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Several years of brainstorming, planning, meetings, writing, and hearings have culminated with this working guide for managers and line staff of government libraries. Guidelines are just that—advice, examples, and models of behaviours, services and best practices to be followed when they suit the situation. As indicated throughout the text, there is no universal solution or style, yet we hope that those presented here will foster creativity and promulgate ideas for adaptation in local settings.

Several years of brainstorming, planning, meetings, writing, and hearings have culminated with this working guide for managers and line staff of government libraries. Guidelines are just that—advice, examples, and models of behaviours, services and best practices to be followed when they suit the situation. As indicated throughout the text, there is no universal solution or style, yet we hope that those presented here will foster creativity and promulgate ideas for adaptation in local settings. Special thanks are due to the many librarian contributors and to those who made contributions to these Guidelines by way of advice, editing and support. Translated by Magdalena Biota, María Elena Dorta-Duque, Miguel Navas-Fernández y Karolina Tymczak

Libraries of government departments provide information to policymakers, to government staff and employees, and, sometimes, to the general public. It is essential that libraries of government departments are organised and managed so as to collect and provide the information most needed by government decision makers, government workers, and the public at large. These guidelines are designed to help government officials recognise the importance of the libraries of government departments and to propose means to make them even more effective to meet the needs of elected officials, staff, the general public and any other users. The guidelines also provide assistance and advice to librarians as they seek to improve the collection and the services that they offer. Following a foreword by Jerry W. Mansfield, contents include: (1) Introduction (Nancy Bolt); (2) Types of government libraries (Sanjay K. Bihani); (3) General management (Moira Fraser); (4) Identifying and meeting needs of users (Nancy Bolt); (5) Challenges and opportunities working in a political environment (Sue Westcott); (6) Collection development (Sanjay K. Bihani); (7) Organisation and access management for physical and electronic collections (Hannah Fischer and Linda Sjogren); (8) Preservation of physical and electronic collections (Hannah Fischer); (9) Staffing and personnel (Suzanne Burge and Moira Fraser); (10) Managing finances and resources (Moira Fraser); (11) Advocacy for the role of government libraries (Nancy Bolt and Jane Wu); (12) Cooperation among government and other libraries (Maria Goeckeritz); (13) Marketing and public relations (Maria Goeckeritz); (14) Obligation to protect the privacy of users (Nancy Bolt); (15) Trends in government libraries (Jane Wu); (16) Conclusion (Nancy Bolt); and (17) List of Contributors. (Contains 7 footnotes.)

Several years of brainstorming, planning, meetings, writing, and hearings have culminated with this working guide for managers and line staff of government libraries. Guidelines are just that—advice, examples, and models of behaviours, services and best practices to be followed when they suit the situation. As indicated throughout the text, there is no universal solution or style, yet we hope that those presented here will foster creativity and promulgate ideas for adaptation in local settings.