Alternative user survey and group process methods nominal group technique applied to U.S. depository libraries

Understanding user needs need not be based on guesswork, yet there may be shortcut data collection alternatives to traditional expensive and timeconsuming library user surveys. Depository libraries are required to select useful materials to provide government information meeting the needs of area users. Assessing user needs is vital to library planning and to the development of library collection and public services policies. In any planning or assessment process, it is critical to define the specific planning purpose before determining the data to be collected and the methods of collection. There are various qualitative techniques for obtaining user information. Community surveys, published documents, library internal reports, and databases also yield user information. Alternatives to traditional user surveys provide the increased utility of improving communication among area information users and providers. A group process, which allows participants to hear each other, may be more effective and efficient than a written survey. The Nominal Group Technique (NGT), creates a listening forum, providing library administrators with information for planning.     

Program planning for the community teaching hospital medical library

To respond to the increasing demand for information from medical educators and clinicians and to persuade administrators to purchase the newly available microcomputer library systems, medical librarians in community teaching hospitals may find it useful to engage in intermediate term (for example, five-year) program planning. To increase the probability that the plan which emerges will be implemented, the planning process should fit the organizational nexus. Planning involves needs assessment, prioritized program elements, a written plan, and facilities planning (if applicable), which lead to program implementation. Components of a model program plan are presented.     

LIBRARIES AT THE TURNING POINT

The purpose of this paper is to present an approach to planning for library administrators. Recognition is given to the nature of the environment in which planning takes place, and alternative philosophies of planning are discussed. An analysis is made of the factors in the library which effect the style of planning that is used. A number of suggestions are made for implementing and improving the planning of change in the library setting.     

Considerations for creating library learning spaces within a hierarchy of learning space attributes

University libraries struggle to keep up with rapidly changing technology and the associated change in teaching strategy. Most administrators and librarians are often not trained to assess space needs and struggle to reassign library spaces for non-traditional library use. As such, they often embark on expensive and time-consuming feasibility studies, using (typically) hard-earned monies to complete the research or to pilot a new space. What academic research library administrators and staff lack is guidance for discovering and planning needed renovations and improvements in aging library facilities. The purpose of this research project was to develop a set of considerations that can be used by library staff to self-analyze existing academic library spaces and identify areas that can be effectively improved for student benefit. The end result is a series of hierarchical self-analysis space considerations with a structured framework based on Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The results of this research use evidence-based design to facilitate important conversations, and provide an organized quick reference checklist of various considerations for library administrators and facility managers as they navigate the world of twenty-first century pedagogy and student learning.     

Assessment Planning for Distance Education Library Services: Strategic Roadmaps for Determining and Reporting Organizational Performance and Value

ABSTRACT

Through a review of the literature, the author sought to identify what assessment planning practices exist in libraries, how the assessment planning process works in libraries, and what components constitute a library assessment plan. The findings suggest that, while libraries determine and report a great many aspects of organizational performance, general assessment planning (which encompasses total organizational impact and value) is not frequently used or integrated into the library's comprehensive strategic planning process, and it does not always effectively cover the scope of the assessment activities and information needed by organizational leaders and administrators to develop effective strategic plans and decisions. This lack of integration creates disconnects between the library's ability to determine and report organizational value and the library's need to provide accountability evidence to stakeholders and use the performance measurement results effectively in executing strategic planning and decision making. Using the findings of the review, the author proposes an alternative set of assessment planning components and focus areas.     

The Third Place: The Library as Collaborative and Community Space in a Time of Fiscal Restraint

In a period of fiscal constraint, when assumptions about the library as place are being challenged, administrators question the contribution of every expense to student success. Libraries have been successful in migrating resources and services to a digital environment accessible beyond the library. What is the role of the library as place when users do not need to visit the building to utilize library services and resources? We argue that the college library building's core role is as a space for collaborative learning and community interaction that cannot be jettisoned in the new normal.     

