Library‐information service evaluation: a case‐history from pharmaceutical R and D

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Abstract
This paper describes a 19-week project which sought to examine and evaluate the library-information service at Syntex Research Centre, Riccarton, Edinburgh, a pharmaceutical R and D centre. The project was unusual in attempting to evaluate the full range of the Library's stock, activities, and services, rather than dealing with only a single aspect. The remits of the Library and of the evaluation project are noted. The evaluation design is described in detail, and summary results are provided. Activities so treated include: library stock-use records, inter-library loan requests, use of library staff time, current awareness bulletin. 36 library users, research scientists, were interviewed, and their demand for library-information services is described, using as a framework the categorisation of library service devised by Orr. Finally, there is some discussion of the validity of individual library-information service evaluation tests, and of the problems and attractions of evaluating a complete library-information service ‘in the round’.
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