A national study of users and non-users of public access online catalog systems (OPACs) was undertaken at 29 libraries, representing 15 computer systems, to provide data and interpretations useful to system designers and library administrators. The findings indicate that users have overwhelmingly positive responses to OPACs. Non-users have…

This report covers the background, scope, and findings of a multifaceted research project which focused on data collection and analysis related to online public access systems (OPAC's); the ultimate goal of this project is to improve information access through OPAC design and enhancement. To assist library decision-makers when planning for the…

Building on previous ethnographic research on middle school students' reading and writing activities, a study examined the continuity and change in students' use of, control of, and access to reading and writing resources from kindergarten through grade 8 in an elementary school, a middle school, and the community. Reading and writing resources…

This research project investigated the information seeking behavior of Syracuse University doctoral students in six disciplines--economics, English, geology, history, philosophy, and physics. Questionnaires distributed to 112 students elicited data from 69 respondents (61.6%) on their educational environment, search strategies, selection of…

This report summarizes the activities and accomplishments of the Montana Faxnet Project, which was created to design and demonstrate a statewide document delivery network utilizing telefacsimile equipment that would create equitable access for all Montanans accessing and retrieving information, and reduce the waiting time for requested materials…

Religiosity is a personality attribute that affects social attitudes and behavior. To examine whether religiosity also affects television use, a study administered questionnaires to 346 Christian conservatives, moderates, and liberals in six different churches in northeast Ohio during November and December 1987. The questionnaire measured…

This report describes a survey of 942 California State University, Northridge, (CSUN) library patrons conducted from March 15 through April 15, 1987. The survey was administered by student interviewers who approached patrons exiting the two CSUN libraries and asked them questions from the survey questionnaire. Survey findings are briefly…

While research has suggested numerous problems and adjustment difficulties faced by international students attending colleges and universities in the United States, cultural differences may be barriers for international students in their seeking and receiving help for such problems. This study was conducted to examine whether certain noncognitive…

The main purposes of this study were to ascertain something of the quality of in-house use of materials in a science library, and to test the use of interviews as a method of measuring such use. Brief interviews were held with 414 users of the University of Illinois Veterinary Medicine Library (VML) between March 2 and May 13, 1987, to obtain…

Based on information reported to the New Jersey State Department of Education in 1983, this report is intended to foster communication on educational uses of computers between and among school districts, county offices, and the department's central office. The first of four sections summarizes data from the department's Survey of Instructional…

To determine the number and current use of microcomputers in Alberta's elementary, junior, and senior high schools, a total of 1,509 schools were surveyed. The results, as reported by 1,271 schools (84.2%), showed the total number of microcomputers to be 13,748. To provide more in-depth information, schools were categorized by six instructional…

A study was conducted to examine gender differences in computer attitudes and experiences of adolescents. A random, systematic sample of students (1,138) from five San Francisco Bay area high schools was surveyed for their uses of computers before and during their high school years. Four main categories of data were collected: (1) instructional…

The study examined the role played by informal (i.e., family, kin, neighbors, friends) and quasiformal (i.e., church-sponsored) support systems in predicting, enhancing, or inhibiting use of social services by Hispanic elderly. Thirty-seven variables and data selected from a 1979-1980 15-state survey of 1,805 noninstitutionalized Hispanic…

Seven of these ten papers are concerned with library research in specific countries; the remaining three deal with library planning and ethics in research. Titles are "The Library as a Cultural Institution," by Jadwiga Kolodziejska, Poland; "The International Seminar 'Book and Library in Society' of the Polish Book and Readers…

This set of materials assembled by the Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) contains seven examples of general use surveys and eight examples of user surveys on specific topics from a group of major research libraries. Among the items included are (1) a final report on a library user survey…