Summarizes a study of the use of reference service at Sterling Memorial Library, the central research library of Yale University. (PF)

Examines and compares the costs and response times of traditional interlibrary loan services and four commercial document delivery suppliers based on a study conducted by Vassar College libraries through the OCLC Interlibrary Loan subsystem. Results are reported that indicate commercial services were usually no more efficient but were more…

Focuses on effects of organizational structure upon innovations in both technical operations and administrative areas of organizations. Theories of innovation, major studies of innovation and organizational structure, organizational structure and innovation in libraries and library literature, and current and future research in libraries are…

Discussion of the influence of library catalog use studies on cataloging codes and practices focuses on a study of reference staff members at three Association of Research Libraries academic libraries that was conducted to determine their use of bibliographic record elements. Records in online catalogs and bibliographic utilities are examined, and…

Reports measures of the gains in search time and likelihood of success in known-item searches with the Acorn automated catalog at Vanderbilt University. User time and search success are valued in dollar terms to make the measures meaningful for system design choices. (Author/CLB)

Literature analysis indicates that surveys are not widely used in the planning process for academic libraries because of difficulties with design of user studies, translation of survey results into management decisions, and acceptance of survey data by librarians. Trends such as competition from private information sources will force a change in…

The paper discusses the need for and development of a library publication program. Details of organization, procedures, and personnel are discussed; the principles of which have broad application to other academic and research libraries. (Author)

The independent research libraries have diverse origins and have traveled many paths toward today's complex of library resources in this country. The motives for their founding are many, and their varying sizes belie the uniform significance of their collections to the national resource. (Author)

Traces the traditional method of making books accessible through their topical arrangement on library shelves, outlines the reasons for the abandonment of this method in European research libraries, explores its modified reappearance in postwar academic libraries, and cites modern arguments against the practice of making an entire research…

Responds to the suggestion that services provided by research libraries must adapt to changing research patterns. It is argued that research patterns need to be evaluated as well as described, and that research libraries must define their goals and relate activities to those goals as well as to current research patterns. (seven references)…

The major Italian university libraries have great concentrations of bibliographic wealth but little financial support for present acquisitions. This has led to an uneconomical proliferation of special libraries in numerous university departments. An international congress on new library technology could lead to a better and more coordinated…

Discusses the relationship between data and the recipient, and the academic library and its institutional information systems. Examples are drawn from the sciences, including medicine, because of their greater intensity of experimentation and change in information management. New roles for libraries and librarians are highlighted. (EJS)

Written from perspective of the president of a graduate research-oriented university, the author explores nature of the academic library, its size and structure, retrenchment as it affects acquisitions and services, and issue of who makes decisions concerning the library. Space and budgetary problems at the University of Oregon are discussed.…

This essay suggests several criteria by which academic libraries' standards and processes might be judged: appraisal of interinstitutional cooperation, acceptance of new technologies, preservation of materials, role of library in total educational process, involvement of librarians in general unversity governance, and role of faculty users in…

Examines the roles and structures of several European national lending systems to find useful models for guiding future developments at home and abroad. Highlights include the current scene, growth of union catalogs, patterns of collection use, new bases for measuring performance, and charting a future course. (18 references) (EJS)