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Reports on findings of a study of libraries in the north‐west of England and their service provision to deaf and hard of hearing people. A first article reported on current thoughts within the library profession and developments in staff training, the improvement and promotion of stock, and user education. This article reports on material and technological developments such as minicom, building adaptations and computer and videophone service initiatives. Examines their potential in revolutionizing the approach of deaf people in acquiring information. Considers two apparent contradictory fears: will the introduction of enhanced services stimulate a demand that libraries could not cope with under their current staffing levels, and will the technology ‐ as with experiences in services to visually impaired people ‐ be underused?

Reports on findings of a study of North‐West libraries and their service provision to the deaf and hard of hearing. Part 1 reports on current thoughts within the library profession and developments in staff training, the improvement and promotion of stock, and user education. A second article will report on material and technological developments such as minicom and building adaptations. Throughout, a sensitivity to the range of needs within the deaf community is encouraged, as is the need to make service initiatives ‐ at least for the more traditional library services ‐ reliant not on the keenness of key staff but on policy decisions. Action is being taken ‐ staff in 88 per cent of public libraries and 17 per cent of academic libraries had undergone deaf awareness training, stocks of relevance to learning British Sign Language and about deaf culture are being acquired, and libraries are promoting subtitled and closed‐captioned videos.

This paper describes the first steps in a process of service re‐engineering – business process re‐engineering (BPR) – in the information services division (ISD) of the University of Salford.

This paper begins by describing the recent changes within HE and the impact of these changes to support services. The structure of ISD (and customer services within that) in the University of Salford is described, and the need for process change is analysed. The CRISP (Customer Resolution and Information Services Project) teams are then described, as are the principles behind the planned process mapping exercise. Finally, change management issues and customer relationships are discussed, as is our vision of a learning organisation.

The ISD will re‐engineer its key processes providing a customer‐focused service with resources directed specifically to where they are required. The process has already met challenges, even though its scope is just being defined. Those challenges include the complexity of the cultures that will need to be accounted for, the threats of a loss of momentum due to the need for thoroughness and fairness, and the need for planned communication and change management.

The scale of BPR being undertaken at the University of Salford is unmatched in the UK. This paper will begin the thought process for similar services who wish to focus what they do and the resources they use in providing that service.