In response to a directive to the Director of Libraries, State University of New York at Buffalo, to investigate the possibility of establishing a resource/research office to handle the specialized reference needs of university administrators, this document outlines a proposed Office of Specialized Services (OSS). Staff, clientele and dates of…

The results of a survey on the nature and functions of information desks in large academic and public libraries are examined with respect to the functions, staffing patterns, and times of service. The survey expands and updates Kleiner's 1967 study. (JB)

Criticizes the typical reference librarian's solution to a student's information request--the book--and presents specific reasons for offering a variety of sources and formats. Included is an information 'credo' that emphasizes information, not its package. (JD)

Information services provided by the reference librarians at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) are outlined as an introduction to this document on projected services to the public by the Center for Information Services (CIS). The report discusses the types of data base which may be searched (bibliographic reference tapes, full…

Online bibliographic searching provides an alternative to the traditional manual literature search to access the already large and rapidly growing literature on agriculture. The advantages of online searching over manual searching are greater speed, increased accuracy, and the capability of searching for any combination of topics at once. The…

To make scientific, technical, and management information available to the general populace of Wisconsin, the Information Services Division (ISD) of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction undertook a project to establish a one-stop center at the University of Wisconsin that could provide users access to more than a dozen campus libraries.…

A program and policy statement was developed by librarians at the Carleton College Library to address various planning demands being made of the library, to meet the specific and idiosyncratic information needs of the academic community, and to help clarify long range goals of the library and policies by which these goals may be successfully…

This pilot study was conducted to evaluate the telephone reference service of a university library. Questions were called in by volunteers to several different divisions of the library to try to determine: (a) factual accuracy of responses, (b) level of interviewing by the staff person, and (c) attitude of the staff person. Results of the study…

Under funding from the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Library Research of the University of California (Los Angeles) has carried out a study of mechanized information services in the university library" The basic premise of the study is that magnetic tape data bases are becoming available from a variety of national sources and that…

Discusses the controversy over whether or not libraries should charge fees for online bibliographic services, reviews the evidence for imposing fees, for maintaining free services, and outlines the relevance of certain sections of the United States Code to decisions concerning the provision of information. Twenty-four references are included. (JL)

The New York State Library is conducting two regional pilot programs to provide on-line information services to public, academic, and special library patrons. These procedures and guidelines were written for reference librarians in participating libraries who will act as the intermediaries between their patrons and the search analysts at the State…

Through active user participation, Washington State University Education Library was able to provide ERIC computer searching services to students, faculty, and community members with no additional library staff. Specialized training for the two librarians, as well as rental of a terminal for the library, resulted in over 100 searches in 1974-5.…

The development of mechanized information services in a university library has the following design goals: (1) the center for information services should be operational, (2) it should be a general purpose system, (3) it should be adaptable, (4) it should be replicative, (5) it should encourage increased receptivity and use, and (6) it should be…

The general conclusions of the planning study on Mechanized Information Services in the University Library are that such services represent a desirable, even necessary, extension of the library's traditional functions. Preliminary specifications for such a library-based "Center for Information Services" (CIS) are presented in this report. Covered…

The Ohio State Library developed a TWX Interlibrary Loan (TWXIL) pilot project in 1971 in order to: (1) produce information that would be helpful in the design and operation of a reference and information network, and (2) produce improvements in library services and sharing of existing resources through the strengthening and limited extension of…