The study explores the factors that affect the development of a strategic planning process aimed at improving the university libraries in Ghana's capacity to deliver information services effectively and efficiently. Since the structure of universities in Ghana is derived from that of universities in the United Kingdom, the project of necessity includes a consideration of current perceptions to the strategy process in some university libraries in the United Kingdom. The study adopts a multiple case study approach, exploiting the advantages of the use of a combination of varied data collection techniques. The methodology combines the interpretative and positivist methods using 5 case studies in Ghana and 5 in the United Kingdom in order to enhance representativeness. The data was collected from some major stakeholders and a sample of library staff in the universities in Ghana and the heads and deputies of library services in the case study libraries in the United Kingdom. The major findings are that: the major stakeholders and the library staff in the Ghanaian university libraries do not have a single, agreed articulated mission for their libraries; a multiplicity of strategic visions were found to be the subject of disagreement between decision makers and the library staff; the university libraries in Ghana lack the required resources-financial, human, and physical that could give them the strategic capability to provide effective services; the magnitude of the resource-performance relationship in the United Kingdom case studies was found to be strikingly greater than that of the Ghanaian case study institutions; the management style of the university libraries in Ghana is the autocratic type with a top down strategic decision making process and an obsession for control and discipline; the United Kingdom libraries have a relatively more stable political and economic environments than the Ghanaian university libraries whose decision makers are faced with highly unstable political and economic issues. It is argued that in view of these 'pitfalls' in the planning process in the university libraries in Ghana, the process as it is currently applied in the United Kingdom university libraries will not translate to Ghana. The study therefore suggests a new approach to strategy formulation in Ghanaian university libraries. It proposes a flexible strategic management concept which suits the dynamism of the macro and micro environments of the libraries where continual change is unlikely to make once-and-for-all adjustments an appropriate form of managing change. The libraries ought to be capable of inflicting as well as responding to unanticipated changes.

Technological advances made in the fields of communications and information have given rise to new issues and challenges with which copyright systems everywhere have to deal. This thesis examines the significance of these challenges to the Jlalaysian copyright system and the responses made by the Copyright Act 1987 to the issues presented. Chapter 1 provides a brief historical evolution of Malaysian copyright law, while Chapter 2 outlines the law of copyright as embodied in the Copyright Act 1987. Both these Chapters provide an introduction to the rest of the Chapters in the thesis. Chapter 3 examines the impact of various recorders, technologies, video tape such as recorders, photocopiers, sound information storage and retrieval systems and satell i te and cable transmissions, on the rights of copyright owners. Chapter 4 discusses developments in computer technology, in particular issues relating to the legal protection of computer programs, video games, computer output, databases and integrated circuit chips under copyright law. Advances in technology have also increased the economic significance of industrial designs, including functional designs. Chapter 5 focuses on the question of their legal protection and the problem of the overlap between copyright and designs laws. In Chapter 6, the problems of the enforcement of copyright in the face of technological advances are exaDined. To lend a proper perspective to the legal posi tioD in Kalaysia, an overview of the international situation and the recommendations proposed in response to the issues posed, is provided in each chapter.

This thesis examines information technology transfer to developing countries by considering its application in Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The transfer process can take place through a number of channels which are influenced by national, technological and organisational issues. The relative importance of these issues is determined by considering six organisations which have attempted, with varying degrees of success, to transfer information technology. From the analysis provided by these case studies, a number of recommendations are made to improve the likelihood of successful information technology transfer. At a national level, factors such as the availability of foreign currency and skilled computer personnel will affect the success of any technology transfer. Similarly, technological issues, including supplier policies and telecommunications facilities, also play a part. Organ isational issues, such as management attitudes and planning, can also be seen to influence the success of technology transfer. To investigate these issues, six case studies were undertaken in the three countries. Both government and private organisations were represented to provide various settings in which to examine the process of information technology transfer. Only one organisation was successful and many differing factors affected the unsuccessful ones. Thus no 'single remedy' exists for this problem. The thesis makes a number of recommendations on org anisational, technological and national issues. The main ones being: an improved organisational awareness of the potential for information technology coupled with general educational policies to provide a computer literate work force. At the national level, greater assistance for the acquisition and use of computers, together with proper monitoring of this process is suggested. 2

