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There have been several developments during the past year that will aid biologists in their constant battle to keep up with the scientific and technical literature. The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) has introduced three new online services that are designed for current awareness and retrospective searches: ISI/CompuMath — access to pure and applied math literature; ISI/ISTP&B — index to scientific proceedings and books; and ISI/BIOMED — research front specialties in biomedicine.

Botany continues to be a popular publishing area for reference books that range from manuals on experimental biochemical methods to guides for studying and identifying the flora of regions, counties, and parks. In an attempt to reduce the voluminous amount of literature to manageable size this survey will focus on botanical reference works published during 1977–78 that are suitable for academic libraries. Applied areas such as agriculture, horticulture, and forestry are not included; the numerous regional guides or keys to flora are not noted here unless they have more than provincial importance.

Shortcomings in the BRS MENTOR mainframe interface and the desirability of using the workstation capabilities of the PC were factors in the decision to develop and implement a microcomputer‐based interface to the BRS software and associated databases. The Interface Design Subcommittee's charge was to design and implement the interface components for the Library Information Workstation, a microcomputer public terminal that provides access to local and remote online catalogs, periodical index databases, campus information resources, and information files stored on the microcomputer. This article focuses on the design of the interface to the BRS/SEARCH software and ancillary periodical index databases—initially Current Contents, six Wilson databases, and ERIC.

Computer assisted instruction (CAI) is a powerful technology that librarians have been quick to discover. However, surprisingly little quality software exists for library applications. Librarians are faced by the necessity of designing their own software to support specific objectives. The design and production of CAI software involves numerous steps, which are discussed in this article.

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.

The following annotated bibliography of materials on orienting users to the library and on instructing them in the use of reference and other resources covers publications from 1979. A few items from 1978 were included because information about them had not been available in time for the 1978 listing. Some entries were not annotated because the compiler was unable to secure a copy of the item. The bibliography includes publications on user instruction in all types of libraries and for all types of users from children to adults. To facilitate the use of the list, it has been divided into categories by type of library. Even though the library literature includes many citations to items on user instruction in foreign countries, this bibliography includes only publications in the English language.

Reference departments across North America have been struggling in recent years with a “reference crisis.” This crisis is characterized by too much demand for service, too many low‐level and repetitive questions, not enough time to answer more challenging questions properly, too few staff to give service at all hours when it is needed, and so on. At the same time, there is a growing concern with the quality of reference service being provided. Reference departments are being exhorted to evaluate the quality of their reference service and to take measures, if necessary, to bring it up to an acceptable standard. But these two issues, the reference crisis and reference evaluation, are related. No amount of staff training or job rotation can improve the standard of reference if the problems associated with the reference crisis are not addressed as well.

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.

This paper examines how bonded design (BD), a participatory design methodology, was influenced by the transition to working in a virtual environment necessitated by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Abiding by the participatory design tenets of creativity, learning-by-doing and mutual learning, the BD methodology was created for the specific purpose of fostering meaningful communication and interaction between two disparate groups. Previous iterations of BD are discussed, including its naissance with intergenerational teams, its adaptation to provide a framework for a university-wide initiative, the Faculty Information Technology (IT) Liaison Program that brought together faculty members and IT professional staff, and its current use in helping public librarians to develop with older adults, targeted library programming and services.

Analysis of the findings from the assessment of the BD methodology in different physical contexts demonstrates that the flexibility in the makeup and order of design techniques (discussion, evaluation, brainstorming, prototyping, consensus-building) makes BD potentially adaptable to online spaces. Recommendations for implementing the BD methodology online are outlined. It is argued that BD’s adaptability makes it an ideal method for creating meaningful and productive collaborations within both physical and virtual environments.

The proposed iteration of the BD methodology responds to a need for innovative practices to foster collaborative work in a virtual environment. BD is a unique, inclusive and cost-effective methodology to encourage meaningful interaction and communication between disparate groups in physical or online contexts.

Responding to the continuing separation of participants and researchers in LIS participatory research, a new methodology is proposed: action partnership research design (APRD). It is asserted that APRD can mitigate or remove the hierarchical structures often inherent in the research process, thus allowing for equal contribution from all.

Building on the bonded design (BD) methodology and informed by a scoping literature review conducted by the same authors, APRD is a human-centered research approach with the goal of empowering and valuing community partnerships. APRD originates from research investigating the use of participatory design methods to foster collaboration between two potentially disparate groups, firstly with adult researchers/designers and elementary school children, and secondly with university faculty and IT professionals.

To achieve this goal, in addition to BD techniques, APRD draws inspiration from elements of indigenous and decolonization research methodologies, particularly those with an emphasis on destabilizing power hierarchies and involving research participants as full partners.

APRD, which emerged from findings from previous participatory design studies, especially those of BD, is based on the premise of partnership, recognizing that each member of a design team, whether researcher or participant/user, has unique expertise to contribute. By considering participants/users as full research partners, APRD aims to flatten the hierarchies exhibited in some LIS participatory research methodologies, where participants are treated more like research subjects than partners.