1. Assume that you are the librarian of an independent research library where the users are primarily scholars. You have been asked to organize a valuable set of ca. 2,000 government propaganda pamphlets relating to World War I. Discuss the issues that you would consider in devising a method or system to organize these materials and make them accessible. Include specific suggestions for solving some of the organizational problems you would face in such an assignment.

2. Writing in a recent Library Journal, Eldred Smith stated: "It is, however, becoming increasingly clear that the book and other print products have also had a limiting effect on knowledge's spread and advancement. Print imprisons knowledge by the very means through which it promotes its availability: access to the contents of a book can only be achieved if one physically possesses a copy of that book. The new electronic information technology has begun to demonstrate print's limitations more clearly than any other development over the past 500 years because it provides the means to overcome these limitations. Indeed, as the electronic age progresses, it is gradually freeing recorded knowledge from its print confinement." Compare and contrast the liberating and confining aspects of print and electronic media and discuss the role of libraries and archives in a multimedia future.

3. Ethical codes for librarians and archivists have been criticized because they lack a mechanism for enforcement Some critics have even suggested that a code is worthless unless it can be enforced. Do you agree? Discuss the role of ethical codes for librarians and archivists.

4. Materials which are assigned to the "special collections department" (rare books, manuscripts, prints, music) of a library often consume a sizable portion of the budget. In these days of limited funding, special collections librarians must develop strategies for ensuring the continued growth of their collections. Describe some of these strategies, paying particular attention to those plans that affect acquisitions and staffing.

5. Critics have pointed out that current cataloging practices were conceived in a manual environment and should be changed to serve users better in the current technological environment. Discuss what improvements might be necessary and possible. Consider what difficulties might be involved.

6. In 1885, the St. Louis Public Library created the position of "library hostess." The "library hostess" welcomed newcomers (many of whom were immigrants) to the library, and assisted them in learning to use this resource. This innovation, adopted in many other libraries, has often been cited as significant in the development of modern reference service concepts. To what degree do you think that the "hostess" metaphor suits actual, present-day reference services? To what extent might this metaphor apply to future roles of reference librarians?

7. Name the type of library, archives, or information center in which you plan to work in your first professional position. What are the major challenges to intellectual freedom in that type of institution? Single out two of these challenges and discuss why you believe these areas to be troublesome, and propose ways to combat censorship in these areas.

8. Virtually every theory of management presupposes an understanding of the environment in which an organization operates. Discuss the factors that might influence the most effective style of management for library directors in various types of libraries (academic, public, school, special).

9. The recent meeting of the Potomac Technical Processing Librarians had as its theme, "The Collection Connection: Technical Services and Collection Development." Describe the relationship between the work of collection development and technica services specialists, including acquisitions librarians and catalogers. Discuss the ways in which these connections are changing and how such connections might be improved.

10. In response to escalating acquisitions costs, problems of efficient document delivery, physical space constraints, and preservation problems, librarians are increasingly considering the substitution of electronic collections (the "virtual library") for a traditional library of actual documents. Discuss the desirability and problems of the virtual library compared with the actual library from the users' point of view.

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