Introduction

Formerly Professor and Chief Librarian at the College of Staten Island, CUNY, James Marcum holds the Ph.D. in history from the University of North Carolina and the MSLS from the University of North Texas.

Two recent articles available online from FDU journal subscriptions about the condition and future of academic libraries include:

• "Rethinking Information Literacy," Library Quarterly, 72:1 (January 2002): 1-26
• "From Information Center to Discovery System: Next Step for Libraries," Journal of Academic Librarianship, 27:2 (March 2001): 97-106

Current projects at the FDU libraries include the Books and Ideas discussion series that facilitates librarian, faculty, and student dialogue on the state of contemporary knowledge.  Other happenings include focus group queries of the state of the libraries as well as a study and redesign of the current library website.