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Five years ago a friend whose business has the word “women” in its title began referring to me requests she received for information about a large area encompassing women's issues, herstory, Women Studies, feminism, nonsexist education, nontraditional employment, reentry persons, comparable worth, health, portrayal of women in literature, scientific developments by and affecting women, etc. They came from feminist and sexist people of all ages throughout the world. Most, however, were American women attempting to bridge the information gap and to counteract misinformation and lack of information about and affecting females. This eventually evolved into a non‐profit service through which I responded directly to inquiries.

The user-centered approach to understanding information use and users has shaped research in library and information science (LIS). In a user-centered environment, catalogers are told to focus on users and adapt standards to meet users’ needs while following standards in order to be efficient in their jobs. This study describes three academic cataloging units as they negotiate both the demands to follow and adapt these standards to meet users’ needs. New institutional theory served as a framework for the study. The results suggest that standards and users are pressures that cataloging units negotiate in their jobs, along with demands for work efficiency and professional legitimacy. While negotiating these pressures, catalogers and cataloging units redefine their work jurisdiction and maintain legitimacy to remain relevant in a complex work environment. Understanding how catalogers negotiate the normative institutional pressures of standards and users leads to an understanding of the complex nature of work in areas that deal with issues of standards and users, shows how an area within a profession maintains legitimacy when the profession no longer values that work, and, finally, shows the limits of the user-centered focus in LIS practice.

THE National Reference Library of Science and Invention may be said to be devoted to three R's— reference, research and referral. The purpose of this article is to illustrate this theme, with a picture of the services and activi‐ties of the Library, and to indicate when it can be of help to other libraries. However, it is necessary first to outline briefly the origins and present stage of development of the Library, for despite the amount of publicity it has had, the NRLSI remains relatively little known or little understood compared with the other library departments of the British Museum.

The most challenging aspect of overseeing an alternative press collection is to provide adequate reference service. The same forces that cause libraries to ignore alternative publications also conspire against their using them fully and effectively once they have been acquired. This holds true for all forms of alternative literature and media, though periodicals probably suffer the most severe neglect. Many periodicals go unindexed from year to year because such companies as H. W. Wilson and its Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature stick basically to a traditional core of “safe” or “acceptable” periodicals. (It took Readers' Guide ten years to include Rolling Stone, which had long since shed its “alternative” image.)

Rare book collections are special, not only in terms of their physical appearance but also because of their historical significance and the information they contain. The purpose of this study is twofold: to identify the physical condition of rare book collections and to determine the main causes of damage to rare books collection that belongs to a museum library in Indonesia.

This research involved conducting a survey of the physical condition of the collection of rare books owned by a museum library in Indonesia. Supporting data was also obtained through interviews with one of the staff who served as the museum collection conservator. This study used random sampling to take samples from the collection, which consisted of 950 rare books, with total sample of 91.

The results obtained state that the condition of the existing rare book collection is classified as severely damaged. One of the causes of damage that can be addressed immediately is the cleaning regime: the collection and library space should be cleaned thoroughly and regularly so that dust and dirt in and around the rare book collection can be reduced.

This research was limited to physical identification, which can be done easily because it does not require various kinds of laboratory tests. It was a case study examining a single collection in a single museum library. The pool of books from which the samples were taken was therefore relatively homogenous. Therefore, it is hoped that further research can identify other factors and types of damage in more detail so that all damage to rare book collections can be identified and mitigated.

Research discussing the condition of rare book collections, especially for special libraries in museums in Indonesia, is still very limited. Detailed surveys of the physical condition of collections, especially rare book collections in museums, have rarely been discussed by previous research. The work will contribute to assessing the physical condition of rare book collections.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the disruptive implications of the Espresso Book Machine on library user services, collection development, and special collections.

The approach takes into account various published articles and online statements to help articulate and support the arguments.

Library users can derive immediate benefit from a machine that prints books for them in only a few minutes. The EBM's impact on collection development in libraries may change a decades‐old model of speculative buying to one of buying on demand. The EBM can also help libraries bring high‐quality facsimiles of their unique special collections books to the public, and perhaps even generate a revenue stream that might offset costs.

This is an original article that draws on other published and unpublished research and opinion articles.

The widespread commercial videocassette market has opened to the world and to libraries a grab bag of viewing choices. Library response to the feast has varied throughout the country, resulting in different emphases from collection to collection. One is the educational or cultural collection, intended not for recreational viewing but for specific training or general self‐development. Another is the esoteric collection of tapes generally produced for mass‐market consumption but not readily available through commercial outlets. This type of collection emhasizes film classics, classic television series, and how‐to‐do‐its. A third is the entertainment collection, composed primarily of mass‐marketed features and shorts. Each approach has its special problems in following the videocassette industry and finding reviews.

You have recently been selected as the new Director of the Columbia City Public Library and for the past three months you have been carefully listening to staff members, trustees, government officials, and users of the library, acquiring the background and understanding needed to cope with the many problems facing it. You have also read everything that can shed any light on library development in the community. As part of your review of the library scene in Columbia City, you have prepared the following paper summarizing some key facts touching the past development of the library and the community.