This brief introduction sets the stage for this issue's topic of library needs and services for the aged, the super-rich, the Chinese Americans and the confined. (MF)

Criteria for evaluating informational children's books are discussed. (PF)

In the Los Angeles area, there are 341 patrons receiving a special shut-in library service in the form of home delivery of library materials. There are also 69 persons participating in a mail delivery service. (MF)

Genealogists and librarians often clash, but these library patrons should receive equal aid and time from reference librarians. (A related article is LI 502 568). (SJ)

This essay lists elements of a public service microcomputer project--needs, clientele or population, skill level, type of service, type of equipment, site or location--and identifies a number of options under each heading. Examples illustrating how librarians can use the model in planning a service are noted. (EJS)

A survey designed to identify the nature and composition of a Spanish-speaking community, and to isolate needs to which the public library could respond, consisted of a bilingual questionnaire. Results reveal why the questionnaire was inappropriate, why the random sample was not representative, and why the interviews posed conceptual problems. (VT)

Discussion of fee versus free question for public library services includes definitions of access to libraries and access to information; reasons for charging fees; library users (adults, students, children); effects of public lending right and distributed publishing on recreational reading; and who should pay for services. Five sources are given.…

Many libraries are now at the edge of disaster, and their needs for continued seed and incentive money at a reasonable level is an urgent one. (Author)

Discusses problems with access to local government information faced by libraries and by the public. Local government information policies are discussed, information management practices are considered, library services to disseminate government information are suggested, and a checklist for a model local government information policy is included.…

Argues that technological developments in cable television, computers, and telecommunications could decentralize power and put the resources of the new technology more broadly at the command of individuals and small groups, but that this potential requires action to be realized. (Author)

Description of 1986 American Library Association Conference summarizes significant organizational actions and presentations on upgrading automation systems, censorship, federal libraries, fees and public library services, black community information needs, Linked Systems Project, libraries and the homeless, new products exhibited, and 1994…

Librarians should become more active in designing information systems so that their extensive knowledge of how people articulate their information needs and evaluate their findings can be incorporated into new systems. These systems would be more responsive to user needs than those driven by the machine or data processing mindset. (EM)

This essay focuses on types of health information the public is seeking and sources for obtaining health data. Discussion of librarian's role in providing health information covers legal entanglements, reference interview, collections and services provided by academic health science libraries, hospital libraries, and public libraries, and future…