College and Research Libraries EARL C. BOLTON Response of University Library Management to Changing Modes of University Governance and Control If I were founding a university I would found first a smoking room; ~hen when I had a little more money m hand I would found a dormitory; ~hen after that, or more probably with It, a decent reading room and a li- brary. Mter that, if I still had more money that I couldn't use, I would hire a professor and get some text- books. -Stephen Leacock, Oxford As I See It I BEGIN WITH THIS QUOTATION from Stephen Leacock not to deliver some kind of an attention-getting psychic shock to my auditors-( for you will note that Leacock places libraries in the cam- pus pecking order somewhere between the smoking room and textbooks)- but rather to call attention to the fact that in his listing of priorities adminis- trators do not "make the team" at all. This delightful British approach regard- ing the importance of administrators may exist in our moments of wishful- fillment on our own campuses, but in fact the top administrators in our insti- tutions of higher education have enor- mous influence in all aspects of campus This paper was presented at the Seventy- eighth meeting of the Association of Re- search Libraries held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, May 14-15, 1971, by Earl C. Bolton, Vice President of the Institutional Management Division of Booz, Allen and Hamilton, Inc. life including our libraries. My remarks are intended to explore changing patterns in campus finance and administration and to investigate the in- teraction between the central campus administration and the library adminis- tration. To do this, I am going to have to engage in one of mankind's most hazardous activities-predicting the fu- ture. I am willing to undertake this fool- hardy enterprise because of the coura- geous example set by those who selected the theme for this conference, «The Uni- versity Library in the Seventies " and assi~ned the. many anticipatory and pros- pective subJects which we will be dis- cussing today and tomorrow. For nearly thirty years as student, graduate student, faculty member and administrator, I have been attending various academic meetings, conferences and conventions. As we all know, these often are centered around the status quo, some recently concluded project of interest, the history of some worthwhile effort or the whipping of a dead horse. Although it is indeed much :,afer to whip a dead horse than to try to tame a live one, I heartily commend those who as- signed to this conference a forward- l?oking orientation and hope that, by the time we go our separate ways Sunday, we all have some slightly better in- sights into how to deal with what may tum out to be the Schizophrenic Seven- ties. In reminiscing about the 1960s in higher education in this country, I think I 305 306 I College & Research Libraries • July 1972 it is fair to characterize that decade as a time of: Great growth and expansion, Application of confrontational tactics to the campus and to campus issues, Relative affiuence, and Growing disenchantment in the minds of some donors, legislators, voters, and the "general public" (if there is such a thing) regarding the role and operations of colleges and universities. What will be the main trends on the campuses during the 1970s? If we could meet together here in 1981, what are the labels which we might attribute to this decade? All planning is based on some assumptions about the nature of our fu- ture environment, and I suggest that if we continue to speculate throughout this meeting regarding future trends, we will have the best chance of devising effec- tive professional responses for the seven- ties. As one popular comedian says, "The future lies .ahead." So let's take a look at it even though we know at the start that our guesses will be only partially accu- rate and will need constant readjustment with each passing year. I suggest that the 1970s will be for higher education a time of: Financial distress and relatively in- adequate funding, New modes of organization and ad- ministration, and New roles for the library and the li- brarian. Let us look at each of these predictions separately and explore their impact upon research libraries and the execu- tives who are responsible for their effec- tive operation. FINANCIAL DISTRESS AND RELATIVELY INADEQUATE FUNDING A very melancholy scenario has been repeating itself on our college and uni- versity campuses during the last few years. A few months before the end of the fiscal year, the chief fiscal officer goes to the chief executive and says: "It looks as if we're going to have a deficit Mr. President (Chancellor)." The chief administrative officer, of course, asks: "How much?" The chief fiscal officer says, in effect, that he is not sure, that the available data are not adequate for a considered prediction and adds that everything of course will be done to keep the deficit to a minimum. About two months after the close of the fiscal year, the president returns from lunch one day to find his office crowded with sev- eral of his colleagues-the chief fiscal of- ficer, the treasurer, the business manag- er, the budget director, the chief ac- countant, and others. The message is that the deficit was several times that which had been anticipated, and that it looks as if the year just beginning will be even worse. At this point, the chief executive rap- idly reaches several conclusions: The fiscal reports he had been receiv- ing have not been sufficiently timely or detailed for effective decision-mak- ing; He is going to have to curtail spend- ing dramatically and look for new sources of revenue; and