Introduction: The percentage of foreign-born residents in Spain has multiplied almost fourfold over the last decade. Immigration has changed our society, both from a demographic and economic perspective, and from a cultural and political prospective. The Spanish public library network, a democratic institution that provides services, initially, of…

Collaboration in the digital domain offers an opportunity to provide enhanced digital services and extended reach to the community. This article adopts a service-oriented perspective through which it considers environmental drivers for digital library collaboration; discusses emergent collaborative partnerships across UK educational institutions,…

This study aimed to develop and pilot a questionnaire to determine the ways in which working in a UK public library system can impact the well-being of those deployed in the sector. The methodological framework was based on an approach used to evaluate the well-being of patients in a clinical setting. Based on the responses of 466 employees, the…

Europeana: Think Culture (http://www.europeana.eu) is a wonderful cultural repository. It includes more than 15 million items (images, text, audio, and video) from 1,500 European institutions. Europeana provides access to an abundance of cultural and heritage information and knowledge. Because Europeana has partnered with and brought together so…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the state of development of Polish digital libraries. Design/methodology/approach: The paper describes the establishment of the first digital library in Poland, the creation of the Wielkopolska Digital Library and other regional digital libraries. The organisational and technological solutions used…

Joint-use libraries have identified staff integration as a problem. Using focus groups, this project investigated the culture, professional ethics, and attitudes of staff in a public-tertiary joint-use library in Auckland, New Zealand. Findings show some difference in organizational cultures, but more variation at the lower level of roles and…

Purpose: To describe the development of the library management system, e-Granthalaya, for public libraries in India. This is an initiative of the Indian government's National Informatics Centre (NIC). The paper outlines the challenges and the potential of a full-scale deployment of this software at a national level. Design/methodology/approach:…

The paper describes the public library system in Finland, which is regulated by legislation. Included are the preparation of legislative reforms, funding, the development of library services, and the increase in library services and use during the past decade. (MF)

The cultural background of Malta is briefly analyzed as it relates to library service on the island. The library system includes public libraries, university libraries, religious libraries and special libraries. (39 references) (DH)

According to the 1969 census the population of the Soviet Union is 241 million of which 105 million persons live in the countryside. In order to provide this large population living in a vast area with the opportunity of using library books, a broad and ramified network of library institutions had to be organized which would make it possible to…

Describes a communications, materials booking, and interloan system in a Canadian public library system which allows equal participation of all sizes of libraries. The system has reduced the percentage of requests not found, improved turnaround time, is more cost effective, and has generated a higher respect for resource sharing. (EM)

This overview of the history of legislation governing the Danish library system from 1920 to the present: describes the various kinds of libraries in Denmark, explores the current controversies surrounding the roles of several supervisory library bodies, and details recent recommendations of the Danish Library Commission. (FM)

Recommendations to the Library Development Commission to be used as a guide in planning a new program for library development are reported. The purpose of the publication is to elicit constructive comment and suggestions and to establish guidelines for province-wide organization of library services. Specific topics discussed include: public…

Reviews public library services in the People's Republic of China since 1949. Describes the Shanghai Library, the second largest library in China; the Shanghai system's three level network (municipal, district or county, and street or town) of public libraries which provides for resource sharing, librarian training, professional activities, and…

The sparse population and great distances in Finnish Lapland, the northern third of Finland, and the lack of library personnel and funds create special problems for library services. The author describes the library situation and needs in that area. (MF)