This article explores and examines the state of library services through interviewing a small group of directors, associate deans, and associate university librarians of public services and identifying common themes and insightful views on this area of librarianship. The participants respond to the same set of questions that cover topics including…

Studies about diversity initiatives in academic libraries have primarily focused on large research libraries. But what kinds of diversity work occur at smaller libraries? This study examines the status of diversity initiatives, especially those aimed at students, at national liberal arts college libraries. Results from a survey of library…

In 2005, the American Association of School Librarians' Independent Schools Section conducted a national survey of independent school libraries. This article analyzes the results of the survey, reporting specialized data and information regarding independent school library budgets, collections, services, facilities, and staffing. Additionally, the…

This evaluative study reports on the first year of operation of the audiovisual resources center in the Brownless Medical Library of the University of Melbourne. During a representative week in each of three terms in 1978, every user of the center was requested to complete a comprehensive questionnaire. In addition, a staff questionnaire was…

This report contains data on state library agencies in the 50 states and the District of Columbia for state fiscal year (FY) 2004. The data were collected through the State Library Agencies (StLA) Survey, the product of a cooperative effort between the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA), the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and…

A personnel appraisal tool was developed at the Iowa State University Library for professionals supervised by the Assistant Director for Technical Services and the Head of the Monographs Department, to evaluate both their supervisors' performance and the appraisal review as an educational tool to improve administrator performance. A Technical…

A nine month self-study aimed at improving public and technical services, internal operations, and overall management was conducted during 1979-80 by the library staff at Saint Mary's College. A part of the Small Library Planning Program, the study was funded by the Lilly Foundation through the Office of Management Studies, Association of Research…

In January 1972, the Kentucky-Ohio-Michigan Regional Medical Library Network initiated an extramural program with a coordinator at each of its participating libraries to function as liaison between the network and basic units. Data collection devices were developed in order to evaluate the program in terms of its ability to foster responsible…

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…

Investigates strong points and shortcomings of peer and student evaluation of library faculty. Examples of evaluation plans in use at various university libraries are cited, and the instrument used at Southern University-Carbondale's library is examined. A copy of the two-page evaluation form is appended. (CWM)

An evaluation of cooperative collection management among academic libraries participating in the Illinois Collection Analysis Matrix (ICAM) was conducted in March 1987 by the Illinois Association of College and Research Libraries (IACRL) and the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE). Data were gathered from two questionnaires, one of which was…

Undertaken to provide data on the current status of collection development in selected academic libraries, this study also analyzed the structure of the collection development function at Chicago Academic Library Council (CALC) institutions and outlined a formal collection development policy for Chicago State University's Douglas Library.…

This report summarizes research undertaken at the Sterling C. Evans Library, Texas A & M University to assess the impact that end user information retrieval systems may have on library staff and users. Two systems, BRS/After Dark and Search Helper, were made available in the library for end user searching at no cost. A total of 260 users…

This report of the 95-member Council for the Comprehensive Plan for Libraries, which included representatives from government, libraries, and the public sector, is not intended to answer all the questions for all those concerned about the future of libraries, but rather to bring focus to the issues and to set a direction for solving the problems…

This paper reports the results of a June and July 1985 study in which all 12 libraries where Maine state documents are deposited and the two libraries which receive weekly shipping lists and any extra copies of documents were visited. Observations from these visits are reported in general sections of this report: Examples of Attempts to Increase…