A MEDLINE feasibility study.

A MEDLINE feasibility study was conducted with the Northeastern Consortium for Health Information (NECHI) and sponsored by the New England Regional Medical Library Service. It is based on the theory that most potential users and supporters of MEDLINE within hospitals are unaware of its usefulness and applications, and that there exists a need for expanding MEDLINE services to more hospital libraries. The purpose of the study was to provide NECHI with an evaluation of MEDLINE as a feasible service by ascertaining the need and by evaluating the usefulness, satisfaction, and costs of the system. The study demonstrated sufficient use of MEDLINE to justify implementation within NECHI and it provided useful data to determine the future of MEDLINE in each institution. It documented that utilization improved rapidly with publicity and the presence of the system within an institution, that MEDLINE can be an effective and economical complement to the traditional reference services used to support information needs in hospitals, and that more hospital libraries should be able to implement MEDLINE to their advantage once potential users and supporters have been exposed to the system.