Brief communications 2. TIEN DD. Country report: Vietnam, Hanoi, Central Institute for Medical Science Information. Unpublished report presented at the Workshop on the Regional Biomedical Information Programme, Manila, Philippines, 6-10 Nov 1989:10. 3. LADINSKY JL, LEVINE RE. The organization of health services in Vietnam. J Pub Health Pol 1985 June;6(2):255-68. 4. WEITZEL R, ROBEY J. Assignment report: regional biomedical information programme. Manila, Philippines: World Health Organization, July 1987:8. 5. MACMILLAN S. Libraries and information services in Vietnam. Info Dev 1990 April;6(2):89-96. 6. TiEN DD. Unpublished library report presented at the Second National Conference of Health Biomedical Information Workers. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, November 1990. Hanoi, Central Institute for Medical Science Information (CIMSI), Vien Thong Tin-Thu Vien Y Hoc Trung Uong, 1990. 7. IBID. 8. IBID. 9. BRENNEN PW. Final report on the CIMSI library workshops and the Second National Library Workshop for Health Biomedical Information Workers: Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Oct. 31-Nov. 9, 1991. Milwaukee, WI: Medical College of Wisconsin, 1990:41. 10. IBID. 11. BRANDON AN, HILL DR. Selected list of books and journals for the small medical library. Bull Med Libr Assoc 1991 Apr;79(2):195-222. 12. VAUGHAN A. Mission to Vietnam. Lib Assoc Rec 1989
Sept;91(9):536-9. 13. WEITZEL, Op. cit.
Received May 1991; accepted July 1991
use the library's MEDLINEt CD-ROM database. Subsequently, the study was expanded to include healthrelated CD-ROMs available in two other libraries on the University of Nevada, Reno, campus. The hypothesis was that point-of-use instruction on a CDROM takes longer than answering most reference questions and may take as long as executing a complete online search.
METHODOLOGY Six databases on CD-ROM were selected for this study:
AGRICOLAt (1970-), BiblioMed§ (current three years), Biological Abstracts** (1990-), ERICt (1966-), Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL)t# (1983-), and PsycLIT§§ (1974-). The study was conducted from December 1990 through April 1991. A form was designed to record date, subject, start time, end time, minutes elapsed, and whether the patron was a firsttime user. The patron's search subject was noted as well, to differentiate between mechanical problems such as fixing a paper jam and an in-depth instructional interaction. To establish a framework for comparison, a literature search was conducted to find previous time studies of reference and online search services. Four studies were identified that measured the average time spent answering a reference question [1-4], and four other studies were found that measured the average length of an online search [5-8]. In addition, six studies were located in which the authors estimated the time to provide CD-ROM assistance [9-14]. RESULTS
Measuring library staff time spent training patrons to use health-related CD-ROM databases* By Laurie A. Potter, M.L.S. Medical Reference Librarian
Savitt Medical Library University of Nevada School of Medicine Reno, Nevada 89557-0046
Many authors claim that devoting library staff time to helping patrons search a CD-ROM database has a major impact on a reference department. Having found no published studies supporting this claim, the Savitt Medical Library decided to conduct a study measuring the time consumed in training patrons to
During the five months of the study, 399 sessions were recorded. Of these, 349 sessions represented indepth instructional interactions and 50 involved helping a patron with a mechanical problem. Table 1 shows the breakdown of the in-depth sessions by database. Statistical analysis of these 349 sessions reveals a mean time of 5.72 minutes per session, a median of 4.00 minutes, and a mode of 2.00 minutes. The sessions ranged from one minute to forty-five minutes. These results were compared to the reference studies that indicated that the average reference question required up to 10 minutes of staff time, online searcht MEDLINE is a registered trademark of the National Library of Medicine.
t AGRICOLA is a registered trademark. § BiblioMed is a registered trademark. **
Based on a paper presented June 3, 1991, at the Ninety-first Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association, San Francisco, California. *
Bull Med Libr Assoc 80(3) July 1992
BA on CD is a registered trademark.
tt ERIC is a registered trademark. f CINAHL is a registered trademark. §§ PsycLIT is a registered trademark of PsycINFO, Inc.
299
Brief communications
Table 1 CD-ROM training sessions
CD-ROM product AGRICOLA BiblioMed BIOSIS CINAHL ERIC PsycLIT Total
Total sessions
Average minutes/ session
165 696 49 136 704 246
51 111 19 44 91 33
3.24 6.27 2.58 3.09 7.74 7.45
1,996
349
5.72
Total minutes
es required 27 to 35 minutes, and CD-ROM assistance involved 5 to 40 minutes.
