Library Management

A group of professional librarians and information workers is a structure quite unlike the arrangements one might find in many factories or large commercial organizations. Many professional librarians and information workers have a strong identification with their users and will measure any proposed change against the likely effect on those users. Few libraries or information services represent either a purely hierarchic or a purely democratic structure. Most represent a mixture, often of a type where the formal structure appears hierarchic, with departments and formal lines of communication, but the informal structure for the professional staff emphasizes something of a collegiate approach, where ideas are shared and power is defined more in terms of the power base of information than in terms of authority or resource control. Library management in the present day context is analysed pros and cons in the present book. Major topics dealt with here are: library management; motivation; staff organization; library administration functions; coordination; electronic service delivery; online computer service; online databases; terminal software; digitalization in libraries etc.