The Visual Image User Study (VIUS), an extensive needs assessment project at Penn State University, describes academic users of pictures and their perceptions. These findings outline the potential market for digital images and list the likely determinates of whether or not a system will be used. They also explain some key user requirements for…

Each of nine issues of this newsletter focuses on one topic. The topics covered are: (1) Librarian Salaries at Colorado Community Colleges; (2) Criteria for Allocating the Library Materials Budget; (3) School Library Media Centers in Colorado 1994; (4) Circulation Statistics: What's Included & What's Excluded?; (5) U.S. Population Unserved…

The purpose of the project described in this paper was to gather information about online/CD-ROM database systems that would be useful in improving the services offered at the University of Findlay, a small private liberal arts college in northwestern Ohio. A survey was sent to 67 libraries serving colleges similar in size which included questions…

This inventory provides profiles, tables, and listings of automated library activities at 115 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) institutions. The library profile covers 18 functions: (1) acquisitions; (2) serials check/claim; (3) serials/union list; (4) authority control; (5) cataloging/utility; (6) cataloging/local; (7) circulation; (8)…

In mid-1985, researchers contacted librarians at 23 United States and Canadian universities to determine what end-user activities were taking place with the involvement and cooperation of the library. Although most of those contacted were members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), a few non-ARL libraries known to have active end-user…

Discusses user satisfaction with remote access to online catalogs, categorizes the types of assistance remote users require, and considers the library's responsibility to these invisible users. An outline of suggestions for improving service to remote users is provided. (CLB)

Reviews recent and current research and development projects in the United Kingdom dealing with online information systems. Main areas of research (systems design, impact on user behavior and organizational structure, ergonomics and bibliographic factors) and research techniques (features analysis, transaction log analysis, surveys and comparative…

Describes the Network Library System, a collaborative development project undertaken by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Chicago libraries, which currently handles an online catalog and a circulation system. The conceptualization of the system, its development and performance, and subsequent changes due to available…

The widespread implementation of search protocols, primarily Z39.50, in combination with the spread of the World Wide Web makes possible a high degree of integration and standardization of search services. This paper describes a project which seeks to combine in a seamless fashion the searching of periodical indexes and library OPACs with document…

A review of statistics on CD-ROM usage on the Southern Illinois University at Carbondale's library network revealed patron difficulty in utilizing electronic indexes. Appropriate database selection and searching problems are identified, and introductory workshops on electronic library resources are suggested to assist students in making better…

Describes Pica, an organization in the Netherlands which evolved from the Project for Integrated Catalogue Automation that includes the National Library and all university libraries. Topics include the organizational structure, the shared online cataloging system, interlibrary loan, library networks and database access, and electronic document…

Describes the Electronic Journal Retrieval Project (EJRP) developed at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Libraries, to provide full-text journal articles from online systems. Highlights include costs of various search strategies; implications for library services; collection development and interlibrary loan considerations; and suggestions…

Presents a model approach to data services in academic research libraries through the Machine Readable Data Center, an information center established at the University of Minnesota to facilitate end-user access to government data files such as the Census. Organizational issues, service issues, and collections issues are addressed; and future plans…

Results are reported from a study that investigated the extent to which academic library end users conducted multiple search sessions with online public access catalogs or CD-ROM databases at different stages of their information seeking related to a research project. Implications for training, retrieval systems design, and further research are…

Provides an overview of computer networking and discusses three general applications--communications, remote access, and file transfer--and their benefits to library services. Outlines three problems librarians face--economic and technological access, training, and the challenge of participative development of the Internet. (14 references/notes)…