This update of a survey taken by the authors in April 1978 on the use of online services in British academic libraries (Online Review; v3 n2 p195-204 1979) concentrates on the following areas: (1) general pattern of use; (2) current arguments for charging users for online services; (3) current academic library practice on charging; (4) specific…

This paper documents procedures for maintaining and updating the National Education Practices File, a program designed to identify needs in education and to develop a resource system for educators. Each feature is discussed with emphasis on major issues. Documentation of procedures and discussion of issues are based on experiences of the file…

A study was conducted to test the contention--which is supported by a review of the literature--that access to a wide variety of ideas and novelty will tend to stimulate innovation. The experiment consisted of a study of attitude changes through pre- and post-test administration of a research questionnaire to a group of 20 voluntary participants…

Prepared to introduce the user to advanced scientific and technical information services and systems (STI/SS), this guide emphasizes computer searches, helping the user to set the bounds of his or her problem, to define the way the literature is stored in the computer, and to develop an improved problem statement with which to enter the computer.…

A committee was appointed in March 1978 to investigate feasible alternatives to the existing card catalog at Northwestern University Library; this interim report reviews the committee's activities and recommendations, identifies tasks still to be completed, and describes the status of a proposed online successor to the card catalog. Ten concerns…

This report describes the conceptual content and hands-on activities of a course in online information retrieval skills offered at Stockton State College to expose undergraduate students to an important area of information science not traditionally included in undergraduate computer science curricula. Observations of student experience with the…

This brief overview of new manuscript preparation methods which allow authors and editors to set their own type discusses the advantages and disadvantages of optical character recognition (OCR), microcomputers and personal computers, minicomputers, and word processors for editing and database entry. Potential library applications are also…

This report on the proceedings of the 1980 meeting of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) contains the following papers: "On the Need for a New Energy Consciousness," by James L. Clayton; "Video: Information Technology of the 80's," by Kenneth Winslow; "Linking Bibliographic Utilities," by Donald A. Smalley; "Preservation," by Pamela W.…

A survey of 22 London libraries was conducted to determine the characteristics and extent of library automation in the area; the results of this survey are presented in a series of tables. Questions are grouped by general topics--computer facilities, cataloging, circulation control, staffing, and objectives--and each set of tables is introduced by…

This survey of online search service centers in Canada was conducted to provide data on these centers and, more specifically, on the characteristics of the human search intermediary; and to provide an accurate overall picture of online searching in Canada. The survey questionnaires were mailed to approximately 765 Canadian customers of seven…

Data were gathered on the costs charged by various service centers which contract Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) services to individual libraries, and charges were compared at the levels of 3,000, 10,000, and 20,000 FTUs per year. (An FTU is the first time a library uses a cataloging record to catalog a title in its collection.) It was…

Currently being developed by the State Library of Queensland, Australia, ORACLE (On-Line Retrieval of Acquisitions, Cataloguing, and Circulation Details for Library Enquiries) is a computerized library system designed to provide rapid processing of library materials in a multi-user environment. It is based on the Australian MARC format and fully…

This paper considers the generation of passwords and their effective application to the problem of controlling access to computer resources. After describing the need for and uses of passwords, password schemes are categorized according to selection technique, lifetime, physical characteristics, and information content. Password protection, both…

Costs and cost-related factors connected with providing on-line search services through the public library are examined. The examination was based on preliminary results from an on-going evaluation of an experimental program (DIALIB). In the DIALIB experiment Lockheed's DIALOG search service was available to the public through four public…

A cost analysis was made of on-line bibliographic searching in four public libraries in the San Francisco Bay Area using the Lockheed DIALOG system. The study involved monitoring the time that 35 individuals in the libraries spent processing some 411 search requests. The study identified a set of seven tasks that are performed for each request and…