A personal evaluation of OCLC's overall impact and performance, from a managerial viewpoint, with special suggestions for handling current problems, especially governance. (Author/KP)

Recovery of significant achievements by exemplary individuals and institutions in public education and librarianship informs our present understanding and motivates future efforts. This narrative history recounts some of the struggles and successes of a great city library when the very conception of a free, public library was still being defined.…

This report is an evaluation of an interlibrary loan system that was put into operation for a 6-month experimental period beginning January 1, 1978, by the Cleveland Area Metropolitan Library System (CAMLS), a regional cooperative network of 19 public, academic, and special libraries in northern Ohio. The objective of the system was to increase…

Temple University began use of the Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) system in January 1972. Implementation involved the development of detailed processing operation procedures. A comparison of manual and automated procedures at Temple illustrated the difficulties of changing from one system to the other and of the automated system itself.…

Problems encountered in the first seven years of operation of the Interlibrary Delivery System (IDS) for the transport of interlibrary loan materials among libraries in Pennsylvania prompted this study of present delivery at the local and state levels, with the objectives of evaluating benefits, costs, routing, funding, and governance of delivery…

This study evaluates contract services in reference and printed materials of the Maryland Interlibrary Organization (MILO)-Central (a network of public, county, and academic libraries) as performed by the County Services Department. Procedures and record-keeping processes--i.e., organization, basic operations, and request volume--are analyzed from…

Each segment of the information community included in the scope of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) has some ongoing international project or is directly affected by international agreements or projects. NCLIS must provide the oversight, guidance, and coordination that will ensure the joining together of their…

A case study of the Suburban Library System (SLS) was conducted by applying an analytical library network model to data collected during March 1978. Models are developed for describing the intralibrary processing activities encountered at SLS and the other resource libraries in this case study. Alternative routing policies for referring requests…

Describes an evaluation of Iowa's statewide teletype reference service operated primarily by library school students. (PF)

Based on research completed in 1977 and comments on a 1979 preliminary version of this report, this work evaluates current interlending practices among participants in the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and proposes various models of interlibrary lending provision. The paper outlines the elements…

A task force was appointed to insure that New York State's health information service programs were operating optimally. The task force was charged to review: (1) the effectiveness of the guidelines and assessment form as published in the "Manual for Assessing the Quality of Health Sciences Libraries in Hospitals"; (2) the present…

Site-visit reports for 12 correctional facilities libraries are summarized using the headings of the Policy Directive for Institutional Library Services, and centering only on the general libraries. Libraries studied are categorized as either adequate, minimum but functional, or inadequate. Observations and specific recommendations are presented…

This report summarizes the activities and results of library programs in Texas that received financial support in FY 1987 through the State Library's Statewide Library Development program, which included funds from both the state's general revenues and the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA). Individual TItle I programs described include:…

Special libraries can be expected to accept and approve the National Program for Library and Information Services although certain aspects of the program are antithetical to the nature of the special library. Traditionally independent, special libraries tend to have a local rather than national orientation and to resist standardization. Although…

The role of the information center in the National Program for Library and Information Services is projected. The various types of information centers are identified and defined, and the generation, processing, communication, and use of information and knowledge are reviewed. A plan is given for the integration of existing information centers into…