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Reports on the first‐ever nationwide quantitative survey of academic staff use of the Internet. After briefly noting reasons for adopting a mailed‐out survey, the article discusses some of the results obtained. These include daily use of e‐mail, access to the Internet via remote dial‐in services and technical support provided to academics. More than one‐third of respondents seem in need of more training in Net use and time limitations and lack of training are typical barriers to effective use. The study concludes with opportunities for further research at both national and international levels and discusses possible implications for university administrators. The full report of the study is published as Academics Online (Auslib Press, Adelaide, 1998). The research team also included Edna Sharpe of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service.

This paper focuses on four areas, all of which affect a library’s bottom line in one way or another: fitting library materials expenditure into the parent organisation’s budget cycle, including suggestions for taking advantage of any unspent institutional allocation at the end of the financial year; budget control, including managing commitment and expenditure; internal budget allocation, where it argues in favour of a flexible formula, developed to suit the needs of the organisation; and audit and stocktake. It argues that success in these areas provides the basis for successful collections management.

It is widely assumed ‐ and frequently asserted ‐ that university communication practices are being radically transformed by the introduction of electronic communication. Explores the introduction of Internet access in a single university, the University of Canberra, located in the capital city of Australia. The prime objective was to identify the frequency and type of use that academic staff were making of the Internet during 1995, with supplementary objectives being to record perceptions of users toward the Internet, and barriers to its effective use. The principal finding is not unexpected: academics were making very varied use of the Internet. Some staff were utilizing some facilities on a daily basis; others were yet to begin exploring this new communication medium. A particular surprise was that at the time of this survey the Internet was being used very little for teaching.

THE proposition that British library schools should examine their own students is not a new one. As long ago as 1954, Roy Stokes put the question bluntly to the profession. In those days his was a voice crying in the wilderness. The profession at large was not ready for such a development, and continued to adhere to its long held view that the Library Association should examine the products of the schools, while the schools confined themselves to teaching.

This chapter will discuss the relationship between globalisation and higher education, focussing specifically on the University of the West Indies (UWI) as its case study. This work will examine how closely the present policy objectives of the UWI are linked to the changing structures within higher education systems in the global arena. An argument is being made that currently, there are two overarching conditions which are transforming the structures and practices of higher education, namely globalisation through its policy affiliate, neo-liberalism and the incorporation of new information and communication technologies into the knowledge activities of research, publication and pedagogy. Through globalisation, higher education and knowledge production are thwarted as the neo-liberal positivist discourse champions the market-centric approach and higher education becomes embroiled in mass consumption and commodification. The globalisation of higher education therefore encompasses such issues as life-long learning, web-based delivery and distance education. However, this piece will not speak about the issues of technology and its impact on higher education, but address the impact of neo-liberalism on higher education.