This report documents the operations of a Virginia Commonwealth University library work group charged with investigating the feasibility of establishing a collection of municipal publications originating from the Richmond area. A brief description of the activities of the group is followed by recommendations in three areas: collection…

Texas A&M University-Kingsville library looks for students that will be able to work the full four years of their university stay. The Government Documents department has the additional task of finding students who both like and are precise in working with numbers, and instructing those students on how to read Superintendent of Documents…

This report describes a four-day institute funded by the U.S. Office of Education to increase the utilization of government publications by extending the knowledge of academic reference librarians about them. Librarians from 25 universities attended the institute. Discussion of the use of government publications was divided into three broad…

The purpose of the study reported here was to investigate the impact of depository documents in CD-ROM format on academic federal depository libraries in Indiana. In the fall of 1992, a questionnaire was sent to all the federal academic depository libraries in Indiana. Topics covered in the questionnaire were the number of depository CD-ROMs…

Based on the responses of 77 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries to a December 1986 survey of 106 ARL libraries (a 73% response rate), this report profiles the current state of bibliographic access to federal publications. Following a brief discussion of survey background and methodology, a summary of survey results indicates…

This study examines publicity actions designed to draw people into academic libraries for the specific purpose of visiting U.S. government documents collections. Data were obtained through interviews with the documents librarians at 12 academic libraries selected as having active documents programs on the basis of their responses to a brief…

Intended to be a comprehensive analysis of the use of government documents at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), this project was designed in particular to ascertain to what degree provision of full bibliographic control at UIUC facilitates documents use. A point-of-exit questionnaire was used to determine user status,…

Presents results of survey of academic economists and political scientists concerning actual and potential use of microformatted government publications. Research design and survey results are discussed, noting response rate, use of publications, purposes for using documents, means of locating documents, and role of microforms in information…

Fifty small academic libraries not housing federal depositories were surveyed to determine how well they can meet user needs for federal documents. Results indicate that most cannot provide access to documents equal to that offered by even small depositories. The questionnaire, a summary of responses, and five references are provided. (Author/RBF)

The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of presently employed documents professionals at ARL (Association of Research Libraries) libraries. A survey covering educational background; continuing education activities; organizational affiliations; documents experience; staffing; type of arrangement of the documents collection;…

Describes how a librarian, assisted by a knowledge engineer, developed a computerized reference assistance system for a separate government documents department. Rationale for the expert system, problems in selecting reference materials and user questions to computerize, and the formulation of a workable human/computer interface are covered. A…

Bivariate correlation analysis of data collected in a survey of document departments in 88 academic depository libraries on departmental staffing, budget, equipment, and types of publications shows no significant correlation between resources available to documents departments and those of the entire library. Fourteen references and the…

This report describes the planning, implementation, and evaluation of a coordinated staff development program to offer certified, non-degree credit to non-professional librarians from small public libraries. Developed through the cooperation of the Central Iowa Regional Library and the Iowa State University Library, the program resulted in a plan…

This study describes two surveys of the users of the Public Documents and Maps Department of the Duke University Library. The information gathered in the course of this inquiry is reported: (1) in a profile of the users of the department's reference service, and (2) in a comparison and analysis of the evaluations of reference encounters by both…

In May 1982 a questionnaire eliciting information about federal document needs and the experiences of librarians in libraries that are not depositories was mailed to more than 150 libraries in the Western New York region. Replies were received from 57 libraries: approximately 20% from college libraries; 50% from public libraries; and 30% from…