College and Research Libraries GARDNER HANKS and C. JAMES SCHMIDT An Alternative Model of a Profession for Librarians The traditional model of a profession based on the literature of sociology is presented and critiqued. The model is found to include elements which encourage resistance to change. An alternative model is proposed, based on the open systems paradigm from General Sys- tems Theory, which is more hospitable to change. The alternative is applied to librarianship, and some of its implications are discussed. wHILE A GOOD DEAL OF LIBRARY LIT- ERATURE has been devoted to the profes- sional status of librarianship, one fun- damental question about professional- ism has rarely, if ever, been addressed with the explicitness and detail it de- serves. This question is whether or not the established model of professional- ism is an ideal to which librarianship should aspire. Until recently to ask such a question would have bordered on sac- rilege. There was only one model of a profession, and it was based on the two venerable professions of medicine and law. For a librarian, a member of an oc- cupation which could not seem to cross the professional line of demarcation no matter how hard it tried, to challenge the traditional concepts of professional- ism seemed a classic example of sour grapes. Now, however, because of long- term developments and current scandals, the two godheads of professionalism have begun to look mortal. We have slowly come to the realization that our Gardner Hanks is a student in the School of Library and Information Science, State University of New York at Albany. C. ]ames Schmidt is director of libraries, State University of New York at Albany. medical and legal systems are social dis- aster areas and that, in part, the profes- sions charged with their upkeeping are responsible for their deterioration. By using the traditional rhetoric of profes- sionalism to oppose needed social changes, we have overlooked the fact that even law and medicine are, in many ways, turning away from the traditional professional model. Thus, we can now look at the tradi- tional professional model with a skepti- cism and realism that was not possible even a few years ago. When we do, we find there is an intrinsic conflict be- tween the model of professionalism to which librarianship has aspired and the ability of this model to accommodate change. The traditional paradigm rein- forces conservatism in the face of change. For example, new developments in theory are seen as threats to the estab- lished body of knowledge. Increased complexity in library organizations is feared because it is seen as reducing professional autonomy (to the extent that librarians ever enjoyed any). New types of agencies that provide informa- tion services to groups who have not been adequately served by the library, and are alienated from it, are resisted 1175 176 I College & Research Libraries • May 1975 by libr.arianship as encroachments on its professional monopoly. Forces of . change, in other words, become the an- titheses of the basic characteristics of professionalism. The traditional paradigm of profes- sionalism encourages a static condition which is incompatible with the dyna- mism inherent in a truly client-centered (including non-user clients) profession- al orientation. This essay is an attempt to detail the faults of the traditional model of · professionalism, to examine why librarianship cannot and should not aspire to this model, and to suggest an alternative which is both more pro- fessional, in the sense of a profession as a calling, and more user oriented. This essay may also shed some light on the conflicts which are endemic to an emerging profession. CHARACTERISTICS OF A PROFESSION The literature of the sociology of the professions includes many attempts to list the distinctive features or differentia of a profession.1 The various attempts to delineate the characteristics of a pro- fession began with Flexner in 1915, con- tinued through the fifties with the work of Cogan, Greenwood, and Hughes, and extended through the sixties and seven- ties with the work of Goode, Vollmer and Mills, Parsons, Etzioni, and Paval- ko.2-10 A review of these and other sources suggests the following catalog of attributes of a profession: 1. An organized body of systematic and theoretical knowledge 2. Primary orientation to the commu- nity interest rather than to indi- vidual self-interests 3. Autonomy 4. Group control of practice through licensure and codes of ethics 5. Professional organization 6. Monopoly 7. Community sanction After reviewing these efforts to define a profession, Barber concludes: "Theo- retical and methodological consensus is not yet so great among sociologists that there is any absolute agreement on the definition of the professions."11 What does seem to receive unanimous agree- ment from the more recent writers is the concept of professionalism as a con- tinuum, not a dichotomy: that is, the characteristics of a profession may be possessed by an occupational group in varying degrees, and the degree to which any characteristic is present in such a group may vary over time. In the classic essay on professionalism vis-a-vis li- brarianship, Goode makes this point: Any traits used in the definition of the term "profession" must be conceived as variables, forming a continuum along which a given occupation may move. Instead of the dichotomy of "professional/ non-professional," we use the variable of "professionalism," and we may ask how far an occupation has moved in the direction of in- creased or decreased professionalism.12 What is clear from this list of attri- butes, and from . other similar lists, is that law and medicine have served as the paradigms on which such lists have been based. However, it has been point- ed out by Becker that there is a sub- stantial gap between the symbol and the reality, even in the paradigmatic cases. 