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Discusses the installation of a robotized book handling system in a public library in Sweden. A standard industrial robot and controller have been chosen with special grippers which can handle any size/type of book without damaging them. Describes how the library users place books on a conveyor, where an optosensor scans the barcode on each book and transmits the information to the library's computer. Describes the six-axis robot, the safety features, the interactive programming and the self-diagnostic functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In practice library public relations are concerned with the effective management of communication between the library organisation and the groups that make up its publics. It is a management function "based on the assumption that public opinion matters." Public opinion matters not least because the well being of the library may depend, in the final analysis, on the goodwill of all, or at least some, of the groups and interests covered by the word publics. It will certainly require the goodwill of elected community representatives. Councillors can be kept informed in a number of ways. Perhaps the most obvious is to invite relevant committee members to tour library branches and departments. This provides the librarian with an opportunity not just to show off the good in terms of new equipment and services, but also the bad and the ugly resulting from operational and financial difficulties. In addition to such traditional methods at least one authority has produced a promotional video designed specifically for an audience of elected representatives.

This article outlines a recent experiment in user research carried out by Derbyshire Library Service. The whole operation was planned and implemented within the service, using and relying on existing experience and expertise. There was a definite objective to the survey, and specific information was being sought -- even though it was thought that any information discovered would confirm existing suspicions. The survey was also a learning process, for the service as a whole, and the first in-house experiment of its kind attempted by Derbyshire Library Service Thinking of a suitable title recalled an article in the Library Association Record, "A public library experiments with market research"[1], but the title chosen gives a clear indication of the content of the article, without raising too many expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to answer questions about the purpose of public libraries or the reasons for the present pattern of services, it is necessary to refer to a set of well thought out and clearly defined objectives. The majority of librarians find it difficult to talk about the purpose of public libraries in anything other than generalised cliches, for example "to serve the educational, recreational and information needs of the general public." This is because until recently little effort has been directed towards specifying the aims and objectives of individual library services. Services operate and routines are followed because they always have been. Perhaps not surprisingly, the public do not have a clear idea of the purpose of public libraries either. To most of them, libraries are stores of books and librarians little more than book-stampers. Surveys which have investigated the public's attitude to libraries have found them generally apathetic. They think that libraries are a "good thing" but cannot explain why they think that.

This article focuses on the marketing of public library services in Great Britain. With the passing of the first Public Libraries Act in 1850, the public library service in Great Britain effectively came into being. The public library movement in Great Britain needs to be seen as part of a broad process of socially reforming legislation. The Factory Act, for instance, was introduced in 1833, the Public Health Act in 1848, and the Education Act, which embodied the principle of universal elementary education, came into force in 1870. As the Kellys note in their history of the British public library, the stimulus was a desire to "afford the working classes proper facilities for the cultivation of their minds and the reinforcement of their tastes in science and art." This point needs to be made at the outset because the service mentality it engendered has arguably, never been wholly eradicated. One of the lingering barriers to the development of a truly responsive public library service has been the residual influence of this narrow and patronising conception of purpose.

This article presents practical applications of the marketing of public library services in Great Britain. The marketing cycle combines strategic and tactical planning. The strategic element involves the formulation of mission statements and the setting of goals and objectives. The tactical component comprises market research and the process of translating an agreed service philosophy into an appropriate set of concrete responses. This article will, therefore, consist of two parts. The first will assess the place of market research in the planning cycle; the second will describe and review a variety of tactical responses. Library use is a function of many interacting variables. Physical, attitudinal, lifestyle, lifecycle and personality factors all play a part in shaping an individual's propensity to use the services and facilities on offer from public libraries. During the 1960s and 1970s, public librarians began to explore the relationship between library use, reading habits, book purchasing and other known data about their client groups.