How can libraries best assess and improve user space, even if they are not in a position to undertake new construction or a major renovation? Staff at New Mexico State University used a variety of ethnographic methods to learn how our spaces were being used as well as what our users considered to be ideal library space. Our findings helped us make…

This selective review covers user studies done from the standpoints of both the library and the user. Use of catalogs, reference services, circulation, browsing and library facilities are included as are information-gathering habits of scientists and the general public. Studies of whole information systems and the methodology and philosophy of…

Chapter I provides a background and explains pertinent library lighting problems such as quality, function, aesthetics, intensity, and costs. Emphasis is on the quality and function of lighting for library users. Chapter II deals with the comments and answers to questions by persons who have a special interest and competence in the field of…

The primary purposes of this investigation are to identify student and faculty attitudes toward the community college library and to determine faculty and student use of the library. Information was gathered from students and faculty in three junior colleges in Illinois during the fall semester 1969-70. Examination of existing facilities finds…

The purpose of this treatise is to bring to light some of the conceptions that educators have of the library and its librarian. The study was prompted by the discovery of a lack of information regarding the library in teacher training textbooks. This report is concerned with two things: how the public school educator views the library and its…

These brief reports prepared by the National Center for Educational Statistics precedes by several months the publication of the comprehensive results of a 1974 survey of 1,460 libraries in 50 states. The tables for college and university libraries include data on operating expenditures and numbers of staff for each state and for the entire United…

A study was conducted at the Colorado State University Libraries to determine the needs and attitudes of students and faculty members in relation to library services in general and to the science reference desk in particular. In addition, the habits and preferences of a cross-section of library users were investigated, and an instrument was…

A study on information technology and public policy examined relationships among information providers and their clients in order to determine the economic, institutional, and technological factors that are key in deciding how people get the information they need. The research project was conducted to help the National Commission on Libraries and…