Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Meeting The Patron At The Opac Crossroads: The Reference Librarian As An Online Consultant, Robert A. Aken

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

Reference librarians play an important role when users interact with online catalogs. As consultants at the point of interaction they must educate patrons in the use of the machine and demonstrate their role in finding and providing information. Specific areas of consultation are discussed as is the relationship of formal instruction to point-of-use instruction. The librarian's efficiency and filtering roles are emphasized.

An Interface For Self‑Service Searching, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Features the self-service database searching interface developed under a Council on Library Resources grant at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Chamapaign. Developers of the system; Capabilities; Link to the university's online public access catalog (OPAC); Description of a typical search session; Continuous testing of the system.

College Library Friends Groups In New York, New Jersey, And Connecticut, Janet Munch

Publications and Research

Friends of the Library groups are largely undocumented in the professional literature at non doctoral-granting colleges and universities. Through a survey of Friends activities at colleges and universities in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, this study fills a gap in knowledge about these groups.

Public Use Of Academic Libraries In Virginia, Lucretia Mcculley, Dan Ream

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Although often thought of as the domain of public libraries, providing access and services to the general public has long been an important, and sometimes controversial, issue for academic libraries. State and national policies have been suggested, but none have yet provided any definitive guidance to academic libraries in Virginia, leaving each institution free to find its own way of dealing with access and services to anyone outside its primary clientele of students, faculty, and staff. As the Association of College and Research Libraries' 1975 Access Policy Guidelines states,

Institutional goals and circumstances are highly variable, making it both unworkable …

On The Use Of Positive Reinforcement To Minimize The Problem Of Overdue Library Materials, W. Bede Mitchell

Library Faculty Publications

Few issues in librarianship have been as long-lived and frustrating to address as the problem of overdue library materials. Even the most cursory review of the professional literature finds dozens of articles about the problem of overdues.(1) Most of the literature appears to have been written under the assumption that only negative reinforcement techniques (e.g., fines, blocking further borrowing, legal action, etc.) can be effective in minimizing the problem of overdue library materials. However, many librarians have expressed dissatisfaction with the use of fines and other sanctions. Unfortunately, the alternative methods for minimizing overdues have produced mixed results. For example, …