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The current library outsourcing debate began in 1993 when Wright State University completely outsourced its cataloging operation. It reached a new high in 1995 when the Hawaii State Public Library System decided to outsource its selection, cataloging, and processing functions to Baker & Taylor, its online journals to Information Access Company, and its automation to Ameritech. A steady stream of articles and a handful of books, covering theoretical and ethical issues, as well as the practical aspects of outsourcing, have appeared in the last decade. This bibliography addresses the broad issues of outsourcing, especially in academic libraries. Outsourcing of public, special, and federal libraries is covered only tangentially. The list is divided into four sections: books on outsourcing in libraries; general articles on the history, theory, and impact of outsourcing on libraries and librarianship; opinion pieces; and articles that relate to individual libraries’ experiences with outsourcing.

This paper aims to explore the changing role of the reference collection in learning commons at Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries.

A 15-question survey was sent to managers at academic research libraries with membership in the ARL. Respondents were asked about their learning commons and reference collections. To increase the sample size, the researchers conducted phone interviews with a random sample of individuals from the same target population, utilizing the same questions and generated additional results.

Most respondents had or were planning learning commons for their libraries. The role of reference collections varied. Of those who had retained a print reference collection, the majority believed them to be little-used. The researchers believe this may signal an end to a formerly cherished idea: the primacy of the reference collection within a library learning space.

This study involved a random sample of public service managers at North American ARL academic libraries. While the sample is believed to be representative of the broader population, findings may not be generalizable to all ARL libraries or to other academic libraries.

Many papers have been written about information or learning commons spaces and their distinctive elements. Others have discussed the changing role of reference collections. This paper is unique in examining the changing role of the reference collection within learning commons spaces.

As technology changes, so do methods for delivering electronic information resources to library users. Describes Web‐based online public access catalogs (Web OPACS) and other Web‐based tools as gateway methods for providing access to library collections. Solutions for overcoming barriers to information, such as through the implementation of proxy servers and other authentication tools for remote users, are also addressed.

OCLC entered the 1990s with a bold marketing move, signalling its expansion beyond the traditional library world and into the competitive end‐user market, with the introduction of FirstSearch. In the spring of 1991, sixteen libraries throughout the United States, among them the University of New Mexico General Library, became test sites for FirstSearch. After numerous changes prompted by test site users, First‐Search (né Maximum Catalog) was officially released in October 1991. It is currently available to OCLC‐member libraries and to library schools. FirstSearch, the end‐user version of OCLC's earlier release, EPIC, inaugurates end‐user access to the largest book database in the world, OCLC's Online Union Catalog or “WorldCat,” as well as selected periodical indexes. On the first day of public release, six databases were available on FirstSearch; that number increased to 23 by August 1992 (see figure 1), and OCLC is negotiating with database producers to add others to the system.

While Gutenberg's invention is likely to endure for some time, it is indisputable that the prominence of print is diminishing. The recently published Mellon report University Libraries and Scholarly Communication highlights the symbiosis between the humanities and the print medium. It maintains that electronic media will ultimately change the nature of the humanities and spawn a new kind of discourse with fundamentally different features. The report asserts that the shift from print to electronic media, which began in the late twentieth century, will have widespread consequences on the intellectual experience of modern society, reaching beyond print and libraries.

Research at universities is becoming increasingly specialized and, at the same time, more interdisciplinary. In response to this paradox, academic libraries have tended to specialize along discipline lines by creating divisional libraries. The divisions typically offer reference and other library services to a focused clientele. This specialization leads to isolation and lack of communication among library departments, including separate, subject‐specific reference units. It also limits the versatility of staff. Staff exchange has been used in academic libraries to address some of these problems. It entails the utilization of a library's employees from one department performing tasks in another department.

Many academic libraries are migrating to Web‐based online catalogs from traditional text‐based versions. These Web OPACs function as gateways to resources held not only locally, but beyond the library’s physical boundaries, using a Web browser as a common user interface. As library planners prepare to shift to a Web‐based online catalog, they face a range of complicated challenges. The coordinated efforts of staff throughout the library organization are required to implement the new paradigm. This article presents the issues that will be confronted in implementing a Web OPAC by systems, reference and cataloguing staffs.

The purpose of this article is to document the acquisition and processing of an important landscape architecture archive, the J.B. Jackson Collection, and making it available for scholars and researchers.

The first part of the article describes the importance of Jackson's contribution to landscape architecture and his professional legacy. This legacy consisted in a large collection of slides, scattered among various individuals and institutions. The authors then address how the various parts of the collection were identified, acquired, digitized and brought to the University of New Mexico (UNM). Metadata creation and issues of copyright are also discussed.

The paper finds that it requires considerable professional effort and networking to take a working collection and transform it into an archive that has intellectual cogency.

UNM's effort to acquire, preserve and make this collection widely available will inspire future scholars and spark new ways of looking at landscape.

The extensive restoration needed for the Jackson slides warranted a vendor with museum experience, in this instance, Two Cat Digital. Metadata creation requires training qualified personnel. Copyright limitations dictate how the slides display.

J.B. Jackson defined the vernacular landscape. This project made his distinctive and important collection available to the research community. The paper also discussed the process of taking a working collection and turning it into a bona fide research tool.

Before introducing the guest columnists for this issue, I want to remind you that one purpose of this column is to provide librarians with a forum whereby they can address the topic of using OCLC for public services. That's why I make use of guest columnists rather than writing all the columns myself.

Many academic libraries have staffing arrangements where library employees work in more than one library branch or unit. These can be dual assignments or less formal agreements in which employees spend several hours per week away from their home departments. Zimmerman Library reference department, the social sciences, humanities, and education reference unit of the University of New Mexico (UNM) General Library (an ARL library serving over 25,000 students), uses “volunteer” staff from other library departments to help provide reference services as part of a library‐wide cross training program. According to library policy, “Cross training is an arrangement whereby a library employee from one department spends time training and working in another department. Cross training is that time an employee spends in another department or unit of the library learning to perform a task or a group of tasks and includes the time spent performing those tasks after training.” This article discusses a staff‐initiated and committee‐coordinated in‐service training program designed for these reference desk workers. This method is innovative, as library training, as evidenced by the literature, is typically viewed as the responsibility of the supervisor or manager. This training approach may serve as a model for other academic library reference departments requiring in‐house training for similar needs.