ABSTRACT
Libraries are conceived and designed like department stores, with much concern for the repeat business that comes from enough satisfied customers. Taking for example the case of an academic library, the model might indicate a projected levelling-off of the penetration rate of a targeted user group at a point which is considered below an acceptable level. The model might be used to address a number of the issues and problems in library use and resource allocation that have been previously raised by P. M. Clark. At a more mundane level, one may envisage application of the findings to the solution of practical problems of library resource allocation and management. The utility of the model may therefore prove to be diagnostic rather than predictive, in the sense that its benefits derive more from its value as a stimulus to anticipatory action rather than from the vision of the future it provides.
