A study of the use of the OCLC interlibrary loan subsystem revealed that nearly two weeks elapse between the entry of a request into the subsystem and receipt of the item. Comparison with other studies shows little change since 1979. (Author/EM)

Summarizes the results of 11 selected studies of the accuracy of reference services and identifies six modes of failure of reference services. Methods of detecting and reducing failure in each of these modes are then discussed. (17 references) (MES)

Reviews the literature on library use of facsimile transmission and describes an experiment conducted by libraries at the four State University of New York campuses that used facsimile transmission and/or electronic mail to access commonly held periodical titles. Copies of the request form and problem report form are appended. (Contains 29…

Provides a definition of reference books based on their organizational structure and describes an empirical study which was conducted in three libraries to identify types of book organization and determine their frequency in reference departments and stack collections. The data are analyzed and shown to support the definition. (EM)

Academic librarians in Illinois were surveyed to determine their attitudes toward and recordkeeping practices for online searches. Findings indicate that confidentiality is considered to be as important for online searches as for circulation records, but that recordkeeping practices and attitudes toward subject and client disclosure do not assume…