Within the literature exploring the role of research in academic librarianship, very little attention has been paid to the perspectives of upper library administrators. This perspective is critical because library administrators play a key role in hiring, evaluating, supporting, promoting, and tenuring professional librarians. As a way of bringing…

The research reported here is focused on a specific type of change in an organization: an innovation. In an empirical analysis of research libraries, it was found that five factors had a significant impact on the innovation performance of the library. These factors relate to the strategy, organizational structure, and leadership of the research…

Special collections libraries collect and preserve materials of intellectual and cultural heritage, providing access to unique research resources. As their holdings continue to expand, special collections in research libraries confront increased space pressures. Off-site storage facilities, used frequently by research libraries for general…

This study presents and analyzes the findings of a 2012 survey of member libraries belonging to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) about publishers' large journal bundles and compares the results to earlier surveys. The data illuminate five research questions: market penetration, journal bundle construction, collection format shifts,…

The objective of this paper is two-fold: to propose a theoretical framework and model for studying organizational innovation in research libraries and to set forth propositions that can provide directions for future empirical studies of innovation in research libraries. Research libraries can be considered members of a class of organizations…

Assessment in United States higher education has become very important in recent years. Virtually all colleges and universities are now striving to prove through empirical evidence that they are committed to improving student learning. Created in late 2005, the US Department of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education was charged…

University libraries worldwide are reconceptualising the ways in which they support the research agenda in their respective institutions. This paper is based on a survey completed by member libraries of the Queensland University Libraries Office of Cooperation (QULOC), the findings of which may be informative for other university libraries. After…

Since 2008, Victoria University (VU) Library has employed 20 or more Student Assistants annually who work on a casual basis for up to 12 hours per week during terms/semesters to staff the Library in Study Hall mode (where there is self-service access to PCs and collections and limited staff assistance). This initiative appears to have been highly…

Future directions for the Office of University Library Management Studies include the development and extension of new applications of their Management Review and Analysis Program (MRAP). A management audit, which would telescope MRAP into a diagnostic tool for use by research libraries, and the Services Development Program, which would provide a…

Important to the cost analysis process is prior consideration and precise description of the scope of the activity and the tasks to be included so that proper methodology can be applied and the data can be collected with consistency and accuracy. The preparatory steps involved in doing a cost study, particularly in the area of cataloging in a…

Program presentations on issues related to bibliographic control and access to collections and business meeting minutes are combined in this report. Under the program title, "The Sum of the Parts: Sharing Responsibility," the following addresses are included: (1) "The Building Blocks: Elements in a System of Distributed…

Some of the conditions in research libraries which have shaped the Office of University Library Management Studies' (OMS) approach to library management studies are outlined, OMS activities during 1976 are described, as well as priorities for 1977. OMS work with member libraries in 1976 indicated that research libraries are primarily concerned…

The Office of University Library Management Studies (OMS) activities which are reviewed include providing member libraries with resources and services ranging from research and development programs to information collection and dissemination programs and training. In addition to conducting Management Skills Institutes and regional and special…

In response to Association of Research Libraries (ARL) members' increased interest in the enhancement of manpower resources by greater utilization of paraprofessionals, ARL conducted a survey investigating various aspects of paraprofessional employment in the academic library. For the purposes of the survey, paraprofessional positions were defined…