Strategic plans and long-range plans: is there a difference?

An analysis of both form and content differences between the plans named “strategic” and those named “long-range”. Planning theory is checked against the planning reports available on the Web pages of 65 public and university libraries. The goal is to see whether the differences that some theorists observe between strategic and long-range planning actually exist on plans published with those names.Publicad

A customer orientation checklist: a model

A brief review of the concept connotations in the area of information services is carried out, trying to stress the implications of being "customer oriented" as the most important component of marketing. A model to measure the level of the library's orientation toward its market - as perceived by its managers - is presented. It was designed taking into account the models that major specialists prepared in order to evaluate marketing activity in companies. It should allow librarians to establish to what extent the library is properly user oriented and, at the same time, what specific marketing-related aspects it is failing in or should improve at.Publicad

Management-related information on Spanish university library web pages

A typological analysis of the management-related documents that Spanish university libraries show on their Web sites is provided. The paper discusses about the structure and contents of the Web pages; provides some analysis on the location of the documents in the pages; and presents a view of document changes after 1 year, taking into account their presence and currency.Publicad

The priorities of public libraries at the onset of the third millennium

Purpose – This paper aims to show the main action areas to which public libraries are devoting their efforts and resources at the onset of the twenty-first century, despite their own particularities and needs. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is based on a comparative analysis on a sample of so-called “strategic” and “long-term” plans from US public libraries covering from 1998 through 2010. Of all identified priorities, those appearing in at least 40 per cent of the plans were used for the analysis. Thus, the paper narrowed the list of priorities down to the five most repeated ones in the sample of plans, and their peculiarities are set forth here. Findings – The paper finds that, although the method used is a simple one and the results are limited to the set of libraries whose plans have been analysed, there are coincidences with some predictions in some papers on the role public libraries should play in the twenty-first century. Originality/value – In the long term, this type of research permits comparison of trends among libraries from different countries and the monitoring of how they evolve with time. It can also be useful to library managers as a benchmark.Publicad

From the library to the Information Commons: an approach to the model's development in Spain

The aim of this article is to show the progress made by thirty-seven universities in Spain in adopting the "Information Commons" model, a strategy planed ten years ago by the Spanish University Library Network (hereafter referred to as REBIUN) to meet the demands of the European Higher Education Area

Assessment of the Practicum by students from the perspective of the induction process

This article shows the assessments made by students from the Carlos III University of Madrid of the induction period in the practicum they performed during their courses of study, and their perceptions of and attitudes towards it. The method used was a survey comprising 6 questions about the induction process, which was carried out among 359 students over six academic years from 2003/4 to 2008/9. The study demonstrates that the information centers receiving interns should place more emphasis on the induction process in order to achieve integration and correct the failings which this work has enabled us to detect. The employees from the information centers who act as supervisors of the students will be most aware of their interests and opinions. They will be able to take these into consideration when planning the work placements, particularly in order to provide a suitable welcome and orientation for the students, treating them in a similar way to new employees through the induction process. The students' observations should also be taken into account by the academics responsible for the internships, in order to establish proposals for action with a view to improving the practicum. This study will help to extend the very limitedliterature existing on assessment of the practicum programs from the perspective of LIS students

Tomar decisiones en la biblioteca pública contando con el ciudadano, una estrategia apenas utilizada

Publicad

Knowledge management and innovation: Two explicit intentions pursued by Spanish university libraries

In press / En prensaThis article analyses the content of three types of institutional statements (mission, vision and values) published on Spanish university libraries' websites. The aim is to determine whether they express explicit support for knowledge management and innovation in the university. The analysis revealed that 75% of the population (n = 76) published at least one such statement. The most widely published of the three types was the mission statement, 37 of which contained the terms 'knowledge' or 'innovation', particularly the former, present in 33. The vision statements of 17 libraries alluded to both, in practically the same proportion. 'Innovation' appeared in 20 of 28 libraries with statements of values, denoting the high esteem in which that conceit is held by university librarians. These statements stand as proof that libraries regard innovation and some stage of knowledge management as primary aims, with the furtherance of knowledge creation/generation the one most frequently cited

La Administración de las Unidades de Información: una aproximación a su concepto y evolución

Se realiza una aproximación al concepto y antecedentes de la "Administración de Unidades de Informacion" como asignatura académica del área de conocimiento de Biblioteconomía y Documentación. Asimismo se comenta su interés y contenidos.Publicad

An overview of the ongoing training of information and documentation professionals in Spain through the SEDIC training program

Translated by O.A. ZheravinaВыделяется ряд значительных изменений, которые претерпела в 2004–1014 гг.система непрерывного образования библиотекарей, документалистов и представителей других направлений информационно-документационной сферы, осуществляемая Испанской ассоциацией информации и документации (SEDIC). Рассматриваются изменения, обусловленные средой, в которой явственно доминируют принципы цифрового, виртуального пространства и инструментарий 2.0. Анализируется информация, представленная на веб-сайте данной профессиональной ассоциации.Se identifican algunos de los cambios más destacados que ha experimentado la formación permanente de los profesionales de la información y documentación en España (bibliotecarios, documentalistas y otros perfiles de la profesión que ejercen su actividad en unidades de información diversas) durante el período que va del 2004 al 2014 a través de la oferta formativa de SEDIC (Sociedad Española de Información y Documentación). Destacan los relacionados con la modalidad (de presencial a virtual), la duración de los cursos, la atención a la autoformación y una temática marcada por el entorno cambiante al que están sometidas las unidades de información en el que hay un claro predominio de lo digital, virtual y el uso de herramientas 2.0 El análisis de la información que ofrece esta asociación profesional en su página web permite, además, mostrar algunos datos significativos relativos a las acciones formativas programadas a modo de balance.This work identifies some of the most noteworthy changes that have occurred in the ongoing training of information and documentation professionals in Spain (librarians, documentalists and other sector professionals working in the diverse information units between 2004 and 2014, through the training program of the Spanish Association for Documentation and Information (SEDIC, for its initials in Spanish). Information analysis has been used, provided by the website of this professional association as well as other data offered by the association. Examination of the programmed course offerings from this period reveals the following changes: 1) From presential to virtual training. Over the 10 year period, courses have changed from being programmed in both presential and virtual manners, to becoming exclusively virtual by 2014. 2) From formal learning to self-training. Training outside of educational institutions has become a vital and ongoing personal improvement process in which new participants are currently appearing, including learning communities and participation spaces such as social networks, etc. Along these lines, SEDIC offers on-line self-training units covering the essential ideas related to a topic along with diverse support materials. 3) From macro to micro training. Long term courses, one of which ran for half a year, were offered by the association until 2004, being eliminated to make way for highly specialized courses with very specific contents and limited durations. 4) From techniques and tools for traditional and hybrid environments to those linked mainly to the digital ones. Course topics reveal the effect of technological advances in services, processes and tasks of the different information units, as well as the evolution of our changing environment and the appearance of new professional profiles. These courses have been directed primarily at those working in libraries and documentation centres, although some have also been held for archive workers, although the number of the same is quite insignificant overall. Based upon the number of course editions held, a strong focus on technology, virtualisation, digitalisation and the use of Web 2.0 was observed. 5) Decrease in demand due to the economic crisis. Repercussions of the economic crisis have also been noted during this period. In 2009, a change of trend occurred in course demand due to institutional budgetary cuts leading to decreases in investment in training. Finally, the article also includes some data related to the teaching staff, assistants and course quality