He had better call up the chairman of the governing board and the chair- man of the finance committee imme- diately because the next board meet- ing is likely to be quite animated. As the president looks through the budget to determine where he can make savings, he is more likely than not to come up with one or all of the follow- ing questions: Can't the maintenance we had been planning for the library be deferred? Can't the library operate with a small- er and less expensive staff? Can't the acquisition of some of the books and periodicals which the li- ' -< University Governance and Control I 3f.Yl brarian says he needs be postponed until next year? Why haven't we worked out some kind of a regional arrangement with the other libraries in the area? What- ever became of that idea of central cataloging? I wonder how much we are losing because of theft from the library each year? I do not mean to suggest that the chief executive officer is going to single out the library for particularly harsh treat- ment, but I do mean that the library budget at every institution is always sufficiently large to attract attention, and that the president at least begins with the idea that perhaps there are fewer people with "tenure" and "security of employment" in the library than in many other areas of the university. He will ask himself: How can I justify continued growth of the library if all other parts of the university are going to have to re- trench? Aren't there too many Ph.D.'s being trained, and didn't I see something that indicates that we will not need to create so many Ph.D.'s in the future? Therefore, can't we cut back on the materials needed to produce Ph.D.'s? Shouldn't we charge for some of our services and try to produce support- ing income? I do not profess to have answers to these questions for the president, but I think they are likely to be very much in his mind and, therefore, specifically be- fore us as we talk about the university library in the seventies. I strongly urge that each of you imag- ines that your president is wrestling with the foregoing and related questions, and that he has just put his hand on his tele- phone to call you regarding these issues. Are you prepared to answer? W auld it not be well to list such questions and others you are going to be asked, if you haven't already been asked, and get your closest colleagues to join you in thinking about the most effective replies? For what it is worth, let me give you a note of encouragement. In the last year as a consultant I have been on more col- lege and university campuses than I had visited during the previous three decades of my association with academia. I have yet to encounter a college president, chief fiscal officer, or chairman of a gov- erning board who is planning to solve his fiscal problems at the expense of the library. This is not to say that library budgets will grow as they wish they might, but it is to emphasize that every- one I have talked to is at least giving convincing verbalization to the fact that the library is the basic core upon which the rest of the academic program always depends. If your chief executives ask you some of the questions outlined above, you may want to remind them of the following theorems: Deferred maintenance always leads either to ( 1) increased costs, ( 2) re- duced scope or ( 3) decreased quality; It isn't a fact that every book and publication available today can just as easily and economically be acquired later on; and If the campus is going to produce a single Ph.D . in a given discipline, the fact that fewer total Ph.D.'s are going to be conferred does not materially reduce library costs. In the polemics which inevitably sur- round the process of budget making, there is no way to predict which argu- ment will prove the most convincing or lead to the best results, but it can be averred with absolute certainty that if you neglect to develop the best pos- sible answers to those questions which are put to you by your harassed chief executive, you will not fare as well as you ought to in the division of whatever there is to be divided. 308 I College & Research Libraries • July 1972 NEW MODES OF ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION It does not take an organizational theorist to conclude that in recent years most of the organizations, particularly the major bureaucracies, in our society are in trouble. The structure of our government, our military, our churches, our corporations, and our educational in- stitutions do not seem to be able to cope with many of the problems confronting them. One reason is that our organiza- tional patterns and procedures are based on principles of hierarchy and obedience which simply do not work as well in colleges in 1971 as they did in churches in the :B.fth century. It is a fas- cinating anomaly that, in an organiza- tion made up of highly intellectual and rational men, some of the most archaic procedures and principles of organization are tolerated without question and cor- rection. If you have any doubt as to the primitive nature of academia today, just contemplate-with heartfelt sympathy- the information input overload which your chief executive must endure. During the 1970s we will see a great change in the structure of and proce- dures followed in higher education. The organization will change from its traditional form to a much more viable and humane structure where lateral interchange is encouraged. Governing boards will acknowledge and accept their more fundamental policy-making role and leave adminis- tration to the administrators. Decision-making will grow out of a much broader base of consensus and will be much less secretive and