This study investigated ways in which the costs of a library's direct and indirect services can be equitably allocated to its heterogeneous group of institution users. It was conducted from October 1, 1974 to March 31, 1977. The final report is divided into four parts, each describing a separate issue. Part I discusses the general administrative…

Part II of the study describes a model for associating one portion of total library costs with use; the model's output is a set of charges that can be used to recover (justify) these usage-based costs. Algebraic formulations constructed and combined to form the model are a set of service charges that may vary by user type and recover out-of-pocket…

Part III of the study describes a model for completing the cost assessment (justification) process by accounting for the fixed joint costs; a "fair" and equitable mechanism is developed in the context of game-theoretic approach. An n-person game is constructed in which the "players" are the institutions served by the library,…

Part IV is a summary analysis of sample and survey data collected to facilitate the structure of the cost assessment models and to find out which, if any, subgroups of HAM-TMC user population make more (or less) use of various library services. Sampling data were obtained from brief interviews and in-house files of various user institutions to…

The inputs to mathematical models of library operations require periodic updating. The data collection effort necessary for such updating can be quite expensive; however, if the data collected can serve multiple purposes, the costs can perhaps be justified. A management information system (MIS) offers a vehicle for multiple uses of data, and thus…

This is a study on the operating efficiency of the public library system in Australia. Cost functions have been fitted to library data and the results are interpreted with a view to generating insights into the functioning of the existing library system. An exploratory cost benefit analysis has also been attempted. Activities of libraries have…

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…

Describes a computerized decision support system based on circulation data that was developed to assist the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library in materials acquisition budgeting and other library management decision making. The budget allocation model is explained, and implementation and testing of the decision support system is described.…

Discusses the design of a model-based management information system in terms of mathematical/statistical, information processing, and human factors issues and presents a prototype system for interlibrary loan networks. (Author/CWM)