A survey of 45 libraries and information centers within major Women's Studies Research Centers (WSRC) in the United States was conducted in 1986 to obtain information on their current role within the centers. Usable completed questionnaires received from 31 of the centers (68.8% rate of return) show that 64.5% of them have library and/or information centers within them. The sizes of the collections in these libraries/information centers varies, but many of them contain valuable resources such as unpublished research manuscripts or information databases. Most are staffed by professionally trained personnel, and the largest group of users is students. The work of a significant number of WSRCs is linked to their libraries and information centers, with the most important materials collected and disseminated being unpublished and published materials that are not easily located or readily accessible within traditional libraries. The work of the WSRCs in the United States is promoted and assisted by the Women's Research and Education Institute and the National Council for Research on Women. The research and information activities of the WSRCs appear to be the promotion of women's studies at every level of the American educational system and the interpolation of feminism into social policymaking. Many of them publish journals, newsletters, and working papers, and several organizations have begun to explore the creation of a national women's research database and the development of a thesaurus to organize women's studies research. Each chapter contains references and a 42-item bibliography is included. An appendix lists the WSRCs in the United States. (EW)

This annotated bibliography evaluates the traditional reference aids available in most college libraries in terms of their usefulness in women's studies research, highlighting issues and problems of central concern to researchers in women's studies.

The aim of each volume of this series Guides to Information Sources is to reduce the time which needs to be spent on patient searching and to recommend the best starting point and sources most likely to yield the desired information. The criteria for selection provide a way into a subject to those new to the field and assists in identifying major new or possibly unexplored sources to those who already have some acquaintance with it. The series attempts to achieve evaluation through a careful selection of sources and through the comments provided on those sources.

Women's Studies Serials: A Quarter-Century of Development examines the history, growth, and present status of women's studies collections available in the United States and around the world. This text investigates the accessibility to women's studies periodicals, how they are used and by whom, and identifies areas where further research is needed to help collection managers and librarians make the best selection decisions for their serials collections. Women's Studies Serials will help you choose serials that meet the needs of your patrons and that comply with the limitations of your budget. Offering you charts, tables, and statistical data, Women's Studies Serials covers many topics that will help you build a thorough and accessible women's studies collection or renovate an existing collection, including: the problems, influences, and expectations involved in women's studies faculty's daily work with magazines and journals choosing the best CD-Rom products for women's studies research based on cost, coverage, content, and recommendations for acquisition techniques and insights for teaching cataloging in an interdisciplinary, dynamic, and evolving information environment examining academic women's studies serials on the World Wide Web and determining whether they are helpful to students and faculty suggestions that may alleviate the inadequacies of subject description and access to current periodical literature concerning African-American women and Latinas in the United States how women's studies serials published in Ireland are adding support and recognition to the discipline of women's studies examining popular women's periodicals in the Popular Culture Collection at Bowling Green State University and how they help reveal and document the history of women's roles in society the management and collection methods of the International Centre and Archives of the Women's Studies Movement located in the Netherlands Providing you with information on how other academic libraries choose their collection material, Women's Studies Serials will help you determine what journals in your library are most widely read and if they are meeting the informational and research needs of faculty and students. The information in Women's Studies Serials will help make your women's studies serials current, cost-efficient, and relevant to your patrons’needs.

Following the format of Fitzroy Dearborn's highly successful International Dictionary of Historic Places and International Dictionary of University Histories, the International Dictionary of Library Histories provides basic information for each institution - location and holdings - followed by an extensive (1,000-5,000 word) essay on its history as well as a Further Reading list. In addition, the dictionary includes introductory articles on the history of various types of libraries and a library history in various regions of the world. The dictionary profiles more than 200 institutions from around the world, including the world's most important research libraries and other libraries with globally or regionally notable collections, innovative traditions, and significant and interesting histories. The essays take advantage of the growing scholarship of library history to provide insightful overviews of each institution, including not only the traditional values of these libraries but their innovations as well, such as developments in automated systems and electronic delivery. The profiles will emphasize the unique materials of research in these institutions - archives, manuscripts, personal and institutional papers. The introductory articles on types of libraries include topics ranging from theological libraries to prison libraries, from the ancient to the digital. An international team of more than 200 leading scholars in the field have contributed essays to the project.