Showing papers on "Service provider published in 1973"

A Personalized Service to Academic Researchers: the Experimental Information Service in the Social Sciences at the University of Bath

Abstract: Between 1969 and 1971 Bath University Library experimented with a personalized information service to social science researchers at the Universities of Bath and Bristol. The principal service offered was a manunl current awareness service, based mainly on the scanning of primary and abstracting journals. The service was evaluated by feedback slips returned by clients for each reference notified, and by a questionnaire at the end of the experiment. The relevance performance was good, and few references had been seen before; some precision could have been sacrificed to ensure comprehensive recall. The whole service was rated highly by nearly all users and considered to be a high priority among the various possible claims on university resources. Those who had the closest contact with the infor mation officers had the best scores on most aspects evaluated and rated the service most highly. Some general observations on the place and value of an information service in a university library are given in conclusion.

International Inter-Library Service in a Small Country

Abstract: Work in academic libraries today is strongly influenced by the fact that the world is changing at an ever increasing rate. These changes escalate demands on the libraries' services and have impact on their politics and working methods. The reasons are several. 90 % of the world's researchers are living today, and their research is venturing into wider fields and characterized by integration and internationalization. Institutions previously working with regional, local and national research projects only, are today often involved in research based on international cooperation. The economic growth and the democratization process after World War Π resulted in an education explosion with more students than the established institutions could handle. To diminish this pressure and as an element in a growing decentralization process, new educational centres in the districts and specialized research councils at the older institutions have emerged. The concept of lifelong learning has been intensified, resulting in more advanced students constantly in demand for higher education. The literature explosion is tremendous; the number of scholary publications is estimated to be doubled overy 12 years. This abundance of information has compelled libraries to give up the idea of universal, world embracing collections. For most of them it is impossible to be self-sufficient through acquisition. Librarians today could with some justification misquote John Donne and say: "No library is an island entire of itself". For some, increased demands come in time of cost escalations and uncertain funding. Contrary to economic principles, though the supply of printed material increases, the prices keep going up. Cooperative use and planning are therefore essential. Intertype library activities are increasing in several fields, interlibrary lending both on a national and international level is one.