Discusses technical services as a reader service in academic libraries and suggests that the successful implementation of digital libraries needs a systems approach that crosses functional and administrative boundaries. Describes the need for the integration of technical services with other reader services and explains forces pushing for and…

Describes the development of a new interface called GPO Gate for accessing the Government Printing Office (GPO) WAIS (wide area information server) databases, GPO Access. Highlights include development and use of GPO Gate at the University of California, San Diego, and implications for public service. (Author/LRW)

Characteristics of learning styles and other attributes of academic librarians in public and technical services were examined based on Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI), a system that conceptualizes the learning process as a four-stage cycle and identifies four different learning styles--accommodator (gets things done, takes risk, leads);…

A survey of public and academic libraries conducted to obtain information on length of reference desk shifts and proportion of the reference librarian's time spent at the desk found the two-hour weekday shift to be the most common, and that librarians typically work 7 to 21 hours per week at the desk. (EM)

Identifies major problems that affect reader's services departments in Nigerian university libraries. Highlights include the functions of the reader's services department, including circulation, collection management, user education, and interlibrary loan; student population explosion; funding shortages; staffing shortages; and suggested…

Examines the extent to which professional catalog librarians in academic libraries are involved in public services activities. Current literature is reviewed, results of a survey begun in 1983 and updated in 1986 and 1988 are analyzed and compared, and new areas in which an expanded role for catalog librarians would be beneficial are suggested.…

This case study describes the management system of Dickinson College Library. Highlights include a rotating chair instead of a director; collegiality in decision making; rotating departmental responsibilities; developing an acceptable level of expertise in both technical and public services; and an emphasis on professionalism. (Author/LRW)

This publication is a collection of library public services policy statements, which were received in response to a survey of members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) in the fall of 1980, and additional recent statements. A concise summary of issues related to public services policies precedes the main body of the kit, in which 25…

Describes a study that analyzed the differences between 1,133 public and technical services positions described in job advertisements in 1988. Content analysis was used to determine differences in the levels of computer skills, foreign-language requirements, previous work experience, education requirements, and minimum salary offered. (20…

Discussion of measuring and improving the quality of library public services focuses on a method for quantifying and categorizing patrons' comments from a questionnaire developed at the College of Charleston (South Carolina) library. Topics include Total Quality Management, measures of user perceptions, and defining the service role of libraries.…

Discussion of the organizational structure of academic libraries focuses on a study that examined how the work of academic librarians is structured and whether the traditional functions of public services and technical services are still separated. Topics addressed include the role of subject specialists, attitudes toward reorganization, and…

Shows how new terminology related to technological advances has affected communication among library professionals through a literature review and a selective survey of administrators of information technology, public services, and technical services in academic libraries belonging to the Association of Research Libraries. (Author/LRW)

The directors of 40 academic libraries in Virginia were surveyed to obtain information on their practices relating to public access, services, and fees in their libraries. Complete or partial responses were received from 21 libraries in private institutions and 14 from state-supported institutions. These responses indicate that all of the…

This discussion of effective communication for leaders in the field of librarianship begins by providing a historical overview which highlights the librarian's influential role from the earliest days of recorded language; the evolution and modification of words in individual languages from crude forms to their electronic storage and transmission;…

Discusses the Wright State University (Ohio) Library policy directive on customer service, and suggests this document as a model to follow in setting up service standards or guidelines for depository-library services. Draft-depository library public-service guidelines for government information in electronic format are appended. (JAK)