An Investigation into the Knowledge and Use of Electronic Library Resources in Jamaican Community Colleges

ABSTRACT

This study used a quantitative survey to investigate the knowledge and use of online databases and the library's online public access catalog by final-year business associate degree students in five selected Jamaican community colleges. The study sought to determine students’ knowledge of electronic library resources, their value for electronic and print resources, the purposes for which students use electronic library resources, the influences on student use of electronic library resources, and the effects of training and instruction. Results from the study indicated that students are increasingly using Internet search engines for research purposes rather than online databases. Results also indicated that electronic library resources such as the OPAC are being underutilized by community college students. It was evident that proper instructional guidance is needed and welcomed by students. The findings of the study are critical to the implementation of policies and procedures geared toward sensitizing school administrators, library professionals, and other stakeholders to the benefits of increasing students’ knowledge and use of electronic library resources. Data will aid administrators in strategic planning and investments pertaining to these resources, and provide recommendations to improve knowledge and use of these resources within libraries. The research illustrates the special needs of community college students in Jamaica, particularly relating to needed instructional programs, in an effort to impart knowledge and promote the use of electronic library resources in these colleges.     

The physical office environment in technical services in ARL libraries

In 2012, the authors conducted a survey on the satisfaction level of librarians and staff in technical services in ARL libraries towards their physical office environment and their perceptions on whether physical office environment had an impact on their job satisfaction, privacy, productivity, communication and collaboration. The authors analyzed the survey results and answered three research questions. This paper will provide some understanding about the physical office environment in library technical services and the survey results will be useful for both architects and library administrators when planning and designing physical office environment in library technical services.     

The physical office environment in technical services in ARL libraries

In 2012, the authors conducted a survey on the satisfaction level of librarians and staff in technical services in ARL libraries towards their physical office environment and their perceptions on whether physical office environment had an impact on their job satisfaction, privacy, productivity, communication and collaboration. The authors analyzed the survey results and answered three research questions. This paper will provide some understanding about the physical office environment in library technical services and the survey results will be useful for both architects and library administrators when planning and designing physical office environment in library technical services.     

Planning an Information Commons

ABSTRACT

Of the steps in implementing an Information Commons, one of the most important is the planning phase. For the planning and implementation to be a success, buy-in and support from library users and administrators is essential. The result of the planning process is a detailed planning document that will influence the success of the commons. The document should include plans for policy changes, space for the commons, staffing issues, and assessments, both before and after implementation. Even with all the planning completed, an evaluation of the viability of and desirability for a commons should determine whether a commons should be implemented on each individual campus.     

Renovating Special Collections Facilities

ABSTRACT

Special collections play an increasingly important role in university libraries. As library collections move to digital formats and collections are similar from one library to another, special collections are one of the ways in which libraries can build a distinct identity. Because of their unique nature, special collections must be permanently retained because of their artifact value and need specialized storage conditions with appropriate levels of security. Library administrators will increasingly face the need to provide expanded space for special collections as well as improving storage conditions to ensure that unique and valuable materials are preserved for research in the future.     

Work motivation,job satisfaction,work-family balance,and job commitment of library personnel in Universities in North-Central Nigeria

Increasingly, organizations are facing turbulent and competitive times. Hence, the need for universities to capitalize on the robustness and diversity of their employees to maximize their success by attracting and developing an engaged, healthy, and high-performing workforce through the provision of stimulating work environments that will promote work-family balance, work motivation, job satisfaction and overall job commitment. This study was designed to investigate the effects of work motivation, job satisfaction, and work-family balance on job commitment as well as work motivation and work-family balance as they affect job satisfaction of library personnel in universities in North-central Nigeria. The total enumeration technique was used to cover all the 926 library personnel in the universities in North-central Nigeria. The validated questionnaire was used to collect data on 926 library personnel out of which 842 responded. The response rate achieved was 91 %. The study found that work-family balance, work motivation and job satisfaction had significant effect on the job commitment of the respondents. Job satisfaction has the most significant effect (41 %) on job commitment. It is therefore, recommended that university administrators, library managers and most especially policy makers in the education sector should give adequate attention to work-family balance, work motivation, and job satisfaction when planning to improve job commitment of their employees. In addition, they should consider work motivation and work-family balance to improve job satisfaction of the library employees.     