This study explores twenty years of computerisation in central government in the USA and Britain. Information systems now lie deep in the heart of the 'tools' of government, dispensing treasure, authority and information, replacing organisational functions and creating new requirements for technical expertise. Traditional Public Administration pays little attention to the implications of this change, while approaches based on modernism attribute radical transformational powers to information technology. This study synthesises elements of postmodern and critical modern approaches, challenging assumptions of previous work. The US and Britain provide a fruitful site for comparison, with similar cultures, agency structure and contract providers, but contrasting legal systems, contracting traditions and regulatory approaches. Since the 1 970s, both governments have ceased direct involvement in producing information systems at the forefront of available technologies; in 1 995, both stand outside a contractor driven process. In the US spiralling regulations and competing oversight agencies have periodically threatened to strangle information technology development; in Britain absence of central guidance has led to potential loss of administrative and policy control. The computerisation of benefits delivery and tax collection in the two governments throughout the 1 980s illustrates the range of risks involved when central bureaucracies embarkon large-scale technology-based projects: problemsfor central oversight, difficulties in retaining policy flexibility and the dangers inherent in grand scheme designs. Information technology in the 1 990s provides increasing possibilities for policy innovation through systems integration and technological development. Decisions made in response to information technology problems during the last twenty years of computerisation in central government will dictate pathways available for policy in the future. Yet debate over crucial information technology issues currently takes place on the fringe of policy-related fields. This study provides a framework for resituating information technology policy on the centre stage of public policy and management.

Training is increasingly required as technology brings wide sweeping changes to the ways in which traditional library activities are administered. The purpose of this thesis was to collect and analyse information on training, on the use of information technology and the training given for it, and how the technology In use has Impacted on training in selected public libraries. Semi structured interviews formed the basis of the data collection on training in the English and Canadian libraries. While concentrating on the types of information technology introduced and hence what training is required, the researcher also uses examples from training programmes covering other issues, or relating to non automated situations, if this elucidates a specific point. Training has become a key activity in public libraries and the interview data establishes this hypothesis. The IT introduced and currently in use in public library systems determines the training offered which in tum impacts on the Individual staff member, the organisation and the library community as a whole. This demonstrates that the introduction of technology does modify the training required. The organisational structure flattens after technology is introduced; the role of middle managers undergoes significant changes while the blurring of job boundaries between different levels of staff dramatically alters the role of paraprofessionals. Other areas where significant changes are taking place include the need for a more highly educated and skilled workforce; whether deskilling has happened; the need for improved interpersonal skills; and the creation of new specialist positions. IT stresses a team not an individual approach and training needs to reflect this. Further it is demonstrated that using the technology itself for training is on the increase: CBT (Computer based training) can be used for a wide range of repetitive tasks, particularly those associated with the circulation desk and be used with simulations in management situations.

This thesis examines the scanning of the business environment for information by a sample of Portuguese chemical companies. Nineteen companies were studied and forty senior managers were interviewed during 1992. The methodology used coupled the multiple case study approach with the grounded theory method of qualitative analysis. The grounded theory proposed in this thesis comprises three main components: the categories, the principal relationships among them and the contextual factors that shape the categories and relationships. Variability among companies is explained by a few key relationships among these categories. Environmental scanning is the phenomenon under study and constitutes the core category, to which the other six categories that emerged out of the qualitative data analysis were related: perceived environmental change and strategic change, information consciousness and information climate, organizational outwardness and individual exposure to information. The relationships identified among these categories contribute to understanding how managerial perceptions of environmental change affect strategic change and also how internal factors of an organizational, as well as of an individual, nature influence the environmental scanning activity. From an internal perspective, the contextual factors include company history and culture; from an external perspective, those factors include the overall economic, social, cultural and political conditions that characterize modem Portugal and shape those organizations, to a certain extent. This research unravelled three main issues concerning the problematic of environmental scanning in Portuguese chemical companies: 1) The scanning focus and scanning mode used by managers are inappropriate to deal with the important discontinuities they perceive in their business environment; 2) The integration of environmental information with internally-generated information is achieved only at top level, by means of senior managers' ability to relate and integrate disparate data provided by the functional areas; 3) Organizational culture emerged as an important factor in the analysis of information issues within organizations. However, the fact that the three ''best'' companies have developed different sorts of information cultures suggests that there is not a "best" culture: different cultures may be required for different contexts.

