UNITED STATES
                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                  SCHEDULE 13G

                   Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

                                  ACXIOM CORP.
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                (Name of Issuer)

                                     Common
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         (Title of Class of Securities)

                                    5125109
                     --------------------------------------
                                 (CUSIP Number)

Check the following box if a fee is being paid with this statement __.  (A fee
is not required only if the filing person: (1) has a previous statement on file
reporting beneficial ownership of more than five percent of the class of
securities described in Item 1; and (2) has filed no amendment subsequent
thereto reporting beneficial ownership of five percent or less of such class.) 
(See Rule 13d-7).

The information required in the remainder of this cover page shall not be deemed
to be "filed" for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 ("Act") or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of the Act
but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Act (however, see the
Notes).

                               Page 1 of 6 pages

CUSIP No. 5125109

1    NAME OF REPORTING PERSON
     WILLIAM BLAIR & COMPANY, L.L.C.

     S.S.or I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NO. OF ABOVE PERSON
     36-2214610

2    CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP*
                                                    (a) ____
                                                    (b) ____

3    SEC USE ONLY

4    CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION
     222 West Adams Street
     Chicago, IL 60606

               5    SOLE VOTING POWER
                    946,391
  NUMBER OF
   SHARES      6    SHARED VOTING POWER
BENEFICIALLY        0
  OWNED BY
    EACH       7    SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER
 REPORTING          2,763,090
  PERSON
   WITH        8    SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER
                    0

9    AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON
     2,763,090

10   CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (9) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES*

11   PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW 9
     5.4%

12   TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON*
     IA

                      *SEE INSTRUCTION BEFORE FILLING OUT!

                               Page 2 of 6 pages

                         INSTRUCTIONS FOR SCHEDULE 13G

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COVER PAGE

(1)  Names and Social Security Numbers of Reporting Persons--Furnish the full
     legal name of each person for whom the report is filed--i.e., each person
     required to sign the schedule itself--including each member of a group.  Do
     not include the name of a person required to be identified in the report
     but who is not a reporting person.  Reporting persons are also requested to
     furnish their Social Security or I.R.S. identification numbers, although
     disclosure of such numbers is voluntary, not mandatory (see "SPECIAL
     INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLYING WITH SCHEDULE 13G." below).

(2)  If any of the shares beneficially owned by a reporting person are held as a
     member of a group and such membership is expressly affirmed, please check
     row 2(a).  If the membership in a group is disclaimed or the reporting
     person describes a relationship with other persons but does not affirm the
     existence of a group, please check row 2(b) [unless a joint filing pursuant
     to Rule 13d-1 (e) (1) in which case it may not be necessary to check row
     2(b)].

(3)  The third row is for SEC internal use; please leave blank.

(4)  Citizenship or Place of Organization--Furnish citizenship if the named
     reporting person is a natural person.  Otherwise, furnish place of
     organization.

(5)-(9), (11) Aggregate Amount Beneficially Owned By Each Reporting Person,
     Etc.--Rows (5) through (9) inclusive, and (11) are to be completed in
     accordance with the provisions of Item 4 of Schedule 13G.  All percentages
     are to be rounded off to the nearest tenth (one place after decimal point).

(10) Check if the aggregate amount reported as beneficially owned in row (9)
     does not include shares as to which beneficial ownership is disclaimed
     pursuant to Rule 13d-4 [17 CFR 240.13d-4] under the Securities Exchange Act
     of 1934.

(12) Type of Reporting Person--Please classify each "reporting person" according
     to the following breakdown (see Item 3 of Schedule 13G) and place the
     appropriate symbol on the form:

               Category                     Symbol
          Broker Dealer                       BD
          Bank                                BK
          Insurance Company                   IC
          Investment Company                  IV
          Investment Adviser                  IA
          Employee Benefit Plan, Pension Fund,
               or Endowment Fund              EP
          Parent Holding Company              HC
          Corporation                         CO
          Partnership                         PN
          Individual                          IN
          Other                               OO

Notes:
 Attach as many copies of the second part of the cover page as are needed, one
reporting person per page.
 Filing persons may, in order to avoid unnecessary duplication, answer items on
the schedules (Schedule 13D, 13G or 14D-1) by appropriate cross references to an
item or items on the cover page(s).  This approach may only be used where the
cover page item or items provide all the disclosure required by the schedule
item.  Moreover, such a use of a cover page item will result in the item
becoming a part of the schedule and accordingly being considered as "filed" for

the purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act or otherwise subject
to the liabilities of that section of the Act.
 Reporting persons may comply with their cover page filing requirements by
filing either completed copies of the blank forms available from the Commission,
printed or typed facsimiles, or computer printed facsimiles, provided the
documents filed have identical formats to the forms prescribed in the
Commission's regulations and meet existing Securities Exchange Act rules as to
such matters as clarity and size (Securities Exchange Act Rule 12b-12).

              SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLYING WITH SCHEDULE 13G

 Under Sections 13(d), 13(g), and 23 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and
the rules and regulations thereunder, the Commission is authorized to solicit
the information required to be supplied by this schedule by certain security
holders of certain issuers.

 Disclosure of the information specified in this schedule is mandatory, except
for Social Security or I.R.S. identification numbers, disclosure of which is
voluntary.  The information will be used for the primary purpose of determining
and disclosing the holdings of certain beneficial owners of certain equity
securities.  This statement will be made a matter of public record.  Therefore,
any information given will be available for inspection by any member of the
public.

                               Page 3 of 6 pages

 Because of the public nature of the information, the Commission can utilize it
for a variety of purposes, including referral to other governmental authorities
or securities self-regulatory organizations for investigatory purposes or in
connection with litigation involving the Federal securities laws or other civil,
criminal or regulatory statutes or provisions.  Social Security or I.R.S.
identification numbers, if furnished, will assist the Commission in identifying 
security holders, and, therefore, in promptly processing statements of
beneficial ownership of securities.
 Failure to disclose the information requested by this schedule, except for
Social Security or I.R.S. identification numbers, may result in civil or
criminal action against the persons involved for violation of the Federal
Securities laws and rules promulgated thereunder.

                              GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

A. Statements containing the information required by this schedule shall be
   filed not later than February 14 following the calendar year covered by the
   statement or within the time specified in Rule 13-d-1 (b) (2), if
   applicable.

B. Information contained in a form which is required to be filed by rules under
   Section 13 (f) (15 U.S.C. 78m(f)) for the same calendar year as that covered
   by a statement on this schedule may be incorporated by reference in response
   to any of the items of this schedule.  If such information is incorporated
   by reference in this schedule, copies of the relevant pages of such form
   shall be filed as an exhibit to this schedule.

C. The item numbers and captions of the items shall be included but the text of
   the items is to be omitted.  The answers to the items shall be so prepared
   as to indicate clearly the coverage of the items without referring to the
   text of the items.  Answer every item.  If an item is inapplicable or the
   answer is in the negative, so state.

ITEM 1.
  (a) Name of Issuer
      ACXIOM CORP.

  (b) Address of Issuer's Principal Executive Offices
      310 Industrial Blvd. P.O. Box 2000
      Conway, AR 72033

ITEM 2.
  (a) Name of Person Filing
      William Blair & Company, L.L.C.

  (b) Address of Principal Business Office or, if none, Residence
      222 West Adams Street
      Chicago, IL 60606

  (c) Citizenship
      USA

  (d) Title of Class Securities
      Common

  (e) CUSIP Number
      253798102

ITEM 3. IF THIS STATEMENT IS FILED PURSUANT TO RULE 13D-1 (B), OR 13D-2 (B),
CHECK WHETHER THE PERSON FILING IS A:
  (a)     / / Broker or Dealer registered under Section 15 of the Act
  (b)     / / Bank as defined in section 3 (a) (6) of the Act
  (c)     / / Insurance Company as defined in section 3 (a) (19) of the act
  (d)     / / Investment Company registered under section 8 of the Investment
          Company Act
  (e)     /x/ Investment Adviser registered under section 203 of the Investment
          Advisers Act of 1940
  (f)     / / Employee Benefit Plan, Pension Fund which is subject to the
          provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 or
          Endowment Fund; see section 240.13d-1 (b) (1) (ii) (F)
  (g)     / / Parent Holding Company, in accordance with section 240.13-d-1 (b)
          (ii) (G) (Note: See Item 7)
  (h)     / / Group, in accordance with section 240.13d-1 (b) (1) (ii) (H)

ITEM 4. OWNERSHIP
  If the percent of the class owned, as of December 31 of the year covered by
the statement, or as of the last day of any month described in Rule 13d-1 (b)
(2), if applicable, exceeds five percent, provide the following information as
of that date and identify those shares which there is a right to acquire.

