COUNSELLING AND TOLERANCE

The author of this essay is the Minister for Education and Human Resources of Malta. It serves as a welcoming speech for the participants in the conference. The significance of 1995 as the International Year for Tolerance is outlined. The need for tolerance in all societies is explained as is the need for education for tolerance in schools.     

天堂波多黎各

Standing on the white sands of Red Beach,it's hardto believe that US Navy bombers ever droned overthe surf on their way to drop explosives nearby.The beach,a semicircle(半圆形) of stark cliffs andswaying palms surrounding a sparkling azure sea,is asperfect a picture of paradise as the wallpaper in a 1970srumpus(喧闹) room。Silence is broken only by the     

Measures of excellence: the search for the gold standard.

Questions concerning some of the values we hold as librarians and the goals, standards, and other evaluation tools we derive from them are discussed in the context of the history of our profession and the present period of rapid change. The concepts of stable and changing paradigms and of "scientific communities" provide the foundation for consideration of how a changing conceptual framework can affect values and their application in the evaluation process. One of many possible scenarios for the future is briefly outlined to demonstrate how some traditional values may fare.     

Review of criteria used to measure library effectiveness

This article reports the results of a survey of literature on measures of library effectiveness. This survey led to the formulation of six criterion concepts (accessibility, cost, user satisfaction, response time, cost/benefit ratio, and use). The advantages and disadvantages of each method of measurement are discussed. Several points which became clear during the analysis are discussed. First, there is a relative lack of concern with the rationale behind the evaluation process, although the results invariably lead to a confused interpretation when there is no clear understanding of the purpose of an evaluation. Second, the total library system is rarely considered; instead, each evaluation criterion is taken in isolation rather than as part of the whole. Third, the library's preservation function has not been considered at all.