In order to collect information on online bibliographic searching activities in smaller academic libraries, a survey was conducted in December 1982 of 252 college and university libraries located in public and private institutions with enrollments of between 1,000 and 5,000 students. An 88.5% response rate was achieved. It was found that 65% of the respondents offered online search services; fewer than half of the librarians in each institution were involved in online searching; 73% of the libraries providing online services charged or planned to charge faculty and students for these services; DIALOG was by far the most frequently used vendor; the average direct cost per search varied widely; and the connect time for most libraries (74%) averaged less than 15 minutes. This publication briefly outlines the survey methodology and findings; a sample questionnaire with responses noted is provided. Also presented are copies of online searching policy statements, promotional items, search request forms, transaction log forms, billing forms, evaluation forms, and statistical report forms from over 50 institutions. (Author/ESR)

Describes the management of an online searching service--how to set up, implement and administer on online reference program. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This text presents sample policies and procedure statements, forms, public relations documents and instructional handouts for libraries offering online searching, CD-ROM and other computer-based services. Survey results from 179 American college libraries are reported and analysed.

The true pioneers in electronic publishing put their bibliographic databases on tape and online in the 1960s. Nearly all of them had long experience with compiling information for distribution in printed form and a strong market connection. As a result of Soviet advances in science and space technology, American government support for information science and academic libraries flowed freely for a little over a decade, making possible tremendous advances in technology, in retrieval techniques and in sophisticated coverage. Advances in information technology and market conditions have encouraged many more participants to underwrite the development of databases that now extend into the arts, social sciences, business, and popular interests. These essays show how production statistics accompanied by statements of editorial coverage provide a fairly accurate reflection of output of many of the major disciplinary bibliographic databases. The urgent priority of information resources in the 1960s has encouraged comprehensive servicing of the formal research literature as published in journals and monographs. Authors have counted subject words, languages, origins, types of publication, and so on over several decades. This volume also includes articles on some databases that are not strictly bibliographic, such as the CMG database of college courses, which illuminates some of the changes in college textbook publishing. Information seekers will find the many tables of practical use, as guidance to what and how much may be found within each database. Analysts of publishing, of science policy, and of higher education will find information relevant to expenditures, human resources, and other indicators of education, research, and technology activity.