Describes the basic concepts of Lotka's law of scientific productivity, Bradford's law of scatter, and Zipf's law of word occurrence. The discussion covers the validity of these laws and useful applications of each law to specific library applications. (13 references) (CLB)

Describes a study that used the OCLC Online Union Catalog to identify those adult fiction books owned by the largest number of public libraries to determine whether a core collection of titles could be identified for use in evaluating adult fiction collections. Future research is recommended and a list of the top 99 titles is appended. (Author/LRW)

Describes a study that examined whether school library media specialists engage in self-censorship as part of the collection development process with regard to young adult literature having content that significantly increases the probability that the materials will be challenged. Explains the research method of searching Texas high school OPACs…

Discussion of the need for automated library systems to provide management information to aid in decision making focuses on the automatic generation of reports. Examples of management information generated in collection development, acquisitions and serials, cataloging, online catalogs and circulation are described as well as possible uses of this…

Describes the Request for Proposal (RFP) issued by the Library of Congress for an integrated library system to help in the areas of inventory control, acquisitions, binding, cataloging, circulation, collection development, online catalogs, preservation, serials management, production of products, and the computer year 2000 problem. (LRW)

An investigation of books reviewed (1989-95) in Choice Reviews, the CD-ROM version of Choice, determined all titles mentioned (n44,950) were received or purchased by California State University Dominguez Hills and other academic libraries in the Online Union Catalog (OLUC). Findings were further tested to see how they could be incorporated into an…

Reviews costs involved in running libraries that are usually not considered. Topics discussed include building and maintenance costs, including insurance; growth costs, including print and/or electronic materials; physical expansion and staff; electronics; cost recovery, i.e., user fees; cost centers and overhead; user-related costs, including…

Discusses the possible use of computer technology to enable collection development librarians to become active participants in an information network as librarians move from the concept of ownership of resources to access to information, and describes the functions and benefits of the implementation of a microcomputer-based selector's workstation.…

Describes a project at the Georgia State University College of Law Library that improved access to microform materials by adding their bibliographic records to the online catalog. Growth of the collection is described, government documents on microfiche are considered, the use of OCLC is discussed, and problems are reviewed. (nine references) (LRW)

As prices for library materials rise and budgets shrink, cooperative collection development is becoming increasingly important. In light of the necessity for resource sharing, libraries are being forced to balance issues of access for local users vs. access to other libraries. OhioLINK is described as a model for cooperative collection…

Discusses collections of standards by ANSI (American National Standards Institute) and the problems they create for technical libraries. Describes a custom-designed Web database at Oregon State University that is linked to online catalog records, thus enhancing access to the standards collection. (LRW)

Discusses problems (poverty, lack of national publishers, use of libraries as study halls, low professional status of librarians) affecting high school libraries in Latin America and suggests ways to improve library services, focusing on reference service (opening reference stacks, improved cataloging, library skills instruction), technical…

Describes computer networks developed in the Okemos (Michigan) Elementary Schools for resource sharing between library/media centers. The development of an online catalog is described, an analysis of the collection to determine its relevance to present curriculum needs is explained, and benefits of resource sharing are discussed. (LRW)

Presents results from a survey examining how academic libraries in the United States manage and promote their state document collections. A questionnaire focusing on general information, coordination of state documents, use of state documents, and electronic access to state documents was distributed to 350 libraries with 277 returned. (Author/AEF)

Presents the results of an informal user survey on favorite information technology, including the best features of these. Discusses library online catalogs, electronic encyclopedias, CD-ROMs, laser discs, electronic magazine indexes, online services, the Internet, word processing programs, magazines as major sources of technology information,…