A founder trustee of OCLC recounts the steps toward automation of library catalogs encountered during his career, from the use of punched cards in a circulation system to the implementation of online union catalogs. (CLB)

Extracts five conclusions from a survey of library material use studies: (1) recorded use in many libraries is low; (2) use within the library parallels circulation; (3) past use predicts future use; (4) recent materials are used more frequently; and (5) Americans use few foreign language materials. (FM)

This essay relates the economic cycle, unemployment, and inflation to reading habits and public library circulation. Highlights include recent English sociological study and its implications for current increases in public library use, future library use, effect of the economy on kind of public library use, and reasons why people read. (EJS)

Reports the results of a study which examined the need for and use of both academic and professional materials in library collections for professional education. The measures used included proportions of materials in an existing business collection, and comparisons of patron use and obsolescence rates of academic and professional materials. (CLB)

This study tests the widely cited proposition that 20% of a library's books account for 80% of its circulation. Using data collected for a collection development survey, it was found that of the sample of 4,213 books, 799, or 19%, accounted for 79% of the circulation during 1987. In fact, 25% of the books accounted for all of the circulation that…

This study presents the result of the Columbia-Greene Community College (New York) annual book use survey. The main purpose of the study was to determine which subject areas are most/least in demand, so that the library can acquire books to optimally meet actual demand. The library did a 12% arithmetic sample of the entire circulating collection.…

Outlines a model for determining library collection use, incorporating prediction of future demand and cost analysis to assist collection development librarians determine whether weeding or remote storage is the most economically feasible way to address the space problem in libraries. (13 references) (EA)

Examines the adaptation of a set of library performance measures derived from a UNESCO manual to Swedish libraries. The basic principles of the measurement process and general library objectives are identified, and the difficulties encountered during the study are explained. The Swedish results are compared to the ideal measures presented in the…

Reviews current thinking on microcomputer hardware and software selection; outlines several ways in which microcomputers may be used in media centers (inventory, circulation, telecomputing, word processing, decision making, computing literacy, recreation); and identifies some commercially available software which fulfills the need of specified…

Discussion of allocation of library acquisitions budgets, especially for monographs, focuses on the proportional use statistic (i.e., a value that compares circulation and holdings in a subject area). Topics addressed include economics; benefits that libraries provide; use of the collection by patrons; computers as aids to resource allocation;…