General

 A 1976 survey of RASD members (population: 4,062; sample size: 738; usable responses: 542 or 73.4%), concerning their attitudes towards automated information retrieval services showed that61 % of the respondents felt that automated information retrieval services should not be offered if no new funding were available, while 19% replied that it should be offered even if no new funding were available and 17% were undecided.                        (Source)

         Ibid…. showed thatthe 3 greatest barriers to developing automated information retrieval sources in libraries reported by respondents were costs (88.2%), lack of trained library personnel (51.1%), and overworked staff (49.6%).                       (Source)

         Ibid…. showed that15 (2.8%) respondents reported no personal involvement with such services; 291 (53.6%) had read about them or seen them demonstrated; 86 (15.9%) had used them in a trial mode; and 79 (14.6%) had used or are currently using one or more online services.                    (Source)

         Ibid…. showed that respondents felt that online, interactive access to automated bibliographic data bases should be offered in the following library departments: general reference or reader services (58.3%), separate unit devoted exclusively to such a service (19%), ILL unit (9.2%), subject branches (5.5%).                   (Source)

 A 12-month study of 1977-78 of online bibliographic literature searching of MINET (Kansas City Libraries Metropolitan Information Network, which includes 4 public libraries, 3 medical libraries, and 1 academic medical library), involving 403 paid search sessions and searches of 544 files or data bases, showed that, of 544 data bases searched, 229 (42%) had all citations printed online, while 315 (58%) had at least some citations printed offline.                    (Source)

 Academic

 A 14-month study during 1972-73 at the Yale Medical Library (serving the Yale University School of Medicine, the Yale University School of Nursing, and the Yale-New Haven Hospital), involving 1,466 online search requests (MEDLINE) from 455 different individuals for the faculty and professional staff of the Yale-New Haven Medical Center, showed thatthe purposes of the requests were as follows:

                research                  1,140 (77.8%) search requests

                patient care                221 (15.0%) search requests

                education                   105 (7.2%) search requests                (Source)

         Ibid…. showed thatthe grant dollars received by departments were positively correlated with the number of comprehensive online searches generated by those departments (r = .44) and negatively correlated with the number of narrow searches processed by the departments (i = - .44) (significant at the .05 level).                 (Source)

A 1975-76 study at the University of Utah Marriott Library of online bibliographic data base searching showed thata survey of 26 patrons using the online searching service revealed that (multiple responses allowed): 10 (32%) discovered the service through a librarian, 10 (32%) through a colleague, 7 (23%) through library fliers, 2 (6%) through campus news media, and 3 (9%) through other means.                       (Source)

         Ibid…. showed thata survey of 26 patrons using online bibliographic search services revealed that 18 (69%) desired search updates, 2 (8%) did not, and 6 (23%) were uncertain.                 (Source)

 A study reported in 1977, comparing an automatic algorithm that rank ordered the citations retrieved in 12 online bibliographic searches (using the Syracuse Information Retrieval Experiment system, SIRE) with the rank ordering of the citations by faculty and advanced physics students requesting the searches showed thatthe automatic algorithm was successful in moving an average document “about one-third of the way from its random location towards its perfect location” in a rank ordering of the citations.                      (Source)

 A study reported in 1977 by the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Library of the literature searches performed during a 3-year period (1973-75) for physicians and fourth-year medical students serving a 5-week “preceptorship” with a rural physician (1,775 searches) showed thatfor both the physicians and students the subject category of most requests was “Diseases” (66% of the physicians’ searches; 84% of the students’ searches), while the subject category of the next most requests for both groups was “Chemicals and Drugs” (27.2% of the physicians’ searches; 27.6% of the students’ searches).        (Source)

 A survey reported in 1977 by the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Library to investigate the relationship between subjects for which physicians had requested literature searches and subjects for which physicians desired continuing education, based on a physician population that had requested at least 1 literature search from the Health Sciences Library during 1973-75 (survey size: 396 physicians; responding: 125 or 31.5%) showed that“literature searches alone could not be used to determine CME [continuing medical education] topics.” Specifically, the 5 most frequently mentioned topics for CME and the 5 topics for which the most literature searches had been requested had only 3 (60%) topics in common.               (Source)

