BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS TABLE 3 USE TO WHICH INFORMATION WAS PUT

Number of responses received Response on use In diagnosis or treatment of a particular patient To verify a belief or

proceeding To add to general knowledge

Other

No.

Percent

324

100

112

35

60 137 15

19 42 5

program for interns and residents. This finding is as puzzling as the many similar findings reported from other groups; people seem to want a service but are reluctant or unwilling to pay for it themselves or through increases in taxes, tuition, etc. In our case the Department of Medicine agreed with the residents on the school's responsibility to furnish the service; the department will pay half the costs for 1975/76. This does not solve the dilemma of the need to bridge the gap between what is technologically and manually feasible and what society is willing to purchase, even for such desirable ends as better medical care or education.

The library has thus answered the specific question it raised without finding any solution to the broader issue. Finally, how good was the service, as judged by the recipients? Of those who returned the questionnaires, 155 (85%) said the searches were adequate, while 28 (15%) said they were not. Those who said the searches were not adequate indicated the following reasons: (1) did not provide the needed information; (2) there was no literature on the subject; (3) poor quality of the article on the subject; and (4) important older articles were not caught by the search methods used. The average percent of "on-target" relevant articles retrieved was 25% of the total, with a range from 18% to 40%. All recipients reported that the searches aided them by making the first "cut" and thus giving them more time to read the literature rather than to search for it. No one said the searches were generally poor or useless. CONCLUSION The worth of clinical librarians' programs has not yet been proved quantitatively or unequiv-

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ocally, but neither has the usefulness of librarianship in general. The study done at the Washington University School of Medicine Library adds some data to the growing amount of information on this topic. We hope that further studies will elucidate whether clinical librarianship is a fad or a useful product. Note: Copies of the questionnaire used in this study can be obtained on request from the Librarian at the Washington University School of Medicine Library, 4580 Scott Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63110.

Computer-Assisted Instruction in Library Orientation and Services By JOAN TOMAY HICKS, Librarian College of Veterinary Medicine University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

AT the University of Illinois a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) system has been developed [1-2] which uses a large Control Data Corporation computer connected to remote terminals with plasma display panels and typewriter-like keyboards. This system, PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operation), is very flexible. Through PLATO many types of programs have been created at all levels of instruction from kindergarten through university graduate study [3]. For example, some programs involve medical students' diagnoses of simulated disease syndromes [4] or identification of bacteriological unknowns [5]. At the College of Veterinary Medicine in Urbana there are about thirty PLATO computer consoles. Most of them are located in the Basic Sciences Building in a room across from the library; the rest are situated in the Small Animal Clinic some distance away. There are presently about seventy CAI programs of study for veterinary medical students. One of these programs is on the library and its resources. In the library program the title page which appears on the terminal display panel briefly describes the main parts of the program and indicates which keys to press to go on to find the different kinds of information. One choice on the title page for an overall introduction brings to the screen a schematic plan of the physical arrangement of the library, one part at a time, with short Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 64(2) April 1976

BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS

pauses between the diagrams and explanations of the uses of each physical section. Another selection from the title page shows a list of recent acquisitions which may be continued by pressing the NEXT key to see the former week's list. By pressing a different key, the user may see a list of current faculty publications; the list may be extended back several weeks in time to the last printout. Other parts of the program keep the patron informed about library hours and changes in hours during holidays; news in the field of some specialty; or information about forthcoming conferences, continuing education courses or board examinations. Through an index within the first part of the program one can ask to see the library location and description of twelve resources of special interest. At present these resources include: the card catalog with a self-test on its arrangement; the new book shelf, with an explanation of how loans are handled and references given to a few of the most popular books; MEDLINE, with reference to an NLM videocassette that can be viewed in the PLATO room; Index Medicus, with reference to an audiotape on its use; Dissertation Abstracts International; interlibrary loan; reference books; reserve books; rotary file, listing journals in the library; indexes and abstracts; Bibliography of Medical Reviews; and annual surveys and reviews. Any of these topics may be called for independently of the others, and the description may be continued in depth or the user may change to another topic at any time. On the average it now takes about twenty minutes to go through the basic part of the program unless one spends more time searching through the book lists, looking more closely at the faculty publications list, or studying a particular part of the program in more depth. The librarian or the coordinator of the Veterinary Medicine PLATO Project has usually introduced patrons to the program individually or in small groups. For the first time this fall the program was used to orient the eighty new veterinary medicine students to the library in lieu of part of the usual hourly lecture. A record is kept of the monthly use of each PLATO program listed in the veterinary medicine subject index. From thirteen to seventy uses have been made of the library program each month. The library program is used mainly for very short periods, as one would expect for a reference-type program. Librarians who have gone through the program have expressed enthusiasm about it. Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 64(2) April 1976

