The objective of this study was to develop a voice interface for the on-line catalog of VTLS. Three major components of the system, namely, voice recognition system, text-to-speech synthesizer, and screen review program, were identified. These components were selected after a comparative study of several commercially available systems. Once the components were selected they were integrated to form a complete voice recognition and synthesis system. Using this system, a voice interface was realized to suit the operations of VTLS. A telephone interface for the system was investigated and recommendations were made for future research. / Master of Science

Evaluation of library service effectiveness is important in identifying the areas where improvement is most needed, and in justifying library budgets. Traditional methods of service effectiveness evaluation have been too costly and impractical for regular use. However, most of the data required for this evaluation can be collected inexpensively and quickly with automated library systems which many libraries have already started using. This study reviews traditional methods of library service effectiveness and proposes new methods which take advantage of electronic data processing. The proposed methods are practical and inexpensive so that they can be used routinely. / Ph. D.