13 Doctors often surrender individual au- tonomy for group practices, clinics, re- search and training, public health, and other types of nonindividualistic-type practices. Doctors do not in fact monop- olize health care services but rather share these functions, albeit reluctantly, with osteopaths and chiropractors, among others. Thus, the model of professionalism appears to be wanting in some respects and, in any case, is still not based on consensus. Rather than abandon this model, however, let us first see how it fits librarianship, and then, informed by this application, examine specific crit- icisms and propose an alternative. LIBRARIANSHIP: A PROFESSION? In his essay Goode concluded that li- brarianship was not a profession and not likely to become one. His argument was based on the assumption that pro- longed training in a body of abstract knowledge and a service orientation are the two "central generating traits" of a profession. 14 The specific knowledge which a librarian must have is not clear- ly defined, according to Goode, .and the service orientation, in the case of the li- ?rari~n, u~ually connotes a passive help- Ing, 1.~., s1mple reaction to the patron's expressed needs, rather than a more ac- tive sense of service in the manner of doctors and lawyers. A second analysis of libr.arianship as a profession, by Bundy and W asser.man viewed librarians in terms of three rna~ jor structural relationships: with clients· with the institution in which librarian~ perform; and with their professional group. In all three relationships, the authors judged librarians to lack those traits which mark professionals. Li- brarians do not create or demand the kind of institutional environment which optimizes professional commit- ment and minimizes employee require .. ments. Finally, the major professional organization for librarians, the Ameri .. can Library Association, has assumed a primary focus which is political rather than professional. Thus, libr.arianship was seen as incompletely professional- ized and on the margin of full profes- sionalization.15 CRITIQUE OF THE MODEL OF PROFESSIONALISM If librarianship is a marginal profes- ·sion, a semi-profession, or is, in other words, possessed of less than fully de- veloped professionalism, the question arises as to where it should go from here. The issue of where librarianship should go in its development along this continuum, however, is logically preced- Alternative Model I 177 ed by the question of whether it is de- sirable to pursue the traditional model of professionalism however elusive or ill-defined. In short, if the traditional model can be shown to be defective and inappropriate to librarianship: should it not be discarded and some al- ternative model developed and aspired to? This rhetorical question is meant to suggest that the traditional model is de- fective and, therefore, dysfunctional to the professionalization of libr.arianship. Five specific defects in the model will be discussed below. The first weakness in the model is the notion of an organized body of knowl- edge. There is a somewhat naive pre- sumption that the systematic body of theory which supports professional practice implies a commitment to ra- tionality and, therefore, to scientific mindedness, which will be manifest in a willingness to change. 16 This view does not differentiate enough among different types of knowledge (some of which are nonscientific); and it "overemphasizes the role of scientific knowledge and its attendant consequences, such as ration- ality and readiness for change."17 The unwillingness of many so-called profes- sions to incorporate new developments suggests that rationality and susceptibil- ity to change may not be the dominant characteristic or happy consequence of their 'bodies of knowledge." A second weakness of traditional pro- fessionalism is the potential negation of the concept of community service by other elements of the model. It is not unusual, for example, for the concept of autonomy to clash with and override that of community interest. A case in point was the New York City teachers' strike in the fall of 1968. The teachers walked out because they felt inter alia that community control of the schools threatened their independence and free judgment in the classroom.18 In a simi- lar and continuing case, the medical profession has put up a stubborn fight 178 I College & Research Libraries • May 1975 against much-needed national health care insurance and peer review mech- anisms because such programs are seen as seriously limiting a doctor's auton- omy. While it may be that all conflicts between community service and other elements of professionalism are not re- solved in favor of the more self-serving interests, examples among the profes- sions have been common enough to cre- ate nationwide concern about the mo- tives of many professional groups. Thus, the conflict between the concept of community interest .and other aspects of the professional model is perhaps the most visible weakness of the tradi- tional model of a profession. Third, the traditional model places a premium on autonomy for the prac- ticing professional, as in medicine and law. Indeed, Friedson goes so far as to