The role of university libraries in supporting the management information needs of academic Heads of Departments.

Abstract

Perceptions of the role of academic heads of departments have altered in recent years. The impetus given by such reports, changes to the way universities are financed, and current management practices within universities, have resulted in Heads of Departments taking on greater managerial responsibility for financial and human resources as well as continuing to lead teaching and research in their departments. Similarly, university libraries are faced with the new opportunities presented by electronic delivery of services, and are having, in a tighter financial climate, to attempt to bring their services much closer to the needs of customers. In this report the interim results of semi-structured interviews with eight university librarians are presented. These interviews are part of a larger project, funded by the BLRDD, into the management information needs of academic Heads of Departments and the role university libraries and administrators play in supplying managernent information to them. The project has used a critical success factors approach to identify the organizational goals of Heads of Departments, the factors that were critical to the achievement of those goals, and the information necessary to manage these factors.