| The purpose of this study is to investigate a randomly selected sample of library directors, associate directors and librarians of the academic and research libraries in Taiwan, R.O.C., their knowledge of and attitudes toward library automation, the major problems faced by these libraries when planning automation systems, the demographic information related to the development of library automation programs, and the relationship between knowledge, background of directors and librarians and their attitudes toward library automation.;A survey method was used in this study. Three questionnaires were designed and administered to 97 library directors and associate directors and 430 librarians in 91 academic and research libraries in Taiwan area. The returned usable responses were 75, or 82.4 percent from academic and research libraries; 80, or 88 percent from library directors and 350, or 81.4 percent from librarians.;The data on the extent of automation were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA), multiple regression procedures and Pearson correlation calculations. A.05 level of significance was applied to all resulting F values.;Analysis of the data revealed that: (1) library directors, associate directors and librarians of the academic and research libraries in R.O.C. regard library automation very favorably. Although their knowledge and background of library automation was limited, they realize that library automation is a trend, a must, and support it; (2) there is significant relationship among level of education, knowledge of computers, system analysis, reading books/articles on computers or library automation, work experience in library automation and attitudes toward library automation; (3) the size of the library holdings and the control of the institutions are not related directly to the extent or degree of automation; (4) directors' and librarians' attitudes has no effect on the development of automated library programs; (5) the lack of funds and lack of experienced personnel are the two major problems faced by library decision-makers when planning automation programs; (6) the responses of library directors' and librarians' are almost identical. |