 A survey reported in 1977 concerning online searching at the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory library (Champaign, Illinois) and involving both users of the service (sample size: 27; responding: 26 or 96.3%) and nonusers of the service (sample size: 19; responding: 13 or 68.4%) showed that,of 25 user respondents, 7 (28%) indicated an interest in periodic update searches on their research topic, 11 (44%) indicated they would not, and 7 (28%) indicated they were uncertain.                         (Source)

 An analysis of records reported in 1978 on online bibliographic data base searching at Flordia State University Chemistry Department and Monsanto Textiles Company in Pensacola, Florida (353 searches conducted at FSU and 345 conducted at Monsanto) showed thatthe type of approach to the online search differed in a statistically significant way between FSU and Monsanto (significance level .001) in that 50% of the FSU searches were exhaustive (i.e., wanted everything available) compared to 33% at Monsanto, while 14% of the FSU searches wished specific facts or procedures compared to 39% of the Monsanto searches.                                    (Source)

         Ibid…. showed that anticipated use of the search results between FSU and Monsanto differed in some statistically significant ways. 53% of the FSU searches compared to 41% of the Monsanto searches were to keep current in the researchers own field (significance level .002); 17% of the FSU searches compared to 10% of the Monsanto searches were to keep current in fields related to the researcher’s field (significance level .02); 25% of the FSU searches compared to 53% of the Monsanto searches were concerned with procedures, apparatus, or methodology to support an ongoing project (significance level .001); and 33% of the FSU searches compared to 5% of the Monsanto searches were for papers for external dissemination (significance level .001).              (Source)

 A 1978 survey of North American health sciences libraries that were users of the National Library of Medicine search services in November 1977 (survey size: 708 libraries; responding: 376; usable: 345 or 48.7%) showed that different types of health science libraries have offered online searches of NLM files, as follows:

                in professional schools                                                        5.0 years

                in societies, foundations, and research institutes                    3.5 years

                in hospitals                                                                         3.2 years

                in other colleges, universities, and commercial firms             3.0 years

                in “other” (including, NLM, CISTI, state library, etc.)          4.8 years                     (Source)

        Ibid…. showed thatonline search services in addition to those offered by the National Library of Medicine were provided by 199 (58%) respondents. Such additional services were provided by the following types of institutions:

                 colleges and universities                                             91% of these libraries

                commercial firms                                                        88% of these libraries

                professional schools                                                   74% of these libraries

                societies, foundations, and research institutes               60% of these libraries

                hospitals                                                                    22% of these libraries

                other                                                                          60% of these libraries                        (Source)

 A 1978 survey of publicly supported California libraries (primarily public and academic) concerning fee-charging behavior for online bibliographic searching (survey size: 350 libraries; responding: 213 or 65%) showed that the location of the actual search facility was within the responding library for 35% of the respondents and elsewhere for 65% of the respondents. On-site search facilities were reported in 93% of the college/university libraries, in 50% of the community college libraries, in 50% of the “other” libraries, and in 3% of the public libraries.                (Source)

 A 1979 survey of libraries in accredited North American veterinary schools (population: 25 libraries; responding: 23 or 92%) showed thatall respondents reported that online search services were available. 10 (43.5%) libraries reported they had their own terminals; 22 (95.7%) reported direct or indirect access to the National Library of Medicine data bases; and 19 (82.6%) reported access to Lockheed or Systems Development Corporation data bases.                 (Source)

 A 1981 survey of U.S. depository libraries, both academic and public (sample size: 221; responding: 171 or 77%), concerning their use of online data bases (DIALOG, ORBIT, and BRS), particularly with regard to government documents showed that66% of the documents librarians in responding institutions had received no online training; 19% had received training in DIALOG; 4% had received training in ORBIT; 4% had received training in BRS; and 7% had received training in some combination of all 3 online data bases.                  (Source)

