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A survey was carried out in 1979 into the loan availability and provision of audiovisual materials in the United Kingdom, whether through the Regional Library Bureaux or through separate co‐operative arrangements such as the Greater London Audio Specialization Scheme. Interlending practices are seen in relation to basic audiovisual provision and demand in public and educational libraries. The effects of inadequate bibliographical control, copyright problems and the practical aspects of the inter/ending of audiovisual materials are discussed. The results of the enquiry indicate limited provision, small demand and a widespread lack of knowledge concerning the existence of audiovisual materials and their availability.

The cost of course materials to the individual student has increased over the past decade, contributing to educational inequity. Open educational resources (OERs) may be a solution and research validates their positive impact on student success outcomes (Colvard et al., 2018; Feldstein et al., 2012). Few studies, however, examine the role that library collections play in addressing course materials cost and student success. This paper aims to investigate whether materials costs are a significant factor in course pass rate and whether the library has a positive impact on pass rates.

Using required texts listed in syllabi for select undergraduate courses at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), the authors compare course materials costs for each course to the pass rate. The authors then measure the impact of course materials cost on the achievement gap between Pell Grant eligible and non-eligible students.

This study confirms previous research indicating that reduced course materials costs have a measurable impact on student success, in that the total minimum cost of required materials has a statistically significant effect on the percentage of students who pass a course. However, course reserves slightly increase the disparity between high-income and low-income students, suggesting that course reserves are a less effective way of supporting the latter compared to OERs.

This study is unique in examining the effect of the cost of course materials on students, regardless of the source of cost reductions. Most literature focuses on the qualitative efficacy of OERs instead of measured impact or the relationship between the cost of course materials and student success. The authors investigate the connection between OERs, library engagement and student success.

Most librarians are well known as hoarders of books, periodicals, pamphlets, any material in fact which might be of the slightest value to the users of their libraries. Whenever sufficient space allows, a stack room contains material which is in lesser demand, but even storerooms fill, and that remarkably quickly in these days when national and international agencies compete more and more with the general publisher. Thus the time soon comes when even the most inveterate hoarder has to prune his shelves. In the past he has spent part of his very busy working time producing lists of surplus material, and after much correspondence he has usually been able to dispose of a small part of his unwanted stock. The remainder was often sent for scrap, as only a limited amount of time could be spared for finding suitable locations for it. It can be easily seen that, as far as staff time was concerned, this was an un‐economical method of disposing of duplicates. It was impossible to be sure that even half of the libraries likely to be interested had been approached, and finally a suitable return for the material offered was seldom obtained. With the formation of a national interchange centre, however, all these difficulties have been overcome and a very large amount of material which before had gone to waste has been placed in useful circulation again.

In addition to providing a review of the literature recently published in the librarianship of non‐book materials this survey aims to draw attention to the characteristics, problems and achievements particular to the documentation and handling of non‐book materials (NBM) in many types of libraries. The materials are briefly described and considerations of selection, acquisition, organization, storage and in particular bibliographic control are dealt with in some detail. Other areas of concern to the librarian dealing with media resources, including the organization and training of staff, planning, equipment, exploitation and copyright, are also discussed. The past decade has seen the widespread introduction of NBM into libraries as additional or alternative sources of information. Librarians have been given an opportunity to rethink many basic principles and adapt existing practice to encompass the new materials. The survey reflects the achievements and some of the failures or problems remaining to be solved in this rapidly expanding area of library work.

Discusses how to deal with donations of materials to the library. Although libraries are always seeking appropriate materials to add to their collections, many donations are not suitable. Donors often have as their sole goal to get rid of books and other materials and find it hard to understand why librarians refuse to accept the materials offered. Provides a step‐by‐step plan for dealing with donors based on the premiss that a library must have a collection development policy which explains what materials the library does collect. This is the basis on which donations can be accepted or refused.

The purpose of this paper is to review the current state of research on the various biological agents that could cause deterioration of paper materials and possible intervention strategies against these biotic agents in the tropics.

Recent literature in the tropics is reviewed to gain insight into the problems that confront libraries in the tropics as regards the biological deterioration of library materials.

The paper identifies moulds as the most important biodeteriorating agents of library materials. In addition to destroying, disfiguring and staining books, the moulds have been linked to numerous adverse human health effects that fall into three categories: allergic, toxic and infectious. The other biological agents include bacteria, insects and rodents. The important insects in tropical environment are cockroaches and termites. The warm humid tropical conditions and dirty environment trigger/promote biodeterioration processes and make book deterioration to be more pronounced in the tropics than in the temperate regions.

Physical visits to the libraries were not carried out and the conclusions reached were based on evidence from scientific literature on the subject in the tropics.

A very useful source of information on how to curb the menace of biological agents against the destruction of library materials in the tropics. These include training programmes for library staff on conservation and preservation of library collections, the creation of awareness on the issue among library users, the adoption of good house keeping practices and modification of storage environment to make them unsuitable for the biodeteriogens. It is recommended that libraries and archives in tropical countries should have preservation guidelines and integrated pest management teams and should also cooperate with scientists in relevant disciplines to be able to find lasting solutions to the problem of biodeterioration of library materials.

This paper looks into the neglected area of biological deterioration of papers which is the main information carrier in libraries. It provides very useful and practical suggestions that libraries in the tropics could adopt to tackle the menace of biological agents.

Libraries assemble very large quantities of materials. These collections perform three quite different roles: archival, dispensing, and bibliographic. The bibliographic role of the collection is compared with bibliographies and catalogues. The distinction between materials and collection development is basic. Collection development in libraries is analogous to file organisation in computing systems and, although commonly viewed narrowly as selection for acquisition, includes a range of decisions which determine the profile of any collection. The rise of remotely‐accessible materials makes possession less important relative to access, has important consequences for all three roles of collections, and indicates a shift in emphasis away from collection development and conventional catalogues and toward bibliography and cooperation.

In August 1977, the Division for Library Services awarded Library Services and Construction Act Title III funding to a proposal submitted by Denise B. Erwin, Director of the Instructional Materials Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin‐Madison, for a planning grant to identify and document the need for “Cooperative Media Review Centers” in the State of Wisconsin. This grant provided money for an eight month period to conduct the study and, based on the findings, to submit a report which would include a plan for the development and implementation of such an evaluation program. This proposal was based on work done previously, nationwide in scope and widely reported in the library press.

It is obvious that when resources are insufficient to meet all legitimate demands, priorities should be established. During the last decade, funds available to academic institutions in English‐speaking countries have been reduced while the information sources on which they depend continue to increase and the changing technology of access provides new challenges for academics and librarians.