Describes a project designed to improve services to library users by solving, through application of operations research methods, a complex problem of delivery of library materials in an urban, multisystem library service region. (Author/PF)

Management theories are discussed as they apply to library management and administration and to specific areas of library service. (Author/PF)

Explores the relevance of some of the methodologies of systems engineering to problems in the social sciences, especially the dynamics of domestic and international conflict. Describes an initial exercise in modeling domestic conflict in terms of State equations. Implications for education. (Author/WM)

This study evaluates contract services in reference and printed materials of the Maryland Interlibrary Organization (MILO)-Central (a network of public, county, and academic libraries) as performed by the County Services Department. Procedures and record-keeping processes--i.e., organization, basic operations, and request volume--are analyzed from…

The Management Responsibility Guidance (MRG) process is a matrix management program designed to clarify roles and improve staff integration, decision-making, effectiveness, and productivity. In 1976-77, Los Angeles County (California) used this approach in four pilot special education schools. As part of the MRG process, each staff member…

Activities and information needs in museums and a project undertaken by the Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum to develop systematic solutions to problems in cataloging museum collections are described. Museum activities are grouped in three categories: (1) initial--acquisition, accession, registration, identification, and restoration; (2)…

This paper reviews the successful development of an educational testing system using sophisticated data processing in a developing Caribbean nation. Begun in 1975, the 4-year program was devised to assist in the creation of a multi-national testing agency which would replace the existing British Overseas Examinations with an indigenous assessment…

TO COUNSEL ADULTS WITHIN THE NEXT 20 YEARS, ADVANCED PLANNING AND ACTION BASED ON LONG-RANGE ASSESSMENTS MUST TAKE PLACE NOW. HIGHLY RATIONALIZED MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGIES, CYBERNATION, SOCIAL ENGINEERING, AND BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING CAN POTENTIALLY AFFECT THIS PLANNING. SOCIAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC CONDITIONS INTERACTING WITH THESE TECHNOLOGIES WILL…

An operations audit was conducted for a school district. The purpose of the audit was to determine the organization of the central office and reorganize its structure and staff as appropriate to clearly define goals and objectives, specify roles and responsibilities, eliminate wasted or duplicated efforts, and functionally define operational work…

The five-phased plan of action developed by personnel at Kent State has delineated an overall structure of teacher education redesign. Present costs can be computed for each graduating student. Implementation of the new guidelines for teacher education based on emerging needs will change the costs of teacher preparation. The purpose of this…

The Planning-Programing-Budgeting System (PPBS) uses techniques of systems analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and program budgeting in the administration of large, complex organizations. Some university administrators hope to improve their institutions' internal management through the PPBS approach. The basic program categories of the university are…