Journals have become evermore important for reporting research and validating the quality of faculty. Scholarly information is routinely available in more formats, each requiring library support services and facilities. The unit cost of scholarly information is one of the two fastest growing cost centers in higher education. Progress in library automation has made it possible for libraries to rely more on access and less on ownership of scholarly information resources. These internal and external changes make it important to provide library service based on a full and current appreciation of user needs and concerns.
Libraries address more formats and disciplines than thirteen years ago.
Many provide more services. Yet, we are financially forced to be selective in our actions, cutting no longer needed services and adding the most promising new initiatives. Action research like this help guide our decisions. This study was initiated in 1983 as a outcomes assessment program at the Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg, an upper division and graduate college of Penn State University with an emphasis on technology and professional programs. The study has been continued at New Mexico State University, a Carnegie I research university.