Based on data gathered during a full 5-day, 40-hour week of visiting time, this study determined various characteristics of visitors to the New York State Library (NYSL) main facility; e.g., traffic rates, user intent, and user status. Visitors exiting the library were counted, short interviews were conducted with 25 percent of the total visitors…

As part of a larger state survey of public attitudes toward libraries in Colorado, conducted in 1973, this report presents data gathered from interviews with a sample of Colorado adults who are not currently enrolled in any program of formal education. The initial section of this report deals with how often, how, and why nonstudents use all types…

Describes an inductive, qualitative study of 30 Syracuse University students that investigated the situated nature of action during interactions with an online public access catalog. Highlights include elements of situatedness, with examples; the mapping of individual searches; and users' goals and stopping behavior. (Author/LRW)

A study was conducted in the New York State Library (NYSL) during 1 week in October 1981 to determine characteristics of traffic rates, user intent, and user status of visitors. Visitors were counted and recorded at 15-minute intervals and a sampling of visitors was administered surveys on leaving the main portion of NYSL through the single public…

This discussion of online public access catalog (OPAC) user assistance includes results of focused-group interviews of 70 OPAC users at six libraries. Importance of printed materials, library staff assistance, users' problems relearning OPAC searching, computer-assisted instruction, multiple-dialog modes, informative system error messages, and…

Administrator and teacher attitudes toward and trends in their use of various types of instructional materials were elicited through focus group interviews and a rating form. Results reported include discernable trends, suggestions for improvement in media use, ratings of instructional materials, and highlights of data analysis using various…

This investigation of the use of nonfiction books borrowed from an academic library--the Main Library at the Ohio State University--examined two premises which underlie the creation of full-text electronic information systems of nonfiction books: that such books are generally read to obtain information, and that they tend to be read in parts. Data…

Experiments studying the ability of catalog information to indicate the relevance and utility of documents by an analysis of the four main content indicating fields, e.g., the title, abstract, subject index phrases, and matching subject phrases are presented with data analysis. (Author/MBR)

A multifaceted card catalog use study was conducted at University of Illinois Music Library to determine hourly rate of use at sound recording and book/music catalogs; time spent at catalogs; who uses catalogs and why; difficulties users encounter; success rate of users' searches; recommendations for designing online catalog. (16 references)…

The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' perceptions of the role computers play in their workplace performance. Subjects were 142 secondary public school teachers who responded to a 71-item questionnaire. Follow-up telephone interviews were conducted with 15 carefully selected subjects to provide more depth. Data were analyzed to…

Classifies a spectrum of user behavior with electronic journals based on transaction log analysis of SuperJournal and K-Means cluster analysis. Describes results of user interviews and questionnaires from 13 United Kingdom higher education institutions that showed content and ease of use were the most significant factors affecting patterns of use.…

This report summarizes the results of the 1985 Higher Education Utilization Study (HEUS-85), which provides current estimates of the availability, use, and support of instructional telecommunications technologies--video, audio, and computers--in the nation's colleges and universities, and describes the availability and use patterns of these…

A questionnaire was administered to 657 seniors in 25 Southwestern Michigan public high schools accredited by the North Central Association (NCA) to determine student opinions regarding the accessibility of library resources in secondary school media centers. The Chi square test of significance was used to examine the relationship between six…

Reports intensive survey of medical library users in Oxford teaching hospitals and university science departments that employed six survey techniques (interview, questionnaire, feedback form, direct observation, reference-tracing experiment, library record analysis). Three distinct user types (practitioner, researcher, practitioner-researcher)…

Raises questions about influence of present reference practice on library user perceptions of the librarian as information intermediary and on user ability to distinguish between librarians and other staff. Questions are discussed within context of client-professional relationship, using data from study of users of three midwestern university…