A COMMON UNIVERSITY FOR EUROPE

In this article, the author replies to the previous article by Helene Ahrweiler. In general he agrees with Mrs. Ahrweiler but cautions that a true university of Europe must be more than a university “of the twelve” and that, despite all that high technology communications can contribute to the formation of university networks, a common university of Europe should have physical individuality so that a proper student‐teacher rapport can exist.     

The book availability study as an objective measure of performance in a health sciences library

In its search for an objective overall diagnostic evaluation, the University of Illinois Library of the Health Sciences' Program Evaluation Committee selected a book availability measure; it is easy to administer and repeat, results are reproducible, and comparable data exist for other academic and health sciences libraries. The study followed the standard methodology in the literature with minor modifications. Patrons searching for particular books were asked to record item(s) needed and the outcome of the search. Library staff members then determined the reasons for failures in obtaining desired items. The results of the study are five performance scores. The first four represent the percentage probability of a library's operating with ideal effectiveness; the last provides an overall performance score. The scores of the Library of the Health Sciences demonstrated no unusual availability problems. The study was easy to implement and provided meaningful, quantitative, and objective data.