PARTICIPATIVE  MANAGEMENT IN LIBRARIES MANAGEMENT:

Like most other organizations, libraries and information centres have the dual social responsibility of satisfying the needs of both the employees and the public at large. 

One of the methods by which this can be  achieved is by employee participation in facilitating the accomplishment of the library's goals.

Today  there is increased emphasis on  measuring performance, which usually means efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency ensures that the optimum level of service is provided at the lowest possible cost: However the ability to meet  the effectiveness criterion is not always easy since the interests of the stakeholder groups are not stable. Stakeholders are those persons who take an interest in  the library, or who  have the capacity to influence its ability to achieve its objectives. Of course the concept of Participative Management in libraries and information centres has been relatively neglected. Recent theories in  management have proved that Participative Management and group decision making appear to have important  applications  to libraries and to personnel development.

It not only  affects the  quality of  decisions but their implications for productivity also. The involvement of library staff in determining the library's objectives and the means to attain these might improve library service. The availability of information is vital to the  decision-making  process. The information required to make decisions about an activity within a library system differs from that required to make decisions about a total system, both in degree of  detail and comprehensiveness. Library and information professionals often possess relevant, practical information relating to library operations which is not available to senior official because they do not perform the same task. Library staff acquire a lot of information and share it in the decision making process. At the operational level this will result  in a more practical solution. This leads to greater creativity in finding a solution. Professionals who have been involved (irrespective of their status) in the decision making process are more likely than others to be motivated to ensure that the proposals are carried out as there is a feeling of commitment to the decisions. This sense of involvement also leads to increased awareness of the library's goals after participating in the decision making process.