Subject specialization in British university libraries: A second survey

Reports results of a survey of UK university libraries to study the nature and degree of subject specialization practised there, as a follow up to a similar study conducted 15 years earlier (Journal of Librarianship, 14, (2), April 1982, 93-108, (LISA ref. 834342)). For the purposes of comparison the present survey, which was sent to chief librarians, covers those same institutions studied in 1981 and, consequently, does not include the new universities that were formerly polytechnics. Libraries are classified into the same five categories of specializations as in the previous study: functional; dual; hybrid; 3 tier; and subject divisional. The expectation from the earlier study - that subject specialization would become less feasible in the future - has not been realized. Whereas the question had appeared to be one of whether university libraries could afford the services of subject librarians, 15 years later the challenge to their existence appears more profound.