This thesis describes a project which has investigated the evaluation of information systems. The work took place in, and is related to, a specific organisational context, that of the National Health Service (NHS). It aims to increase understanding of the evaluation which takes place in the service and the way in which this is affected by the NHS environment. It also investigates the issues which surround some important types of evaluation and their use in this context. The first stage of the project was a postal survey in which respondents were asked to describe the evaluation which took place in their authorities and to give their opinions about it. This was used to give an overview of the practice of IS evaluation in the NHS and to identify its uses and the problems experienced. Three important types of evaluation were then examined in more detail by means of action research studies. One of these dealt with the selection and purchase of a large hospital information system. The study took the form of an evaluation of the procurement process, and examined the methods used and the influence of organisational factors. The other studies are concerned with post-implementation evaluation, and examine the choice of an evaluation approach as well as its application. One was an evaluation of a community health system which had been operational for some time but was of doubtful value, and suffered from a number of problems. The situation was explored by means of a study of the costs and benefits of the system. The remaining study was the initial review of a system which was used in the administration of a Breast Screening Service. The service itself was also newly operational and the relationship between the service and the system was of interest.

No description available.

This thesis is the first in-depth exploration of the social, cultural and historical development of Marischal Museum throughout the twentieth century. The study explores a range of museum and archive sources to reconstruct the Museum's cultural history, and to highlight significant issues which make the Museum an important case study in historical museum studies. This thesis examines the changing nature of museums, and in particular, the shifting relationship between anthropology, empire and museums. Museums are considered here as hubs at the centres of complex and geographically wide-ranging social networks. Wider political and cultural changes are seen to be expressed in the architectural structure, collections and displays of the Museum. I explore these changes through an examination of the exhibition galleries, processes of acquisition, storage, classification and display from the early twentieth century to the present day (2003). A combination of cultural historical, anthropological and museological approaches are drawn upon to provide an in-depth analysis of Marischal Museum's internal social relations and cultural practices over time. The thesis argues that museums are shaped in important ways by their social, cultural and political contexts, as well as by the persons who create and use them. The internal processes of museums need to be understood as cultural historical processes involving social contacts, patterns of acquisition, classification, documentation, and decisions about gallery architecture and display. Analysis of these processes can shed light on public exhibitions, and the contemporary role of museums in society. It is argued that museums are more than repositories of material objects. Instead, the materiality of the museum sites, including their spatial dimensions and their diverse collections, is entirely bound up with the social relations of the people who have shaped the institution over time, and who continue to be referred to in the present practices at the Museum. The past informs the present in museums as they draw upon and reinterpret their histories.

This thesis is an exploratory study of the process of informing among a group of managers directly involved in the daily operations of a manufacturing plant. In addition to describing and analysing the process of informing itself, the thesis depicts the process of the entire research act. I define the process of informing as an interpretative process whereby managers assign meaning to data or "mere" information (processed data) gathered or received from official documented information, meetings, personal records, observations and particularly interactions. The managers thereby construct a definition of the situation and act or select a course of action on the basis of that definition. I introduce the concept of improvisation, derived from the music and literature of Jazz, to depict the process whereby managers construct or create a novel, innovative course of action in a situation which is defined to be unfamiliar, and for which there is no behavioural precedent. I introduce the concept of loosely coupled shared arrangements, to depict the process by which managers align their individual courses of action and thus enter into joint or concerted action. These arrangements, through frequent occurrence, may appear as semi-permanent structural units which give form and structure to the organisation. I define informant networks as shared arrangements to inform, where managers rely on each other to supply them with reliable, accurate and timely information. Finally, I adopt a critical stand towards the traditional view of management information systems. Firstly, I argue that the MIS may only be viewed as being part of the overall process of informing and not as constituting the whole of it. Secondly, I suggest that the MIS produces "mere" information which is not imbued with meaning until the manager's interpretative process is brought into play. Finally, I question the assumptions about choice and the nature of organisation reality underpinning the traditional view of management information systems.