This review of case studies of five academic libraries in institutions that have ceased operation notes background, time factors, disposition of library collections, and nature of bankruptcy. Guidelines for closing (stabilizing and documenting collection, estimating worth of collection, obligations to government) are presented. Eight sources are…

Developed to assist librarians in the measurement and evaluation of the library's ability to provide services, this guide suggests a number of evaluation techniques that may be used once the reasons for a study have been clearly determined and locally peculiar conditions have been taken into account. The first section explains methods for…

The field manual for a series of coordinated studies of the spontaneous acquisition of a second language by adult immigrant workers provides a theoretical and practical framework for the entire project and a source of information about it for other researchers. Chapters 1 and 2 describe the project's objectives and organization. Chapter 3 reviews…

These two articles address the rising costs of monographs and serials in libraries and suggest strategies for coping with inflationary trends. Highlights include factors in price increases; gathering accurate data on the local budget; domestic and foreign price fluctuations; the increase in new journal titles; and publisher growth policies and…

Based on recent study on availability of publications in two developing countries, this article outlines methodology for similar studies in a wide range of settings. Acquisition and interlending policies, barriers to availability, and survey of interlibrary loan demand are discussed. Checklists for discussions, coding instructions, and…

Reports on output measures that can give children's librarians additional information to better control collections and make better selection and weeding decisions. Statistical comparisons utilizing circulation data (comparing circulation year to year, circulation to patrons served, circulation to number of materials owned) and availability of…

Designed for use by study coordinators, library supervisors, and data collectors, this manual is the basic reference and training document from the 1982 field survey of public online catalog users and nonusers in 31 U.S. research, academic, community college, public, and governmental libraries. The field survey was coordinated by the Research…

This guide from the Public Libraries Association (PLA) describes a planning process to be used by individual library systems to establish their own standards appropriate to local conditions and needs; design strategies to reach those needs; and inaugurate a planning cycle that involves continuous monitoring of progress and regular adjustment of…

This manual identifies a series of performance measurements which, when assessed in their totality, can effectively measure a public library's level of service to its users. The measures have been developed at two levels. On one level, the measures can broadly evaluate the overall performance of library systems on the national level; on a second,…

This manual is designed primarily as a guide for libraries undertaking a formal study of preservation needs as a foundation for planning programs to meet those needs. Based on the "assisted self-study approach" process, it presupposes a library staff large enough to permit the assignment of about two dozen people for an average of 5 or 6…

The User's Guide to the Regional Study of Higher Education in Agriculture and Home Economics in the South explains the purpose and organization of the study, one of three phases of a larger investigation being conducted by collaborating researchers in several Agricultural Experiment Stations. The guide provides a detailed description of the…

This overview of the research process for the novice information retrieval (IR) researcher provides guidance on selecting a research question, choosing the type of test, defining variables, developing or using databases, finding and processing queries, assigning treatments to experimental units, collecting and analyzing the data, and presenting…

This report describes the conceptual background, design, and methodology for a study of management of academic tasks in junior high school. Previous research suggests that tasks students accomplish in classrooms determine what they actually learn, and acquisition of higher cognitive skills related to interpretation and planning is essential for…

The National Longitudinal Study (NLS) of the High School Class of 1972 is a large-scale long-term survey effort supported by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Educational Research and Improvement in the U.S. Department of Education. NLS is designed to provide statistics on a national sample…