Services and Buildings

University libraries have experienced much greater demand for their services. The changes in universities have created a more competitive and uncertain climate in which there is considerably more pressure on academic staff and students alike. Researchers are expected to produce good results more often and more quickly. Students are having to rely less on their teachers for detailed assistance, as staff numbers decline and staff/student ratios worsen, and as teaching methods place more emphasis on individual project work and assignments. In the near future, teachers are going to find the quality of their teaching being evaluated formally by the university. All these changes are encouraging or forcing staff and students to make greater and more demanding use of the library. Unfortunately for the library and for its users, this increased demand has come at a time when the real value of acquisitions budgets has been falling markedly, and when the number of posts in libraries has been reduced substantially. Libraries must therefore meet greater demands with fewer resources.