Created in response to requests from library science faculty for a student edition with a focus on the planning and policy issues germane to all academic libraries, this new text is a revised and abridged version of the fifth edition of Lyle's Administration of the College Library. The ten chapters that form the text edition include six chapters essentially unchanged from the 1992 work_Contexts of the American College Library, Evolution of Higher Education in the United States, Growth of Academic Librarianship, Campus Context, Legal Status, Governance and Politics, and Organization of the Library. Four reconfigured chapters address questions of policy formulation and leadership in the areas of user services, library staff, planning, and evaluation. The material in these chapters comes from thirteen chapters in the fifth edition, supplemented by recent research. The goal is to offer students a framework for learning about academic libraries in the context of higher education's learning goals and the value of quality library service and staff.

"...readable and valuable...giving historical background, an insightful overview of the administration of user services, a primer on campus politics, and a discussion of academic library organizational structures...valuable for its intended audience, library science students, and professors might want to use it as a core text, with the complete edition on reserve to supplement it." - Journal of Academic Librarianship

"Those studying at UK library schools will find here a useful overview of the American college library environment." - Library Review

"...this text is useful as an introduction for the complete beginner." - Asian Libraries

"...add[s] substantially to the small corpus of professional literature intended for liberal arts college librarians." - The Serial Librarian

"...a very good starting point if the desire is to learn about the growth, development, and possible future of the USA's college library." - Library Management