Online Search Services in the Public Library: Project Dialib.

Lockheed has undertaken Project DIALIB to determine whether online retrieval services could be useful to the general public, and if the public library could serve as the linking agent for these services. As part of the study, DIALOG, Lockheed's online reference retrieval system, has been made available to the public through four public libraries in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties in California. The project was inaugurated in August, 1974. For the first year, both terminals and staff training were provided free to participating Libraries. Results of an evaluation of the first year of the project indicate that DIALIB users were for the most part highly educated and asked technical questions relating to their work or study. While the service is fairly expensive, it is reaching a segment of the population that does not normally use public library reference services. The public has shown a great deal of enthusiasm for DIALIB service. In the second year of the project, users will be billed; the effects of this factor on the use of the system will be studied. The Metro-Teachers College project--a similar effort in New York City is also being studied. (Author/SL) *********************************************************************** * Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished * * materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort * * to obtain the best copy available. nevertheless, items of marginal * * reproducibility are often encountered and this affect:, the quality * * of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not * * responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions * * supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original. * *********************************************************************** ONLINE SEARCH SERVICES IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARY: PROJECT DIALIB Alice E. Ahlgren Applied Communication Research Stanford, California