首都图书馆联盟中高校图书馆对社会开放调查与分析

对首都图书馆联盟中高校图书馆对社会开放的情况进行实地调研,比较两年来对社会开放承诺的落实情况,指出高校图书馆对社会开放实质性进展不大。收集社会民众与图书馆管理者对高校图书馆对社会开放的意见,提出高校图书馆对社会开放的实施建议,要在修订相关法规的基础上,教育主管部门、学校管理者、图书馆三方面共同推进高校图书馆对社会开放的进程。     

Strategic Planning and Management:

This article presents the rationale of a large, urban, culturally diverse, comprehensive university for adopting a formal strategic planning and management methodology. The external forces and the internal initiatives that contributed to the decision to do formal planning are listed. The planning model is described and the current status of the planning and management process is portrayed. The way in which the library fits into the campuswide process is depicted and planning and management challenges that await a new Librarian are presented. The paper concludes with observations regarding the need for a regional assessment of the potential for an electronic library consortium and the need for a National Research and Education Network.     

高校图书馆采编业务外包商评价指标

基于高校图书馆实行采编业务外包的现实需要,文章重点探讨了外包商评价指标,用以指导图书馆科学地评价和选择合适的外包服务商,同时动态地监测一些指标的变化,以保证采编业务的质量。     

Staffing for Bibliographic Instruction:

In planning for new or expanding bibliographic programs, library administrators and instruction librarians must work together to develop strategies for using limited staff resources effectively. Issues related to who should teach, how to develop needed skills, and which instructional methodologies to adopt must be addressed. Organizations in which assumptions and priorities can be examined, and where risk-taking is encouraged, often achieve goals which otherwise might be unobtainable.     

LibQUAL in Ireland: Performance Assessment and Service Improvement in Irish University Libraries

This article reviews the Irish university experience of LibQUAL, drawing from interviews with administrators and library directors in the seven Irish universities together with data from the Irish LibQUAL notebooks generated from 2009 to 2012. Of the seven Irish universities, three find it very useful, run it regularly and have integrated it into their planning activities. Two found LibQUAL to be very useful in an occasional sense and two found LibQUAL to be less useful for their needs. The results from all LibQUAL notebooks indicate common poor perceptions about library buildings among users. However Irish users' expectations of library buildings appear to be higher than elsewhere. The approaches to analysis, interpretation and response to the results varied from library to library. While most institutions reported implementing changes as part of their LibQUAL action plans, attitudes around whether LibQUAL was a catalyst for change in their libraries varied. The majority of those interviewed described themselves as somewhat satisfied, as opposed to very satisfied, with the tool. At a national level, LibQUAL has repositioned the importance of the physical library environment within strategic planning and has placed the customer firmly at the centre of Irish university library development.     

Administration of Education Enterprise and Gaps in the Provision of Needed Information: The Case of Pakistan

This study is qualitative in nature and aims at assessing the information needs and seeking behavior of educational administrators and finding related problems. Interviews of a purposive sample and review of related literature are among the major research methods. The study is based on interviews of 13 educational administrators and 32 information professionals from Punjab province and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) of Pakistan. The results correspond with the previous studies conducted in other countries. The educational administrators' information needs and seeking behavior reflect a kinship with their work settings and information environment that highlights a need to understand problem situations as an ancestor to understanding how they seek and use information. The study has identified a gap in the provision of needed information which hinders the realistic planning and decision making process. It has also highlighted the need of a National Information System for educational administrators in Pakistan. As this is the first study on this topic in Pakistan, the results can be useful to design information services and facilities for educational administrators in Pakistan and other developing regions of the globe with similar conditions.     

The Library Newsletter:

In today's rapidly changing academic environment, libraries need to communicate frequently with college faculty and administrators. The library newsletter/calendar is a useful way to do that. There is no mystery to the process. Hardware and software are readily available, as are books on DTP and books of clip art. Once styles and formats are set up in the publishing program, putting the newsletter together is creative and easy, and both the library and the academic community benefit.