A survey of the use of on-line computer-based scientific search services by academic libraries

To explore their use of on-line computer-based bibliographic search services, a one-page questionnaire was sent to 100 academic libraries in the United States having separate departmental chemistry or science libraries. An attempt was made to determine the background training of the persons performing the searches, who the end users were, the growth trend, the funding, the data bases used, and the value to the users. Of the 73 replies, 49.3% indicated use of such services, while 24.6% were planning to use them primarily by faculty and graduate students. Of those reporting, 83.3% used searchers with a background in library or information science; 47.2% had a background in scientific discipline. Two or more on-line services were used by 72.2%. A majority of respondents stated that the user paid all expenses or a portion of the expenses. The searches met the needs of the user most of the time in 83.3% of the cases, and all of the time in 5.4%.