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Only a few studies in communication research have focused on bibliometrics or scholarly communication per se, but these concepts are closely tied to strong traditions of communication research in content analysis and organizational communication. Bibliometric studies are becoming common in several fields of science because of the number and accessibility of electronic databases as well as the development of conceptual frameworks in which bibliometric measures are indicative of social processes such as the evolution of scientific specialties and the diffusion of innovations. Research on scholarly communication, and more narrowly on scientific communication, is receiving growing attention because of the problems and costs of disseminating information to scientists, practitioners, and policymakers. With its focus on informal and formal communication processes, this research clearly falls within the province of communication research. However, many of the studies have been conducted by information scientists with a practical need to improve scientific information systems. Communication researchers are beginning to apply bibliometric methods to topics ranging from political communication to the new media. Bibliometrics and the study of scholarly communication present an opportunity for communication researchers and information scientists to collaborate in an area of common interest.

Specialized knowledge with a claim on the public's attention and understanding can be characterized as topical literacy. Among such literacies, scientific literacy has recently captured significant attention. The author describes three popular perspectives on scientific literacy—science content, how science works, and the impact of science on society—and analyzes their rationales and appropriateness for the task at hand.

This book draws together ideas and activities about research concerning the use of microcomputers in schools and the corresponding interest in measuring the extent of this use, and its nature, purpose, and results. A historical framework and a look at the future are also provided.

The 1966 meeting of the Amer Assoc for PO Res was studied as an occasion of sci'fic information exchange. Questionnaire's on information-gathering were completed by 186 attendants (78% response). Analysis showed that amount of session attendance, choice of sessions attended, & assessment of information available at the meeting were only weakly predictable on the basis of personal attributes such as level of training, field, seniority, etc. Conversely, information-gathering & -disseminating behavior away from the meeting (eg, N of journal subscriptions, N of technical reports received or sent, N of journal articles published) was highly r'ed with the attributes of commercial/noncommercial affiliation, Sch where highest degree was earned, rank, amount of res activity, level of highest degree, etc. In particular, the strongest predictor of res productivity (defined as written output) is the res'er's level of information acquisition, & an 11-predictor analysis of productivity yielded a multiple r of.70. AA.

10 demographic & econ variables were tested as predicators of library circulation in 2702 US communities. These variables included M educ, F educ, % of white residents, buying income, retail sales, % of Ur'tion, fam size, % of TV saturation, & size of pop served by the library. F educ, income & pop are the best predicators of library circulation, in that order. The multiple r of all predicators with library circulation was .39. The reliability of all is was tested by splitting the sample into random halves & computing is for each half separately. When adult fiction, adult nonfiction, juvenile fiction, & juvenile nonfiction are taken separately, the 10 independent variables predict adult circulation better than juvenile circulation (multiple R's of .44 & .27). In addition, a metropolitan configuration of variables (ie, Urb'tion, pop, TV saturation, income, sales) is more strongly r'ed with nonfiction circulation than with fiction circulation. Library type (eg, city, county) & region (eg, Northeast, Pacific) were included as qualitative predicators of library circulation, & each appears to possess some predictive power when all other variables are held constant. Of methodological interest in this study are: (1) tests of linearity, & (2) the extensive use of eta as a supplementary r'al statistic in the case of non-liner relationships. AA.

When households are the smallest presampled units & random.

Cluster analysis based on the co-occurrence of key words in letters to national magazines yields qualitative indicators of the public's concerns and breaks new ground in content (and historical) research.