Reports results of materials availability surveys conducted in public library systems and discusses implications of the findings for validity, reliability, and usefulness of fill rates as measures of library performance. A second paper presents another view in defense of fill rates, and responses by both authors are also included. (MES)

Provides baseline data concerning the public's use of public libraries and its use of the Internet in order to identify reasons for which each provider is used; to identify decision criteria that people use when choosing providers; and to assess how consumers evaluate the performance of libraries and of the Internet. (Author/LRW)

Reports results of a study which tested a hierarchical model that considers public library use as a function of the user's individual characteristics, awareness of library services, perceived accessibility of the library, perceived ease of use of the library, and use of other nonpublic libraries. Twenty references are cited. (Author/FM)

Describes procedures used by the St. Paul Public Library (Minnesota) to gather input from patrons to use in developing a new strategic plan. The use of group interviews and a survey to identify which roles of the library were important to users and which services supported each role is explained. (two references) (LRW)

This article reports one part of a project that examined collaborations among public institutions providing informal lifelong learning opportunities to children and adults in the United States. It presents the results of a survey of chief executive officers and staff of public libraries, museums, public television stations, and public radio…

Surveys conducted in 142 urban public libraries examined customer satisfaction, comparisons with other libraries, and factors affecting satisfaction. Overall, customers were satisfied with their libraries but experienced different levels of satisfaction based on convenience, availability of materials and information, and services facilitating…

Discusses results of a national survey that was designed to describe the current consumer market for public library services and Internet services. Investigated the reasons they used each service, the decision criteria used when choosing one provider over the other, and how they evaluated the performance of each. (LRW)

Describes a research project designed to provide baseline data on the relationship between people's use of the public library and use of the Internet. A national survey was conducted to estimate the number of people using the library, the Internet, both, or neither, and to describe behaviors of people in each segment related to use or nonuse of…

Discusses results of a national telephone survey that was conducted to assess public opinion about the importance of various roles of public libraries. Topics addressed include financial support and community spending for public libraries; differences of opinions between ethnic groups and by demographic groups; and possible uses of the data.…

In-house surveys of patrons conducted in 20 public libraries in a county library system revealed no meaningful differences among the samples in reasons given for selecting the library to visit or in their uses of the library, although meaningful differences were found in their evaluations of the libraries' facilities. (Author/EM)

Describes a procedure for identifying a group of potential users from among current nonusers in a sample of adults drawn from the library's community. This procedure was designed for use in conducting marketing surveys for public libraries. (Author/CHC)

Reviews current state of the art pertaining to measurement and use of the construct of user satisfaction (user's self-reported degree of satisfaction with library services) and reports results of survey of 623 public library patrons measuring user satisfaction, evaluation of services, library use, and individual characteristics. Twenty-six sources…

Three urban library systems asked their patrons to read descriptions of seven library roles and to select the role that best described why they were visiting the library. From these patron surveys, each library system was able to develop profiles of the roles that its libraries play in the community. (Contains two references.) (SLW)

This study was designed both to determine if patrons are able to discern differences in library performance and to investigate relationships between patron evaluation and use of public libraries. Highlights include study procedures, instrumentation, data collection, results of data analyses, and interpretation of results. Eighteen references are…

Examines results of a Gallup poll of community opinion leaders which found the most important roles of the public library in the community to be to support educational aspirations of the community, and to provide the community with access to information. Tables compare opinions from the various opinion leader groups surveyed. (Author/JMV)