say: "From the single condition of self- direction, or autonomy, I believe we can deduce or derive virtually all the other institutional elements that are included in most definitions of professions."19 The epitome of this idealized autonomy is a fee-for-service client-professional relationship. It is clear, however, that fewer and fewer professionals in any field are practicing in such totally indi- vidualized patterns. Both doctors and lawyers are increasingly found practic- ing in organizational (bureaucratic) settings, such as clinics, hospitals, large law firms, and governmental agencies. Furthermore, as a society becomes more complex and urbanized, it also becomes more bureaucratized. Of course, this trend is not without its problems for professionalization,20 but the tendency in many occupational groups is clearly away from individual professional practice and toward group practices and/ or organizational settings. Another aspect of autonomy as it is used in the traditional professional model is that it is assumed to be a quan- titative phenomenon-the question is how much does an occupational group have. Bureaucratization suggests that qualitative dimen~ions of autonomy may be of equal, if not greater, impor- tance in the future. The question of the future will not be "how much?" but rather "what kind?" Friedson's concept of dominance, 21 developed in his studies of the medical profession, suggests one conceptualization of qualitative aspects of autonomy. In the case of the health occupations, medicine occupies a unique position relative to all the other allied occu- pational groups. It has the authority to direct and evaluate the work of oth- ers without in tum being subject to formal direction and evaluation by them.22 While the division of the labor force in libraries is not yet so variegated that the concept of dominance developed for the study of the health occupations has direct applicability, the distinction be- tween quantitative and qualitative di- mensions of autonomy is viable for li- brarianship. For example, in what re- spects do library procedures impose a uniformity on all librarian-patron in- teraction? To what extent are librarians themselves treated differentially by the organization of which they are a part? A fourth weakness in the traditional model of a profession is the notion of monopoly. As Rueschemeyer points out, this "assumes a high degree of societal and intraprofessional consensus."23 This consensus, however, does not occur. What is more likely is a high degree of intraprofessional conflict, except where serious extraprofessional threats exist. 24 The fifth principal weakness of the traditional model is the issue of com- munity sanction and the implication that there is a marked differentiation in competence between the client and the professional. 25 This is more likely to be true in the case of medicine-although not always-and is certainly less true of law and some of the human relations occupations. 26 As a result of the vari- ance in the competence differential be- tween client and professional, it is prob- able that, contrary to some sociological speculation, clients are increasingly given to "shopping around" and to eval- uations of professional services. That this occurs suggests some competence, however ignorant or informed, on the part of clients to make qualitative judg- ments about the professional services they receive. The traditional model does have some basic flaws. The five discussed here can be summed up by the notion that the model is not sufficiently dynamic to ab- sorb the changes that are occurring both in the community as a whole and in the professions themselves. Given this un- adaptability, it would seem reasonable to conclude that the model would be dysfunctional for any occupational group whose environment is undergoing rapid and important changes. The dis- cussion below turns to a presentation of some of the changing conditions in li- brarianship, changes which suggest a need for an alternative professional model. LIBRARIANSHIP: THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT Social institutions are affected by movements in the society around them, and the library is no exception. Though it would be possible to list any number of social changes which are affecting li- braries, we will discuss only four: the media revolution; the coming of age of computer technology; the demand for community control; and the increasing awareness of the social responsibilities of libraries and librarians. Each of these has important consequences. First, the media revolution. The cru- cial issue for librarianship in the "mul- timedia age" is how libraries should re- late to the whole contemporary machin- ery of public communication. If the dire predictions of some McLuhanites have not all been realized, it is still true Alternative Model I 179 that when it comes to reading, the me- dium is the message. Should libraries focus only on the literate groups in the population? This issue was raised by the Public Library Inquiry of the Social Re- search Council in 1948,27 and there seem to be no more consensually based an- swers today than there were then. While this issue is generally seen as more cru- cial for public libraries, analogies exist for academic libraries in the develop- ment of learning resources centers (in lieu of libraries) in community colleges, liberal arts colleges, and on some uni- versity campuses, as well as in the trans- formation of school libraries into in- structional resource centers. The ubiqui- ty of television compounds the prob- lem, as does the increasing availability of cable television. The awesome power of computer technology is also a major force of change in the library work environment. The potential of computers has implica- tions not only for internal library oper- ations but also for library services. As data transmission rates drop and as banks of cataloging data in computer- readable form grow, the prospects of on-line shared cataloging systems are being realized. 