A needs assessment was conducted to determine how county cooperative extension advisors in Illinois perceive their duties and what they consider their needs for inservice education. Questionnaires identifying 14 competencies needed by cooperative extension agents were sent to county extension advisors; the 298 that were returned constituted the study sample. Data gathered from these surveys were analyzed using canonical discriminant analysis. The survey found that about 60 percent of respondents had been employed 10 years or less and 29 percent were employed 3 years or less, that one-half were less than 35 years old, that they possessed a great variety of undergraduate degrees, and that they had a strong interest in lifelong learning. A large majority of advisors considered the 14 job duties to be a part of their work responsibility and requested specific inservice programs on these duties. The study also found that inservice education was the primary source of current competence to perform all duties, with undergraduate programs the second most important source. A majority of advisors believed that a new employee should already be able to perform 11 of the 14 duties at the time of original employment. Evaluating program effectiveness was the duty about which advisors considered themselves least competent and most in need of inservice education. The report recommends that the results be used to improve inservice education programs for cooperative extension agents. (KC)