  (a) Amount Beneficially Owned
      2,763,090

  (b) Percent of Class
      5.4%

                               Page 4 of 6 pages

  (c)     Number of shares as to which such person has:

      (i)  sole power to vote or to direct the vote
           946,391

      (ii) shared power to vote or to direct the vote
           0

      (iii)sole power to dispose or to direct the disposition of
           2,763,090

      (iv) shared power to dispose or to direct the disposition of
           0

Instruction: For computations regarding securities which represent a right to
acquire an underlying security see Rule 13d-3 (d) (1).

ITEM 5. OWNERSHIP OF FIVE PERCENT OR LESS OF A CLASS
  If this statement is being filed to report the fact that as of the date
hereof the reporting person has ceased to be the beneficial owner of more than
five percent of the class of securities, check the following /N /.

Instruction: Dissolution of a group requires a response to this item.

ITEM 6. OWNERSHIP OF MORE THAN FIVE PERCENT ON BEHALF OF ANOTHER PERSON.
  If any other person is known to have the right to receive or the power to
direct the receipt of dividends from, or the proceeds from the sale of, such
securities, a statement to that effect should be included in response to this
item and, if such interest relates to more than five percent of the class, such
person should be identified.  A listing of the shareholders of an investment
company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 or the beneficiaries
of employee benefit plan, pension fund or endowment fund is not required.

ITEM 7. IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF THE SUBSIDIARY WHICH ACQUIRED THE
SECURITY BEING REPORTED ON BY THE PARENT HOLDING COMPANY
  If a parent holding company has filed this schedule, pursuant to Rule 13d-1
(b) (ii) (G), so indicate under Item 3 (g) and attach an exhibit stating the
identity and the Item 3 classification of the relevant subsidiary.  If a parent
holding company has filed this schedule pursuant to Rule 13d-1 (c), attach an
exhibit stating the identification of the relevant subsidiary.

ITEM 8. IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF MEMBERS OF THE GROUP
  If a group has filed this schedule pursuant to Rule 13d-1 (b) (ii) (H), so
indicate under Item 3 (h) and attach an exhibit stating the identity and Item 3
classification of each member of the group.  If a group has filed this schedule
pursuant to Rule 13d-1 (c), attach an exhibit stating the identity of each
member of the group.

ITEM 9. NOTICE OF DISSOLUTION OF GROUP
  Notice of dissolution of a group may be furnished as an exhibit stating the
date of the dissolution and that all further filings with respect to
transactions in the security reported on will be filed, if required, by members
of the group, in their individual capacity.  See Item 5.

ITEM 10. CERTIFICATION
  The following certification shall be included if the statement is filed
pursuant to Rule 13d-1 (b):
  By signing below I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the
securities referred to above were acquired in the ordinary course of business
and were not acquired for the purpose of and do not have the effect of changing
or influencing the control of the issuer of such securities and were not
acquired in connection with or as a participant in any transaction having such
purposes or effect.

                                   SIGNATURE

  After reasonable inquiry and to the best of my knowledge and belief, I
certify that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and
correct.
                                              2/14/97
                                   ---------------------------------
                                               Date

                                   /s/Rocky Barber
                                   ---------------------------------
                                             Signature

                                   Principal & Manager of
                                   Investment Management Services
                                   ---------------------------------
                                            Name/Title

                               Page 5 of 6 pages

 6
  The original statement shall be signed by each person on whose behalf the
statement is filed or his authorized representative.  If the statement is signed
on behalf of a person by his authorized representative other than an executive
officer or general partner of the filing person, evidence of the
representative's authority to sign on behalf of such person shall be filed with
the statement, provided, however, that a power of attorney for this purpose
which is already on file with the Commission may be incorporated be reference. 
The name and any title of each person who signs the statement shall be typed or
printed beneath his signature.

Note: Six copies of this statement, including all exhibits, should be filed with
the Commission.

  ATTENTION: INTENTIONAL MISSTATEMENTS OR OMISSIONS OF FACT CONSTITUTE FEDERAL
CRIMINAL VIOLATIONS (SEE 18 U.S.C. 1001)

                               Page 6 of 6 pages