The Smaller Academic Library : A Management Handbook

As advertised, the book offers a source of strategies and practical solutions to vexing and recurrent problems which readers can tailor to their individual needs. By and large, the authors eschew the theoretical and anecdotal extremes in favor of applied, first-hand experience with good effect. The book is carefully edited, well indexed, has a serviceable binding, and clear sharp type. It is highly recommended as an important resource that belongs in the professional collection of every small academic library. Journal of Academic Librarianship The Smaller Academic Library, which is a collection of thirty essays by diverse hands on the management of libraries in colleges of up to about 7,500 students, should help practitioners build that kind of leadership and sense of mission. It contains, in general, an excellent body of information on the administration, personnel, budgets and finance, collections, user programs and services, and physical plant that touches on virtually every aspect of the administration, management, and operation of smaller academic libraries in a lively and useful fashion. Wilson Library Bulletin This handbook is intended for librarians involved with smaller academic libraries, that is, those which serve institutions with enrollments from 200 to 7,500 students. Consisting of contributions from librarians actually working in these libraries, it is intended to provide solutions to recurrent problems. The contributors offer their own strategies for use both as models and as starting points from which readers may generate their own solutions. They possess a wide range of experience and discuss a broad spectrum of pertinent topics. This is apt considering the diverse character of smaller academic setting, may also evidence a common set of problems. Each chapter includes either references or a bibliography, and a bibliographic essay completes the volume.