ar- bitrary. The campus radical and his sympa- thetic faculty supporter will adopt the posture of relentless gradualism rather than the role of violent disruption. For more than 300 years, the basic structure of our universities and col- leges in this country has remained about the same. The decade of the 1970s is likely to see many experiments and some lasting innovations in how we live together. This decade may witness a breakdown of departmental autonomy and of the artificial divisions we have established in the realm of man's knowl- edge. Within a few years we may wit- ness the election of our chief executives on some pattern not unlike the British universities. What is wrong with the idea that no university president will be hired for more than a £xed term (say £ve years) after which his performance will be reviewed, and he might be subject to a reappointment for an additional term if his performance warrants it? I do not really know whether in 1979 our chief executives will be elected by their peers or chosen for a £xed term by the governing board, but I do know that the role of the president or the chancellor has become highly unmanageable, vir- tually untenable and little of the fun and reward which once existed in this job still remains. Therefore the role of the president ( chancellor), the organization of top administration, and many of the procedures which we have lived with in the past are likely to change during this decade. If I am right and these kinds of changes are imminent, it is imperative that the librarian analyze how he £ts into this process of change and where he wants to come out when the dust set- tles. H ere are some ideas we may want to argue about during the question peri- od: Should the campus librarian become a university-wide official at the sec- ond echelon? Why not establish the position of vice president for univer- sity libraries? Shouldn't the governing board have a standing committee (or subcommittee) on libraries? Or at least shouldn't the board hear a presentation concerning .I University Governance and Control I 309 the libraries at least once or twice each academic year? Should not the university librarian, because of the universal impact his activities have on virtually every as- pect of campus life, sit with the high- est advisory body to the president? A fair amount is being written these days about the symptoms, causes and treatment of neurotic organizations. The thesis is that organizations, like individ- uals, develop neuroses, and unless these matters are treated, the fundamental work for which the organization was originated suffers greatly. My point is that many of our institutions, including universities and colleges, have become neurotic and that pressures will be very great during the 1970s to change their organization and procedures in an at- tempt to correct these faults and make the institutions more capable of fulfilling their basic roles in modern society. The university librarian should consider this thesis with great care, and if he finds it to have merit he should plan the role he feels he ought to fulfill in a restruc- tured university and work toward achievement of that goal. If the univer- sity librarian merely rides the reorganiza- tional hurricane which I am predicting for the seventies, like a shuttlecock in a tempest, he could emerge in a less influ- ential and effective position in the new structure than he holds in the present structure. NEw RoLES FOR THE LmRARY AND THE LmRARIAN Speculations about the proper admin- istrative status of the librarian lead to questions about the role he should play during the seventies. As a starter, let me suggest that the librarian during this decade ought to become very much more of a planner than has traditionally b een his inclination. Planning is the orderly means used by an organization to ·establish effective con- trol over its own future. As you know, to be effective any plan you devise for the future of your library must be log- ical, comprehensive, flexible, action-ori- ented, and formal. Further, it must extend into the future and involve human resources. I give this definition and enu- merate these elements not only for the record but to stress that it is _ your re- sponsibility to engage in planning wheth- er anyone else around the campus is doing so or not. During the 1960s, when growth was rampant, optimism was in the air and relative affiuence existed, planning hardly seemed necessary (at least very few were seriously undertak- ing it). When an enterprise is burgeon- ing, the enthusiasm of growth seems to carry it on toward adequate handling of the challenges ahead. When the fiscal horizons are bleak and retrenchment is indicated, planning is crucial but much more difficult to accomplish. And the more difficult planning becomes, the more important it is for the creative ex- ecutive to undertake this painful process. Accentuate your role therefore as a planner. The librarian also should acknowledge his role as a fund raiser. , (Are those sighs or groans I hear among you?) I am afraid it is inevitable that, just as surely as the president will single out the library for cost reduction opportu- nities, he will ask the librarian to assist in raising additional funds. His questions will include the following: Can we charge something more for our services? . Can you organize a "fri~nds of the li- brary" or can you somehow stimulate additional memberships for an exist- ing group? The easiest response for you to make at this juncture is to insist that you are ali- brarian, not a fund raiser. But I urge you to consider another alternative. Al- though development officers will loudly proclaim an opposite