Streamlining Library Services What We Do, How Much Time It Takes, What It Costs, and How We Can Do It Better

Despite technological advances, many basic library activities still lend themselves to analysis and improvement. Richard M. Dougherty provides numerous examples and easy-to-apply tools and techniques to assess what libraries are doing, how they are doing it, and how much time is required to do it. These tools include block diagrams, check sheets, flow process charts, work-flow diagrams, flow charts, through-put analysis, self-administered diary studies, and work sampling. Specific examples from all areas of library operations are presented.

Richard M. Dougherty is the founding publisher and editor of the Journal of Academic Librarianship, was the director of libraries at the University of Michigan and the University of California at Berkeley.