A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE OPERATIONS OF FOURTEEN GOVERNMENT-SUPPORTED UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN THAILAND USING THE CRITERIA CONTAINED IN THE DRAFT UNIVERSITY STANDARDS, 1980, OF THE OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY AFFAIRS OF THAILAND

The purpose of this study was to examine administrative organization, operations, staffing, collection, development, and financial support of fourteen Thai university libraries; to determine and evaluate library services in these universities in the light of the Draft Standards for University Libraries, drawn up in 1980 by the Committee on Academic Library and Information Center Development which was appointed by the Office of University Affairs, a coordinating agency between universities and the government of Thailand.; The investigation was conducted to test six hypotheses which were related to the objectives of the study. The questionnaires were sent to the directors and chief librarians of the libraries at fourteen government-supported universities. After the questionnaires had been sent, the directors and chief librarians and to observe the library services in order to secure additional data as to the historical records of the library, the type of library facilities, the functions of technical services, and the nature of readers' services.; Comparison of existing conditions and programs of library services with the Draft Standards for University Libraries of the OUA revealed that, in most cases, the libraries in the fourteen government-supported universities did not meet the requirements of the standards. None of the libraries at the fourteen institutions was found to meet the requirements for book collections recommended by the OUA Draft Standards. It was also revealed through this comparison that the finance, personnel, and physical facilities of the libraries at the fourteen universities were below the requirements of the Draft Standards.; The findings of this study indicated that existing deficiencies in financial support, personnel, collections, and physical facilities need to be eliminated. The recommendations further study, based on the results of this survey, include the initiation of systematic surveys at periodic intervals of the government-supported university libraries; the initiation of individual library self-studies; and the evaluation of the coverage of subject areas using standardized procedures and tools in the library collections at each individual institution in terms of the goals and objectives of the university with regard to curriculum and research.