College and Research Libraries


The ·:Administration of Academic Affairs 
in Higher Education. By Robert L. Wil-
liaqts. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan 
~s, 1965. vii, 182p. $6. (65-13444). 

This is not the long awaited general text-
book in the management of university aca-
demic affairs. The title is in fact somewhat 
misleading, for the book is not a general text 
at all but fundamentally a factual report on 
the minute details of academic administra-
tion in one of th~ major universities of the 
country, the University of Michigan. The 
viewpoint is that of one of the new breed 
of academic administrators, a vice president 
who . was a professional administrator rather 
than a teacher. Such a man must accept 
policy decisions made by others and see that 
they are effected; there is little room for 
questioning or speculation. Thus the book 
is not even a true case study, for a case 
study implies the careful consideration of 
case problems and alternative solutions. In-
stead the book appears to be a procedure's 
manual, slightly enlarged, and committed to 
print. 

As a report on the details of academic 
management in one of the great universities, 
the volume is important and it does have 
value. First, any record of how one univer-
sity treats academic problems adds to the 
understanding of higher education in Amer-
ica. Second, there are numerous useful 
tables, such as those on teaching loads, sal-
aries, per student costs, · and percentage dis-
tribution of educational and general funds; 
there also are forms for faculty personnel 
records, faculty service records, depart-
mental bmlget requests, and others. Most 
of these tables and forms are taken from the 
University of Michigan, but occasionally 
others are added. There are chapters or sec-
tions on all phases of academic manage-
ment, which make interesting if not very 
lively reading. All of this information would 
be quite helpful as background for a new 
vice president in a very large university, 
though of course he should proceed with 
caution because there are a number of odd-
ities in the work, and Michigan does not 
have all of the answers. 

40 I 

Book Reviews 
The work has a number of weaknesses. 

Probably the most serious of these is the 
author's apparent lack of understanding of 
the philosophical backgrounds of higher 
education. It is true that he is in a position, 
as academic vice president, in which his ini-
tiative in this area is much curtailed by 
circumstances, and furthermore he is not in 
the center of the power structure-regents, 
president's seat, or faculty senate-where 
policy decisions are made. He should have 
demonstrated at least a sympathetic under-
standing of the nature of higher education. 
But, for example, the author finds it difficult 
to understand faculty unrest: "More than 
anything else, each school and college with-
in a university, and the university as a 
whole, would like to have a happy faculty. 
Inevitably, however, a certain amount of 
unhappiness and unrest creeps into most 
faculties ... " usually because individuals 
did not understand the terms of their ap-
pointment! Now it is an inalienable right of 
every faculty member, as unassailable as 
his right to academic freedom, to complain, 
and academic prestige requires that he do 
so. Fortunately for the administration, these 
gripings are much reduced around the ad-
ministration. Furthermore, some of the most 
eminent departments in the country have 
been notorious for virulent internal feuds. 
There is no necessary correlation between 
harmony and excellence, for there is un-
fortunately the greatest harmony in medi-
ocrity. Again, the author discusses tenure 
and cites at length Michigan rules and reg-
ulations, without even once mentioning the 
subject of academic freedom for which ten-
ure exists. As still another example, Mr. Wil-
liams has apparently never heard of Flex-
ner's four functions of a university, judging 
from the short shrift he gives to the library 
and the university press. 

The author demonstrates little under-
standing of the nature and role of the library 
in the university, having little grasp of it 
either as a research resource or as a spe-
cialized teaching agency. This is rather sur-
prising in view of the strength of the librar-
ies and the professional staff at Michigan. 
He does not seem to know that about two-



thirds of a modern university library staff 
are clerical and nonprofessional, but one-
third highly trained and qualified profes-
sional librarians and that the distinction be-
tween the two groups is very clear. He pro-
poses to class them all with secretaries and 
physical plant personnel, to deny them ten-
ure, and to refuse even a table of equiv-
alents. It is unfortunate that the achieve-
ments and progress of modern librarianship 
still are not recognized in isolated instances 
such as this. Fortunately for universities, 
most take a far different view.-Arthur Mc-
Anally, University of Oklahoma. 

Problems in Reference Service; Case 
Studies in Method and Policy. By 
Thomas J. Galvin. Foreword by Frances 
Neel Cheney. New York: R. R. Bowker 
Company, 1965. xix, 177p. $6.50. ( 65-
15285). 

Since the beginning, the profession of 
librarianship has enjoyed, in some circles, 
a reputation for a sort of charm which 
seems to have stemmed, in large measure, 
from the humorous stories told about odd 
and interesting questions answered at the 
reference desk. That reference librarians 
themselves are often witty raconteurs prob-
ably contributed to the impression that 
glamour, if any, belonged to that branch of 
the service. The value of reference work in 
maintaining good public relations is recog-
nized by everyone, but the complicated re-
lationship between the reference function 
and the other technical processes calls for 
frequent new definition, and the double-
edged responsibility of reference personnel 
to interpret the administration on one hand, 
and represent the public on the other, has 
not yet been sufficiently explored in pro-
fessional literature. 

Thomas J. Galvin's engaging textbook, 
Problems in Reference Service; Case Studies 
in Method and Policy, preserves in its nar-
rative form the fascination of the original 
reference questions; the case study method 
is well adapted to reach the beginner in the 
profession who must learn that he is not the 
only pebble on the beach even though he 
may be the glamour-boy. 

The cases are skillfully arranged to serve 
the teacher who wishes to proceed from 
trade bibliographies and serial indexes to 

Book Reviews I 41 

fact-finding reference books, coming at last 
to the more complicated encyclopedias, bio-
graphical dictionaries, annuals, and direc-
tories. Cases dealing with policy, depart-
mental administration, and the ethics of 
reference work are interspersed throughout 
the text. The settings vary from large re-
search institutions to tiny branch libraries, 
but the emphasis is on illustrations of the 
operation of a department and on the type 
of service found in college or research li-
braries. Bibliography and the selection of 
suitable editions, the needs of teachers, and 
the nature of the effective reference inter-
view loom large, but the importance of team 
work and the reference librarian's ethical 
standards are the points most forcefully 
presented. 

The author's primary purpose is to an-
alyze the reference function, but he sug-
gests modestly in the introduction that sev-
eral of the cases would be useful as well for 
a course in library administration. This is 
especially true of the one called "The Re-
organization of a Collection of Documents." 
If a special collection is to be set up, should 
the document cards be removed from the 
card catalog? The discussion takes place be-
tween the assistant librarian and the refer-
ence librarian. Doubtless for good reasons, 
the remarks of the head cataloger are not 
quoted, but neither is another pertinent 
matter indicated: what does the new docu-
ments librarian need to know about cata-
loging? Mr. Galvin provides the solutions 
for only two of the problems and this one 
is not among the number, but it would pro-
vide the material.for a lively debate in any 
library club meeting. 

Again, the case dealing with the purchase. 
of the Library of Congress catalogs is surely 
a matter of concern to other technical ser-
vices besides reference and the administra-
tion. "Participation in a Regional Union Cat-
alog" might be described with equal justice 
as a cataloger's problem, as indeed are all 
of the problems dealing with bibli~graphy. 
In other words, the uses for this interesting 
text are numerous for the whole staff, as 
well as for teachers in library schools or in-
service training. 

The use made of cases in the teaching of 
library science is ~ore comparable to med-
ical teaching practice than it is to legal case 

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