Veterinary medicine students have said they liked to "keep current" by using the program. Students in library science, who also use the program, have said that they found it an easy way to explore the specialized library before or after going through the library themselves. The librarian wrote this program mainly in offhours during the past year, with some help from regular programmers. It took approximately fifty hours to write the basic program. Since the time the CAI program was first used in the fall of 1974, about two to three hours per week are spent adding new information or updating the program. This time commitment in part replaces many lours formerly spent in preparing lists of recent acquisitions and faculty publications. The lists are now cumulated and printed out directly from the computer, copied in the college office, and distributed to faculty. Programmers are available who can assist a librarian in writing a CAI program once the general plan and content of the lesson have been worked out. The fact that the program can be changed by the librarian at any time simply by making insertions or deletions or rearranging parts without rewriting the whole makes it a convenient way to offer current awareness service and up-to-date self-instruction. Regular evaluation of the program plays an important role in its effective use. Besides direct communication with users, evaluation can be accomplished in several other ways. One way is to set a counter to see which parts of the program are used most often. Another method involves asking for comments through "notes" that a user can write at the terminal to communicate with the author via PLATO. This kind of CAI program lets different types of users, including faculty, students, and staff, go immediately to those parts of the program which are of interest to them. It allows communication across the country or in other countries where PLATO terminals are being installed. The program can be used simultaneously by as many persons as there are terminals, even when two or three persons work together at one terminal, thus accommodating large classes during one period of instruction. REFERENCES 1. BITZER, D. L.; SHERWOOD, BRUCE ARNE; and TENCZAR, PAUL J. Computer-based Science Education. Urbana, Ill., Computer-based Education Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at

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BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS Urbana-Champaign, May 1973. (CERL Report X-

37).

2. HAMMOND, A. L. Computer-assisted instruction: two major demonstrations. Science 176:1110-12, June 9, 1972. 3. LYMAN, E. R. PLATO Highlights [a bibliography]. Urbana, Ill., Computer-based Education Research Laboratory, 1974. 4. GRIMES, GEORGE M.; BURKE, THOMAS J.; NORTH, LAURENCE; and FRIEDMAN, JOHN. Diagnosing simulated clinical cases using a computer-based education system. J. Vet. Med. Educ. 1(2):18-20, Fall 1974. 5. GRIMES, GEORGE M.; RHOADES, H. E.; ADAMS, F. C.; and SCHMIDT, R. V. Identification of bacteriological unknowns, a computer-based teaching program. J. Med. Educ. 47:289-92, Apr. 1972.

A Core Collection of Journals on Microfilm in a Community Teaching Hospital Library* BY JOAN M. DAGHITA, Librarian

Monmouth Medical Center Long Branch, New Jersey

SPACE in which to house back runs of journals has long been a problem of libraries. In 1970, at Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch, New Jersey, the solution to this problem was to use microfilm. Now, after approximately four years, it is evident that the use of microfilm assures continuation of the same level of library service in a limited area of space. Successful use of journals on microfilm at Monmouth Medical Center may provide an answer to the space dilemma faced by other institutions. Our experience corroborates the findings reported by Meiboom [1] for a teaching hospital library. This paper discusses our evaluation of the use of microfilm, the advantages, costs and maintenance of the program. When implementation of our core program through media other than hard copy journals became imperative, we selected microfilm. The factors which influenced our decision were: 1. The space occupied by back files of microfilm periodicals is 90% less than that needed to store loose or bound issues. Use of microfilm solved our space problem. 2. With microfilm, periodical issues are rarely lost, stolen, or mutilated. *Based on a paper presented June 5, 1974, at the Seventy-third Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association, San Antonio, Texas. Revised, October 1975.

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3. Printed copies of a page or pages can be made using a reader-printer. After surveying various microfilm companies, we selected University Microfilms, Inc. of Ann Arbor, Michigan because this company was able to provide us with the majority of requested titles. Orders were placed for as many of the 100 journals covered in Abridged Index Medicus as were available. We now have on 16 mm microfilm 83 of the 100 journals indexed in Abridged Index Medicus. Approximately five of the remaining seventeen titles are available on 35 mm film and the other twelve are presently unavailable. All journals which are not available on 16 mm film are kept unbound. In order to meet the stipulation that these materials be readily accessible and easily used, the journals were ordered on 16 mm negative film enclosed in 3M cartridges. Negative film was chosen over positive film because it is easier for the user to read; a print which is made from negative film reverts back to the accepted standard of a black print on a white background. Cartridges were selected because they possess several advantages over open reels: (1) Cartridges provide protection for the film from dust and fingerprints. (2) Film is filed in a manner similar to bound volumes with titles printed on the visible edge. (3) The threading operation becomes automatic after insertion of a cartridge into the viewing equipment. Our system became operational in the fall of 1971. We were then faced with the task of making the new system attractive to users. At first, some were hesitant about using it. Once users saw how easy the equipment was to operate and how quickly a copy of a needed article could be made, their initial reluctance was overcome. Moreover, since we offered the hard copies of journals replaced by microfilm to various departments within the hospital and to other hospitals in the area, our users were forced to use the microfilm. Once the initial negative reaction to the system wore off, the response to it became favorable. The primary cost of establishing this system was approximately $8,000. This included the purchase of 400 cartridges of 16 mm negative film from 1966 to 1970, one 3M model 400 readerprinter, one 3M reader, two work stations, and a ten-drawer file cabinet. Experience has shown that the reader-printer is widely used; 4,500 pages were printed during 1974. Annual additions to our core film library average approximately $1800 per year. Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 64(2)April 1976