Focuses on quantitative studies which can be made using data obtained from machine-readable catalogs and applied to actual or potential catalog use. (Author)

Study conducted at the University of Western Ontario explored whether use of keywords of an online catalog would be a satisfactory alternative to self cross referencing for locating variant subject heading forms. Random comparison of machine readable cataloging with Library of Congress authorities demonstrated the desirability of cross reference…

Though recent technological developments have promised solutions to the costly problems of expanding card catalogs and changing cataloging practices, at the University of California libraries the problems have been compounded by a desire to stay compatible with the changing conventions of the Library of Congress and by an increasingly stringent…

This Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) kit on Bibliographic Instruction (BI) in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) examines current developments as well as anticipated trends based on a SPEC telephone survey of 25 ARL libraries with active BI programs. Two themes which ran through the mid-1985 interviews were the use of new…

As a continuation of research into online public access catalog systems (OPAC's), this study focused on the actual use of OPAC's and on refinement of the methodologies used in carrying out transaction analysis studies. Current patron use patterns were obtained via machine-readable catalogs from four online public catalog systems: The Library of…

To investigate the experience of American and Canadian university libraries with remote access catalogs, self-administered questionnaires were sent to the 137 directors of all Association of Research Libraries (ARL) libraries and all libraries of Canadian degree-granting institutions. The study was designed to: (1) survey Canadian and U.S.…

The Institute of Library Research converted to machine-readable form over one million catalog cards representing about 750,000 Roman-language titles catalogued by the University of California (UC) libraries from 1963 to 1967. From this data base they printed the UC Union Catalog Supplement (UCUCS-1). From 1968 to 1972, an additional set of card…

This is a general descriptive and comparative report on alternative forms of library catalogs. The specific problems and factors associated with library catalogs are introduced briefly and then treated with respect to the following physical forms: card catalogs, book catalogs, microforms, and on-line catalogs. Whenever possible, examples of…

Preliminary reports from seven Association of Research Library (ARL) members conducting research on current public services concerns describe progress to date and initial findings. Research grants of up to $4,000 were provided for the projects, which were selected in part because of their potential usefulness to academic and research libraries.…

This report describes efforts by three academic libraries to develop a model instructional program for online catalog users that could be adopted in other academic libraries. A key component of the research included the exploration and development of a methodology for utilizing online transaction logs to evaluate user performance. The four project…

This survey of 57 members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) examines technical and management issues in providing remote access to their online catalogs, as well as with instructions and services for remote users. It is noted that most ARL libraries have not yet conducted studies to project the extent of use of remote access, although…

Explains objectives of research on development of an online public access catalog using a proprietary microcomputer network being conducted by the Polytechnic of Central London; examines background of existing local area library networks, problems of network system design, and advantages of distributed processing; and summarizes research…

Reviews pilot project at the University of Southern California to convert the traditional card catalog to a COM catalog. This involved identification of essential and nonessential catalog data elements and assessment of users' reaction toward the sudden change in form and content of the catalog. (CWM)

In 1981 and 1982, a group of 5 organizations conducted a coordinated study of public online catalog users and nonusers in 31 research, academic, community college, public, and governmental libraries with 17 different online catalogs. It was found that: (1) the most important user characteristic linked with success and satisfaction in using online…

Considering alternative physical formats for the public card catalogs currently used in the University of California at Los Angeles libraries, a study group at began by investigating six possibilities: 1) cards; 2) photographically-produced catalogs; 3) typeset-printed catalogs; 4) computer-produced catalogs; 5) microform or video catalogs; and 6)…