Efforts of implementing TQM in the Central Library of the National Technical University of Athens

Abstract

In recent years the academic libraries stood against the fast improvement of technology, with low budget and with more requirements for responsibility. Because of these, new strategies of renewal have been developed at a quick pace. A first step which is necessary for a library, is to define which approach in the procedure of change is more appropriate for itself, considering the size, the environments and the conditions of function that apply in this library. The method of TQM represents a new age in the management of an organization. Its elements such as participating management, the personnel training and the responsible service of customers, are views that libraries already driven by. As a result of this, the libraries are up to improve these principles, which already have been valued positively by them and put them partially in practice. Many libraries have embarked on plans for implementing quality-related philosophies such as TQM. It is well known that TQM is a management method, that libraries can benefit from it in several ways.