The current president of the American Society for Information Science shares his observations about the information industry, identifying positive and negative trends, and discusses the role ASIS can play in the continuing growth of the industry. (Author/CLB)

A joint project of the University of Pittsburgh Library System and the School of Library and Information Science investigated the need for a rapid document delivery service within the University Library System (ULS). Two instruments were designed to answer questions about library patrons' uses of bibliographic citations retrieved in online…

An online service uses a desktop computer, equipped with a modem, to obtain a variety of services in electronic form such as electronic mail, electronic bulletin boards, special interest forums, and databases. Describes the features and costs of six commercial online services and how some school board members are using them. (MLF)

The impact of the personal computer (PC) will affect both how college faculty will work and interrelationships between faculty and students and will aid in communication between scholars and between campuses. The PC provides educators with the opportunity to reexamine and restructure education constructively so that it provides potential for…

Designed to determine to what extent the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) products and services are utilized by certified school personnel, this study found that, on the average, 25.1% of the teachers, librarians, counselors, and administrators in three educational service regions in west central Illinois have used Resources in…

Mail surveys designed to determine the current status of end user online searching were sent to three populations: 473 faculty members in 12 departments at 20 universities, online search coordinators in 89 academic libraries, and 15 library school educators. Direct interviews with 10 university faculty members were also conducted. Faculty were…

Examines the difficulties faced by the implementors of information dissemination systems in developing nations and explores the possible use of optical data disk technologies to overcome them. A pilot project of the Pan American Health Organization for the production of a CD-ROM containing bibliographic references on public health is described.…

Despite technological development allowing fast identification of specific citations and information sources, there is still a significant time lag in obtaining documents not available in a given university library system. In an effort to improve the speed and to identify cost effective means of obtaining documents through interlibrary loan, this…

This series of ten articles exploring users' reactions to optical data disk technologies, focuses on comparisons with online retrieval systems. The opinions of users and vendors on cost effectiveness, searchability, equipment requirements and performance, effectiveness, and efficiency are presented and discussed. (CLB)

Reviews arguments for and against fees for online services and describes a supply side model in which the library absorbs the costs of online searching. The implementation of this policy at an academic library is evaluated and detailed guidelines for implementing such a policy are provided. (CLB)

In the first of two articles, William Potter discusses the drawbacks and opportunities presented by advances in technology, including budgeting for online access, dealing with publishers and producers, and relating to computing centers. In the second, Paul Metz discusses collection development in academic libraries with emphasis on new electronic…

Describes a study undertaken by San Jose State University of business-related ready reference searches done at that library. The results suggest that within certain restrictions of patron questions, librarian training, search cost, and the database, ready reference online searches can be the most cost effective approach to providing business…

This essay reviews current policy issues regarding statewide educational databases. It begins by defining the major characteristics of a database and raising two questions: (1) Is it really necessary to have a statewide educational database? (2) What is the primary rationale for creating one? The limitations of databases in formulating educational…

This document reports the findings of a study group charged with reviewing the current and future prospects for database searching and electronic access to information in the Library of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Specific points of interest include factors influencing the demand for these services, costs of providing the services,…

In this research project, subject terms from the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) Schedules and Relative Index were incorporated into an online catalog as searcher's tools for subject access, browsing, and display. Four features of the DDC were employed to help searchers browse for and match their own subject terms with the online catalog's…