ABSTRACT
From January of 1980 to December of 1982, the Illinois Valley Library System (IVLS) and its participating libraries conducted an LSCA funded experimental project in OCLC use. Although the purpose of the project was to examine the costs and benefits of OCLC in small and medium size libraries of all types, 20 of the 33 participants were public libraries. During the project both subjective and objective studies were conducted to measure OCLC use and its effects on the libraries and the System. This article summarizes those studies. Complete documentation is available in a series of reports from the Illinois State Library (Bills, 1982–1984).
