Discussion of application of cost benefit analysis (CBA) accounting techniques to libraries highlights user willingness to be charged for services provided, reasons why CBA will not work in library settings, libraries and budgets, cost distribution on basis of presumed or expected use, implementation of information-seeking behavior control, and…

Three articles address the relationship between a library and the vendor of its automated system from several points of view: library-initiated vendor abandonment, vendor-initiated abandonment, nonperforming vendor and nonfunctioning system, and changing systems. Acceptance testing and financial, personnel, and legal aspects of vendor abandonment…

Discusses the concept of power in the context of women and the library profession, citing views of power by Max Weber, John Kenneth Galbraith, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, and Rosabeth Moss Kantor. Male power and female submission, defining power, organizing for power, and sharing power are highlighted. A 12-item bibliography is included. (EJS)

Economic pressures on the information industry and on libraries are significantly affecting the nature of services and the organization of work within libraries. These effects are illustrated by three phenomena: emphasis on productivity in libraries, marketing of online database searches through libraries, and the repackaging of library services…

Discusses present and future changes in library organization and management resulting from increasingly smaller library units, use of electronics to support decentralized services, new management style, and interlibrary cooperatives. Three strategies for change--to accept change, to change change, to recognize that some things cannot be…

Differences exist between theory and practice in management, between textbook professional managers and practical general managers, and between specialist technicians and generalists. Library and business school management courses cover theory and techniques used by management specialists, not practical management which is more human, subtle, and…

Examines focal points for chronic tension between library educators and practitioners: changing programs and students, experience versus education in new personnel, criticism of practitioners, and accreditation. Comparison of library and information education with education for other professions and questions for commission on excellence in…

Discusses the challenges of running a library in a political environment, and offers observations and strategies to aid in public library management. Areas discussed include governance, funding, personnel management, relationships with the press, working with elected officials, and negotiating strategies and skills. (CLB)