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In response to the changing world of information access, librarians at the New York Law School's Mendik Library became interested in providing a full‐service mobile phone application so that users could search the catalog, access the reserves module, renew books and find information such as library hours. The purpose of this paper is to show how the library went from this concept to an award‐winning product.

The paper shows step by step how the librarians listened to experts in the field, searched the mobile stores to find other libraries that have done this, chosen a vendor, and rolled out the service with a multimedia information campaign.

Using a team approach, it is possible to develop a mobile application that is useful and still being accessed a year after its first launch.

More needs to be done to see the precise state of mobile access in the world's libraries.

The approach documented in the paper will serve as a template for libraries planning to add mobile access, but are unsure of how to proceed.

The purpose of this article is to present an overview of the history and development of transaction log analysis (TLA) in library and information science research. Organizing a literature review of the first twenty‐five years of TLA poses some challenges and requires some decisions. The primary organizing principle could be a strict chronology of the published research, the research questions addressed, the automated information retrieval (IR) systems that generated the data, the results gained, or even the researchers themselves. The group of active transaction log analyzers remains fairly small in number, and researchers who use transaction logs tend to use this method more than once, so tracing the development and refinement of individuals' uses of the methodology could provide insight into the progress of the method as a whole. For example, if we examine how researchers like W. David Penniman, John Tolle, Christine Borgman, Ray Larson, and Micheline Hancock‐Beaulieu have modified their own understandings and applications of the method over time, we may get an accurate sense of the development of all applications.

Considers the solutions to the problems caused by the installation of a new M310 Workstation. Describes the creation of “OLD”, a series of batch files allowing the user to save edited CAT ME records for later reuse. Surmises that other variations are available, depending on needs.

In response to budgetary concerns and feedback from users, the New York Law School's Mendik Library needed to streamline the way it reported current law journal table of contents (TOC) information to its users. As part of this streamlining process, the librarians discovered that most of the journals they provided in paper had web pages that provided full access to all articles in their current issues. The librarians responded to this opportunity by building web pages that provided links to these journals and noted when a new issue had just appeared. The purpose of this paper is to assess the status of current awareness information in the field of legal journals and uncover the options for best using them.

The library worked from a list of journals that they purchased through paper subscriptions. They determined the web page location of each and then checked whether the journal provided TOC data only, full text through internet protocol recognition or open full text for at least the current issue.

More than 60 percent of the law journals that Mendik purchased had online TOC available with full, free access to the content.

Librarians can begin to explore replacing TOC reporting with virtual journal shelves that contain full content to the articles.

The ability to conduct unobtrusive observation of user searching is a potential strength of the method of information retrieval system analysis known as transaction log analysis (TLA). Transaction logs supply unequivocal information about what a user typed while searching. All other methods rely on self‐reporting, which, as Nielsen points out, is not always corroborated by the logs. Regardless of where in an institution information retrieval (IR) system evaluation takes place, TLA is a method that enables library staff at all levels to examine a variety of system and user‐related activities that are recorded on the log. Dominick suggested that TLA can enable the examination of three broad categories of activity: 1) system performance and resource utilization, 2) information retrieval performance, and 3) user interaction with the IR system. This article has been divided into several sections corresponding to functional areas in a library to suggest useful applications of TLA.

People believe that they know who they are and that who they are matters for what they do. These core beliefs seem so inherent to conceptualizations of what it means to have a self as to require no empirical support. After all, what is the point of a concept of self if there is no stable thing to have a concept about and who would care if that concept was stable if it was not useful in making it through the day? Yet the evidence for action-relevance and stability are surprisingly sparse.

This paper outlines the identity-based motivation theory, a theoretical approach that takes a new look at these assumptions and makes three core predictions as to when an accessible self-concept influences behavior. These are termed “dynamic construction”, “action-readiness”, and “interpretation of difficulty”. That is, rather than being stable, which identities come to mind and what they mean are dynamically constructed in context.

People interpret situations and difficulties in ways that are congruent with the currently active identities and prefer identity-congruent to identity-incongruent actions. When action feels identity-congruent, experienced difficulty highlights that the behavior is important and meaningful. When action feels identity-incongruent, the same difficulty suggests that the behavior is pointless and “not for people like me.”

Assessing learners with extensive support needs has traditionally been rooted in deficit perspectives, in which student incapacities are highlighted. We start this chapter with an overview of this historical view and identify its shortcomings. Next, we identify alternate assessment and progress monitoring as key efforts for shifting the lens from deficit-oriented assessment toward more grade-aligned, inclusive-, and strengths-based strategies. We also identify strategies for comprehensive assessment that can continue this shift in approach. Finally, we conclude with ideas for future directions in assessing learners with extensive support needs.

The management of children′s literature is a search for value and suitability. Effective policies in library and educational work are based firmly on knowledge of materials, and on the bibliographical and critical frame within which the materials appear and might best be selected. Boundaries, like those between quality and popular books, and between children′s and adult materials, present important challenges for selection, and implicit in this process are professional acumen and judgement. Yet also there are attitudes and systems of values, which can powerfully influence selection on grounds of morality and good taste. To guard against undue subjectivity, the knowledge frame should acknowledge the relevance of social and experiential context for all reading materials, how readers think as well as how they read, and what explicit and implicit agendas the authors have. The good professional takes all these factors on board.