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Points out that the introduction of modern total quality management (TQM) techniques into libraries and information centres is an example of how business principles are permeating the library world. Suggests, however, that TQM seems to be little understood by library and information sector managers and professionals, and that EN 29000 certification of libraries is still not widespread, though awareness of the issue is growing. Presents the results from a recent survey of TQM in Danish information institutions to support this claim and concludes with recommendations for the future.

To provide an in-depth survey and review of innovation in library and information services (LIS) and to identify future trends in innovative research and its practical application in the field.

An in-depth review and summation of relevant literature over the last twenty years, along with an analysis and summary of the other papers in the volume.

Innovation in library and information work varies between the evolutionary and the discontinuous. A taxonomy of innovatory approaches to development and provision in the sector is provided, along with a detailed listing of the key elements of successful and not-so-successful innovative practice.

The work is dependent on existing literature rather than direct empirical work. However, because it draws together all major aspects of the topic, it has the potential to be used as a springboard for further generic studies and also specific programmes of work.

The need for innovation in LIS will be ever more pressing. The present chapter provides a necessary and rigorous overview of the necessary elements required for success in this area. It will be useful as a reference tool for intending researchers in library and information provision in a wide range of environments.

Because the chapter brings together a substantial body of information on the topic of innovation, it provides a comprehensive study of major developments and likely future trends in the field.

Public librarians throughout North America now support physical activity. One sees this function in the emergence and diffusion of new programs and services, such as librarians checking out exercise equipment, as well as in librarians actually sponsoring exercise classes. This chapter focuses on understanding this type of work. The first part looks at five different frameworks – the library as place, community-led librarianship, whole person librarianship, community health, and recreation and leisure – that each in different ways enable one to understand how supporting physical activity could become part of the work of public librarians. Focus then shifts to understanding empirically how public librarians in the US and Canada enact and understand this work. Research shows that this role has become more integral and expected in youth services than in adult services. Library staff themselves are more likely to lead movement-based programs for youth than for adults. The discussion then shifts to the implications of this trend in terms of evidence-based practice and multidisciplinary discussions on how and why to increase physical activity throughout society. The conclusion suggests additional work needed to understand this and other poorly understood functions of public librarians.

This article reports the results on a particular management issue of a recent Danish qualitative interview survey on experiences with fee‐based public library services. It also includes a systematic comparison between underlying values, revealed through the survey, and the results of a recent large scale survey of Danish public sector values. The article outlines the evolution of the library charging discourse and investigates to what extent and how values associated with fee‐based services differ and resemble the general public sector values. In particular, it will be examined to what extent fee‐based services facilitate the penetration of New Public Management oriented values into public libraries. Finally, management practices concerning fee‐based services are considered, focusing, in particular, on possible discrepancies between expressed values and actual practice.

The aim of this article is to identify the main approaches and discuss their perspectives, including their strengths and weaknesses in, especially, public library contexts. The purpose is also to present and discuss the results of a recent – 2014 – Danish library user segmentation project using computer-generated clusters. Compared to traditional marketing texts, this article also tries to identify users segments or images created by the library profession itself. Segmentation of users can help libraries in the process of understanding user similarities and differences. Segmentation can also form the basis for selecting segments as target users and for developing tailored services for specific target segments. Thus, several approaches and techniques have been tested in library contexts.

Basically, the article is built upon a literature review concerning different approaches to user segmentation in, especially, public library context from approximately 1980 till now (May 2014).

The article reveals that – at least – five different principal approaches to user segmentation have been applied by the library sector during the past 30-35 years. Characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches are identified, discussed and evaluated.

When making decisions on future library user surveys, it is certainly an advantage, concerning the ability to make qualified decision, to know what opportunities that are at hand for identifying important segments.

Some of the approaches have been treated individually in the library literature; however, it is probably the first time that the professions own user images and metaphors are dealt with in a user segmentation context.

This paper contains some of the main results of a recent 2003 Danish qualitative survey on opinions and experiences of fee‐based services among public libraries. Current considerations and reflections are reviewed, experiences with specific public library products and services and customers segments analysed and success factors and primary results identified. This study, among others, asserts that the discourse on fee‐based library services has fundamentally changed since the 1970s and that fee‐based services today are more likely to be seen as facilitators of organisational change, human resource development, learning, quality and the like than income and profit generation mechanisms. A balanced view on the effects on organisational culture and the traditional Danish cooperating library system suggests that fee‐based services in certain respects seem to stimulate knowledge sharing.