         Ibid…. showed thatthe 2 main reasons academic depository librarians reported for not doing online searching were that other librarians do online data base searching (53%) and no terminals (35%), while the 2 main reasons public depository librarians reported for not doing online searching were no terminals (60%) and no money available (38%).                       (Source)

         Ibid…. showed thatthe top 3 reasons given by respondents for not ordering government documents microfiche as the result of an online search were library did not have computer terminals (academic depositories, 33%; public depositories, 59%), didn’t know that microfiche government documents could be ordered online (academic depositories, 24%; public depositories, 25%), and preferred hard copy to microfiche copy (academic depositories, 27%; public depositories, 20%).                         (Source)

 Public

 A 1975 study of online searches provided free of charge in the DIALOG data bases over a 3-month period in 4 San Franscisco Bay area public libraries (411 usable requests; 429 searches undertaken, including some duplicates) showed thatthe reference interview averaged 10.5 minutes (295 cases); preparation averaged 10.48 minutes (223 cases); search averaged 22.72 minutes (408 cases); library follow-up (filling out reports, etc.) averaged 12.21 minutes (307 cases); patron follow-up (discussing results with patron) averaged 7.61 minutes (171 cases). In a limited number of cases where the actual search was conducted in another library the referring library preparation time averaged 18.65 minutes (46 cases), while their library follow-up time averaged 11.48 minutes (42 cases).                     (Source)

 A 1978 survey of publicly supported California libraries (primarily public and academic) concerning fee-charging behavior for online bibliographic searching (survey size: 350 libraries; responding: 213 or 65%) showed that the location of the actual search facility was within the responding library for 35% of the respondents and elsewhere for 65% of the respondents. On-site search facilities were reported in 93% of the college/university libraries, in 50% of the community college libraries, in 50% of the “other” libraries, and in 3% of the public libraries.                (Source)

 A 1981 survey of U.S. depository libraries, both academic and public (sample size: 221; responding: 171 or 77%), concerning their use of online data bases (DIALOG, ORBIT, and BRS), particularly with regard to government documents showed that66% of the documents librarians in responding institutions had received no online training; 19% had received training in DIALOG; 4% had received training in ORBIT; 4% had received training in BRS; and 7% had received training in some combination of all 3 online data bases.                  (Source)

        Ibid…. showed thatthe 2 main reasons academic depository librarians reported for not doing online searching were that other librarians do online data base searching (53%) and no terminals (35%), while the 2 main reasons public depository librarians reported for not doing online searching were no terminals (60%) and no money available (38%).                     (Source)

         Ibid…. showed thatthe top 3 reasons given by respondents for not ordering government documents microfiche as the result of an online search were library does not have computer terminals (academic depositories, 33%; public depositories, 59%), didn’t know that microfiche government documents could be ordered online (academic depositories, 24%; public depositories, 25%), and prefer hard copy to microfiche copy (academic depositories, 27%; public depositories, 20%).             (Source)

 Special

 A 14-month study during 1972-73 at the Yale Medical Library (serving the Yale University School of Medicine, the Yale University School of Nursing, and the Yale-New Haven Hospital), involving 1,466 online search requests (MEDLINE) from 455 different individuals for the faculty and professional staff of the Yale-New Haven Medical Center showed thatthe purposes of the requests were as follows:

                 research                         1,140 (77.8%) search requests

                patient care                        221 (15.0%) search requests

                education                           105 (7.2%) search requests                (Source)

         Ibid…. showed thatthe grant dollars received by departments were positively correlated with the number of comprehensive online searches generated by those departments (r = .44) and negatively correlated with the number of narrow searches processed by the departments (i = — .44) (significant at the .05 level).             (Source)

 A study reported in 1977 by the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Library of the literature searches performed during a 3-year period (1973-75) for physicians and fourth-year medical students serving a 5-week “preceptorship” with a rural physician (1,775 searches) showed thatfor both the physicians and students the subject category of most requests was “Diseases” (66% of the physicians’ searches; 84% of the students’ searches), while the subject category of the next most requests for both groups was “Chemicals and Drugs” (27.2% of the physicians’ searches; 27.6% of the students’ searches).       (Source)

