ERIC Number: ED227850
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1982-Aug
Pages: 54
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Reference Services in the Liberal Arts College Library: Student Awareness.
Durfee, Linda Jean
In order to ascertain the extent to which undergraduate full-time and part-time students at Lake Forest College, Illinois, were aware of existing library reference services, a telephone interview of randomly selected students was conducted in spring 1982, using a revised questionnaire originally developed for a similar study at the University of Chicago in 1975. Of a population of 1,072 undergraduates, 97 were selected for surveying; a total of 91 interviews were completed. Prior to the survey, reference librarians were contacted to determine the full extent of available reference services; they were also asked to predict student awareness of services. The survey found that students were aware of close to three-quarters of the reference services, but there was an indication that some services, particularly online searching services, would be more heavily used if students knew they were offered. Discrepancies were discovered between students' survey answers and librarians' predictions of student awareness, indicating that a similar methodology could be profitably used by other reference librarians to confirm or assess user awareness. The survey report contains 15 tables and 3 illustrations, including the results of regression analysis performed on the survey findings; a sample questionnaire; and a 17-item bibliography. (Author/ESR)
Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Masters Theses
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A