established for that purpose.

HUSH, An Automated Multipurpose Periodical System or From Rotary File to Computer

A computerized serials management system designed for a medium-sized academic library is running interactively on VAX-11/780 computer at Western Carolina University. Replacing manual files, this system is of benefit to library patrons through improved services and to library staff in providing more flexible information. Features of this locally-designed system are described by the authors.

Technical Services Management Problems in Small and Medium-Sized Academic Libraries in North Carolina

Technical Services Management Problems in Small and Medium-Sized Academic Libraries in North Carolina

Serials subscription payment losses: An analysis

Concern for the loss of monies is always present in the minds of many serials librarians. At one medium-sized academic library, this concern is shown to have been somewhat alleviated through the results of a study of the serials payment records over a nineteen year period. This study both identifies those sources of payment losses which create the problem and serves as a reminder that periodic reviews of the payment records are necessary for monitoring and control of the percentage of monies lost. The review is not intended to be comparative study but rather an analysis of a situation which may exist in serials departments everywhere.