How biomedical investigators use library books

Relatively few studies have been concerned with the use of biomedical books. This paper reports an investigation into use made of library books by biomedical investigators. Based on cancelled charge slips collected at the Yale Medical Library circulation desk, telephone appointments were made to interview those research investigators whose books had been returned the previous day. The interviewer obtained answers from the investigator to a questionnaire to discover how the investigator had learned of a book, if the book had been useful, and, if useful, how it had been used. During the six-month study period, 30.4 percent of researchers' volumes returned were monographs. Almost four-fifths of books borrowed supplied information wanted, and about four-fifths of books used had been printed in the previous decade. Nine-tenths of the use of books was research-related, the other tenth being for lecture preparation.