28 This development is anxiously awaited by some library ad- ministrators who believe it will help re- duce the soaring costs of preparing li- brary materials for users, but it has ob- vious conflict · potential for those peo-· pie whose professional self-image is tied up with nonmechanical individualized methods of cataloging materials. In the same manner, blanket order plans and other mechanizable means of acquiring materials are welcomed by administra- tors but viewed with alarm by those whose professional existence is bound up with title-by-title methods of select- ing and collecting materials. Another dimension of the computer revolution is the growing demand for services from computer-readable data bases-bibliographic and nonbiblio- 180 I College & Research Libraries • May 1975 graphic. In effect, a new medium has been added to those already competing for .attention and resources. This new medium, however, hrings along with it staggering problems of software devel- opment, hardware expense, and new, unfamiliar occupational categories. One manifestation of the demand for these services is the growing concern for what used to be called computer utilities and are now called mass infor- mation utilities. 29 Parker writes of them in this way: This new communication medium can be described as looking like a combi- nation of a television set and a type- writer, functioning like a combination of a newspaper and a library, and per- mitting a communication network that is something of a combination of a telephone and a telegraph system. It has one radical new property that previous mass media lack: what is transmitted over the communication channel is controlled more directly by the receiver rather than the sender of the message. ao A third major force in the changing environment of librarianship is repre- sented by what has been called "commu- nity control." In its usual form this means at least direct community parti- cipation on governing boards of social and political agencies, if not complete community control of these agencies or their localized outlets, such as elemen- tary schools or branch libraries. A mod- erate statement of this point of view for libraries by Field proposes that "the librarians should be given a budget to use for programs that the staff, with the help of the community, decide are legit- imate and necessary for the library ... .''at Fourth and finally, librarians, as well as other occupational groups, are devel- oping an increased sensitivity to their social responsibilities. The establish- ment of the Social Responsibilities Round Table ( SRRT) by the American Library Association is evidence of this concern. Let it be acknowledged here that SRRT was born in haste and with much pain, but the important point is that there is now .an officially articulat- ed awareness of these responsibilities. Social responsibilities, or "the relation- ships that librarians and libraries have to nonlibrary problems that relate to the social welfare of our society,"32 have been recognized as an important part of librarianship's ever-changing environ- ment. There are, of course, other sources of change in the milieu of librarianship that could be included here. However, these four examples make it clear that libraries and librarians face enormous technological and social changes both inside and outside the library. Librari- anship is in the process of becoming something other than it has been. AN ALTERNATIVE: THE OPEN SYSTEMs MoDEL OF PRoFESSIONALISM To recapitulate the argument to this point: we have argued that the tradi- tional model of a profession is deficient in several ways, the most important of which is its discouragement of change; that librarianship is a marginal profes- sion in terms of that model; and that there are major forces of change at work in the library environment; .all of which suggest that the traditional model of a profession does not meet the needs of librarianship and that an alternative model of a profession is essential if this concept is to be applied to librari- ans or to any occupational group whose environment is undergoing rapid and massive changes. In developing an alternative model of a profession, we have based our work on the ideas of General Systems Theory (CST) as expressed by von Bertalanffy, Buckley, Kast and Rosen- zweig, and Katz and Kahn. 33-36 Basically, CST defines two types of systems: closed and open. Closed systems exist in the realm of the physical sciences; they Open System Characteristic 1. Input-throughput-output cycle 2 . Feedback 3. Negative entropy 4. Dynamic equilibrium 5. Differentiation 6. Equifinality Alternative Model I 181 Professional Characteristic 1. Interdependency between the profession and the community 2. Constant communication between the pro- fession and the community concerning the needs of the community, the ways in which the profession can meet these needs, and the effectiveness of professional activities that are in operation 3. Security based on social, political, and eco- nomic support of the community 4. Ability to adapt to changes in the