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Dissertation Information for Rao Inna Kedage Ravichandra

NAME:
- Rao Inna Kedage Ravichandra

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- University of Western Ontario (Canada) (1981)

ADVISORS:
- Jean Mary Tague-Sutcliffe

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Timothy Courtenay Craven

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Inspected

Title: DOCUMENT AND USER DISTRIBUTION IN TRANSACTION RECORDS OF CANADIAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Abstract: This study is based on circulation data collected from six Canadian University Libraries which have automated circulation systems. It reveals that the frequency distributions over documents are reverse-J shaped, highly positively skewed, and have a long tail. An analysis of the circulation data indicates that (1) the mean of the distribution is neither equal to the variance nor equal to the standard deviation of the distribution. (2) the variance of the distribution is a non-linear function of the mean of the distribution, and (3) a low percentage of the users in the university libraries make maximum use of circulation service and an equal percentage of documents circulated are borrowed frequently.

In an attempt to describe and identify a probability distribution of transactions over documents and also over users, the author observes that most size-frequency data of transactions follow a negative binomial distribution. This is the only distribution which fits at least 45% of the empirical distributions at the 0.01 significance level. The author also observes that in the majority of the cases, this distribution does not fit the data relating to document distribution for undergraduate populations. Various probability distributions, namely (1) Poisson, (2) Truncated Poisson, (3) Negative binomial, (4) Truncated negative binomial, (5) Geometric, (6) Logarithmic series, (7) Borel-Tanner, (8) Cumulative advantage, (9) Waring, (10) Weibull--discrete and continuous, (11) Zeta, (12) Pearson curves, (13) Johnson curves, (14) Pareto, (15) Logistic, (16) Sinh transformation of the variable, and (17) Bradford were tried in order to identify the probability density function which can be used to characterise the distribution of transactions. Maximum likelihood estimators for the parameters of Cumulative Advantage, Waring and discrete Weibull distributions are given. A discrete Weibull distribution using the Napier constant is also defined for the purpose of fitting the empirical data.

On the basis of empirical evidence, it is argued the (1) the phenomenon of distribution of transactions is a manifestation and the "success-breeds-success" phenomenon, and (2) the rank distribution of transactions is likely to follow a Bradford semi-logarthmic curve.

This study indicates that (1) frequent users are more likely than infrequent users to borrow documents which are borrowed frequently and infrequent users are more likely than frequent users to borrow documents which are borrowed infrequently, except that (2) users in the area of arts irrespective of whether they borrow documents frequently or infrequently are more likely to borrow documents irrespective of whether they are frequently or infrequently borrowed documents.

A few applications of this study are discussed and a review of articles on "Models in Bibliometrics" is included as one of the chapters in this thesis.

MPACT Scores for Rao Inna Kedage Ravichandra

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:26:36

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