ERIC Number: ED213407
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1981-Nov
Pages: 25
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
On-Line Services in Some Academic, Public and Special Libraries. A State-of-the-Art Report. Occasional Paper Number 151.
Murphy, Marcy
A survey of over 200 academic, public, and special libraries in 13 selected states was conducted in the fall of 1979 to provide a state of the art report on online or computerized reference services. Libraries were selected from states which had demonstrated leadership in networking, and data were sought in four areas: (1) users of online information, (2) suppliers of those services, (3) training and retraining of searchers, and (4) funding patterns. Of the 192 libraries that responded, 91 offered computerized reference service--35 academic, 16 public, and 40 special libraries. Findings indicate that: (1) the technical-professional community received the most service, followed by graduate students, faculty, and undergraduate students; (2) in decreasing order, Lockheed, the System Development Corporation, and the Bibliographic Retrieval Service were the major vendors; and (3) these vendors trained most of the users, who are primarily the professional staff in all types of libraries, to search online. In the area of funding patterns, it was found that most academic and public libraries recovered at least partial costs from their clients and fees were rarely charged in special libraries. The questionnaire is appended. Two figures and 22 references are provided. (RBF)
Descriptors: Academic Libraries, Costs, Databases, Librarians, Library Surveys, Online Systems, Professional Training, Public Libraries, Questionnaires, Reference Services, Special Libraries, Training Methods, Use Studies
Publications Office, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois, 249 Armory Bldg., 505 E. Armory Street, Champaign, IL 61820 ($3.00, per copy prepaid).
Publication Type: Information Analyses; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Illinois Univ., Urbana. Graduate School of Library Science.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A