social environment 5. Specialization 6. Flexibility of methods; creativity Fig. 1 Open System and Professional Characteristics tend to be governed by absolute laws; and they are characterized by a tendency toward a static equilibrium, i.e., they cannot grow or adapt to changes in their environment. Open systems, on the other hand, i.TI- teract extensively with their surround- ings. They import energy from their en- vironment, transform this energy into some product or service, and export the product or service back into the environ- ment. The export creates more energy in the environment which can be imported to repeat the same input-throughput-out- put cycle. Another important input that is typical in open systems is feedback, information from the environment that indicates general conditions of the sys- tem's surroundings and also the effects that the system's activities are having on these conditions. Besides the cycle of in- put-throughput-output, and feedback, open systems are also characterized by negative entropy, i.e., the ability to store some of the energy that they in- put. This stored energy can then be used when emergency situations arise. In addition to the traits described above, open systems also typically have a dynamic equilibrium, that is, they have the ability to adapt to alterations in environmental conditions through growth or other internal changes. More- over, because the various functions of open systems can become quite complex, they often can develop specialized parts to perform different functions. This process is known as differentiation. Last- ly, open systems are characterized by equifinality, the ability to reach a given condition by several different paths. From these major characteristics of open systems, 37 it can be deduced that biological organisms are typical exam- ples of ~is type of system, but it is also obvious that social organizations and institutions may exhibit the qual- ities of open systems. Though it would be unfair to charac- terize the traditional model of a profes- sion as a totally closed system, this model does tend to picture professions as untouched by the concerns and needs of a society which serves as their en- vironment. Only the attribute of com- munity interest within the traditional model opens it to the environment, but, as we have pointed out above, even this one open quality tends to be contradict- ed and overridden by other characteris- tics in the model. The model of professionalism we propose, then, is one that recognizes that a profession, as a social phenomenon, must interact with its environment. The characteristics of open systems profes- sionalism are based on the characteris- tics of open systems, as shown in Figure 1. In terms of librarianship, such a 182 j College & Research Libraries • May 1975 model would mean a primary commit- ment to users and a primary concern for information. Open systems librari- anship would import energy from the environment (the community) in the form of money, social and political in- fluence, and raw information. Then, using feedback about the needs of the community, librarians would transform this energy into library services which would be released back into the environ- ment. The community would in turn generate more energy (information) and feedback which would be imported for repetition of the cycle. lMPLICA TIONS OF OPEN SYSTEMS LmRARIANSmP A primary commitment to users and a primary focus on information have six important implications for libraries. First, such a philosophy would result in libraries which are concerned with their clients both in terms of time and in terms of '~pace." Lefton and Rosen- gren call these two dimensions longitu- dinality (time) and laterality (space). Longitudinality is defined as the period of time during which an organization is interested in its clients-short, as in the case of an emergency room in a hos- pital, and indefinite, as in the case of a long-term psychiatric facility. Lateral- ity is defined as the number of aspects of the client as a person which are of concern to the organization-again, the contrast between the emergency room and psychiatric care in an outpatient setting. In the latter case the organiza- tion concerns itself with the totality of the client as a person in society. 38 Libraries have historically professed a high longitudinal and a high lateral orientation. However, functionally they have operated as high longitudinal but low lateral, because traditionally librar- ies have had little interest in the needs of the public other than their reading habits. Maximized laterality requires that other behavior besides that of read- ing be regarded as organizationally rele- vant for libraries. A primary commitment to clients and a primary orientation to information, in terms of objectives and in terms of services, would make libraries high both on longitudinality and on laterality. For example, high laterality would suggest that lack of literacy on the part of po- tential library users is a viable rationale for developing an appropriate library service. Similarly, lack of adequate in- formation about basic welfare benefits and facilities or legal rights would be- come a valid basis for initiating a li- brary program to meet these needs. The need for the library to achieve a high lateral as well as a high longi- tudinal concern for its clientele suggests that a second major consequence of open systems librarianship would be the development of more client-centered roles for librarians, and the concurrent deprofessionalization of