Generating, collecting, and analyzing building usage statistics can greatly increase the ability of an access services unit to meet the changing dynamic of patron needs in an academic library. By analyzing three different data points, the Access Services Unit in Malpass Library at Western Illinois University was able to determine the most…

Students at U.S. colleges and universities are concerned about the high cost of textbooks. Expansion of library course reserves has been suggested as one solution to this problem. The authors surveyed libraries at public universities to explore the status and management of physical course reserves and the role they play vis-a-vis textbook…

A documents librarian and a communication instructor attempted to promote the use of government publications by providing bibliographic instruction as an integral part of an argumentation course in the Department of Communication and Theatre at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle. Specialized lectures related to the needs of the…

Business education students need courses to teach them how to effectively use the business library.

This usability study examines how students use electronic research libraries such as Questia, which has been designed to replace traditional libraries, and compares it with large university library Web sites. Suggests that design features incorporated by Web site designers can drastically affect the success of students doing research. (Author/LRW)

The four papers in this collection consider the attitudes, concepts, and techniques involved in marketing for non-profit organizations, and explore how librarians in higher education can use these ideas to optimize the effectiveness of their service provision in a time of economic constraint. In "Marketing the Academic Library,"…

Suggests that fundamental questions with broad policy implications and a perspective that approaches academic library from patron's point of view remain to be asked about library costs, collections and their use, library users, and both the academic setting itself and the people who work within it. Seventeen references are cited. (EJS)

Reports results of a study which analyzed course syllabi at a liberal arts college and a university with graduate and professional programs to determine the type and quantity of library use required. Data are presented on percentage of courses requiring library use by department, overall use patterns, and use patterns by course level. (12…

Discussion of usability testing of Web interfaces for virtual libraries focuses on a usability study conducted at the University of South Florida. Highlights include testing instruments; discrepancies between actual performance and perceived performance; and the need to use plainer language and less jargon. (LRW)

Serials collections are a costly but essential part of a library's periodicals holdings. Jacksonville State University Library's (JSUL) budgetary problems have forced librarians to examine their serials closely in terms of cost factors, indexing, expected usage, and curriculum and research support. The purpose of this project is to assess JSUL's…

This report describes a computer-monitoring study of users of the Ohio State University Libraries' online catalog, an established and heavily used information retrieval system. Designed for end users, online library catalogs require little or no formal training, and often replace an existing manual system. Data were gathered unobtrusively by…

This 1980 survey of 3,356 users of the Georgia State University library gathered data on user affiliation, library usage, frequency of usage, perceptions of library adequacy, usage by field of study, and user residential patterns. It was found that over half of the users are undergraduates, 29 percent are graduate students, and 14 percent are not…

A study conducted to determine if integrated shelving in a curriculum resources center made a difference to users in terms of finding more resources and using more audiovisual aids found that audiovisual and print materials use seemed to be influenced less by integrated shelving than by ease of access. (MBR)

Presents results of study which examined interlibrary loan requests received at University of West Florida to ascertain whether books that other libraries could normally be expected to buy were being requested, and how many books in "high-use" areas were being requested by other libraries. Conclusions and recommendations are included. (3…

Previous studies on use of library materials based on borrowing behavior failed to address the issue of how the measurement of library book use might be expanded to a broader definition of use, specifically to include browsing behavior. The development of a non-obtrusive and accurate measurement for browsing behavior has remained a challenge.…