CONCLUSION These overall results indicate that CD-ROM training sessions require roughly the same amount of time as answering average reference questions and a lot less time than performing online searches. This study also found that less time was spent on CD-ROM sessions than several other authors had estimated. Thus, the original hypothesis was not supported. However, during the course of the study, a high level of activity was observed at the reference desk. This was attributed to the fact that reference librarians were helping someone at a remote CD-ROM station while at the same time handling the phone and patrons at the desk. The Savitt Medical Library concluded that additional staff was needed to be on call to provide CD-ROM assistance, because this service cannot be managed effectively by the person responsible for the reference desk.
2. BENHAM F, POWELL RR. Success in answering reference questions: two studies. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1987: 86. 3. HERNON P, MCCLURE CR. Unobtrusive testing and library reference services. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1987. 4. PASTINE M, BEKIARES SE, WERT LM. Measurement of reference service: reference statistics 1978: University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In: Kaske NK, Jones WC. Library effectiveness: a state of the art. New York: American Library Association, 1980:245. 5. CABLE LG. Cost analysis of reference service to outside users. Bull Med Libr Assoc 1980 Apr;68(2):247-8. 6. EICHESEN DR. Cost-effectiveness comparison of manual and on-line retrospective bibliographic searching. J Am Soc Inf Sci 1978 Mar;29(2):56-66. 7. HITCHINGHAM EE. MEDLINE use in a university without a school of medicine. Spec Libr 1976 Apr;67(4):188-94. 8. WERNER G. Use of on-line bibliographic retrieval services in health sciences libraries in the United States and Canada. Bull Med Libr Assoc 1979 Jan;67(1):1-14. 9. POPE C. An evaluation of ERIC on CD-ROM in a college library. Electronic Libr 1989 Apr;7(2):94-7. 10. SILVER H. Managing a CD-ROM installation: a case study at Hahnemann University. Online 1988 Mar;12(2):61-6. 11. TAYLOR DC. Reference ROMs: six implications for libraries building CD-ROM database services. Am Libr 1989 May;20:452,454. 12. TOOEY MJ, RAIMONDO PG. CD-ROM: a new technology for libraries. Med Ref Serv Q 1987 Fall;6(3):1-15. 13. ZINK SD. Planning for the perils of CD-ROM. Libr J 1990 Feb;115(2):51-5. 14. KANTOR PB. Assessing the costs during budget planning for MEDLINE on CD-ROM. In: Woodsmall RM, Lyon Hartman B, Siegel ER, eds. MEDLINE on CD-ROM: National Library of Medicine evaluation forum. Medford, NJ: Learned Information, 1989:35-43.
Received August 1991; accepted December 1991
REFERENCES 1. BALAY R, ANDRES C. Use of the reference service in a large academic library. Coll Res Libr 1975 Jan;36(1):9-26.
300
Bull Med Libr Assoc 80(3) July 1992
Sept;91(9):536-9. 13. WEITZEL, Op. cit.
Received May 1991; accepted July 1991
use the library's MEDLINEt CD-ROM database. Subsequently, the study was expanded to include healthrelated CD-ROMs available in two other libraries on the University of Nevada, Reno, campus. The hypothesis was that point-of-use instruction on a CDROM takes longer than answering most reference questions and may take as long as executing a complete online search.
METHODOLOGY Six databases on CD-ROM were selected for this study:
AGRICOLAt (1970-), BiblioMed§ (current three years), Biological Abstracts** (1990-), ERICt (1966-), Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL)t# (1983-), and PsycLIT§§ (1974-). The study was conducted from December 1990 through April 1991. A form was designed to record date, subject, start time, end time, minutes elapsed, and whether the patron was a firsttime user. The patron's search subject was noted as well, to differentiate between mechanical problems such as fixing a paper jam and an in-depth instructional interaction. To establish a framework for comparison, a literature search was conducted to find previous time studies of reference and online search services. Four studies were identified that measured the average time spent answering a reference question [1-4], and four other studies were found that measured the average length of an online search [5-8]. In addition, six studies were located in which the authors estimated the time to provide CD-ROM assistance [9-14]. RESULTS
Measuring library staff time spent training patrons to use health-related CD-ROM databases* By Laurie A. Potter, M.L.S. Medical Reference Librarian
Savitt Medical Library University of Nevada School of Medicine Reno, Nevada 89557-0046
Many authors claim that devoting library staff time to helping patrons search a CD-ROM database has a major impact on a reference department. Having found no published studies supporting this claim, the Savitt Medical Library decided to conduct a study measuring the time consumed in training patrons to
During the five months of the study, 399 sessions were recorded. Of these, 349 sessions represented indepth instructional interactions and 50 involved helping a patron with a mechanical problem. Table 1 shows the breakdown of the in-depth sessions by database. Statistical analysis of these 349 sessions reveals a mean time of 5.72 minutes per session, a median of 4.00 minutes, and a mode of 2.00 minutes. The sessions ranged from one minute to forty-five minutes. These results were compared to the reference studies that indicated that the average reference question required up to 10 minutes of staff time, online searcht MEDLINE is a registered trademark of the National Library of Medicine.
