Academic
A study reported in 1977 at Case Western Reserve concerning the impact of shortening the loan period at the Sears Library, containing 200,000 volumes in science, technology, and management, from a semester loan (in 1972) to a 4-week loan (in 1974) showed that203 of 423 book requests (48%) were immediately satisfied under the semester loan system, while 245 of 437 book requests (56%) were immediately satisfied under the 4-week loan system. (Source)
Ibid…. showed that, of the 423 requests studied during the semester loan system, 70 (16.5%) were unavailable because circulating, while of 437 requests studied during the 4-week loan system, 43 (9.8%) were unavailable because circulating. (Source)
Ibid…. showed that, of the 220 book requests not immediately satisfied under the semester loan system and the 192 book requsts not immediately satisfied under the 4-week loan system, reasons for failure were as follows:
REASON SEMESTER LOAN 4-WEEK LOAN
not owned by library 52 (23.6%) 38 (19.8%)
on loan or in-house use 81 (36.8%) 48 (25.0%)
library malfunctions 29 (13.2%) 45 (23.4%)
user errors 49 (22.3%) 50 (26.0%)
