This paper discusses personnel management issues that arose when the East Berlin (Germany) Municipal Library and the West Berlin America Memorial Library united in 1995 to form the Central and State Library. The first section provides historical background on the two libraries and their merger. The second section summarizes the East-West conflict…

Legislation affecting scientific libraries in Finland is reviewed in the areas of staffing, inter-library cooperation, library financing, qualifications for scientific library posts, economic administration, and planning. (RAO)

Proposes a systematic procedure for analyzing performance problems in the library which is intended to minimize costly misjudgments and guide the manager toward remedial steps likely to resolve the problem(s). The nature of performance discrepancies, skill deficiencies, job descriptions, and personal problems is discussed. (EJS)

In response to an ambitious acquisitions effort at Trinity University's Elizabeth Coates Maddux Library during 1980/81, the library's cataloging department quintupled its monographic processing output while increasing its staff only by the addition of seven permanent and two temporary support staff members. Production standards, initially…

This paper reports the results of a survey of 1,277 libraries in Illinois which investigated the status of job sharing in armed forces, college and university, community college, government, law, medical, public, religious, and special libraries and library systems. Job sharing is described as the division of one full-time job between two or more…

This paper begins with a section that describes characteristics of knowledge management in libraries, including: human resource management is the core of knowledge management in libraries; the objective of knowledge management in libraries is to promote knowledge innovation; and information technology is a tool for knowledge management in…

This paper describes the theoretical design and practical implementation of a set of performance indicators in a public library system in London (England). Bromley Libraries has 15 branch libraries and serves 300,000 people. The need for improved management control by assessing performance and monitoring progress, library restructuring, and…

Librarianship has undergone a radical change in recent years, which will be continued in the future. Whereas previously the administration of media was most important, nowadays an ever increasing willingness to provide a service is required. In addition to the essential restructuring of libraries, a generational change is taking place within the…

Effective management and the importance of feedback in relation to improvement are becoming critical issues for libraries. Upward appraisal evaluates managers' performance based on input from their staff, rather than the traditional top-down evaluation format in which a manager is evaluated solely by their superior. This paper discusses the…

This discussion of the nature and role of communication skills in implementing job responsibilities of librarians and information specialists argues that the most important foundation of effective library leadership is communication. The paper begins by reviewing the literature on leadership and developing a set of leadership characteristics. It…

The strong emphasis of technology is slowly diminishing the importance of the human element in libraries. The current changes in population demand cultural sensitivity training in all walks of life. Libraries and librarians have a role to play. They need to cope with the multicultural environment by understanding the basics of multiculturalism and…

Based on the premise that senior staff or high-level managers have the knowledge and experience required to make daily decisions and also have a degree of power and respect, this document proposes that these managers are in a position to be effective leaders who can and should foster an atmosphere of receptiveness for innovation and positive…

This document includes papers on public libraries which were presented at the 1985 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference. The first paper, "International Guidelines for Public Libraries," is the report of an IFLA working group and it includes guidelines in six areas: public library services; media of…

Intended for use by the delegates to the second White House Conference on Library and Information Services (WHCLIS2), this issue briefing book contains national issues which have been identified at the governors' pre-White House conferences in the various states and territories. The issues have been assigned to 10 topical areas--Access,…

By emulating traits of high-performing corporations such as those described in the book "In Search of Excellence," the library/information profession can also reach the goal of excellence. Attributes characterizing excellent companies include exhibiting a bias for action; maintaining quality service through closeness to the customer;…