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Professional education in the library and information sector has only provided for first qualification level: through undergraduate and postgraduate programmes which meet the criteria required for accreditation by professional bodies (including the Library Association, Institute of Information Scientists, British Computer Society). The management curriculum within such programmes has offered knowledge and skills relevant to earlier perceptions of the needs of first professional posts, with middle and senior managers lacking substantial information‐sector‐ specific programmes to meet their needs for advanced education and training. Two British Library sponsored short courses provided a model which stimulated the development of the Loughborough MBA (Information and Library Management) programme, offered jointly by Loughborough University's Business School and Department of Information and Library Studies. This flexible, part‐time, advanced masters degree, ‘badged’ for the LIS sector, also provides intensive short‐course opportunities for UK and overseas participants.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the pros and cons of Iranian library management software, focusing on the usage of open source technology. It seeks to analyse the viewpoints of librarians in the University of Isfahan as a sample to extend the findings to the Iranian Library management software community.

In order to get the opinions of librarians, the descriptive method is used. The required data are collected by literature review, questionnaire and open interview from university top managers, software technical staff, libraries managers, librarians, end users, and companies providing similar products. However, because of time limitations, the authors could only gather data by researcher‐made checklist of the librarians (informants) who directly have worked with University of Isfahan in the libraries.

The main problem of many library management software platforms in Iran is that the focus of development is mainly on technical issues rather than management, operational, and end‐user concerns. This is highlighted when open source software is used because it is common for an off‐the‐shelf product to be used with less consideration of the nontechnical issues. This is the reason that Iranian libraries are moving to replace their software with commercial versions.

There was insufficient cooperation of some librarians in identifying capabilities and deficiencies of UILMS and limited cooperation of some technical experts in reviewing the software.

Considering the lack of standard checklists, this paper presents a relatively complete checklist to evaluate the library software.

Contends that information systems planning, development, maintenance and utilization in the area of libraries involve such complicated procedures and techniques that good results cannot be expected without their knowledgeable management. The situation in the libraries and information centres in Slovakia is similar to that in other countries, especially after the socio‐political changes in 1989 when a shift towards a more market‐oriented approach appeared. The education of information systems managers is carried out in the framework of a five‐year Master′s programme in library and information science at the department of library and information science in Bratislava. The principal methodological course for the area of information systems management is the “Theory of library and information systems”. Outlines the content of the course and reflects the principal problem areas. Mentions other courses and programme orientations connected with library management.

The ability to manipulate efficiently data for management information is becoming increasingly important. Minstrel, a European Union funded project is creating a software tool designed to assist with the acquisition and handling of data on library use. The activity has been developed from a study of decision support and performance measures in European libraries carried out in 1994. The first phase of Minstrel has included consultation with potential users, a specification of functions and investigation of methods for interfacing with potential data sources and decision support tools.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the key features of information management systems (IMSs) for automation in university libraries. This study also highlights the use of library information management systems in university libraries and the satisfaction of university librarians in using various IMS.

This study is quantitative in nature. A survey research method has been applied to achieve the research objectives. Purposive sampling has been used to select the targeted population which consisted of 157 librarians working in university libraries. Data were collected through a web-based questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to analyze the collected data by using SPSS software.

Free and open source software are widely used in university libraries to manage the bibliographic information of library material. KOHA is the most used software for library automation in university libraries of Pakistan. The key features of library information management system (IMS) include reliability and security of the software, user-friendly interface, advance searching options, use of library standards (MARC, Uni MARC, RDA), online upgradation, technical support of developing company, shared cataloging, multilingual features of software, etc (See Figure 4). The study recommends that the above-mentioned features must be considered by university librarians when selecting any software for library automation. Results showed that apart from the use of KOHA software, there are also some other software which are being used for library automation in university libraries of Pakistan. These systems include; Virtua, Library Management System (LMS), and Library Information Management Systems (LIMSs).

This study has practical implications for university librarians in Pakistan as well as in other countries. Librarians can use the results of this study as a blueprint before selecting any information management system to automate the library record.

This study identifies the core features of IMS for automation in libraries. These features have been recommended by informational professionals who have been working in automated libraries and possess adequate professional experience in using library automation software.

How management information is an essential requirement for assessing the performance of library services and how a management information system (MIS) fits into the overall framework of management in an organisation is described. Stages in the design of an integrated MIS are discussed in turn, including an analysis of organisational information needs at the senior, middle and operational management levels. An appendix lists the type of questions which could be used in structured interviews in the investigative phase of the system design. Performance measures and indicators are described with reference to the performance review process favoured by the Audit Commission for public libraries. Software and hardware for a typical system are described, including estimated costs.

The management of autonomous, heterogeneous network resources and services provides new challenges which libraries are now addressing. This paper outlines an approach based on the construction of broker services which mediate access to resources. It outlines a framework – the MODELS Information Architecture – for thinking about the components of broker services and their logical arrangement. It describes several development projects and services which show how brokers are developing. It uses examples drawn from the serials environment to describe some of the issues. Technologists understand that they must build more stable and unobtrusive media. They must establish more coherent contexts into which the technology may disappear.

It is contended that knowledge management is directed towards finding out how and why information users think, what they know about what they know, the knowledge and attitudes they have and the decisions they make when they interact with others. At the heart lies the mutation of information into knowledge, a process best understood through seeing, knowing and information retrieval as features common to cognitive psychology and information management. The knowledge we have of knowledge, and changes to knowledge, can be monitored in negotiations like knowledge interviews for trainees. Such knowledge and belief systems can also be translated into managerial strategies, both qualitative, as when we emphasise value and benefit in the marketing approach to information, and quantitative, as when we devise ways of assessing probabilities with which desired outcomes will occur. Knowledge management is as much the management of meaning as management of entities and people, for in meaning lies the key to our understanding of what we decide to do as information managers. It is a multi‐disciplinary field offering a semantics and pragmatics for the evaluating and self‐evaluating manager.

Reviews the general literature of management relevant to the information and library professions, and that of the management of information, knowledge‐based and library services published in 2002. Themes emerging at major conferences are noted and issues of growing concern are identified.

The term “library management” covers many different aspects of the way that a library is operated and conjures up different concepts in the minds of different people, depending on their own interests, agendas and requirements. Research into the subject is even more difficult to define because the application of research in one field can be vital to the development of another. Some researchers would not consider their research central to library matters at all, whereas the practising librarian might well see it as casting new light on a difficult area of understanding or development.