Based on a doctoral dissertation, this paper describes a study of why displays of books increase use. Two hypotheses were tested using standard pretest-posttest experimental designs at two small Illinois public libraries. Increased accessibility and visibility were found to be causes, while narrowing the browser's choice was not. (Author/EM)

The Index of American Public Library Circulation dates back to 1939, and the Index of American Public Library Expenditures to 1951. These indexes are based on annual reports from a sample of all American public libraries serving more than 25,000 people each. Using the 1982 American Library Directory, the researchers identified 1,586 public…

This study considers the theories of impulse buying in an examination of the effects on circulation of library books when books are displayed face front (with all or most of the book jacket showing) as opposed to spine front. Reviews of the literature on consumer behavior and on library displays support the hypothesis of this study, i.e., that…

Frequency-of-circulation distributions from 16 United Kingdom libraries participating in initial period of operation of the Public Lending Right are discussed. Differences between the libraries are highlighted, and, for each, the adequacy of various refinements of the simplest model (geometric distribution, negative binomial distribution, or mixed…

Two sophisticated--autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), straight-line regression--and two naive--simple average, monthly average--forecasting techniques were used to forecast monthly circulation totals of 34 public libraries. Comparisons of forecasts and actual totals revealed that ARIMA and monthly average methods had smallest mean…

To test the strength of a booklist as a selection aid, an experimental/control group research design was used in the Lexington Library of the Davidson County (North Carolina) Public Library System to measure the effect of a booklist on the circulation of a group of fiction books that had not been checked out from the library in 4 years or longer.…

Statistics on book budgets, population served, and collection size of individual public libraries in New York State were correlated with their circulation data to examine efficiency of scale for mid-size libraries. Findings show that circulation increases erratically with increased book budgets and size of population, but consistently with…

Proposes and investigates feasibility of using three new variables in addition to simple activity counts in measuring reference services: (1) user questioning regardless of where activity occurs; (2) treating individual user and question as unit of analysis; and (3) examination of questioning in context of other library use. (11 references) (EJS)

This report describes a study designed to determine whether the collection of computer software by libraries falls into a pattern of library type and whether patron use of computer software falls into a pattern of clientele type. Following a summary of previous research, a discussion of the study methodology describes a survey of 154 randomly…

A study of genre fiction classification used circulation data and a patron questionnaire to test whether physically separating fiction into categories will increase use; marking spines with category labels will increase use; use of classified fiction will increase with library size; and classification will increase the number of different books…

This paper examines the barriers to cooperation among a group of librarians and trustees in the Bergen County Cooperative Library System (BCCLS) in New Jersey as the group explored the potential advantages of a cooperative automated circulation system. This network of public libraries shares reciprocal borrowing, direct access to borrowing, and…