Seekers of information in libraries either go through a librarian intermediary or they help themselves. When they go through librarians they must develop their questions through four levels of need, referred to here as the visceral, conscious, formalized, and compromised needs. In his pre-search interview with an information-seeker the reference…

In 2012, Keith Curry Lance and his associates completed a second school library impact study in Pennsylvania. The research conducted in Pennsylvania was the result of an Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership grant that examined students' reading and writing scores with sub-groups of students (Hispanic, Black,…

Supporting the "Infrastructure Needs of 21st Century School Library Programs," also known as the Pennsylvania School Library Project, was a one-year project conducted in Pennsylvania to better identify and understand what stakeholders--teachers, administrators, parents, school and community leaders, and education associations--expect…

Academic libraries have traditionally collected reference statistics using hash marks on paper. Although efficient and simple, this method is not an effective way to capture the complexity of reference transactions. Several electronic tools are now available to assist libraries with collecting often elusive reference data--among them homegrown…

This study examined the ownership of religious texts within academic libraries that were members of the Associated College Libraries of Central Pennsylvania (ACLCP). Results showed that most of the texts in English were owned by the libraries, whereas the texts in their original languages were generally not owned. (Author/LRW)

This report contains a series of recommendations for a uniform statistical report system for Pennsylvania public libraries, based on the assumption that many of the procedures in library work can be quantified in a meaningful manner. The types of data needed for the Commonwealth, individual library use, local reporting, and for research purposes…

The interdisciplinary nature of the literature of American library history indicates that much of the best literature in the field is published in journals which do not fit within the familiar confines of "Library Literature." To illustrate the difficulties, a bibliography of 170 items relating to Pennsylvania library history was checked…

This report of the 95-member Council for the Comprehensive Plan for Libraries, which included representatives from government, libraries, and the public sector, is not intended to answer all the questions for all those concerned about the future of libraries, but rather to bring focus to the issues and to set a direction for solving the problems…

The major purpose of this brief descriptive study was to determine the levels of professional and support staffing within the administrative, technical, public, and media services areas of Pennsylvania's private college libraries. The study also includes comparative data on student assistant staffing. Questionnaires were mailed to library…

This report presents the results of a major 5-year review by the State Library of Pennsylvania Advisory Council on Library Development of the 1984 Comprehensive Plan for Library Service in Pennsylvania, together with related resolutions adopted by delegates to the 1990 Governor's Conference on Library and Information Services. The council review…

Information Interdependence is an empty concept unless the real user is a dominant element. The individual user of information must be sensitized to the existence of information interdependencies and to the critical need to foster much more of it, if libraries are to survive economically and provide exemplary information service. Three approaches…

Describes a study of secondary school library media specialists in Maine and Pennsylvania that was conducted to establish a baseline of data relating to the use of CD-ROM databases for reference purposes. Topics addressed include database titles; networking; staffing concerns; budget; funding; attitudes toward CD-ROMs; and training and curriculum…