The North Carolina State University Libraries has long recognized the financial burden textbook costs place on students. By crosswalking information on use of our textbook collection with textbook cost and course enrollment data, we have begun to map the environment for textbook use at the university and identified opportunities for faculty…

How do college students "really" conduct research for classroom assignments? In 2008, five large Illinois universities were awarded a Library Services and Technology Act Grant to try to answer that question. The resulting ongoing study has already yielded some eye-opening results. The findings suggest changes ranging from simple…

During the spring semester of 1975, a survey was taken of the faculty and graduate student users of the Geoscience Department Library at Purdue. This document supplies details concerning the data collection; it also summarizes conclusions and recommendations about the adequacy of services and the need for alterations and improvements. (EMH)

This examination of the potential uses of the OCLC (Ohio College Library Center) system in public service areas of libraries discusses anticipated use of a public access OCLC terminal in the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library of the University of Michigan, including a description of preparations and preliminary findings on its use. (Author)

The library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks offers a unique equipment lending program through its Circulation Desk. The program features a wide array of equipment types, generous circulation policies, and unrestricted borrowing, enabling students, staff, and faculty to experiment with the latest in audio, video, and computer technologies,…

To study user problems with the microform collection at the North Texas State University Library, oral interviews were conducted with a sample of 24 users. Results were evaluated and recommendations made in the areas of access, equipment, staff training, and attitude toward microforms. A selected bibliography is included. (EMH)

Presents a spreadsheet used to record online searches at the University of Kentucky's decentralized library. The spreadsheet is described by fields, and its advantages and disadvantages as a tool for accounting and for gathering information about database usage are discussed. Seven figures showing sample spreadsheets and usage patterns are…

Describes the use of "snapshot inventories" to assess the availability of a library collection by measuring the presence/absence of a representative sample of library materials at a given moment. Explains the methods and results of an inventory conducted at Monterey Peninsula College in California. (DMM)

In 1972, when the third campus of Montgomery College was being planned, a commitment was made to community use of the campus facilities. From the day the Germanstown Campus library opened, its services have been available to the college's students and to the community at large. The library has a bookstack capacity of 65,000 books, 100 study…

A study measured the extent of bibliographic access available to off-campus users for the resources of the libraries of the University of California campuses at Berkeley (UC) and at Los Angeles (UCLA). Random samples of bibliographic items were drawn from card catalogs on both campuses, with each sample representative of the resources of both the…

Data from the interlibrary loan lending office files at the University of California, Berkeley for 1971-1972 were examined in order to determine the pattern of interlibrary loan traffic with other University of California and California State Universities and Colleges (CSUC) in Northern California. Turnaround time for the average Sacramento State…

Reviews the history of the University of Michigan's UMLibText project that was designed to provide expanded and/or enhanced access to electronic information resources. Current holdings on the system are described; access and user support are discussed; use data and trends are examined; and future directions are considered. (Contains two…

Due to a shortage of staff at the Carlson Library at the University of Toledo, user access to the documents collection outside of the normally staffed hours has depended on the resourcefulness of the user. A survey showed that users were unfamiliar with access procedures. In order to make documents more readily available, the staff developed a…

The purpose of this grant, funded by the Council on Library Resources, was to allow a librarian to put aside normal duties for an academic year to explore with faculty, students, and administrators ways of improving library services, and to design methods of increasing library use by college students. A program was developed for orienting and…

College faculty who learned to do online bibliographic searching were surveyed immediately following and one year after training workshops. Information was gathered about user characteristics, their motivation for learning to search, and type of training needed, and conclusions were drawn about need for academic libraries to provide end user…