The never-ending organizational challenge is to allocate available resources to best achieve its goals. Out of this fundamental question several models have evolved. One is a conceptual model--a way to think about how organizations operate. A second is a statistical model estimating the magnitude of relationships among goals and elements of the…

Discusses the purpose of mathematical models and reviews the phases of the modeling process--defining performance, representing the problem, predicting performance, estimating parameters, defining optimization criterion, determining solution, and implementing results. Reviews of book-use, resource allocation, and library network models are…

Library governing boards are faced with many administrative questions affecting services offered. This paper describes the operational research approach to the problem of allocation of funds to different departments of a university for purchase of materials. A linear programing model is suggested for solving the allocation problem. (5 references)…

Discusses the status of modeling efforts to predict impact of different educational access and support policies and identifies pitfalls involved in using simulation models for state and national educational planning. Concludes that few goals held for large-scale models have been achieved. Points up needs for improvement, e.g. more information at…

A model is developed which relates an index of school performance to management policy under a variety of environmental conditions. The process of education is defined by the qualitative concept that education is a process of communication. In the model development, the assumed relationships among the variables (factors controllable by management…

The purpose of the paper is to define for potential users of vocational education management information systems a quantitative analysis technique and its utilization to facilitate more effective planning of vocational education programs. Defining linear programming (LP) as a management technique used to solve complex resource allocation problems…

A hypothetical mathematical model of a school is presented to (1) illustrate what such a model would look like, (2) determine its value to decision makers, and (3) determine its data requirements. The model relates increases in achievement to student/staff ratio, a measure of staff quality, materials used, space available, effort in community…

Massachusetts' Management and Information System for Occupational Education (MISOE) arrays data for its dynamic simulation model, which decides educational and instructional policies at the state, school district, and classroom levels, according to this formula: Inputs/Process/Product/Impact. In this monograph linear programed models are…

These proceedings include four articles intended to familiarize librarians with many facets of operations research and how they might be applied to their institutions. The first paper provides a brief definition of operations research. The second presentation, by Ralph Shoffner, relates, in the form of concrete examples, the questions one asks…