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Libraries in the USA are required by law to make library programs and services accessible to people with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (1998) mandate that the responsibility for accessibility extends to the electronic environment. Increasingly, librarians who purchase electronic journals are becoming aware of the urgent need to consider accessibility issues, but many are uncertain about how to actually determine whether a product is accessible, and what to do if it is not. This study examines 11 major electronic research journal services for basic accessibility. Findings reflect that awareness of accessibility issues is low among electronic research journal service providers, with some notable exceptions. A strategy for increasing awareness of accessibility issues among e-journal providers is offered.

This study investigated the skills, knowledge, abilities or dispositions that are most valued and respected by academic librarians, and determined how these qualities might, or might not, be associated with generational membership. Other variables included institutional classification, career length, years since first professional degree, and broad library job function. The article explains survey design, proportional random sampling method, statistical analyses and tests, and resulting findings that may have implications for recruitment, mentoring, succession planning, and for assisting in the transmission of knowledge among academic librarians, especially from career mature librarians to their younger colleagues.

Abstract:Few would disagree that successful communication between librarian and patron is critical to success in the reference process. Based on surgeon/writer Atul Gawande's best-selling book, The Checklist Manifesto, the authors indicate how a well-executed reference interview reflects the structure of a checklist, and how the deeper qualities found in a well-constructed checklist can positively influence the outcome of a complicated interaction.