Survey which examined censorship requests in Alberta public libraries revealed that: more than one community challenge occurs in average week; in one out of three cases, impugned book was removed from shelves; high proportion of libraries reported no written censorship policies. List of 41 challenged titles is appended. (11 references) (EJS)

An evaluation of 275 titles of adult individual biography selected at random reveals no essential correlation between a quality estimate and any of several measures of circulation. The titles were evaluated for their quality by determining whether or not each title was found listed in eight reviewing journals, five book selection tools, and five…

Describes the process of question referral in California's second-level reference centers where questions are referred by public librarians, and provides examples of questions and sources typical of humanities research. Topics include the varied clientele and the use of databases, reference files, library collections, organizations, special…

Book condition surveys have been conducted in several large research libraries in the United States to determine the extent of book deterioration in those libraries. This paper outlines the steps for conducting a brittle book survey adapted from more comprehensive surveys to assess the extent of paper brittleness of the book collections in a small…

Overlap (two libraries own same title) and duplication (one library has more than one copy) in children's collections of books and audiovisual materials were measured. It was found that there was less overlap between two school libraries than between a school library and a public library. Six references are cited. (EJS)

Interviews were conducted with the heads of 11 business branches of major public libraries to examine how these experts view the future of the public library in the electronically dominated information environment of the future. Eleven references and a list of librarians interviewed are appended. (Author/EJS)

To measure effect of posters on children's selection of books from display table, two displays (one with poster) were placed in visible area of one public library and five elementary school media centers. Children selected 10% (public library) and 27% (media center libraries) more books from poster table. (14 references) (EJS)

During one week in 1981, 648 telephone reference questions were analyzed at medium-sized public library. Subject-oriented question analysis revealed little relationship between subject of question, answer format, and complexity level; significant correlation appeared between answer format and level of complexity. Sample coding form and statistical…

This manual identifies a series of performance measurements which, when assessed in their totality, can effectively measure a public library's level of service to its users. The measures have been developed at two levels. On one level, the measures can broadly evaluate the overall performance of library systems on the national level; on a second,…