Explores the number of dimensions needed to measure users' perceptions of library service quality based on data from the ARL (Association of Research Libraries) LibQUAL+ project. Results were consistent with a view that a single set of scores is one reasonable way to characterize user perceptions of library service quality. (Author/LRW)

Outlines techniques of utilizing interlibrary loan (ILL) statistics to establish productivity and staffing patterns to evaluate library services and reveal staffing needs. This article also presents results from an ILL workload and staffing study in Alabama academic libraries. Results are displayed in table form. (JMV)

Reviews meaning and theory of library collections and structure and enumerates ways that data on collections can be organized to reveal underlying global structure (links and connections between collections, parts of collections, and users of collections). Definitions of terms applying to eight models described in text are appended. (53…

This report synthesizes results of a special project to study the origins of new special libraries, including influences in their pre-establishment period, and critical factors in the first five years of their lives. A review of prior research, a census of new special libraries in Illinois, group interviews with librarians and managers, and a mail…

Discussion of public library roles examines roles from the Public Library Association's planning and measurement tools for their usefulness in evaluating public library effectiveness, based on data from the Public Library Effectiveness Study. Indicators of library effectiveness are discussed, and a cluster analysis of libraries with similar role…

Discussion of library use and user satisfaction focuses on two measures, one based on weighted data and the second based on factor analysis. These measures were studied for their interrelationship and were used to evaluate library services at the National University of Rwanda (Africa). (LRW)

Study of New Zealand public library effectiveness duplicates research by Childers and Van House which examined the multiple constituencies model of organizational effectiveness. Librarians, users, and councillors rated performance indicators identified from the literature, and similarities and differences between the two studies are reported. A…

Describes a study that investigated the quality of interlibrary loan services in Canadian public libraries from the library's and the user's perspectives and then compared results. Measures of interlibrary loan performance are reviewed; an alternative conceptualization of service quality is discussed; and SERVQUAL, a measure of service quality, is…

One hundred sixty-one MEDLINE searches conducted by third year medical students were analyzed and evaluated to determine which search behaviors were used, whether those individual moves are effective, and whether there is a relationship between specific search behaviors and the effectiveness of the search strategy as a whole. The typical search…

Describes the Public Library Effectiveness Study (PLES), which was designed to apply models and methods of organizational effectiveness research to public libraries. Indicators of public library effectiveness are described, factor analysis results are presented, implications for evaluating library performance are discussed, and further research is…

Reports findings of a Statistics Task Force investigation at New York University's Bobst Library, which reviewed the collection and publication of statistics and data related to library reference and information services and use of resources, and developed a framework for inclusions, definitions, procedures, and policies for data collection and…

Using random selection of citations from journal articles, two specific permutations of the citation checking approach to university library collection evaluation are tested on political science collections in five university libraries in the Washington, D.C. area. The history of the citation checking approach is reviewed. Forty-three references…

Describes a survey of 72 research libraries that examined bibliographic instruction programs from 1983 to 1988, looking at such factors as instructional methods, student population served, financial support, program evaluation methods, and the impact of technology. It is concluded that bibliographic instruction has changed in status from a luxury…

Discusses the nature of support staff work in research libraries, changing authority structures, and the impact of technology on job responsibilities. A study considering work complexity, supervision, evaluation criteria, control and autonomy, and job satisfaction is reported. (17 references) (EA)