Management information
The provision of useful management information is now an important requirement in the efficient and effective running of library and information services. The main emphasis in today's context is on proactive services, that is, services which seek out information demands and information needs and attempt to meet them. Proactivity requires information on the use of the service which can be utilised not only for problem solving but also for problem finding. Though, many of the automated systems collect such management information, it is rarely utilized by toe library and information services managers to improve such systems. This fact has been realised by the suppliers of large automated systems and the situation has now changed leading to major improvements in this respect, Systems that attempt to provide. information that supports management functions are coming into existence.
It may be stated that the administration of library and information services covers topic ranging from those with direct parallels in the business world such as personnel records and salaries to routines which are more specific to the information service.
Of late, some library management systems have introduced separate management modules. In other systems management information and reports are associated with each of the modules, so that standard reports can be generated as required. Now-a-days systems offer a menu-based management information system, which is easy to use and many are based upon a graphical user-interface. These systems also offer a range of statistical facilities for the analysis of data to identity trends and correlation between variables.