This research is concerned with the pragmatic performance characteristics of competing information technologies (ITs) and services in the university research center, as measured by user demand and choice. Technologies and services studied include: (1) mediated search service operating at cost recovery, open to all; (2) end-user service collecting…

To investigate the experience of American and Canadian university libraries with remote access catalogs, self-administered questionnaires were sent to the 137 directors of all Association of Research Libraries (ARL) libraries and all libraries of Canadian degree-granting institutions. The study was designed to: (1) survey Canadian and U.S.…

This document is one of ten kits distributed annually by the Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC), a clearinghouse operated by the Association of Research Libraries, Office of Management Studies (ARL/OMS) that provides a central source of timely information and materials on the management and operations of large academic and research…

This study examines the use of online bibliographic retrieval systems in a selected number of science and technology libraries chosen for their leadership reputation; it is limited to the use of online systems operated by a library staff member. Participating libraries included 12 academic, one government, and 10 research or institutional…

Describes a project that was designed to study the effectiveness and efficiency of editing procedures within an online bibliographic system at a large research university library. A comprehensive statistical overview of editing commands available is presented, frequency of their use is studied, and questions for further research are suggested.…

In 1981 and 1982, a group of 5 organizations conducted a coordinated study of public online catalog users and nonusers in 31 research, academic, community college, public, and governmental libraries with 17 different online catalogs. It was found that: (1) the most important user characteristic linked with success and satisfaction in using online…

Sixteen articles, books, and reports published between 1978 and 1983 and cited in "Resources in Education" and "Current Index to Journals in Education" are listed in this bibliography on online public access catalogs (OPACs). Emphasis is on the movement toward computer-based alternatives to library card catalogs and user…

The kit on electronic mail (EM) contains results of a January 1984 Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) survey on current and planned uses of EM within the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Questionnaires were distributed to all 117 member institutions. Of the 69% who responded (81), 43% (35) indicated that they now use EM in their…

A task force was set up in September 1975 to develop short and long range planning guidelines for decisions affecting future catalogs at Cornell University Libraries (CUL). This report presents summaries of studies by this group, focusing on developments at the Library of Congress and other research libraries; cost analysis, current status…

This Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) kit examines the current state of online services based upon the experiences of a select number of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries in the United States and Canada. Many of the kit documents were obtained during a survey of eight private institutions conducted for Duke…

In 1981 and 1982, the Research Libraries Group (RLG) and four other organizations participated in a coordinated study of public online catalog users and nonusers. Standard, self-administered questionnaires were used to gather data from 8,094 users and 3,981 nonusers in 31 research, academic, community college, public, and governmental libraries…

A study was conducted to assess the feasibility of establishing a regional information transfer center within the context of the National Network of Transportation Research Information Services (TRISNET). The principle areas of investigation were: (1) the transportation information needs of the public and private sectors; (2) the utility of…

Presents the results of a survey of academic libraries belonging to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) concerning the availability and accessibility of OCLC (via dedicated or dial access terminals) for use by reference personnel. The methodology of the survey is described and data are presented in five tables. (JL)

The results of personal interviews with 18 of the more experienced online searchers in Washington State are presented. A profile of respondents determines the experience of each in searching in years, number of searches per month, vendors used, and most used data bases. This information is used to analyze the answers given to questions about the…

As a continuation of research into online public access catalog systems (OPAC's), this study focused on the actual use of OPAC's and on refinement of the methodologies used in carrying out transaction analysis studies. Current patron use patterns were obtained via machine-readable catalogs from four online public catalog systems: The Library of…