functional roles, such .as cataloging and reference. Already the activities of children's li- brarians, young adults' librarians, adult services librarians, community coordina- tors, 39 subject bibliographers, 40 and spe- cial librarians have been developed around the needs of specific groups of clients within the community. Because these librarians have been able to con- centrate their attention on particular subgroups of the population rather than dealing with general problems, they have been able to learn more about their clientele's problems and interests, and have built special programs around these needs. Such customized service would be the hallmark of the open sys- tems library. Client-centered service would be expanded to include every ma- jor social, vocational, and intellectual group in the community. At the same time that the open sys- tems library would be requiring new client-centered roles for librarians, it would be phasing out the traditional media-centered roles as professional ac- Alternative Model I 183 tivities. The first step in this deemphasis rights of access to the channels of com- would be the replacement of the tradi- munication, sources of information, tional functional organization of the and arenas of decision making that are library with one based on the types of shared by all other members. Further- clients served.41 Rather than the li- more, it becomes easier, if clients are brary' s organization being based around members, to gain support for resistance technical services, public services, and to censorship and budget cuts, since administration, · the main divisions - such issues will tend to have more mean- would be based on groups of clients ing and relevance for members of an within the community (e.g., a depart- organization than for those who stand ment for children, a department for outside its boundaries. the Spanish-speaking, and so forth). It is obvious, however, that clients Functional operations would be carried would have neither the time nor the de- out either by a centralized division or sire to concern themselves with the day- by functional workers in each client- to-day operations of the library. Thus, centered department. In either case, a major part of the librarians' task functional operations would be sub- would be to represent the different ordinated to the client-centered concerns points of view of different parts of the of the library. community to the library as a whole. At A second and more controversial step the same time they would also be re- would be the removal of the Master's sponsible for representing the activities degree requirement for the practitioners and the limitations of the library to the of the functional roles. Rather than segments of the population they serve. requiring an M.L.S. for these tasks, a Such a role would require thorough Bachelor's degree in some subject spe- knowledge of both the needs of the cli- ciality with a designated number of un- ent groups and the resources in the li- dergraduate library science courses brary and in the community that could could be enough to qualify a person for be mustered to meet these needs. In ad- basic cataloging and reference work as clition to this background knowledge, well as for other functional positions however, the librarians would need to in the library. The functional tasks of maintain communication between them- libr.arianship, in other words, would be selves and the groups and individuals returned to the holders of undergradu- that best represent the interests of their ate degrees, while the client-centered entire client group. It would be through roles would be the province of those these contacts that the clients would re- with higher credentials. ceive and maintain their membership A third consequence of the open sys- in the library organization. terns model raises the issue of the client- A fourth consequence of the open professional relationship. This relation- systems model would change the role of ship is most usefully considered if eli- library administrator from one of su- ents are seen as members of an organi- pervision to one of coordination. The zation, which implies a symmetrical or open systems library would have to be reciprocal relationship between the two much more open to the participation of rather than the asymmetrical one that nonadministrative personnel in the de- is implied in the individual-practice, cision-making process. As representatives fee-for-service setting. If patrons are of the various constituencies of the li- seen as members of the library's organi- brary, client-oriented librarians would zation, then the issue of client advocacy need and demand to have input into all is more easily resolved, since the mem- major planning and policy decisions. hers of an organization have natural The role of library administrators in 184 j College & Research Libraries • May 1975 decision making would not be to make decisions arbitrarily, but to add their own administrative information (e.g., cost estimates, personnel requirements, and amount of available resources) and to act as mediators between the various viewpoints as expressed by the librari- ans. In essence, the library administrator would be the librarian representing the entire community interest. As such a representative, he or she would have to be able to see the long-term results of proposed programs as well as how such programs would fit into the total pat- tern of library service. It would be the responsibility of the administrator not only to support change that would be beneficial