Comparison of recent acquisitions and OCLC find rates for three canadian special libraries

Susan Dingle‐Cliff and Charles H. Davis

Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 1981, vol. 32, issue 1, 65-69

Abstract: Acquisitions of three Canadian addictions libraries from April 1977 to February 1978 were searched on the OCLC database. Of the 601 titles, 422 were found, giving an average find rate of 70.2%. Find rates for the individual libraries ranged from 67 to 74%. These find rates compare favorably with those reported for U.S. special libraries. Three distinct patterns are revealed for the subject breakdowns of each library's acquisition. The two smaller libraries‐in British Columbia and Alberta‐emphasize either alcohol or drugs with nearly equal emphasis on secondary social science, health, and science materials. The largest library‐in Ontario‐shows a balance among alcohol, drugs, and secondary materials. When each library was compared with the others, the chi‐square test for independence showed a difference at the 0.01 significance level. Seventy‐six percent of the items searched were U.S. materials; 19.5% of all items were Canadian titles and constituted 80% of all non‐U.S. materials. Nearly 10% of all items found were Canadian titles. The find rate for Canadian materials in OCLC is substantially lower than that for others. However, with nearly four‐fifths of their acquisitions from non‐Canadian sources, these three Canadian libraries could clearly benefit from using OCLC for verification and cataloging.

Date: 1981
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