t AGRICOLA is a registered trademark. § BiblioMed is a registered trademark. **
Based on a paper presented June 3, 1991, at the Ninety-first Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association, San Francisco, California. *
Bull Med Libr Assoc 80(3) July 1992
BA on CD is a registered trademark.
tt ERIC is a registered trademark. f CINAHL is a registered trademark. §§ PsycLIT is a registered trademark of PsycINFO, Inc.
299
Brief communications
Table 1 CD-ROM training sessions
CD-ROM product AGRICOLA BiblioMed BIOSIS CINAHL ERIC PsycLIT Total
Total sessions
Average minutes/ session
165 696 49 136 704 246
51 111 19 44 91 33
3.24 6.27 2.58 3.09 7.74 7.45
1,996
349
5.72
Total minutes
es required 27 to 35 minutes, and CD-ROM assistance involved 5 to 40 minutes.
CONCLUSION These overall results indicate that CD-ROM training sessions require roughly the same amount of time as answering average reference questions and a lot less time than performing online searches. This study also found that less time was spent on CD-ROM sessions than several other authors had estimated. Thus, the original hypothesis was not supported. However, during the course of the study, a high level of activity was observed at the reference desk. This was attributed to the fact that reference librarians were helping someone at a remote CD-ROM station while at the same time handling the phone and patrons at the desk. The Savitt Medical Library concluded that additional staff was needed to be on call to provide CD-ROM assistance, because this service cannot be managed effectively by the person responsible for the reference desk.
2. BENHAM F, POWELL RR. Success in answering reference questions: two studies. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1987: 86. 3. HERNON P, MCCLURE CR. Unobtrusive testing and library reference services. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1987. 4. PASTINE M, BEKIARES SE, WERT LM. Measurement of reference service: reference statistics 1978: University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In: Kaske NK, Jones WC. Library effectiveness: a state of the art. New York: American Library Association, 1980:245. 5. CABLE LG. Cost analysis of reference service to outside users. Bull Med Libr Assoc 1980 Apr;68(2):247-8. 6. EICHESEN DR. Cost-effectiveness comparison of manual and on-line retrospective bibliographic searching. J Am Soc Inf Sci 1978 Mar;29(2):56-66. 7. HITCHINGHAM EE. MEDLINE use in a university without a school of medicine. Spec Libr 1976 Apr;67(4):188-94. 8. WERNER G. Use of on-line bibliographic retrieval services in health sciences libraries in the United States and Canada. Bull Med Libr Assoc 1979 Jan;67(1):1-14. 9. POPE C. An evaluation of ERIC on CD-ROM in a college library. Electronic Libr 1989 Apr;7(2):94-7. 10. SILVER H. Managing a CD-ROM installation: a case study at Hahnemann University. Online 1988 Mar;12(2):61-6. 11. TAYLOR DC. Reference ROMs: six implications for libraries building CD-ROM database services. Am Libr 1989 May;20:452,454. 12. TOOEY MJ, RAIMONDO PG. CD-ROM: a new technology for libraries. Med Ref Serv Q 1987 Fall;6(3):1-15. 13. ZINK SD. Planning for the perils of CD-ROM. Libr J 1990 Feb;115(2):51-5. 14. KANTOR PB. Assessing the costs during budget planning for MEDLINE on CD-ROM. In: Woodsmall RM, Lyon Hartman B, Siegel ER, eds. MEDLINE on CD-ROM: National Library of Medicine evaluation forum. Medford, NJ: Learned Information, 1989:35-43.
Received August 1991; accepted December 1991
REFERENCES 1. BALAY R, ANDRES C. Use of the reference service in a large academic library. Coll Res Libr 1975 Jan;36(1):9-26.
300
Bull Med Libr Assoc 80(3) July 1992
