Academic
An academic year 1968-69 study of central reserve use at the city campus of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, showed that, of 3,586 titles placed on reserve Fall semester and 3,196 titles placed on reserve Spring semester, 42% of the Fall semester titles did not circulate and 36% of the Spring semester titles did not circulate. On the other hand 18% of the Fall semester titles and 22% of the Spring semester titles circulated 9 times or more. (Source)
Ibid…. showed that, on the average for the 2 semesters, 33% of the titles coming from lists with I to 20 items did not circulate at all, while 42% of the titles from lists with 21 or more items did not circulate. (Source)
A study in 1972 of reserve reading assignments at the University of Alberta in Edmonton involving 8 classes, 4 where faculty presented students with 1 large list of readings and 4 where faculty presented students with shorter, multiple lists, throughout the semester, showed thatthe materials on the shorter lists were used more frequently (81% of materials on shorter, frequent lists was circulated a number of times equal to or greater than 66% of the class size, while 42% of the materials on the long lists circulated on equal percentages of the class size); a higher number of the items on the shorter, more frequent lists were used (92% of the items on the shorter, more frequent lists were used compared to 57% of the items on the long lists); and use of materials was more evenly spread throughout the semester than with the classes given 1 long list. (Source)
A study reported in 1977 at the University of Pittsburgh, based on the complete circulation history during the period October 1968-June 1976, showed thatcirculation was a good indicator of total book/monograph use. For example, based on 30-day samples of in-house use taken over a period of 2 academic terms and involving 29,098 items, 75% of the items used in-house had also circulated externally by the end of the sample period, with an additional 4% of the in-house items circulating the following year. Further, of 4,250 books/monographs loaned on interlibrary loan during the period January 1969-December 1975, 3.246 (76.4%) had external circulations, with the remaining 1,004 items accounting for only .34% of the external circulation during the period of the study. Finally, of 33,277 books/monographs selected for reserve during the period January 1969-December 1975, 27,854 (83.7%) had external circulations, with the remaining 5,423 items accounting for only 1.84% of the external circulation during the period of this study. (Source)
A study reported in 1978 at the undergraduate library of the University of Tennessee. Knoxville, of patron success rate in finding books over a 5-week period (sample size: 1.010 patrons; responding: 503 or 49.5%, involving 2,375 titles) showed that, of the 1,097 titles not immediately found, 117 (10.7%) titles were on reserve, 152 (13.9%) were actually on the shelf, and 828 (75.5%) were actually not available in the library. Of the 2,375 titles patrons searched for, 34.9% were actually not available in the library. (Source)
