ABSTRACT
Managing reference services is challenged by the influx of electronic resources in libraries. Traditional approaches to reference management lack a conceptual framework of effectiveness and emphasize mostly internal processes, downplaying the turbulent environments libraries face. The competing values approach to effectiveness is presented as a broad-based integration of four existing models of organizational effectiveness, encompassing the contradictory 112values of an internal and an external focus, a control and a flexibility orientation, and means and ends. Implications of the approach for reference management are discussed, and the movement toward diversified team structures examined as a possible solution to the problems of managing reference in the electronic age. The focus is on academic libraries but may apply to other types of libraries as well. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678. E-mail address: getinfo@haworth.com]
