Using the Computer for Library Random Sample Selection

THERE IS AN INCREASING AWARENESS by librarians of the value of random sampling as a data-gathering tool for library managers . The basic ideas of such sampling are not difficult to grasp, and they are adequately explained in professional library literature .1•2 However, even those librarians who understand the principles of the subject are sometimes reluctant to undergo the drudgery of manually collecting random samples from a random digit table. For the increasing number of librarians who have access to a computer, this toil is no longer necessary. Random selection, for a variety of reasons, lends itself well to automation: l. The very repetitiveness that makes selection boring for humans makes it relatively simple to program for a computer. 2. The computer may be programmed to generate the random numbers from which the sample is selected, thus bypassing the need for the random digit tables used in manual procedures. 3. Ttte computer will efficiently sort the random numbers selected into a desired order for use. 4. The computer can be instructed to arrange the printed output in such a manner that it can be used directly as a work sheet for taking the sample. 5. Sample selection programs can be written in a generalized manner so that a