Academic Libraries: Their Rationale and Role in American Higher Education (Contributions in Librarianship and Information Science) - Hardcover

McCabe, Gerard B.; Person, Ruth J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0313285977 ISBN 13: 9780313285974

Publisher: Praeger, 1995

Synopsis

At the end of the 20th century, college and university libraries face enormous challenges and opportunities. As campuses move into the information age, the mission and role of the library is being redefined. While the amount of information libraries need to acquire continues to increase, the resources available to do so are insufficient. Moreover, administrators need to assess the relationship between the library and the computer center, as both fight for limited resources.

This book offers academic administrators and librarians a better understanding of the issues facing the library during this time of change and the role of the library in the evolving campus of the future. Chapters are written by expert contributors, who reflect a range of perspectives and experience. The authors treat such current and emerging issues as the future of printed material in the library, the role of the library in instruction, the library and the larger campus community, the training and development of personnel for the future, library expenditures at a time when technology quickly becomes obsolete, and the future of academic libraries.

About this title

About the Author

GERARD B. McCABE is Director of Libraries at Clarion University of Pennsylvania and the Series Adviser for the Greenwood Library Management Collection. His books include Insider's Guide to Library Automation (1993), Academic Libraries in Urban and Metropolitan Areas (1992), Operations Handbook for the Small Academic Library (1989), and The Smaller Academic Library (1988), all published by Greenwood Press.

RUTH J. PERSON is Vice President for Academic Affairs at Ashland University. She is the author of several professional papers on library management.

Reviews

The Age of Anxiety has created a boom in the publishing of self-help books. Library Anxiety, now an occupational hazard in academic libraries, seems to have created a market for individual and collective pronouncements, generally reassuring, on "The Future of the Academic Library." This is one of the better examples of the genre. The waterfront is covered and covered by people of genuine achievement and insight. It would take more space than LJ allots to even list the titles of the papers and their authors, but you can be assured that not only are the usual suspects (professional education, funding, the future, collections) to be found herein, but also some faint surprises (an essay on the attitude of liberal arts deans to "their" libraries; others on "the library and the provost" and on community colleges and the "electronic library"). There is also a lengthy, excellent annotated bibliography. The 12 chapters and the bibliography are, in the main, the result of a joint or multiple authorship. Of the 22 people involved, 16 are librarians or library educators and six are nonlibrary academics of one kind or another. Each of these essays can be read with profit by academic and library administrators, librarians, and library educators. Especially commendable are the papers by Joanne Euster, Anne Woodsworth and Mary Westerman, and Jordan Scepanski, but the editors are to be congratulated on a compilation of consistent quality and general levelheadedness.?Michael Gorman, California State Univ. Lib., Fresno
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Praeger
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0313285977
• ISBN 13: 9780313285974
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 248