Aspects of Main Library Administration and Management.

PROBLEMS ministration and management are gaining the attention of today's urban library administrator.Some do not have clear or easy solutions since they are a part of a large and involved issue.In turn,some of the main library problems are themselves interrelated with the local library operation.For years library administration had a passion for classical bureaucratic uniformity in service to all users, sometimes regardless of special need.With any rigid system of uniformity it becomes difficult to separate the parts from the whole.While the thoughts in this article purposely do not have continuity, they all relate to issues which affect the future of main library operation.Any accurate description of a main library in urban America would have to include a list of services and functions which are housed in this large building but which are not directly a part of its public service function.Some of these operations are seldom evaluated in light of their relation to management of the building.Perhaps it is these auxiliary or total system operations, rather than other attributes, that make main libraries unique.A listing of centralized operations in main libraries would reveal a considerable variety of functions, but certainly the most common would be the offices of the library administration and spaces for the technical services operation (purchasing, cataloging, processing, binding), for the building and equipment maintenance functions, for the storage of vehicles, and large storage areas for books and equipment.Growing numbers of main libraries provide headquarters for a multiunit library system.Some even run museums, planetariums, and gift shops.