This report provides some basic guidelines for planning and establishing a consortium. Systems analysis was used to study 5 consortia, determine their objectives, identify applicable system variables, and ascertain the contribution each variable must make to achieve organizational objectives. The consortia were the Central States College…

The long-term goal of this investigation is to design and establish a national model for a system of library statistical data. This is a report on The Preliminary Study which was carried out over an 11-month period ending May, 1969. The objective of The Preliminary Study was to design and delimit The Research Investigation in the most efficient…

In providing a general systems theory approach to the study of occupational choice two major goals are: (1) present a macro level framework in which extant theoretical approaches and concepts may be ordered; and (2) explicate the complexity of dealing with only one partially developed submodel derived from the broader model of relationships about…

This study is concerned with the integration, cohesiveness, and satisfaction of communication processes within a large, complex organization. Since smaller, less complex organizations are considered to have a higher degree of integrativeness, the increased size and complexity of an organization diminishes the integration of communication processes…

Systems analysis and educational technology are powerful concepts, but to date their application to educational systems has been limited. The overall function of the systems analyst has yet to be defined and no operational or theoretical base has been created to support a technology of education or to justify its integration into school…

The first comprehensive study of the regional interconnection of cable television systems was made in the Twin Cities metropolitan area in 1973 and 1974. Five prototype interconnection system options were developed using existing technology. Selection of an interconnection system is an important public policy issue that demands thorough study; the…

The problem of quality service assurance in a computer networking environment is addressed. In the absence of any direct, well-defined, quantitative measure of service quality and reliability, error collection and analysis is the only basis for service quality control. Therefore, mechanisms are described which facilitate reporting of operational…

This report relates principles of system analysis and work study techniques to library activities in order to aid librarians in their assessment of library work. The meaning and methods of system analysis and work study are explored and the system concepts of organization purpose, work goals and performance objectives are defined and applied to…

Presented is an annotated bibliography of some selected publications pertaining to the application of systems analysis techniques to water resource problems. The majority of the references included in this bibliography have been published within the last five years. About half of the entries have informative abstracts and keywords following the…

The last institute of the 1971-1972 LARC Institute Series was devoted to automated library acquisitions systems. The focus is upon a system in operation at Florida Atlantic, Florida International and Arizona State universities. The papers which discuss this automated acquisitions system are: "Computer Systems Hardware,""The Systems Approach," and…

Design tools used for instructional planning can be described in terms of inputs, outputs, major components, and their interrelations. The outputs are course length; student flow; and requirements for resources, such as facilities, material, personnel, and dollars. The inputs are the teaching institution, learners for whom the course was designed,…

The applicability of a mathematical theorem designed to trace causality of a three-variable path that consists of an initial cause variable, an intermediate variable, and a final-effect variable with control over other system variables is evaluated. The formula was used with a horizontal rather than a normal distribution, as had been done in an…

This report shows in detail how cost analysis of educational programs has been used at the junior college level. The primary objective of the National Junior College Finance Study is to determine the cost of educating a student in a specified curriculum and to utilize these data to demonstrate the relationship of the unit cost of each of several…

Resource acquisition is a general process active in all social organizations. The relative success of organizational resource mobilization determines whose goals and values will be met. Several factors impinge on resource mobilization, including suborganizational levels, technological sophistication, professionalization, and unionization.…

Guidelines are presented for achieving human factors inputs to the design of synthetic training systems. A method is developed for design and organization of training concepts and data supportive to the human factors specialist in deriving the functional specifications for the design of any complex training device. Three major sections are…