A system in which the function of the library is to acquire, store, and organize materials is proposed which separates the reference function into a group of subject specialists backed up by computerized information retrieval systems. This division of labor is caused by the scientific community's need for access to graphic and other specific (not…

This paper reviews the promotion of literacy and the development of library services in the multinational, multilingual republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics since the October Revolution as a model for state or regionally centralized services that promote local arrangements while serving a single national purpose in multiethnic and…

A national standard for measurement of reference service would help librarians. Such statistics are necessary for evaluation of interlibrary cooperation in reference, but keeping statistics is time consuming and difficult. Librarians need a new way to quantify the work involved in answering a reference question. An improved format, applied…

The United Nations 1981 International Year of Disabled Persons offers a unique opportunity for broadening the basis of understanding of the library needs of the blind and print handicapped. There is room for both national and international development if traditionally publicity-shy and mostly nonaggressive librarians come forward and seize the…

The National Commission on Libraries and Information Science was created in 1970 as a coordinating and planning agency of the United States Government. In order to gain knowledge of the needs and views of library users throughout the country, the Commission conducted a sereis of regional hearings and supported four research studies. As its major…

An objective description of the programs and outline of the problems of the Lenin State Library are presented by I.P. Osipova of the Lenin State Library of the USSR, and a comparison between that library and the Library of Congress (LC) is presented by Frank M. McGowan. The Lenin Library serves as national library of the USSR, state repository of…

To determine more rational and economical methods for serving the information needs of the public, a series of studies have been sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries. Libraries in the United States are characterized as independent agencies supported from governmental and private sources and serving a local clientele. Steadily rising…

This paper describes the situation of the information user in the developing countries of Africa; discusses the role of information resources in national development; delineates the most important functions of national libraries with respect to information dissemination and information utilization; explores the relationship between financial…

This comprehensive treatment of the state of the publishing industry in Tanzania provides a general description of the book trade in Africa, including discussions of the types of publishers active in Africa and of the recording of African publishing output, and a review of publishing activities in Tanzania, which covers the history of Tanzanian…

Discusses the problems, benefits, and future of cooperative library reference services in five separate papers: (1) keynote address; (2) interlibrary reference communication; (3) quality control; (4) computerized cooperative reference; and (5) national reference service. (JD)

This paper outlines the rationale for, and functions of, national library policies within African countries; discusses some of the issues raised concerning national library policies at the 1970 meeting at Kampala of the Experts on the National Planning of Documentation and Library Services in Africa and at other similar conferences; reviews the…

Using the UNESCO Public Library Manifesto as a basis for discussion, this paper examines the role of the public library within developing countries and reviews the major developments in public library services in Africa subsequent to the two UNESCO seminars on Public Library Development held in Nigeria in 1962. A number of key statements from the…

This paper discusses the impact national initiatives have had on individual higher education libraries in the United Kingdom (UK). Written from the perspective of an institutional library manager, the paper examines the interface between local electronic library provision and national developments. Individual institutions have been active in…

The three papers in this collection on library statistics were presented at the 1984 IFLA general conference. In "The Management Use of Library Statistics," Geoffrey G. Allen of the Western Australian Institute of Technology discusses current uses and misuses of library statistics and illustrates some practical applications of statistics…

This paper discusses the legal basis for the National Library Board's national role for library development in Singapore. It examines the new National Library Board (NLB) Act 1995 and the direct and expanded responsibility it has given the NLB for the national and public library functions in Singapore. The paper also examines the various…