Text in English / Legislation plays an important role in the provision of public and national library services. However, in Zambia libraries that perform the functions of public and national libraries are operating without a legislative mandate. As a result, there is a fragmentation of library services as there is no single institution which performs all the functions of a national library service. Although several efforts were made before to enact national library service legislation, no Act of Parliament has been passed to date (2014). This study sought to provide empirical evidence to refine our insight of the benefits of having national library service legislation and the consequent implications of not having any legislation in the provision of library services. Quantitative data was collected through questionnaire administration to public library staff; interviews with senior government officials, and executive members of the ZLA and ZALICO; and document analysis on text from grey literature. The existence of the statistical significance of association between “Importance of library legislation” and “Provision of library services in Zambia” was measured and confirmed using Pearson chi-square χ2. Public library facilities, services and collections in Zambia were found to be below par, and it was concluded that this was due to lack of library legislation. The study recommends that appropriate legislation that puts together the functions of public and national libraries under one institution be enacted in Zambia as soon as possible. It is also recommended that further research be undertaken to investigate the current status of library facilities, services and collections in selected neighbouring countries where library legislation has been passed. / Information Science / M.A. (Information Science)

This was the first comprehensive doctoral dissertation on the George Bush Presidential Library Center at Texas A&M University. The Bush Presidential Library and Museum was the focal point. The purpose was to describe the global significance, work and educational contributions of the Bush Presidential Library while exploring its partnership with Texas A&M University. The primary data sources were: archival records, museum exhibits, interviews and my field work experiences. Beyond being a descriptive dissertation, this study offered unique hypotheses and conclusions. It examined the higher educational aspects of the Bush Presidential Library Center's operating context within Texas A&M University. These included the educational value of George Bush's career, the Bush Presidential Library's contents, and its benefits and technology use in educational programming. This study answered two unique hypotheses: how President Bush's liberation of Kuwait increased the Middle Eastern funding of presidential libraries and the Corps of Cadets' influence on President Bush's selection of Texas A&M University. George Bush's global presidency, distinguished international public service career and his world-changing, historical presidential achievements gave the Bush Presidential Library and Museum an extraordinary educational value. The data showed the educational value of, benefits of and technology's role in educational programming at the Bush Presidential Library and Museum. The global changes mirrored President Bush's career and his effort to combat terrorism. China's emergence as a world power was attributed to President Bush's career. The Bush Presidential Library and Museum is the core asset of the center. The data showed President Bush's liberation of Kuwait directly influenced the funding of his presidential library and the subsequent ones. The data showed the Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets' influence on President Bush's selection of Texas A&M University as the site for his presidential library. Texas A&M University is the best place for the George Bush Presidential Library Center. A university environment is the best place to host a presidential library.

(in English): The thesis presents overview of current state of museum libraries in Bohemia. It relies on the results of questionnaire specifically made for this purpose. Focus is also on library collections of museum libraries (acquisition, processing, accessibility and conservation), self-presentation of libraries on Internet, means of financing of such institutions and their activities. The thesis also overviews history of museum libraries on the case of four individual institutions, legal regulations pertaining to them and to their collections, as well as cooperation possibilities between other museum libraries, general libraries or other institutions. The thesis concludes with resume of strengths and weaknesses of current state of affairs in the field and anticipates future development of museum libraries. The text contains numerous charts and tables [Author's abstract].