Suggests guidelines to help libraries formalize their electronic reference services. Covers the following issues: administration/management (library division/department, library administration, campus administration, academic departments); services; primary clientele; personnel; infrastructure/facilities; finances; and evaluation. (AEF)

Discusses the need for libraries not only to recruit, but also to retain, diverse professional staffs. Topics include diversity as a multi-dimensional concept; creating an environment conducive to retention; ensuring equity in regard to promotion, professional development, and success; the tenure process in academic libraries; and mentoring…

Considers the use of Total Quality Management (TQM) tools by library managers to develop quality relationships between staff and customers. Topics include building a shared vision, putting the needs of customers before organizational politics, cooperation between levels of employees, communication, teamwork, trust, redesigning processes and…

Examines the conclusions and recommendations of the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities, which were designed to stimulate reform in public higher education in five areas: the student experience; access; the engaged institution; promotion of a learning society; and campus culture. (MSE)

Although the president of the University of Chicago (Illinois) has resigned, the controversy over his planned changes for the institution has not abated. Proposed changes include reducing the number of core curriculum courses and expanding the size of the undergraduate population. Faculty, students, and prominent scholars are calling for improved…

A survey investigated college faculty and administrator attitudes on issues related to institutional governance. Results offer trustees several strategies for fostering institutional change: build on the overlap in attitudes about governance; foster dialog about teaching, research, and governance among board, faculty, and administrators; improve…

A study reviewed a decade of data from the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) Registrant Survey to (1) identify factors affecting the likelihood that GMAT registrants will complete the process leading to graduate management education, (2) determine whether the nature of this process differs by racial/ethnic group, and (3) assess the impact…

Ways in which specific pieces of scholarship can be useful to college and university administrators, planners, and policymakers are discussed. Five journal articles and portions of books on research universities, strategy-making for complex organizations, leadership, collegiality, and institutional research are examined in relation to how they…

Five brief essays are presented in response to an earlier article on leadership in college foreign-language departments. They address issues of curriculum redesign, pedagogical change, the nature of language teaching, the professional identity of language teachers, the role of professional organizations, and the traditional departmental model. A…

Discusses leadership and governance issues in implementing curricular reform at eight medical schools participating in a large-scale medical curriculum development project. Attention is given to the definition of leadership, characteristics of successful leaders, management of resistance to change, the role of curriculum committees, the use of…

A community college president who left the position to pursue other interests discusses issues affecting life after the presidency: demands on time and finding opportunities for relaxation; solicitations of advice from colleagues; and practical considerations such as loss of support staff, keeping up-to-date with colleagues, and employment…

Developments in the state role in higher education in the 1980s, and how this role changed in the recession period of 1989-92, are reviewed. Seven major issues that will affect government-higher education relationships in the next decade are examined: supply/demand, commitment to universal access, quality control, federal fiscal constraints,…

This article argues that conflict has been a part of higher education since its inception, and that many problems faced by academics today have centuries-old prototypes. Conflict types include those between academics and community, religion and secularism, research and teaching, administration and the teaching profession, students and institution,…

The evolution of the student tracking system at Amarillo College, a Texas community college, is chronicled for three stages: (1) early efforts; (2) participation in the development of a consortium-based longitudinal student tracking project beginning in 1986; and (3) more recent developments. Tools and techniques used at each stage are discussed…

Development, structure, and uses of multi-institutional and statewide student databases at the state level are examined, based on results of a national survey of state higher education agencies. The issue of confidentiality is also discussed. Construction and uses of a multi-institutional system in Colorado are then described, and its advantages…