FOR LIBRARIANS

Previous research studies are an excellent source of ideas for those planning to do research on library operations. Studies drawn from four areas-the structure of information, user behavior, policy decisions, and performance measures-are briefly discussed to illustrate how they may stimulate further research. The main theme of the paper is the importance to librarianship of having research carried out which replicates, challenges, or otherwise builds on previous research. ANYONE WHO IS ABOUT TO undertake a re-search study makes some assumptions-the fewer assumptions, the better; but it is im-possible to begin any project without mak-ing at least one assumption. The following comments about conducting library research are based on the assumption that there is some sort of underlying order in the way libraries operate, that there are some phe-nomena that cause or result from other phe-nomena and that, if we look carefully enough, we can detect that order and those relationships. In the words of one of the standard texts on scientific investigation: "The function of a science... is to establish general laws covering the behavior of the empirical events or objects with which the science in question is concerned. "1 This is a short and simple statement, but one that has many implications if we try to apply it to libraries. One of the implications of viewing librar-ianship as a field susceptible to scientific research is that we accept the possibility of eventually tying together the findings of all research into a broad explanation of the field. As a result, we expect that all who repor