Special collections libraries collect and preserve materials of intellectual and cultural heritage, providing access to unique research resources. As their holdings continue to expand, special collections in research libraries confront increased space pressures. Off-site storage facilities, used frequently by research libraries for general…

Introduction: To provide valuable services in the future, libraries will need to create better information systems and set up an infrastructure more in line with the current technologies. The "Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records" conceptual model provides a basis for this transformation, but there are still a number of…

Reports the results of a study of cataloging records input into the Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) data base by participating libraries (non-MARC records). The records were analyzed to determine the various fields where most errors occur, as well as the types of cataloging errors. (Author/VT)

The three conclusions of this study are: (1) major Federal agencies need comprehensive and integrated information systems, (2) very few Federal agencies have libraries with the capacity to administer comprehensive information programs and (3) libraries can make a greater contribution to agency information programs if they were given the resources.…

Describes a systematic approach to the design of fixed-length, derived, truncated search keys for corporate author records; and a statistical method for predicting the performance of search keys for files of arbitrary size. (VT)

GANDALF (General Alpha Numeric Direct Access Library Facility) is an information retrieval system designed and implemented at the University of New Mexico for the purposes of retrieving abstracts from large abstract data bases, such as the ERIC system. Previous batch-process information retrieval systems for use with the ERIC data base have been…

Within the last 20 or 30 years, some technologies have mushroomed that have not only revolutionized the discipline and practice of librarianship and information management, but also christened our age as the Information Age. This paper identifies the technological breakthroughs that ushered in the Information Age and are transforming librarianship…

This document contains validated activities and competencies needed by librarians working in a database producer organization. The activities and competencies are organized according to the functions which these librarians perform: acquisitions; thesaurus development and control; indexing/abstracting; and publications and product management.…

The author discusses the impact of the "computer revolution" on the field of rhetoric and public address in terms of the potential applications of computer methods to rhetorical problems. He first discusses the computer as a very fast calculator, giving the example of a study that probably would not have been undertaken if the calculations had had…

The inputs to mathematical models of library operations require periodic updating. The data collection effort necessary for such updating can be quite expensive; however, if the data collected can serve multiple purposes, the costs can perhaps be justified. A management information system (MIS) offers a vehicle for multiple uses of data, and thus…

The purpose of the Library of Congress Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) pilot project was to provide libraries with catalog data encoded on magnetic tape in order to determine the feasibility of centralized computerized cataloging in support of library functions. Sixteen participants were selected on the basis of expressed interest, available…

This project examined a series of alternative policies for the management and funding of university libraries as they adopt and adapt to various information science technologies to accomplish the functions of acquisitions, cataloging, circulation, and reference services. Comparative case studies were completed at the University of Chicago,…

These proceedings are the fourth in the series of international conferences whose general aim is to provide a broad forum for critically exploring and analyzing library and information science as a discipline and as a field of research from historical, theoretical, philosophical, and empirical perspectives. The papers in this volume cover a wide…

The first phase of an ongoing library automation project at Stanford University is described. Project BALLOTS (Bibliographic Automation of Large Library Operations Using a Time-Sharing System) seeks to automate the acquisition and cataloging functions of a large library using an on-line time-sharing computer. The main objectives are to control…

A study investigated the relationship between the completeness of end users' mental models of an online system and their ability to use the system effectively. Although all of the study subjects were relatively successful, those with more complete mental models tended to have better search results than subjects with incomplete or poor mental…