This study examines the use of chat in an academic library's user population and where virtual reference services might fit within the spectrum of public services offered by academic libraries. Using questionnaires, this research demonstrates that many within the academic community are open to the idea of chat-based reference or using chat for some loosely defined "research purposes," but this openness does not necessarily result in high levels of use. The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether the lack of virtual reference use could, in part, be explained by students' preference for competing methods and technologies for obtaining reference assistance. This study demonstrates a pattern that suggests chat-based reference does not compete well with other methods of providing reference service.
# Ebooks and Interlibrary Loan: Licensed to Fill? Increasingly, libraries of all types and sizes are now adding electronic book (ebook) titles to their collections. A survey was used to explore the implications of ebook licensing and interlibrary loan use. Among academic libraries in the United States a widespread preference for handling print books was found along with a need for more information about ebook interlibrary loan rights at one's own institution and a means to identify format type available from potential lending libraries.
The Internet has created new opportunities to make quality health information more widely available to both researchers and the general public. However, not all that information has been presented in a format accessible to people with disabilities. This accessibility assessment of eight selected Web‐based health information resources (PubMed, OVID MEDLINE, MEDLINEplus, CANCERLIT, the Hazardous Substance Data Bank, TOXLINE, and two databases of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)) evaluates the ease with which these resources can be navigated using adaptive technologies, and provides suggestions for improvement where necessary.
Nearly all academic libraries offer course reserves and most have long considered it a core library service. However, expanding use of course management systems in academia have opened new opportunities for libraries interested in exploring changes to electronic reserves services. Budget constraints and staffing shortages have also led several institutions to consider eliminating or modifying their e-reserves operations. Potentially difficult challenges, however, also accompany making significant changes to often well-established practices.This environmental scan of selected academic libraries across the United States discusses institutions which have maintained the status quo in e-reserves services, as well as those who have changed or discontinued these services. The article also provides insight on why some of the latter decided to make these changes.
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