A survey reported in 1977 by the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Library to investigate the relationship between subjects for which physicians had requested literature searches and subjects for which physicians desired continuing education, based on a physician population that had requested at least 1 literature search from the Health Sciences Library during 1973-75 (survey size: 396 physicians; responding: 125 or 31.5%) showed that“literature searches alone could not be used to determine CME [continuing medical education] topics.” Specifically, the 5 most frequently mentioned topics for CME and the 5 topics for which the most literature searches had been requested had only 3 (60%) topics in common.               (Source)

 A survey reported in 1977, concerning online searching at the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory library (Champaign, Illinois) and involving both users of the service (sample size: 27; responding: 26 or 96.3%) and nonusers of the service (sample size: 19; responding: 13 or 68.4%), showed that, of 25 user respondents, 7 (28%) indicated an interest in periodic update searches on their research topic, 11 (44%) indicated they would not, and 7 (28%) indicated they were uncertain.                         (Source)

 A 1978 survey of North American health sciences libraries that were users of the National Library of Medicine search services in November 1977 (survey size: 708 libraries; responding: 376; usable: 345 or 48.7%) showed that different types of health science libraries have offered online searches of NLM files, as follows:

                 in professional schools                                                            5.0 years

                in societies, foundations, and research institutes                        3.5 years

                in hospitals                                                                              3.2 years

                in other colleges, universities, and commercial firms                  3.0 years

                in “other” (including, NLM, CISTI, state library, etc.)              4.8 years                     (Source)

         Ibid…. showed thatonline search services in addition to those offered by the National Library of Medicine were provided by 199 (58%) respondents. Such additional services were provided by the following types of institutions:

                colleges and universities                                             91% of these libraries

                commercial firms                                                       88% of these libraries

                professional schools                                                  74% of these libraries

                societies, foundations, and research institutes              60% of these libraries

                hospitals                                                                    22% of these libraries

                other                                                                         60% of these libraries                (Source)

 A study reported in 1978 of LEXIS subscribers in 4 different cities (Cleveland, Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C.) (sample size: 62; responding: 39; usable: 38 or 61.3%), involving 35 law firms, 2 law schools and 1 government agency, showed thatthe 3 most commonly reported ways librarians had heard about LEXIS for the first time were librarian (11 or 29.0% respondents), convention (6 or 15.8% respondents), and salesmen (4 or 10.5% respondents).                 (Source)

         Ibid…. showed thatthe 3 main attitudes toward LEXIS by respondents were very receptive (21 or 55.4% respondents), curious (7 or 18.4% respondents), and neutral (6 or 15.8% respondents).                      (Source)

 An analysis of records reported in 1978 on online bibliographic data base searching at Flordia State University Chemistry Department and Monsanto Textiles Company in Pensacola, Florida (353 searches conducted at FSU and 345 conducted at Monsanto) showed thatthe type of approach to the online search differed in a statistically significant way between FSU and Monsanto (significance level .001) in that 50% of the FSU searches were exhaustive (i.e., wanted everything available) compared to 33% at Monsanto, while 14% of the FSU searches wished specific facts or procedures compared to 39% of the Monsanto searches.                        (Source)

         Ibid…. showed that anticipated use of the search results between FSU and Monsanto differed in some statistically significant ways. 53% of the FSU searches compared to 41% of the Monsanto searches were to keep current in the researchers own field (significance level .002); 17% of the FSU searches compared to 10% of the Monsanto searches were to keep current in fields related to the researcher’s field (significance level .02); 25% of the FSU searches compared to 53% of the Monsanto searches were concerned with procedures, apparatus, or methodology to support an ongoing project (significance level .001); and 33% of the FSU searches compared to 5% of the Monsanto searches were for papers for external dissemination (significance level .001).              (Source)

Dr. David Kohl

 "Libraries in the digital age are experiencing the most profound transformation since ancient Mesopotamian scribes first began gathering and organizing cuneiform tablets."

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