This kit contains a collection of representative documents on performance review procedures in academic and research libraries. Multiple documents from the Pennsylvania State University Libraries include a management guide to performance evaluation, a memo on performance evaluation from the librarian, and forms and instructions for use of both the…

A library survey was conducted during February 1983 to ascertain the characteristics of the user population, user needs, and user satisfaction with library services in five science and technology libraries at the University of Texas at Austin, including the chemistry, engineering, geology, physics-mathematics-astronomy, and science libraries. A…

This kit, an updated version of a 1974 publication, resulted from a survey of Friends of the Library Organizations commissioned by Tulane University in 1974. All members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) were surveyed with a mailed questionnaire. The survey analysis is based on the 63 ARL members who responded, 33 of whom had Friends…

This kit on the preparation and presentation of the library budget in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) institutions contains a concise summary of the results of a 1977 member survey on budget preparation and eight related primary source documents. The summary of the Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) survey focuses on types of…

This Association of Research Libraries (ARL) kit contains source documents providing information on the general background, statistics/criteria, formulas, and decision-making processes used in the allocation of materials funds in academic libraries. The kit comprises: (1) a working paper on "Guidelines for the Allocation of Library Materials…

An examination of the Systems and Procedures Exchange Center's (SPEC) file of 72 annual reports from Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member institutions found that administrators were using annual reports for several purposes: as communication links with library users, the university administration, and the general university community,…

This Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) kit on retrospective conversion, which replaces a 1975 kit on reclassification, is based on interviews with and documents from Association of Research Libraries (ARL) members participating in retrospective conversion (recon). (Reclassification is almost always conducted as a sub-project of…

In a March 1980 Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) survey on preservation activities in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member institutions, 40 libraries reported having conducted a formal preservation study or needs assessment, 28 had adopted planning or policy documents, and 58 reported operating an active preservation program…

To check on the status of online cataloging developments in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member institutions in 1983, a brief questionnaire was sent to ARL libraries that had indicated or reported some progress toward an online catalog. The sample was not intended to be representative of all ARL libraries, and it did not necessarily…

This Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) kit contains a collection of representative documents on performance review procedures in academic and research libraries. The kit comprises: (1) performance appraisal forms from the Stanford University Libraries; (2) a rating scale evaluation form and an essay evaluation form for professional…

A mail survey of 1,682 graduate students and 758 faculty in the Colleges of Natural Science, Engineering, and Pharmacy, and in the School of Nursing at the University of Texas at Austin was conducted during February 1983 to ascertain the characteristics of the science and technology libraries user population, the type and frequency of library use,…

This Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) kit on Bibliographic Instruction (BI) in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) examines current developments as well as anticipated trends based on a SPEC telephone survey of 25 ARL libraries with active BI programs. Two themes which ran through the mid-1985 interviews were the use of new…

This report summarizes research undertaken at the Sterling C. Evans Library, Texas A & M University to assess the impact that end user information retrieval systems may have on library staff and users. Two systems, BRS/After Dark and Search Helper, were made available in the library for end user searching at no cost. A total of 260 users…

Reports the design, methodology, and results of a research project which examined the effectiveness of bibliographic displays produced by online catalogs. A means of testing displays against several hundred thousand records at a reasonable cost and using that to test several display possibilities is described. (CLB)

Describes the background, goals, methods, and results of a needs assessment study at the New York Public Library. This structured, phased self-examination was designed to form a consensus about the institution's long term needs and priorities. (CLB)