Defined in terms of their institutional role and historical development, national statistical libraries are discussed in the context of present structures, size, personnel situation, technical equipment, financial structure, general and specific activities, areas of specialization, and growth rate, as well as the interlibrary cooperative efforts…

In "How Special Libraries Use Networks," a paper presented at the 1982 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference, David R. Bender (United States) advocates cooperation among academic, public, school, and special libraries in the areas of information management, staff services, and acquisition of technology. He…

An overview is provided of the 170 special libraries in Canada which contain collections on economics and finance. General geographic distribution is noted, and then attention is given separately to the numbers, status, and development of economic libraries in various sectors: universities and community colleges, public libraries, corporations,…

There are many different approaches to the concept of "quality," which focus on both "what" defines the quality of a service and "who" defines quality. A study funded by the British Library (England) sought to define an approach to quality appropriate for the delivery and effective management of public library…

Three articles on preservation present a theoretical framework for making preservation selection decisions by Atkinson, comments on Atkinson's concepts and possible mechanisms for identifying collections for top priority in microfilming by Child, and results of a Research Libraries Group study of the costs of preservation microfilming by McClung .…

Reports results of a survey of 293 colleges and universities that reveals a growing trend toward making computer software and hardware available to faculty and students, despite potential illicit copying software. The role of the academic library and copyright implications are discussed. Twenty-three references are cited. (EJS)

Data gathered during visits to libraries associated with five major university programs in journalism and mass communication in the United States are summarized in this report. The report contains information about the collections, services, and facilities of the following university libraries: (1) University of Illinois Communications Library,…

This paper presents the results of a pilot study of University of Illinois at Chicago faculty members, their assistants who use the library for them, and the role of the Library of the Health Sciences in that process. The Library of the Health Sciences public services staff members, College of Pharmacy faculty, and their assistants were…

This study evolved from a survey of all academic libraries in Georgia, designed to identify current online activities in the state's academic libraries, and to predict future directions and trends. The information was gathered to provide a pool of data for comparison, planning, management, and administration of online services, and to serve as a…

In 1973, the Technological Institute Library, along with the other science libraries of Northwestern University, began a study of reference use. For each reference request received in the libraries, the date, time, duration, mode, class of question, and user type were noted. These statistics were tabulated and analyzed by computer. It was…

Step-by-step description of the community analysis and survey project undertaken by Grande Prairie Public Library (Alberta, Canada) includes discussion of use of American Library Association's "Planning Process for Public Libraries" as a guideline for designing staff, citizen, and user surveys. Statement of revenue and expenses (1982) is…

Discusses serials cancellations; reviews library collection assessment policies and reasons for assessment studies; describes a survey of academic health sciences libraries that examined serials cancellation projects, including the decision-making process, regional or national cooperation, and the methodology used; and explains a generic serials…

The 16 reports in this collection were presented at an open forum on research libraries and meetings of three more specialized sections: (1) "Nature and Purpose of the Division of General Research Libraries" (Ernst Kohl); (2) "Objectives and Goals of the Section of Parliamentary Libraries" (Ernst Kohl); (3) "The IFLA…

This investigation of how ten small, private college libraries go about collecting books focuses on the degree of responsibility and control those libraries exercise over what is included in their collections. The findings and conclusions of the study are based upon interviews with library administrators and acquisitions librarians at Middlebury…

Data from 43 responses to a questionnaire distributed to the academic members of the RASD Discussion Group in Reference Services in Large Research Libraries are summarized in tables. The purpose of the survey was to reflect patterns of staff size, services, and organization in reference departments in large academic libraries. The tables present…