Public libraries emerged as educational institutions during the second half of the 19th century. Their aim was the intellectual and moral improvement of individuals and societies. After several decades it became evident that public libraries had failed as "people's universities." They came to acknowledge the provision of entertainment as…

Reviews approaches to quality management in the private sector from an evolutionary perspective. Focuses on two critical dimensions: product versus system, and objective versus intersubjective orientation. Experiences within the private sector can be relevant for the public sector, and the complexity of evaluation has implications for the…

British survey data from 3,733 on-time graduates and 841 mature graduates (first degree after age 25) showed that lower pay for mature graduates was linked with social class, institution attended, and public sector employment. The public sector was less likely to discriminate against mature graduates. (SK)

Analyzes the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's Jobs Study, which advocated a two-tier economy: high-skill jobs and low-skill, low-wage jobs to absorb the unemployed. Shows how Canada has adopted some of these strategies under the guise of structural adjustment. Advocates a social policy role for adult educators. (Contains 35…

The prospect of tuition fee increases for public sector universities has attracted an enormous amount of attention in recent years as governments in all industrialized countries have responded to the converging pressures of increased demands for higher education and rising costs of competing areas of social spending. I show that this dilemma is…

The discourses of neoliberalism and global market competition dominate social and economic agendas at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In particular, global competition and new managerialism have underpinned the recent emphases on accountability and administrative efficiency, and there has been a permeation of contemporary business…

July 2001 to June 2003 may have been dismal for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (down 14 percent), but it was a bull market for economics majors (up 23 percent). The greatest increase in undergraduate economics degrees over the two-year period was at state universities (up 32 percent), in particular large flagship state universities with…

This paper highlights the increasingly important topic of consumer confusion. Drawing parallels with experiences in the private sector, the concept of consumer confusion is explored within the higher education sector; what causes the phenomenon, how do consumers react to it and how can it be negated/minimised? The expansion and commercialisation…

The auditing culture and its concomitant, "performativity", have been at the core of the on-going public sector reforms of the last twenty-five years or so. The advantages and limitations of performance indicators as a managerial technique of control have long been known. Considered from an organisational, social and political…

Charter laws have been the reform debate's path of least resistance. But the combination of regulatory barriers, open admissions, lack of consumer sovereignty, preferential funding of traditional public schools, and political control of prices means that charter laws may be irrelevant as reform catalysts, or worse. Even the strongest charter laws…

These four annual survey reports combined here were published separately as a service to members of the Pennsylvania Library Association's College and Research Division. Questionnaires were sent each year to approximately 150 two-year, baccalaureate, comprehensive, and doctoral degree granting colleges and universities. Libraries surveyed were…

Since passage of Ohio's Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act of 1984, Ohio public employees have voted to join unions in more than 70% of elections, and 90,584 Ohio public employees gained union representation from 1984 to 1992. Before the establishment of Ohio's multitiered collective bargaining process, which involves intervention by a…

A study investigated the differences in perception of job insecurity among secondary school teachers in Israel. Of the entire sample, 205 teachers (62 percent) were affiliated with public-sector unions. The rest of the samples--121 teachers (38 percent)--were affiliated with the private sector and were non-unionized. Using a multidimensional…

This guide is designed to help women business owners become more successful by providing them with information about marketing their goods and services to the federal government. Part 1 focuses on how the government buys. It covers briefly general procedures, consolidated purchasing programs, and individual federal agencies. Three government tools…

On November 12, 2003, over 70 policymakers, fiscal analysts, and academics gathered at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to examine the fiscal condition of the state government sector. The conference was cosponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the National Tax Association. Despite a shallow national recession that ended in…