The moving image plays a significant role in teaching and learning; faculty in a variety of disciplines consider it a crucial component of their coursework. Yet little has been written about how faculty identify, obtain, and use these resources and what role the library plays. This study, which engaged teaching faculty in a dialogue with library…

The nature of the information seeking behaviour of the teachers engaged in General Degree Colleges and Teachers' Training Colleges affiliated to West Bengal State University, India, is critically analysed in the present study. The descriptive analysis is based on well structured, close-ended questionnaires which were distributed among 450…

The mere fact that a library service is being used does not mean that the service makes a difference or has a positive impact on the user. This has significant implications for Special Library and Information Services (SL&IS) that have to constantly prove that they add value. Because of the difficulty of measuring impact effectively, the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe some of the problems and issues faced by online library catalogues. It aims to establish how libraries have undertaken the mission of developing the next generation catalogues and how they compare to new tools such as Amazon. Design/methodology/approach: An expert study was carried out in January…

Compares the impact of manual and online search methods on the interdisciplinary search task in terms of relevance of retrieved items, user effort, user satisfaction, user confidence, and future use. The study, using the Kuhlthau model, focused on journalism classes researching judicial decisions relating to mass media. (31 references) (Author/KRN)

In March 1974, a study was undertaken at Northwestern University to examine the role of the library in providing information services based on computerized data bases. After taking an inventory of existing data bases at Northwestern and in the greater Chicago area, a committee suggested ways to continue and expand the scope of information…

Discussion of electronic books utilizing CD-ROM technology presents a taxonomy that contains 10 classes of electronic books. Development models, design techniques, and access stations are discussed; and several examples of electronic books, including encyclopedias, information dissemination/retrieval services, educational products, and a thesis…

Four articles discuss (1) the role of the Bureau of the Census depository library program; (2) the history of the Federal Information Locator System (FILS) and a vision of the future for FILS; (3) design criteria for creating a governmentwide information inventory/locator system; and (4) the potential for developing electronic census products. (SD)

Presents results of a study on user needs, sources used, and search successes. Illustrates that despite increasing competition from other information sources available to the public--such as consumer media and the Internet--libraries are still a primary source of information and education for the American public. (AEF)

Describes a study that investigated the methods which scientists use for the access and retrieval of journal articles, specifically how they first became aware of a certain article which they cited and how they obtained it. Implications for the role of academic libraries are discussed. (Contains 18 references.) (LRW)

Developed as a preliminary, literature-based study for a larger work in progress, this report summarizes the financial condition of academic libraries during the critical period from 1970 through the mid-1980's. The paper examines and addresses the issues which arose as libraries emerged from the 1960's, a time of unprecedented growth in library…

Lottery money in California, part of which is required by law to be distributed to educational institutions, provides avenues for innovative services. A pilot program was supported by the administration of California State University, Long Beach, to provide faculty access to CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service) ONLINE (a remote database), which could…

The project documented in this report identified barriers researchers encounter in gaining access to--i.e., identifying, acquiring, handling, and using--published information and measured the seriousness of the more significant barriers. Fifty-one barriers were identified, and a method of measuring their seriousness was developed. Thirty of the…

The DIALIB Project was a 3-year experiment that investigated the potential of the public library as a "linking agent" between the public and the many machine-readable data bases currently accessible via the telephone using online terminals. The study investigated the following questions: (1) Is online search of use to the patrons of a…

This is the final report of the evaluation of the DIALIB project--an investigation of the public library as a linking agent to major scientific, educational, social, and environmental data bases. The report is presented in seven sections and four appendices as follows: Section I provides an introduction to the study and a brief summary of the…