Change in Public Services: Perspectives of Three North Carolina Librarians

Abstract

The forces of change in our libraries have never been more evident than in the decade now coming to a close. New philosophies of service, new techniques of handling library procedures, and new styles of management have been bursting upon the scene in rapid succession, with a dizzying rapidity that often makes one wonder how we seem to be able to keep up with the pace. The powerful wave of change has most clearly been diagnosed in the technical services sphere of librarianship, where procedural and management techniques are most visibly affected. We have tools to measure impacts of change in technical services, techniques which clearly relate to well-under- stood goals, such as cost-effectiveness, speed of cataloging, and the accuracy of bibliographic records.
This is not so with public services. Change in public services has also been occurring, but unlike the changes in technical services, development has come in a less orderly fashion, with new techniques tried here, abandoned, modified in another location, or even forgotten.