Analyzes Skills Management Systems (SMS) as a means for establishing an accountability framework in reading instruction and concludes that at the present time there are too many unverified assumptions in such systems. (RB)

This document first outlines considerations relative to a systems approach to evaluation, and then argues for such an approach to the evaluation of information retrieval systems (ISR). The criterion of such evaluations should be the utility of the information retrieved to the user, and the ISR ought to be regarded as one of three interrelated…

During the two-year Relevance Assessment Project, 15 studies were designed and carried out with over 500 subjects used as relevance judges. The subjects were librarians, information specialists, library science students and faculty, and graduate and upper division students in psychology. Materials for judging were selected for subjects according…

This study was designed to extend the generality of the Substrata-Factor Theory by two methods of investigation: (1) theoretically, to est"blish the validity of the hypothesis that an isomorphic relationship exists between the Substrata-Factor Theory and the General Open Systems Theory, and (2) experimentally, to disc"ver through a…

The development of logically sophisticated analytical models in a growing number of fields has placed new emphasis on efficiency in school management. Recent systems models guiding the longrun analysis of school management in terms of efficiency--through cost-benefit studies, systems analysis, and program planning and budgeting systems--are in…

The U. S. Air Force job inventory for the automatic digital switching specialist career ladder is divided into 12 categories, each of which is broken down into a duty-task list. Space is provided for Air Force personnel filling out the inventory to check whether each task is at present part of their duties. The 12 categories are: organizing and…

Unit cost is an anticipated offspring of the pressing notions of accountability, efficiency, and comparability, coupled with the decreasing availability of both public and private resources for higher education, and the increasing cost of deliverance of higher education in general. The two most widely used measures of unit cost in higher education…

An invitation to participate in this panel discussion was sent to official representatives of organizations which had an expressed interest in information networks. Since some of the represented international bodies had started preliminary planning for network communication, the discussion was centered around systems design concepts. However, as…

This report assesses and recommends criteria and methods for evaluating the performance (effectiveness and efficiency) of technical library operations and services. These criteria and methods include those identified in the state-of-the-art of library evaluation (existing criteria and methods) and those developed by adoption of criteria from the…

A simulation program is presented which considers the effect of response time upon the utilization of a multiple node information system. Specific examples of such systems are presented. They include: (1) information networks, (2) library systems, (3) multi-level files. The simulation characterizes users (in terms of their information requirements…

The increasing magnitude of the enterprise of education, the rapid growth of knowledge, the changing educational administrative requirements and challenges, and the development of new educational programs to match the range of students' diverse interests and capacities--all these challenges call for rapid upgrading of the quality and technique of…

If a satellite-based educational networking and delivery system is to find wide acceptance in the United States and is to be economically viable, it must be capable of interconnecting many headends or nodes on the ground and of delivering quantities of diverse program material. A large number of TV-equivalent bandwidth channels will be required to…

The scope of Phase II is the design of a system for document control within the National Agricultural Library (NAL) that will facilitate the processing of the documents selected, ordered, or received; that will avoid backlogs; and that will provide rapid document location reports. The results are set forth as follows: Chapter I, Introduction,…