view, there is noth- 310 I College & Research Libraries • July 1972 ing mysterious about the art of raising funds, but if you do not personally savor this activity, ask the president for a pro- fessional to help you. It is still true that if you provide a professional fund raiser with his administrative costs, 10 percent, 12 percent, or 15 percent, or stated other- wise, 10 cents, 12 cents, or 15 cents, he can raise for you a dollar. If he is a true professional he will stop asking for additional administrative pump-priming dollars if he concludes that they can't produce new benefactions. Unless you are serving an exceptional institution, your campus is in poor, difficult and, in some cases, dire financial straits. My recommendation is that instead of avoiding the responsibility for fund rais- ing you reach for it and ask for the help you need if fund raising is not among your many skills. Also become an innovator. Innovation always costs money and, therefore, may seem a little inconsistent with the points I have just made. However, innovation pursued by thoughtful and dedicated executives will increase effectiveness and decrease costs. It seems clear to me that the current popularity of selfstudy programs, .. uni- versities without walls," .and expanded adult education will greatly increase the requirements of the library. The tidal wave is coming and several of the sub- jects in the program of this meeting recognize its imminence. Can you not demonstrate to your president that time- ly preparation for the inevitable on- slaught will prove economical in the end? In short, I am urging that you seize the initiative and point out where future shock is going to hit the library. This is the decade of Educom, Edunet, communications satellites, facsimile trans- mission, and burgeoning opportunities for visu al outreach. We are close to the time when thousands of students, hun- dreds of miles .apart, will be able to lis- ten to the most distinguished professor in a given field discuss the most recent innovations and his latest thoughts about them. By the end of the 1970s we will surely have data transmission systems which will allow you to call up from a distant place a document needed by one of your users. Too expensive, your pres- ident may say, but can we not convince him that the costs of this equipment will be far less than building and main- taining adequate collections in every area your users may require? Further, the librarian must remain flexible, and here I may be treading upon the thinnest ice yet encountered. I predict that you have on your staff many who are almost too rigid, meticu- lous, and precise. Indeed, these traits may have led them into the orderliness and symmetry of cataloging systems and the joys of collecting and arranging hu- man knowledge. You would not have emerged as a qualified administrator if you had not been able to deal effec- tively with these tendencies in the staff. But I am urging that even greater flex- ibility among librarians may be called for in the future. Standing as you are at that point where so many forces con- verge, it may become necessary to accept many more compromises than have here- tofore proved .acceptable. You stand at that focus where financial pressures, in- creased user demands, vast expansion of printed materials and improved tech- niques of publishers and book salesmen converge. The delays in acquiring, cata- loging, and shelving a book may not re- sult from traditional and rigid prac- tices but many administrators and users think so to the detriment of library budg- ets. A genuine effort by the library staff to evince flexibility and creativity will enhance performance and dispel the idea that libraries are suffering from admin- istrative arthritis. In summary, the decade of the 1970s will be a time of dramatic change in our fiscal lives, our organizations' structures and procedures and the roles which all of us, including librarians, will be ex- .. University Governance and Control I 311 pected to play. To anticipate these changes and reflect on how to meet them is to go far toward solving the prob- lems which are inescapable in the dec- ade ahead. Perhaps the greatest challenge facing any of us in the seventies is to keep constantly in mind the fundamental mis- sion of the university. We become so caught up in program budgets, structure, procedures, personnel forms, requisitions, labor negotiations and hardware that we are tempted to lose sight of what the institution of higher education is all about. The idea that we are involved in the preservation, transmission, testing, augmentation, and application of human knowledge is so exciting that it makes the strains, anxieties, and frustrations seem worthwhile. My remarks have been at times bleak and at times threatening. For my own psychic comfort, I would like to end with two quotations which underscore the importance of the university and of your work. The first is the brief state- ment of James Bryant Conant taken from his notes on the Harvard tercenten- ary: "He who enters a university walks on hallowed ground." The second are the words of Thomas Carlyle from his "The Hero as Man of Letters": "The true uni- versity of these days is a collection of books." The 1970s will be difficult and frus- trating years, but being a part of a uni- versity, you are directly involved with that entity which is likely to provide the best hope for mankind's growth, enrich- ment, and perhaps even his survival; and as both keepers and protectors of a man's knowledge, and as stimulators to its testing and use, you are at the very core of the university community. I wish you continued success in your vast- ly important undertaking.