Undertaken at the request of the Ad Hoc Statewide Automation Committee, this report provides a common understanding for Maine librarians of current library networking and how it might apply to Maine. The current status of Maine libraries and their cooperative and automation activities is summarized; resource-sharing in other states is examined;…

This report describes efforts by three academic libraries to develop a model instructional program for online catalog users that could be adopted in other academic libraries. A key component of the research included the exploration and development of a methodology for utilizing online transaction logs to evaluate user performance. The four project…

With grants from the Council on Library Resources (CLR) and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), New York University (NYU) Libraries conducted a study to assess user reactions to their online catalog, Bobcat (Bobst Library Computerized Catalog). In order to evaluate the effectiveness of NYU's catalog, to describe users' attitudes toward…

Describes Vannevar Bush's vision of memex, a mechanized private file and library, and suggests that the ability of users to download library online catalogs and manage the information on personal computers will realize Bush's vision. Current software packages are described, and the possible implications for libraries are explored. (CLB)

Academic library computing systems, which are among the most complex found in academic environments, now include external systems, such as online commercial search services and nationwide networks, and local systems that control and support internal operations. As librarians have realized the benefit of using computer systems to perform…

Reports prepared by the Louisiana State University (LSU) Libraries Task Force on Electronic Services examine the present level of automated services at the LSU libraries and make recommendations for both long- and short-term plans to handle information in electronic format. The reports, each of which is followed by a list of recommendations, focus…

This examination of the literature that discusses technological applications for the collections and services of depository libraries identifies areas treated in the literature and topics for further writing and research. (Author/CLB)

This report describes a three-stage catalog use study conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Stout from 1982 through 1986 to determine the types of searches conducted and search success rates for both the card and online catalogs during the library's transition to the DataPhase Automated Library Information System (ALIS). Phase I, conducted…

At most schools and universities, the traditional roles of the library and computing services organizations have begun to converge as the technologies they use to store, transmit, and retrieve information and, in some cases, the information itself, become increasingly similar. Examples of the changing patterns of information storage and retrieval…