Strategies for reform of the public library management in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Since 1979， there have been many attempts to reform the management of public services，including public library services in the UK． ln this research， the strategies for reform of thepublic library management which were carried forward by the Conservative Party and those bythe Labor Party were compared and analysed to clarify their features． It was confirmed that the strategies by both the Conservative and the Labor were set inaccord with the principles of those for reform of the whole public services． The principles of theConservative strategies were promotion of privatization， management rationalization by voluntary effort， and creation of customer－oriented libraries． While those of the Labor strategies werepromotion of the library management in partnership with public， private and voluntary sectors，management rationalization at the initiative of the central government， creation of customeroriented libraries， and adaptation to information society． Model Statement of Standants developed by the Conservative was analysed and comparedwith ComPrehensive， EiEcient ana Modern Public Libraries developed by the Labor． The resultswere as follows：