Library public services staff have primarily focused on providing services through interactions with their users. Although service quality and customer satisfaction are important in the delivery of these services, the emphasis and nature of the work have often been influenced by a library-centric philosophy rather than a user-centric philosophy.…

This article discusses a public service review and redesign that resulted in a blended service desk combining reference and circulation functions, staffed by nonlibrarians. The redesign implements a number of organizational structures that encourage service excellence, as found in the business literature and in examples of nonlibrary organizations…

Special collections and area studies librarians face similar challenges in the changing academic library environment, including the need to articulate the value of these specialized collections and to mainstream processes and practices into larger discovery, teaching, learning, and research efforts. For some institutions, these similarities have…

The position of electronic resources librarian was created to serve as a specialist in the negotiation of license agreements for electronic resources, but mission creep has added more functions to the routine work of electronic resources such as cataloging, gathering information for collection development, and technical support. As electronic…

Anyone at the helm of a small public library knows that every little detail counts. But juggling the responsibilities that are part and parcel of the job is far from easy. Finally, here's a handbook that includes everything administrators need to keep a handle on library operations, freeing them up to streamline and improve how the organization…

This article uses Wellington City Libraries as the basis for a case study of a future-focused, reorganized staffing structure in a public library network. It covers the change from why, how, departure from a building-based hierarchical structure, new staff and line responsibilities, union involvement, implications for staff training to culture and…

A proposed reorganization plan for the J. Murrey Atkins Library of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte would organize the library in the collegial mold with two departments, Public Services and Technical Services. Within each department, librarians would form a faculty with emphasis on participatory management. Decisions involving the…

Examines the traditional hierarchical administrative structure in academic libraries. Also analyzes some of its features, and questions specific principles of management in order to propose a more balanced organizational type based on organizational behavior and leadership that will best enable academic libraries to meet challenges. (PEN)

Describes a one-year experiment with collective management--i.e., management in which decision-making rests with the department as a whole--in the Oberlin College Library reference department. The planning process, problems, and advantages and disadvantages of this style of management are discussed. Several questions are raised about the…

Jacob Fried and Paul Molnar developed a model to simulate the interaction between technological change and social interaction which consists of two zones: (1) task requisites; and (2) the corresponding organizational responses. To define task requisites for library collections, it is necessary to identify the dimensions of the problem and the…

National Council on Libraries, Archives and Documentation Services of Barbados has proposed the creation of a network with a central coordinating directorate to be designated as the National Library. Funds from the International Development Research Centre, Canada, are available to mount a two-year project to establish directorate and develop…

We need fewer public libraries with greater dependence. Here at the beginning of the 21st century, public libraries are still saddled with a 19th-century model of government. They are far too beholden to governing authorities, usually municipal or county governments, for their financial sustenance. This is a formula for mediocrity. "Local control"…

Although librarians in approximately one-third of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) have a rank or status similar to other faculty, their activities, responsibilities and involvement vary considerably. A survey was conducted to determine the autonomy of library faculty organizations and their role in library and university governance, and…

Following a brief survey of relevant literature on concept of learning materials center (LMC), this article describes the innovative approach to LMC organizational design recently adopted at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. It features a joint administrative structure and shared staffing between university library and college of education.…

This testimony on the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress (NLS) provides information on: (1) NLS authority; (2) background; (3) functions and responsibilities; (4) Office of the Director; (5) director; (6) management; (7) budget; (8) division/section/office functions, including the Administrative…