Evaluation of MEDLINE service by user survey.

The use of MEDLINE at the Calder Memorial Library of the University of Miami School of Medicine has grown so substantially over the past one and one-half years that we felt an evaluation of the service was appropriate. A one-page questionnaire was sent to 350 patrons who had requested MEDLINE searches in 1973. The response validated many of our assumptions about the user group and their reasons for using MEDLINE. Most surprising were the degree of enthusiasm, the willingness to pay out of personal funds, the apparent lack of knowledge about SDILINE, and the small number of critical comments. We expect that the experience gained from this assessment will enable us to make improvements in some aspects of our service, as well as to undertake more subject-specific evaluations at shorter intervals in the future.