Managing Public School Libraries in a Changing Environment
This paper presents some key management issues concerning public school libraries in the country. Also, discusses standards such as the IFLA/UNESCO School Library Manifesto on the Role of the School Library in Teaching and Learning for All as well as the Philippine School Library Standards including issues that deal with innovation and the new information landscape.
Academic libraries in the information society
The way that higher education library services are viewed, planned and managed must change radically if they are to survive and thrive in the future. Advances in technology, economic and political pressures, and socio‐demographic factors have combined to create an environment posing unprecedented challenges and opportunities. The Joint Funding Councils′ Libraries Review has highlighted the need for stronger management and more confident involvement in institutional planning and organizational change. Electronic communication will transform service provision, with significant shifts towards distributed networked services, empowering the end‐user and offering new roles and responsibilities to information intermediaries. Effective communication between library, computing and academic staff will be essential to ensure relevant and responsive services. New resource models will be required to take account of diverse customer needs and different modes of delivery. Organizational structures and management styles must change to meet future needs and human resource development must be given higher priority. Bold leadership will enable libraries to enhance their strategic role and respond positively to environmental change.
Measuring the Performance of Public Libraries
Performance measurement should be an essential part of every organization. Without assessing its performance an organization cannot ensure that it is using its resources to the greatest effect. Neither can it be sure that it is continuing to meet needs within society. In 1986 the IFLA Section of Public Libraries commissioned Acumen to prepare a manual which would enable public librarians to measure the performance of the services they operate. The intention was to provide a basic common approach which can be used widely in different countries. A draft of the manual has been prepared and subjected to limited testing in a range of countries. It is hoped that the publication of this draft manual in the near future should enable further testing to take place. The manual has been derived from a synthesis of different approaches to the problem of measuring public library performance. The emphasis is firmly on practical measures which can be applied at relatively low cost by busy public librarians.