ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


980 /  C&RL News ■ Novem ber 2001

able to keep up-to-date with newly released 

articles.
A full list o f the titles covered can be 

fo u n d  w ith in  Io P  S e le c t a t h t t p :/ /  
select.iop.org (choose “D isplay co nten t by 

jo u rn al”).

N o m in a tio n s  s o u g h t f o r  A fric a n s  
b ib lio g r a p h y  a w a rd
The A frican Librarians Council o f the A fri­
can Studies A sso ciatio n  seeks nom inations 
for the 12th biennial Conover-Porter Aw ard 
for excellence in A fricana b ibliograp h y or 
reference work. Any Africa-related reference 

w ork, bibliography, or bibliograph ic essay 
p u blished separately or as part o f a larger 
w ork during 1999, 2000, or 2001 can be 
nom inated for the 2002 award.

The prize o f $300 w ill be presented dur­
ing the 2002 annual m eeting o f the A frican 
Stu d ies A sso ciatio n  in W ashingto n, D.C. 
N om inations m ust be received by Jan u ary  
15, 2002, and should include a b rie f ju stifi­
cation and at least one review .

Send nom inations to or request furth er 
inform ation from  Kenneth P. Lohrentz, 320 
A nschutz Library, U niversity o f K ansas Li­

braries, 1301 Hoch A uditoria Dr., Law rence, 
KS 66045-7537; phone (785) 864-4593, fax 

(785) 864-5705; e-m ail: klohrentz@ ukans. 
edu.

ARL 1 9 9 9 -2 0 0 0  s ta tis tic s  n o w  
a v a ila b le
The A ssociation o f Research Libraries (ARL) 
has ju st published the latest in its annual 

publications describing collections, staffing, 
expenditures, and service activities fo r 112 
o f its m em ber libraries, all but 10 o f these 
u n iversity libraries.

The latest statistics docum ent the co n­
tinued increase in costs fo r the purchase o f 
m aterials and the increased dem and for li­
brary user education and in terlib rary b o r­
rowing. Unit costs for serials (up 226% since 
1986) and for m onographs (up 66%  since 
1986) have co ntinu ed to rise, w ith co rre­

sponding drops in purchases by research 

libraries. W hile interlibrary borrow ing is up 
190% in the sam e tim e period, there have 
been m odest declines in the num ber o f ref­
erence transactions and total circulation.

G eneral inform ation about the A RL sta­
tistics can be found on the Statistics and

The impact of electronic reserves on reference services

Sherratt Library o f Southern LJtah University 
initiated its electronic reserves program in 
the summer o f 1999 with the goal o f elimi­
nating paper reserves while improving the 
accessibility, integrity, and management o f 

the reserve collection.
Sherratt Library serves 6,000 FTE students 

in a variety o f undergraduate and four 
master’s degree programs. E-reserves would 

include photocopies o f articles, syllabi, quiz­

zes and tests, but not books.
Although we were convinced o f the ben­

efits o f e-reserves, we recognized that much 
of tire burden o f providing sendee would shift 
from the circulation desk to the reference 
desk. With 13,561 reserve transactions annu­

ally (including books), we were concerned 
about the impact on reference service.

Our reserve statistics did rise dramatically. 
There was an increase o f 60 percent over 

the previous year, based on hits received 
by the e-reserves Web page. However, evi­

dence suggests that e-reserves questions did 
not place an undue burden on the reference 
desk and did not diminish other reference 

service to students.
We attribute this favorable outcome to 

three causes. First, the library’s e-reserves 
are easy to locate on the Web and easy to 
use. Second, our students are more familiar 
w ith electronic resources generally and 

therefore had little problem with e-reserves. 
Third, the library’s e-reserves handout, which 
was very popular, gave sufficient informa­
tion to answer most questions.

The library’s experience with e-reserves 
has been a positive one, even though we 
did have to purchase a larger hard drive for 
the library’s server. It saved time for circula­

tion staff without burdening reference staff. 
Most important, it has provided greatly im­
proved access to a better product for stu­
dents.—  S c o t t  L a n n i n g ,  S o u t h e r n  U tah  U n i­
v e r s i t y , l a n n i n g @ s u u . e d u

select.iop.org
mailto:lanning@suu.edu