Highlights some of the developments in the following areas that have taken place during the period 1977-87 in British university libraries: (1) library resources; (2) automation; (3) collection building; (4) technical services; (5) reader services; (6) management and staffing; and (7) cooperation. (71 references) (MES)

A summary is provided of an investigation made of the book ordering and processing procedures used by the four site libraries operated by the Library and Learning Resources Service of the City on London Polytechnic. The survey sought: 1) to analyze current practices in the sub-areas of selection, bibliographic checking, ordering, receipt,…

Describes the impact of reduced budgets on British university libraries in the areas of acquisitions, staffing, services, buildings, and library cooperation. The effects of changes in the funding and organization of universities on the library's role within the university are also discussed. (9 notes with references) (CLB)

Six papers from a seminar on special collections in research libraries address special collections and the scholarly community; the function of special collections in research and education; services and development issues; the evolving character of special collections; special collections in emerging information delivery programs; and the…

United Kingdom norms for libraries are reviewed and the effect they would have on Australian university libraries is examined. Focus is on book storage, future growth provision, reader places, administration, reserve storage, and special collections. (LBH)

For several decades there has been a trend towards project work, independent study, and guidance from the lecturer rather than instruction. The library and other polytechnic-wide services, it is argued, can be exploited to produce more effective and economical means of achieving an institution's objectives. (MLW)

Glasgow Caledonian University Library (Scotland) conducted a pilot study to design a set of user chosen performance measures which can be used in British academic libraries for data collection. Members of 8 stakeholder groups were identified and given an 103-question survey, with each question to be rated on a 1-5 scale of importance. Stakeholder…

An investigation was made into the levels of user demands made upon the four libraries of the City of London Polytechnic, the degree of user satisfaction, and the kinds of services provided. An overall measure of library effectiveness was derived, and a series of 30 detailed observations covered: 1) basic statistics on the usage of the various…

The 19 papers and three panel discussions on the goals, methods, and evaluation of user education that are presented in this collection draw upon the experiences of librarians of the Scandinavian countries and Great Britain. The principles and practice of user education and its aims and goals in each of the participating nations are presented in…

This study describes and analyzes the involvement of library and university groups and individuals in arriving at major library decisions concerning budgeting, automation, policy making, and operational issues in 12 selected university libraries. Site visits, interviews, and questionnaires were used to compare the decision making roles of…

Seven papers are presented from a conference where librarians and their nonlibrarian colleagues met to discuss the problems facing college libraries in the present period of change in British higher education. Papers discuss the role and responsibilities of the library in relation to conventional and alternative instructional methods and the…

Describes ways in which people use local collections, increased interest in local history in Great Britain, and sources of local history. The discussion includes the implications for training librarians, and the need to offer training to all librarians, not just those who specialize in local studies work. (31 references) (CLB)

Purpose: This paper sets out to review how the business of libraries in higher education has changed with the impact of the digital library during the latest decade of Program, in which the content of the journal swung decisively from being primarily about library management systems to primarily being about digital library issues.…

Describes a report (published in 1993) on British university libraries. The report addresses funding problems, the growth in desktop and electronic publishing and resulting archiving and preservation issues, the increased number of university students, the impact of information technology on the transmission and storage of information, and the…

Following a prefatory tribute to distinguished librarian Herbert S. White, this publication includes the following papers, mainly focused on user needs and library services in the electronic library age: "Information Technology, Users, and Intermediaries in the 21st Century: Some Observations and Predictions" (Herbert S. White);…