Presents a chronological overview of the initiation and operation of the State University of New York at Albany library's computer-based reference services, with a discussion of costs, planning, organizational, and managerial considerations. (Author/CWM)

A national survey of administrators in the resource centers of community colleges reveals that they are assuming a new expanded role in a total program. They are becoming educational technologists for individual and curricular instruction assisting in teaching strategies and becoming involved in areas such as design, production, graphics and…

Explains benchmarking, a total quality management tool used to measure and compare the work processes in a library with those in other libraries to increase library performance. Topics include the main groups of upper management, clients, and staff; critical success factors for each group; and benefits of benchmarking. (Author/LRW)

The desire for load leveling in interlibrary loans arises from a concern for fairness most often expressed by net lending institutions, libraries that lend more than they borrow. This article examines interlibrary loans; strategies for load leveling; and "best lending partner," a total quality management model for load leveling. (PEN)

Offers practical advice to new library committee chairs on when to call meetings and how to prepare for, conduct, and evaluate them. Discusses the quality of committee leadership in terms of coaching, communicating, and troubleshooting skills. (Author/AEF)

Presents interviews with Fred Kent, founder of the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) and Phil Myrick, PPS's assistant vice president, about transforming libraries into desirable public spaces. Discusses qualities people value in public spaces; great library buildings and what they are doing right; the first thing library directors should do when…

Presents methods to gain management support for information resource center projects. Topics include: expressing expected results; and understanding the project in terms of business and organizational objectives, competitors' actions, internal needs, external conditions, customer needs, vendor support, and colleagues' experiences. (LRW)

The rationale for using Activity-Based Costing (ABC) in a library is to allocate indirect costs to products and services based on the factors that most influence them. This paper discusses the benefits of ABC to library managers and explains the steps involved in implementing ABC in the user services area of an Australian academic library.…

Fourteen articles address issues related to library personnel administration in an automated environment, such as education for automation, salaries, impact of technology, expert systems, core competencies, administrative issues, technology services, job satisfaction, and performance appraisal. A selected annotated bibliography is included. (MES)

Six articles discuss the need for improved training of library personnel and strategies for attaining this goal. Areas discussed include training objectives, training methods, the role of library education, staff development at Indiana State University, the role of library management, and the creation of effective training methods. (CLB)

Examines the job content of preservation librarianship as evidenced in job advertisements. The findings indicate that preservation librarians function in a largely administrative role, possess the Master of Library Science degree in many cases, and are paid below the average salary for functional and subject specialists and department heads. A…

Highlights some of the developments in the following areas that have taken place during the period 1977-87 in British university libraries: (1) library resources; (2) automation; (3) collection building; (4) technical services; (5) reader services; (6) management and staffing; and (7) cooperation. (71 references) (MES)

Examines the role of research in assisting library managers to operate libraries more effectively. Strategies for research and for library managers to better create and use research are suggested; conceptual and practical issues that affect research utilization are discussed; and the need for improved efforts by both library managers and…

Reviews early methods of formal training for library acquisitions, textbooks pertaining to the subject, and relevant library literature to provide a historical perspective on education for acquisitions. Strategies to provide basic and adequate training in acquisitions for all librarians are suggested. (49 references) (CLB)

Describes a survey that examined the existence and activities of Friends of the Library groups at colleges and universities in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The discussion includes founding dates, institutional data, factors affecting the formation of Friends groups, and the membership and purpose of existing groups. (14 notes/references)…