This article presents a qualitative evaluation methodology of academic departments for library organizational learning and library enhancement planning. This evaluation used campus units' academic program review reports as a data source and employed collaborative content analysis by library liaisons to extract departmental strengths, weaknesses,…

Signage represents more than directions or policies; it is informational, promotional, and sets the tone of the environment. To be effective, signage must be consistent, concise, and free of jargon and punitive language. An efficient assessment of signage should include a complete inventory of existing signage, including an analysis of the types…

This article discusses a project undertaken to assess the journals in a Big Deal package by applying a weighted value algorithm measuring quality, utility, and value of individual titles. Carried out by a national library consortium in Canada, the project confirmed the value of the Big Deal package while providing a quantitative approach for…

Discusses associations between levels of service point use, population information and library inputs, based on data from two London boroughs in respect of individual static service points. Outlines methods of deriving catchment area data using membership information or postcode data from a user survey. Describes a method for librarians seeking to…

Examines a new approach to measuring service quality--conducted at Yale University's libraries--one that produces findings useful for local planning and decision making. The goal is to probe the service attributes of greatest potential to both actual customers and service providers. The setting for this study was Yale University. (AEF)

The purpose of this study was to determine norms against which the characteristics of community library services could be tested. The five oldest community libraries in the Pinetown (South Africa) public library system were examined. Results showed that certain public library systems, like Pinetown, have made significant progress toward becoming…

Describes a new analytical tool, data envelope analysis (DEA) model, which can provide better understanding of the efficiency of academic research libraries. Reports the results of a study using 1994-1995 Association of Research Libraries statistics together with expert judgments, in terms of constraints, to make the model more applicable to the…

Assesses the distribution of poverty areas in the United States relative to public library outlet locations to begin discussion on the best possible public library funding and development policies that would serve individuals in poverty areas. Provides a comparative analysis of poverty relative to public library outlets using two common methods of…

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)

Reprint of a 1964 article by David Kaser which presented mathematical formulas for estimating the collection sizes (in volumes) required to ensure minimum adequacy of academic library collections at institutions with widely different characteristics. Current article presents new formulas and illustrates their application at specific institutions.…

Discussion of the rising costs of academic library materials and their effects on collection development focuses on the social science collection. It is suggested that combining the numerical weights used by the Research Libraries Group Conspectus to evaluate subject collections with estimates of publication production and changes provides a…

Discussion of journal pricing and its effects on academic libraries focuses on data from the Optical Society of America's pricing study that used price per 1,000 words as a quantitative evaluative tool. Data collection methodology is described, and implications of the results for library collection development are suggested. (eight references)…

A comparison of book reviews for humanities and social sciences books named to CHOICE's 1987 "Outstanding Academic Books" with a selection of books not named to the list showed no substantial difference in the number or quality of reviews received. Study suggests that libraries should be cautious in their reliance on published lists for…

Provides a methodology for evaluating title coverage of full-text periodical databases in relation to a library's print journal collection. Presents a pretest of that methodology along with a discussion of collection development principles for an effective evaluation of full-text databases. (Author)

Reports on the outcomes and impact of the Florida Community College Statewide Collection Assessment Project. Highlights include influences on the appropriation of additional funds; collection development decisions; collection weeding based on institution-specific collection assessment reports; and receipt and use of state legislative funding.…