A survey was conducted of school media centers throughout the United States to determine: (1) how computers are being utilized by these centers, (2) the levels of satisfaction with present services, and (3) whether or not the services being provided by the computer are cost effective. Responses to survey forms returned by 20 school districts and…

This Carnegie-Mellon University Libraries study compared the effectiveness of two methods of current awareness service: computerized updates and the distribution of the tables of contents of journals. In particular it compared the timeliness and availability of articles in-house with the greater coverage but longer time lag (and possible lower…

In order to determine the feasibility of offering free online searches to undergraduates at Texas A&M University's Evans Library, free searches were offered to selected technical writing classes. Student evaluation of the searches are provided and ways to make the service available to undergraduates are suggested. Ten references are cited.…

Since public libraries contain copyrighted works in the form of print, electronic or audiovisual sources, librarians and library paraprofessionals need to possess sufficient knowledge of United States copyright law to meet the information needs of patrons successfully and legally. A literature review revealed that minimal works address this topic.…

Describes an ongoing project by the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Cortland's library which seeks to facilitate the sharing of CD-ROM databases between four area SUNY college libraries over a wide area network. The resulting impact on reference services is discussed, and user surveys are appended. (Author/LRW)

Reports on the development, practice, and success of instructional methods for teaching CD-ROM use which were explored at the Wayne State University Library. Results of a preliminary survey designed to evaluate user reaction to CD-ROM products are presented. A copy of the questionnaire is appended. (MES)

Advocates providing automobile repair and service information in public libraries, and discusses collection development issues, reference services, and problems in making repair manuals available. Describes the collection and services for patrons in Tacoma Public Library and results of a survey of other public libraries holding automobile repair…

This paper discusses the building of a hypermedia-based reference station at the Wright Laboratory Technical Library, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Following this, the paper focuses on an electronic user survey from which data is collected and analysis is made. The survey data is used in a rapid prototyping approach, which is defined as…

This study was designed to discover what the sources of stress are for a reference librarian working in a public library; other objectives included finding out how reference librarians manage stress and identifying their sources of job satisfaction. The study looked at many possible stress factors indicated in the literature review, such as the…

This paper reports on a study conducted to determine if staffing changes were necessary at the information desk at the main branch of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library (Ohio). Questions addressed included: (1) What times are busiest in the library? (2) Should there be changes in staffing the reference desk that could lead to…

The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of presently employed documents professionals at ARL (Association of Research Libraries) libraries. A survey covering educational background; continuing education activities; organizational affiliations; documents experience; staffing; type of arrangement of the documents collection;…

This document reports the result of a study carried out to evaluate the installation and use of the UNESCO CD-ROM prototype. A questionnaire in English and French was sent to about 267 institutions around the world. Replies were received from 97 bodies, giving a response rate of about 36%. Almost all respondents were information professionals in…

A study was undertaken at the request of the Orem (Utah) Public Library administration to identify the library's strengths and weaknesses, and to measure how close they were to achieving their target goal of 100% effectiveness in the areas of referral, accuracy, and consistency, in order to improve the quality of reference services. Data were…

Volume 2 comprises the appendices to the study reported in Volume 1. The following textual material is presented: (1) background material for the first regional meeting on reference referral in the state of California; (2) minutes and participation lists from the seven focus group meetings held from March 27 through April 23, 1986; (3) summaries…

This report contains a series of documents from, and a summary of responses to a telephone survey of, 23 research libraries. Documents and survey responses cover services to the business community by both members and nonmembers of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Introductory materials include a summary of relevant issues, a copy of…