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University rankings are an important source of information for those interested in academic education, personnel managers and Third-Party donors in order to be able to compare easily the performance of universities. Such rankings increasingly represent an important means of observing the achieving of targets in efficiency and effectiveness, compared with other universities. It is important for libraries to be able to correctly assess their role in such rankings and to know with which indicators the performance of libraries is measured in university rankings. Based on these findings, target systems and budget negotiations can be optimised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The still-open question if and how public competition of libraries is possible and makes sense shall be separated from the discussion about the lacking acceptance of the library index. The differentiation between functional and competition-orientated benchmarking recommends for both systems different tools which are methodically improperly connected in BIX. The question whether it is possible at all to generally assess library performance using indices is also critically examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the control model of New Public Management, universities increasingly take over organisational action, controlling their development and therefore being in need of suitable instruments. In this field, much is expected of performance competition, and the partly wide distribution of comparative methods seems to prove its effectiveness. This article examines the strengths and weaknesses of several instruments regarding their supporting of control action at universities, and compares them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the future of digitized learning materials at German libraries. The digitization of books and other resources by libraries is described, the advantages of electronic textbooks and study materials for students and teachers are listed, and competition between textbook publishing companies is analyzed. Information is offered on the interactive aspect of digitized learning materials.

To some superiors in library management, relationship-oriented personnel management may pose no great challenge. Thus it comes as no surprise that in literature on library management leadership issues are often discussed at a task-related level. However, it is the non-task-oriented leadership issues that are particularly challenging. Those who believe they can promote their employees' further development without first understanding the civil service culture are often astonished at how varied the defence mechanisms can be. In that case employees often start to speak of demotivation and decreased efficiency. And anyone who believes they can carry out far-reaching changes and go ahead with organisational development without taking the rules of the civil service into consideration will be taken aback by the tenacity of the most persistent of employees who, for example, stubbornly stick to tradition. How does the civil service work and how can personnel management succeed in a monopolistic administrative culture characterized by a lack of competition? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]