Based on the papers and discussions of the 1977 Annual Conference of the International Institute of Communications, this publication provides a survey of major issues in communication. It deals with a variety of topics, including issues facing the 1979 World Administrative Radio Conference; news values and social priorities; the media in…

This is a summary of a presentation on the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC). The presentation provided information on how the user can gain access to the ERIC microfiche collection at libraries throughout the United States, and to reprints through the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). Use of the Thesaurus of ERIC…

The 1976 20th annual report for the Council in Library Resources (CLR) reviews the highlights of the past two decades, describes current activities in the context of the past, and relates those activities to the Council's perception of the development of an improved library system in the U.S. and abroad. The Council's board of directors, committee…

After discussing the need for message pluralism in a democracy, this report focuses on a three-stage research strategy conducted to study the effects of newspaper/television cross-ownership on news homogeneity. The three stages consist of: an analysis of questionnaire data obtained from 214 newspaper managing editors and television news directors;…

The problem of selecting which sites to use in locating library and information centers in order to best achieve system objectives is modeled as a mixed zero-one linear programming problem and examined in detail. The model incorporates an objective function based on the costs of locating centers and of transmitting information to the users. The…

A survey was conducted of school media centers throughout the United States to determine: (1) how computers are being utilized by these centers, (2) the levels of satisfaction with present services, and (3) whether or not the services being provided by the computer are cost effective. Responses to survey forms returned by 20 school districts and…

This paper discusses how networks of elderly people change with stages of disability. Senior citizens in 80 nursing homes (40 in New York and 40 in Florida) were interviewed. The authors examine how spouses, relatives, neighbors, friends, and acquaintances help out when the elderly are robust, how these patterns of help change when the elderly…

This paper describes the functions and services of four federally-funded information dissemination networks--the Research and Development Exchange (RDx), the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), the National Diffusion Network (NDN), and the State Capacity Building Programs (SCBP)--and explains how each network interrelates within…

These seven papers on library management and networks focus on: (1) computerized access to archival and library materials, describing the methodological problems associated with a pilot project in the German Democratic Republic, as well as the efficiency of data bank systems; (2) present and future development of libraries and information centers…

The study, exploration, and debate of relations between universities, world information systems, and communication networks seeking to establish a sustainable system to handle recent developments in information and communication, utilizing universities as focal points, was continued at this third annual conference attended by 31 information…

This monograph is a history of the Caribbean News Agency (CANA), which is jointly owned by private and public mass media of its region and independent of both governments and foreign news agencies. It is proposed that CANA may provide a unique model of an independent, regional third-world news agency. Sections of the monograph examine (1) CANA's…

This dynamic approach to a state plan for library services places clear responsibility upon the state library, the profession, and library users to monitor and evaluate library services of all types, to communicate the needs of state residents, and to perfect the delivery of quality services within the limits of cost effectiveness. While the plan…

This study to determine the hardware and computing facility costs of establishing and operating a British Columbia Library Network (BCLN) for current members of the B. C. Union Catalogue used empirical data regarding their performance of the DOBIS system and estimates of workload, and compared those data with the costs of obtaining current…

A study was conducted to determine whether the acquisitions and processing services available to Neill Public Library in Pullman as a cooperative member of the Washington Library Network would be more cost effective than in-house acquisitions and processing operations. The relevant literature is reviewed and descriptions of work studies in…

The strength of communities is defined by the ways in which people help each other, and provide information, emotional support or other resources to those who have problems or who want to change or improve their lives in some way. The Helping Network Study focuses on the the quality of community, on the parts of helping systems that people use…