NextGens making the jump into management, or those lucky (or foolhardy!) enough to do so right out of school, often find that the challenge of managing established staff takes some of the momentum out of the ability to effect change. Some older librarians find it hard enough to believe that NextGens are their peers; they simply shut down when…

How do you simultaneously renovate a grocery store into a state-of-the-art resource library, supervise the daily operations of five libraries, lead a team in reimagining reference service, and plan your wedding? Ask Lois Langer, coordinating librarian of Hennepin County Library. Her answer: "Project management--you can do anything,…

Enumerates principles and practices helpful in improving library administration while coping with budget cuts. (PF)

Reviews the Purdue University Libraries' experience with the Management Review and Analysis Program technique, a self-study approach developed for libraries. (PF)

A simple and cheap manual double entry continuous transaction posting system with running balances is developed for bookkeeping by small libraries. A very small library may operate without any system of fiscal control but when a library's budget approaches three figures, some kind of bookkeeping must be introduced. To maintain control over his…

The California Library Authority for Systems and Services (CLASS) was formed by a Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement in June, 1976, to assist in developing and implementing a system for library program development and resource sharing. As a cooperative public agency, CLASS serves academic, public, and special libraries. The first annual report…

Twelve functions are briefly described which should be included in planning space for library staff. They are: (1) Administration, (2) Other Supervisory Offices, (3) Work Rooms, (4) Circulation Desk, (5) Reference Desk, (6) Staff Lounge, (7) Custodian Space, (8) Bookmobile Staff, (9) Books by Mail, (10) Interlibrary Loan, (11) Reserve Room, and…

This document was developed by the Middle Tennessee State University James E. Walker Library Collection Management Department to provide policies and procedural guidelines for the cataloging and processing of bibliographic materials. This document includes policies for cataloging monographs, serials, government documents, machine-readable data…

Illustrates how basic principles of marketing and strategic market planning can be applied to libraries and discusses some concepts of strategic planning (organization mission, objectives and goals, growth strategy, program portfolio plan) and marketing (opportunity analysis, target market selection, marketing mix strategy, marketing systems…

Reviews the development of unions in libraries, measures the impact of unionism on library administration, examines the sources of assistance in union-management relations available to library administrators, and cnsiders questions pertaining to the role of library consultants in union matters. (FM)

Presents a methodology, known as microcosting, for identifying the unit costs of providing specific library services. It is applied for illustrative purposes to the determination of the unit costs of tracking overdue materials at a major university library; a task flowchart, mathematical formula, and data tables are included. (Author/JD)

Librarians may most effectively promote library legislation needed to further the goals of libraries and library service through legislative lobbying activities. The legal basis for library legislation exists in the undisputed fact that libraries are agencies of learning and therefore merit the same legislative attention as schools. The most basic…

The control function of an organization includes the comparison of set management goals and performance. A trend has emerged in recent years to replace subjective judgments by objective measurements of performance in libraries. The credibility of statistical data, however, depends on accuracy used in gathering, logic applied in assemblage and…

Excerpts from a new book by Kenneth R. Shaffer entitled Decision Making; A Seminar in Public Library Management." (Author)

Information technology plays a role both in library administration and in the use of information resources. Viewed in historical perspective, the "computer era" is just beginning, and the prospect of the "electronic book" is good. Librarians must be computer-literate and lead students and the public in the use of new…