Library Management In Electronic Environment

Library management, the subject to which this book is devoted, is the most important component of the vital activity of each library. The modern stage of the library business has a number of features that have highlighted the need for qualitatively new approaches to improve the management of libraries in an electronic environment. The entry of the world community into the information era, political and economic reforms of world reality predetermined a sharp leap in increasing the pace of development and complexity of the library environment. In connection with this, today a greater variety of management systems is required, their potential flexibility, the ability to adapt quickly to both external and internal changes. The increase in the diversity of management systems is at the present stage the main development trend of the library.

The urgency of solving this problem in the library sphere is emphasized by the unique role of libraries in social life. In difficult socio-economic conditions, the library is in demand as an organization that respects the principle of the general availability of its information resources; therefore, it can act as a significant factor in overcoming the crisis of modern world reality. Because of this, the concept of managing Library activity should be based on the solution of a key twofold task to preserve the library as a democratic socio-cultural institution that fulfills the most important adaptation mission to many segments of the population and ensure the development of a modern library capable of adapting to a complex and dynamic external environment.

Particular importance in connection with the dynamism and uncertainty of the library environment is the study and implementation of management. Library management is a type of management that corresponds to the modern features of library development, since it allows us to determine accurately strategic positions in dynamically changing conditions based on studies on the coordination of external and internal factors.

Library Management based on human potential, orientates all library activity to readers’ needs, reacts flexibly and conducts timely changes in the library that meet the requirements of the external environment and allow it to function stably, which in combination allows the library to develop in the long term, while achieving its goals.

In this book, the concept of library management is presented; this book reveals the content and structure of management, which make up its stages defining the mission and objectives of the library, analyzing the environment, choosing a strategic alternative, and organizing the implementation of strategy. This book examines the organizational characteristics of the library as an object of management. The basic laws of organizational and administrative activity of the library are analyzed; the strategy of change management is presented. This book is devoted to project management, which, according to most experts, is becoming an important and relevant area of activity, allowing the library to be in constant development. It describes the life cycle of a library project, determines the sequence and content of each stage of its development and implementation. The various classes of projects used in libraries are distinguished, their characteristics are given, tasks are explained, and the factors determining the effectiveness of the project activity are described.

Finally, in last part of this book, marketing strategies in the library are analyzed. The formation of marketing in the library business is dramatic, by overcoming anti-marketing stereotypes. Some librarians deny the innovative nature of marketing; they consider it simply “a tribute to fashion,” a foreign name for phenomena long used in the library business. The opposite, but equally unproductive, is the understanding of marketing as too complex of an area of activity, relevant in the production or banking sphere, but not necessary for libraries. If we adhere to this stereotype, then the process of mastering marketing will seriously be hampered, and we run the risk of falling behind the developed coun¬tries in using the potential of marketing.

There is an opinion that marketing, due to its complexity, is possible only in large libraries; however, leaving the marketing inaccessible to medium and small libraries results in leaving them helpless in the face of complex external circumstances, to deprive the prospects that marketing allows building. Realizing complex and controversial moments in the development of marketing in libraries, book tried to emphasize the importance of the marketing approach in management and outline the sequence of stages in the formation of a marketing strategy. In addition to it, this book highlights the problems of management of library personnel. In the 90 years of the last century, along with a change in the general management paradigm, fundamentally different approaches to personnel are formed. Simultaneously with the increased attention to management, staff is beginning to be seen as the main resource, first, determining the success of all activities. This chapter reflects the factors of the formation of personnel-strategy, its system and components of the development of the staff of the library.

This book is intended for a wide range of readers who master the methodology of management of information and library activities. This book will be of inter¬est to library leaders, university students, students of the system of advanced training in the specialty “Library Activity Management”.

Rajesh Singh is presently working as a Professional Senior (Deputy Librarian) Electronic Resources & Training Division, University of Delhi, Delhi. A gold medalist from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, he has served Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, MJP Rohilkhand University, Bareilly, and Dr. RML Avadh University, Faizabad, before moving to the University of Delhi. A true modern day librarian, he has initiated the innovative Information Literacy Program in Delhi University Campus as well as in the colleges.