Compares online literature retrieval with traditional reference services. Discusses the reasons for and against adding online reference services to two-year college libraries and the unique applications online search services may have in the community college environment. (CBC)

These two brief guides are designed to assist users in searching the GPO Monthly Catalog of Government Publications and the ERIC databases on CD-ROM produced by Silver Platter Information, Inc. Each guide contains step-by-step instructions for: (1) simple subject searching using basic Boolean connectors; (2) displaying and printing; (3) correcting…

This Arizona State University (Tempe) Library publication policy provides librarians with a single source to consult when writing standard library handouts, i.e., publications made available for public use. The policy also applies to materials printed with funds from outside the Instructional Services printing budget. This policy paper covers the…

Describes a library-subsidized walk-in service at Albert R. Mann Library, Cornell University, which provides computer-generated bibliographies to undergraduate students at very low cost. Undergraduate needs, models, planning the service (parameters, fees, database selection, promotion), an initial evaluation of the program, and modifications of…

Identifies problems inherent in using a "live" database search in initial instruction of online users and discusses the advantages of using prerecorded videocassette database searches as produced by University of California Berkeley's School of Library and Information Studies. A videotape explaining use of the online catalog…

A survey of 430 users of online catalog at Ohio State University Libraries found that most users are undergraduate students (68 percent) and that majority (95 percent) choose online catalog as first source of information. Fewer performed known-item searches and success rates were generally higher than reported in earlier studies. (8 references)…

Relates experiences of library director at King College--a small, four-year, undergraduate, private college faced with difficult budgetary decisions. Periodical collection, budgetary problems, cost effective online searches, acceptance of services by library patrons, and problems and solutions connected with implementation of online services are…

This paper describes the development of an online public access catalog from a limited-purpose online circulation system at Ohio State University (OSU) and the negative and positive aspects of this transition. It is noted that the online system, known as the Library Control System (LCS), was designed to be fully operational in July 1982. Steps in…

This paper describes the development of online bibliographic searching at Lamar University, a state-supported university in Beaumont, Texas, and the results of a 1983 users' survey evaluating satisfaction with online searching services. Online searching is defined and its advantages and disadvantages are briefly outlined. The equipment used in…

Describes three ways in which libraries use computers to enhance reference services: "Answers," the community information and referral service at Memorial Hall Library, Andover, Massachusetts; the Hot Topics File at State University of New York/Oswego, Penfield Library; and features of RLIN and WLN databases which make them valuable…

In order to determine the feasibility of offering free online searches to undergraduates at Texas A&M University's Evans Library, free searches were offered to selected technical writing classes. Student evaluation of the searches are provided and ways to make the service available to undergraduates are suggested. Ten references are cited.…

This paper is primarily an annotated listing of criteria for selection of a microcomputer to be used for online information retrieval. The paper was used by the University Library of the Technische Universitat Wien (Vienna, Austria) while preparing to contact computer dealers and to inform them about the library's needs in this specialized area of…

In-person interviews were conducted with 147 randomly selected students to study usage of microfiche serials holdings list to determine accessibility and retrievability of periodical issues housed in four separate locations in California Polytechnic State University Library. Results showed that 80.6 percent of students were successful in their…

This document was developed primarily in response to a bibliographic lecture in an upper-division Afro-American survey course that covers the American colonial period to the present. In addition to representative examples of reference works, bibliographies, bibliographic sources, and periodical indexes, a section is devoted to the proper use of…