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The paper is based on a presentation made at Northumbria Lite, the one‐day session held by the Northumbria Performance Measures Conference series team at IFLA in Glasgow, August 2002, on the invitation of the IFLA Statistics and Library Theory and Research Roundtables. It has been supplemented with some up‐dated figures and graphs. Dr Linda Banwell, Director of the JUBILEE project, gave the presentation, which focuses on evaluation in JUBILEE, with specific reference to the derivation and representation of impact and outcomes for library services.

Presents the findings of the LOGOPLUS project. The aim of this project was to ascertain to what extent the move to unitary authorities during the 1995‐1998 re‐organisation of local government was seamless for public library users and staff. Case studies were undertaken in nine local authorities. Representatives formed the Steering Group which identified the following significant areas of change to be investigated: politics, finance, integration, co‐operation, staff, communication and users. Research findings have indicated a number of success factors which contributed to seamlessness: councillors and managers who were committed to the provision of excellent services; transitional finance sufficient to cover the process of the change; effective leadership; clear definition of mission and goals; multi‐skilling where appropriate and supportive users. However, some libraries have suffered because councillors or managers did not have a clear vision; there was insufficient finance; managers were not good communicators and there was little or no training for staff.

The 1990s in UK Higher Education have seen far reaching changes throughout the sector, which have impacted in many and beneficial ways on the individual learner. The paper will provide evidence from the School of Information Studies at the University of Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: it will trace the developments in the teaching and research cultures in the 1990s and assess the resulting impact on learners. The Northumbria experience is that changes in its teaching and research cultures have resulted in developing all its staff as reflective practitioners, which adds value for the increasingly diverse learner community. Theory and practice are fused close to the marketplace, thereby both improving employability and enriching the learning experience.

This article reports on findings from the first cycle of the three year JUBILEE (JISC User Behaviour in Information‐seeking: Longitudinal Evaluation of EIS) project, being undertaken at the Information Management Research Institute at the University of Northumbria, in respect of the degree to which students and academics in Higher Education lack the necessary skills to take full advantage of EIS. The skills are examined in subsets: IT literacy skills; information searching skills; evaluative & critical skills; and information handling skills. In addition there is discussion on how best to upskill students and at what point in their academic careers. Another debate, common at several JUBILEE case study sites, focuses on whether such upskilling is better delivered by academics or LIS personnel.

The term “library management” covers many different aspects of the way that a library is operated and conjures up different concepts in the minds of different people, depending on their own interests, agendas and requirements. Research into the subject is even more difficult to define because the application of research in one field can be vital to the development of another. Some researchers would not consider their research central to library matters at all, whereas the practising librarian might well see it as casting new light on a difficult area of understanding or development.