in the long run, but also to re- sist change that, while appearing effi- cient and apt in the short term, would prove to be dysfunctional to client ser- vices over a longer period of time. The administrator, then, would have · to be a persuasive advocate both for change and for moderation. A fifth consequence of the client-in- formation orientation affects the organi- zational environment of libraries. In general,· four work settings are found among professionals. The first is that of individual practice, which, as we sug- gested above, is decreasing in impor- tance among other professionals and has never been the norm for librarians. Three other work settings have dis- tinct organizational structures. There are autonomous professional · organiza- tions, such as law firms, medical clinics, and architectural firms. In these cases the professionals themselves determine the organizational structure and are their own source of authority. This set- ting is not commonplace in libraries al- though it exists in rare cases. In heter- onomous organizations professional em- ployees are subordinated to an external system, e.g., public schools, social wel- fare agencies, public libraries. Another distinct setting is the professional de- partment, that is, a formal subunit of a larger organization, e.g., the legal de- partment of a corporation. Each of these structural types has implications for professionalism. The autonomous organization is seen as the optimum, the heteronomous as (at least potentially) the minimum, and the professional de- partment as potentially either optimal or minimal. 42 The issue for librarianship is to iden- tify and to create (cause to be created) the organizational setting in which the open systems model with its client-in- formation dominance can best flourish. It may be true that the typical public library, as a heteronomous organization, is structurally hostile to this new model of professionalism. If this is so, then librarianship must press for structural changes in these agencies. If libraries in elementary and secondary schools and on college campuses are viewed as pro- fessional departments, then it is the task of these librarians to insure that these agencies are structured and operated in ways which maximize their client-infor- mation dominance. The sixth consequence of the open systems model would be the need for profound changes in the content, struc- ture, and methodology of library educa- tion. As we have already indicated, the deemphasis of the functional activities of the library would ultimately lead to the transfer of courses that deal with these matters in detail from the grad- uate to the undergraduate level. A grad- uate program would concentrate its ef- forts on providing its students with a body of knowledge and the profession- al attitudes necessary for the client-cen- tered roles of open systems libraries. The body of knowledge necessary for open systems librarianship can only be delineated in general terms. A client dominant orientation requires substan- tially more education in the behavioral sciences-both theoretical and applied- than has been typical in most schools of professional librarianship, while a fo- cus on information rather than media requires more education in communica- tions, information science, computer sci- ence, and even mathematics. It is clear, however, that librarians serving different types of clients would require different types of knowledge. The education of a science bibliographer who will work in a highly academic environment, for example, must be significantly different from that of the librarian who special- izes in providing services for a poverty- stricken black ghetto. The vastly divergent educational re- quirements of open systems librarian- ship could be met if library schools be- gan to specialize their educational ef- forts. To follow the example above, one school could concentrate on training science bibliographers while another would train librarians for the ghetto. Such specialization, however, would re- quire that the efforts of all library schools be coordinated into a pattern that would insure training for all clien- tele groups. Regional systems of library schools might be needed to provide a to- tal pattern of library education. Such systems could share resources and permit students to transfer among schools free- ly and easily, thus helping each school to share the resources that would nor- mally be available to each one alone, and providing each student the oppor- tunity to plan a program especially suit- ed to his or her interests and needs. Because library education would thus become broader and deeper, the basic course would probably have to be in- creased to two years. 