In this explorative study, we first investigate current use of public library statistics in public library management to identify a governing framework and then carefully suggest an alternative framework with income as a goal for sustainability. The meaning of income in terms of management is also discussed. Within this framework, we conduct a…

Discusses methodological issues concerning qualitative research and describes research practices that qualitative researchers use to address these methodological issues. Topics discussed include the researcher as interpreter, the emergent nature of qualitative research, understanding the experience of others, trustworthiness in qualitative…

Results of this study evaluating library reference service indicate a statistically significant difference at the .05 level between obtrusive and unobtrusive evaluation methods. Library staff answer a greater proportion of questions correctly when they are aware of being evaluated. The 30 questions used, a report form, and references are included.…

This study is the third in a series that examines measures of productivity applied to faculty in Library and Information Science (LIS) programs accredited by the American Library Association. Data from 1993-98 are analyzed according to individual and program productivity and tables list rankings according to journal citations and articles.…

Conspectus tools are used to gather collection data for a variety of reasons. Criticisms of the instruments are equally varied. Conspectus users frequently express uncertainty about the accuracy and validity of judgments about collections based on conspectus evaluations. An overview of decision-making research demonstrates that uncertainty is…

This study identified the most productive reviewing journals for newly published business management titles. Two assumptions were shown to be supported by the data: a small core of journals carry the greatest number of reviews and a few monographs are reviewed repeatedly but the majority rarely or not at all. (Author/EM)

Describes the participant-observation technique for data collection and proposes its usefulness as a research methodology in library science. Procedural steps are outlined and suggestions are offered for successful completion of participant-observation research. (10 references) (Author/MES)

Explores differences in precision of terms used in subject access in the humanities, differentiating by the exactness with which the phenomena designated can be located in space and time. Samples of 200 terms from seven indexes in the humanities are classified according to five categories of terms. Six tables present results of data analyses. (22…

Examines development of social libraries (formed by associations for member use) in New England and rest of United States before 1850, and social and public library growth between 1850 and 1900. Opinions of contemporaries and seven aspects of American life indicating reluctance to abandon social library are highlighted. (27 references) (EJS)

Reviews empirical research on role variables in various professional groups and describes an empirical study that investigates the relationship between certain role and job satisfaction variables for a sample of 68 professional librarians. Thirty-three references are listed. (FM)

Reports on a study which examined a random sample of library science Ph.D.s who received their degrees between 1969 and 1979 to compare publishing histories of males and females with regard to quantity and type of publication. Results of data analyses are presented in five tables. (15 references) (MES)

A nationwide survey of 2,486 American adults, conducted for the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography in 1970, is reanalyzed to permit new comparisons of the large majority who favored library censorship of erotica with the minority who opposed it. Sixteen references are cited. (Author/FM)

A study of employee turnover in 31 public libraries in the American Midwest established baseline turnover rates and examined the relationship of gender to turnover behavior. Findings showed that: turnover rates are low compared to other occupations; and turnover rates of males and females are similar. (28 references) (Author/MES)

Investigates cognitive effects of history doctoral students writing information about names pertinent to their study on index cards and recognizing patterns among the data elements. Highlights include schemata theory; theories on expert cognition; the development of expert thinking; and an information retrieval system that facilitates name…

"Library Quarterly's" seventy-fifth anniversary invites an analysis of the journal's bibliometric dimension, including contributor attributes, various author rankings, and citation impact. Eugene Garfield's HistCite software, linked to Thomson Scientific's Web of Science, as made available by Garfield, for the period 1956-2004, was used as the…