University Libraries in Greece: The Present Situation

University libraries in Greece perform poorly by the standards of most other European countries. Only two of the universities have unified campuses, and as a result there is not much library planning. Student education depends mainly on lectures and lecture notes, and teachers do not encourage reading, so that little use of the library is needed. A recent extensive survey (on which the article is based) showed that library provision is widely distributed within each university, and in several universities coordination between the various libraries is weak. Library staff are inadequate in number and training. Collections are generally small, and student provision is minimal. Materials consist almost entirely of monographs and journals. Many libraries do not use recognized cataloguing rules or classification systems. The application of automation has been slow. Services are largely restricted to consultation and lending. Cooperation is informal, as there is no national interlending system. Opening hours are relatively short. Expenditure on libraries (as on higher education generally) is low. Improvement of the situation requires action on several fronts, including the creation of a National Committee on University and Research Libraries.