Lidia Derfert-Wolf
University of Technology and Agriculture in Bydgoszcz

Introduction

The international conference on "Quality management in academic libraries" was held from 10 to 13 September 2000 in Bydgoszcz-Gniew and was organized by the Main Library of the University of Technology and Agriculture in Bydgoszcz. It was an integral part of Tempus Project JEP UM 13242-98 "Development of library management as a part of the university TQM" co-ordinated by the Cracow University of Technology.

The main conference's goals were:

1. to broad disseminate the results of the Tempus Project to other Polish universities and our stakeholders
2. to share knowledge and experience on library management - speakers from EU countries have presented their views on these issues,
3. presentation of other Polish institutions' experience on quality management,
4. Tempus Project partners working meetings.

Two-day part of joined meeting was prepared as a set of lectures and presentations covering the area of modern library management. The conference gathered over 40 participants, mainly from Polish and EU libraries. We have invited all Tempus Project partners and representatives from several types of Polish libraries such as universities', public, economic universities' and agricultural academies' libraries. At the conference the following papers were presented at the four sessions:

1. The achievements of Polish partners in Tempus Project:
   • Analysis of current state of the library,
   • Survey of users needs,
   • Strategic plans.
2. EU participants experiences: Greece, Spain
   • Efforts of implementing TQM in the Library of the National Technical University of Athens
   • Searching Excellence in the Library System of the University of Cadiz
3. EU participants experiences: Great Britain, Netherlands
   • Quality management: why and how ISO 9002 was implemented at the Delft University of Technology Library
   • Quality Systems in LIS - the real key to quality
4. Polish experiences:
   • Quality of library services as a part of education services,
   • Quality, costs and effectiveness of information services - the elements of economic strategy of academic library,
   • Participation of the library in implementing ISO 9001 in the Maritime University of Szczecin,
   • Public library staff self-evaluation - survey in public library in Torun (Thorn),
   • Implementing TQM principles in the University of Technology and Agriculture in Bydgoszcz (project),
   • Hardware management in the Library of the Silesian University.