Adult Services in the Eighties: Final Report

The American Library Association\u27s (ALA) Adult Services in the Eighties (ASE) project was undertaken to supply information about areas of current and unique concentration to aid librarians in identifying, describing, and planning the scope of adult services in their own libraries. The ASE project updates a study conducted in 1954--the most recent national survey on this topic--through the presentation of data about the range of services and the compilation of bibliographic essays on key services. The narrative report, which covers the problem to be studied and activities undertaken in each of the three phases of the project, is supplemented by 11 exhibits. These exhibits make up nearly three quarters of this document: (1) a 1982 ALA goal award proposal submitted by the Adult Services Committee of the Reference and Adult Services Division (RASD); (2) correspondence about attendance at the ASE Assembly and a short questionnaire; (3) the first draft of the final questionnaire; (4) a booklet of library terminology which accompanied the 1954 survey and instructions for updating the booklet; (5) the second draft of the questionnaire; (6) the pretest of the final survey tool; (7) the cover letter and the final version of the questionnaire; (8) a short essay summarizing ASE project goals; (9) a memo about data entry; (10) a reminder note to respond to the survey; and (11) printouts of the data entry, data check, cleanup, and state append computer programs. This report also includes a chronological summary of the landmarks of the ASE project