Beyond the Basics : The Management Guide for Library and Information Professionals

Both organizational patterns and management strategies have changed significantly in recent years, yet little in the library administration literature takes up new trends and strategies. Social, economic, political, and - especially - technological influences on the ways that libraries are staffed, organized, and financed are in flux. Effective Library Management is both a practical hands-on guide and an exceptionally well-researched examination of today's results-oriented library management strategies. Evans and Layzell Ward, two of today's most respected library management experts, look at how external forces as diverse as globalization, OCLC's recent marketing decisions, mergers of specialist software houses, new document delivery services, and the growth of electronic archives and virtual libraries affect libraries and how library managers can respond. The ways that all of this change influences communications and work patterns between library colleagues, long-and short-term planning, and organizational models are examined from various angles. New developments are considered both in the collaboration among and the competition between the public and private information delivery services. Other hot-topics treated include making career plans in an age of discontinuity, motivating staff in difficult economic times, and performing effective needs-analyses. An extensive list of additional reading and password-protected access to the book's own continually updated Web site is also included.