The Academic Library

Universities and colleges of higher education in the United Kingdom are subject to ever more rapid changes in their functions, strategies and resources. The recent past has seen the introduction of major initiatives such as information strategies, convergence, franchising, the University for Industry, and lifelong and distance learning. These developments impact in a huge way on the provision and standard of information services to higher education. Additionally, higher education libraries need to respond to the challenges and opportunities of information and communications technologies (ICTs) including local and wide area networking, and to major initiatives such as the eLib programme and the Distributed National Electronic Resource, in order to be able to offer their users at all levels a fully integrated and leading-edge service. overview of the changing functions of higher education libraries and the organizational cultures in which they operate. It offers an assessment of the impact of such changes on service delivery from both provider and user perspectives, and considers the future role of the academic library. The new edition has been completely updated, with a new chapter on performance measurement and more extensive coverage of: accessibility; information literacy; portals; digital libraries; copyright; institutional repositories; virtual and managed learning environments; and management of change. academic libraries. Invaluable for new information professionals and for students on information and library studies courses, it also makes stimulating reading for education administrators and academic library managers in both higher and further education. While the book considers emerging scenarios in the United Kingdom in depth, it also draws examples from institutions elsewhere in the world, and is of broad international interest.