Thesis-1996-Campbell.pdf (3 MB)
The use of document supply services by the engineering community of Loughborough University
educational resource
posted on 2017-12-20, 12:35 authored by Kirsty J. CampbellLibrarians have an increased need for information to help them improve the
provision of document supply services to users. This increased need results
from developments in the field of document supply, such as the emergence
of CAS-IAS services. The study considers the value of using inter-library
loan statistics and studies of particular groups' information needs to provide
this information.
Individual inter-library loan records are analysed to provide information on
the need for document supply by Loughborough University's engineering
community. A smaller sample records is analysed to determine how the
current service offered by the Pilkington Library meets the need described.
Inter-library loan statistics, generated by an automated inter-library loan
management system, are used as a source of comparable information on
the service received throughout Loughborough University.
The study seems to indicate that engineers have greater need for
conference proceedings and reports, than the rest of the academic
community. Results also show that engineers of different academic grades
and disciplines differ in their use of the document delivery service. The
highest demand for the service came from research students, followed by
staff. More of their demand was for conference proceedings, whereas
books accounted for more of postgraduate and undergraduate requests. The
departments of manufacturing, mechanical and chemical engineering
exhibited the highest demand, and proportionally more of their requests
were for serials. The departments of aeronautical and automotive engineering and
transport studies and civil and building engineering requested proportionally
more reports. The study also shows the use of bibliographic reference
services to be dependent on the academic grade and discipline of the
requester. The BIDS service was shown to be the most popular, being
favoured by research students and staff and mechanical, manufacturing and
chemical engineers. Undergraduates and the department of aeronautical and
automotive and transport studies used various sources in significant amounts.
The results are used as a basis to suggest possible ways of improving the
Pilkington Library's service to engineers.
History
School
- Science
Department
- Information Science
Publisher
© K.J. CampbellPublisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 2.5 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/Publication date
1996Notes
A Master's Dissertation, submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Master of Science degree of the Loughborough University of Technology.Language
- en
Qualification name
- MSc
Qualification level
- Masters