THE STUDY CRITICALLY ANALYZES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OPERATING EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS. HOWEVER, THE STUDY METHODOLOGY IS GEARED TO THE ANALYSIS OF OPERATING EFFICIENCIES, RATHER THAN TO THE QUANTITATIVE MEASUREMENT OF THE LEVEL OF EFFECTIVENESS OF THE SYSTEM AMONG ITS USER POPULATION. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOLLOWING NCJRS DEPARTMENTS/FUNCTIONS ARE PRESENTED: ACQUISITION, DOCUMENT PROCESSING, ABSTRACTING AND INDEXING, DATA BASE, REFERRAL SERVICES, USER FILE, DISSEMINATION PROCESS, AND CURRENT AWARENESS MATERIAL. THESE WERE MEASURED WITH RESPECT TO: AVERAGE LEVEL OF OPERATION, AVERAGE PERCENT CHANGE (APC), TRENDS, AND WORK TIME FREQUENCIES. PARTICULAR ATTENTION WAS GIVEN TO SUBJECT ANALYSIS OF THE DATA BASE AND USER CLASSES AND TO THE MEASUREMENT OF THEIR GROWTH AND INTERRELATIONSHIP. BASED ON A STATISTICAL EVALUATION OF THE SYSTEM'S OPERATING EFFICIENCIES, THE STUDY MADE RECOMMENDATIONS WHICH INCLUDE: (1) CLEARER GOAL DEFINITION; (2) THE APPLICATION OF CONTINUING TREND ANALYSIS TO INCREASE SYSTEM RESPONSIVENESS TO CHANGE; (3) MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN FUNCTIONS, PARTICULARLY ACQUISITIONS AND ABSTRACTING AND INDEXING, AND REALLOCATION OF MANPOWER TO AVOID QUEUE DEVELOPMENT; AND (4) CONSIDERATION OF A JOB ENRICHMENT PROGRAM WHICH WOULD ALLOW THE INCREASED INTERCHANGEABILITY OF PERSONNEL AMONG FUNCTIONS AND THEREBY INCREASE SYSTEM FLEXIBILITY WITH RESPECT TO QUEUES AND VARYING WORK LOADS. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)...BDS