43 There would also have to be a formal recognition of the need for all librarians to renew their ed- ucation periodically to review and ap- praise developments in librarianship and related fields. Library schools would be responsible for encouraging students to return to school and should also help develop nontraditional educational pro- grams for those who could not return. Alternative Model I 185 Although changes in the content and structure of library education would be important, they would have to be sup- plemented by changes in teaching meth- ods if library schools are to provide the best possible education for open systems librarianship. Schein points out that one of the functions of any professional education is to impart the attitudes and values of the profession to its stu- dents.44 It is not surprising that tradi- tional professional education has relied heavily on the lecture method-a meth- od that, above all else, stresses the au- tonomy of the teacher and inhibits two- way communication between the teacher and the students. The unconscious mes- sage of such a method is obviously that once individuals obtain professional au- thority they do not have to listen to those they serve. For library schools to educate open systems librarians adequately, they must become open systems institutions them- selves. The ideas and experiences of the library school students should be part of the environmental energy and feed- back on which the school depends. Thus, the lecture method .and its corol- laries for evaluating students, i.e., hour- credit graduation requirements and the grading system, would have to be re- placed by methods which would en- courage students to participate in their education. Graduation requirements would be determined between the indi- vidual student and the school, and grad- ing would be replaced by other methods of performance evaluation. In the class- room, methods that emphasize self-ini- tiative and cooperation, such as group projects, discussions, independent stud- ies, and self-paced studies,45 would break the near monopoly of the lecture as a teaching method. The most important innovation, how- ever, would not be these methods them- selves; instead it would be the attitude that lies behind them. Library schools, like the libraries they serve, would be- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - 186 j College & Research Libraries • May 1975 come client committed, and this would allow them to serve the library profes- sion and the society as a whole more ef- fectively than has been possible before. CoNCLUSION In choosing a professional model to serve as its ideal, an occupational group demonstrates where its real interests lie. The traditional model of professional- ism stresses the importance of the pro- fession as a separate and higher part of society. The professional, for example, is autonomous: his or her professional judgment cannot be questioned by a lay- man; nor has it been particularly neces- sary for a professional to consult the layman before making any judgment. In the final analysis the traditional model of professionalism is strongly elitist. The open systems model of profes- sionalism we have proposed is a more democratic professionalism. It pictures the professional as an integral part of society, depending on it for strength and intelligence as it depends on the professions. The primary purpose of the professions according to this model is not to dictate what clients must do, but to discover what the clients need and to fulfill these needs by using the specialized knowledge and skills that professionals have developed. The open systems model of professionalism should appeal to those occupational groups whose primary concern is to serve the society which has spawned them. Hopefully, librarianship is such a profession. REFERENCES 1. For a survey of the sociology of the profes- sions see Ronald M. Pavalko, Sociology of Occupations and Professions (Itasca, Ill.: Peacock, 1971 ) . 2. Abraham Flexner, "Is Social Work a Pro- fession?" School and Society 1:901-11 (June 26, 1915). 3. Morris L. Cogan, "Toward a Definition of Profession," Harvard Educatio1Ull Review 23:33-50 (Winter 1953). 4. Ernest Greenwood, "Attributes of a Profes- sion," Social Work 2:45---55 (July 1957). 5. Everett C. Hughes, Men and Their Work (Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press, 1958). 6. William J. Goode, "The Librarian: From Occupation to Profession?'' Library Quar- terly 31:306-20 (Oct. 1961). 7. Howard M. Vollmer and Donald L. Mills, eds., Professio1Ullization (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1966). 8. Talcott Parsons, "Professions," in Interna- tional Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (New York: Macmillan, 1968), vol. 12, p.536-46. 9. Amitai Etzioni, ed., The Semi-Professions and Their Organization (New York: Free Press, 1969) . 10. Pavalko, Sociology of Occupations and Pro- fessions. . 11. Bernard Barber, "Some Problems in the Sociology of the Professions," in Kenneth S. Lynn, ed., Professions in America ( Bos- ton: Houghton, 1965), p.17. 12. Goode, "The Librarian," p.307. 13. Howard S. Becker, "The Nature of a Pro- fession," in Education for the Professions, 61st Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part II ( Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 1962), p.33-45. 14. Goode, "The Librarian," p.308. 15. Mary Lee Bundy and Paul Wasserman, "Professionalism Reconsidered," College & Research Libraries 29:3-26 (Jan. 1968). 16. Greenwood, "Attributes of a Profession." 17. Dietrich Rueschemeyer, "Doctors and Law- yers: A Comment on the Theory of the Professions," Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 1:28--29 (Feb. 1964). 18. "Ocean Hill-Brownsville: The Agony of Decentralization," Nation's Schools 83:26- 28+ (Jan. 1969) ; Arthur E. Salz, "Formula for Inevitable Conflict: Local Control vs. Professionalism," Phi Delta Kappan 50: 332-34 (Feb. 1969). 19. Eliot Friedson, "Dominant Professions, Bureaucracy, and Client Services," in Wil- liam R. Rosengren and Mark Lefton, eds., Organizations and Clients: Essays in the Sociology of Service (Columbus, Ohio: Merrill, 1970) p.75. 20. Richard H. Hall, "Professionalization and Bureaucratization," American Sociological Review 33:92-104 (Feb. 1968 ). 21. Eliot Friedson, "Dominant Professions." 22. Eliot Friedson, Professional Dominance: The Social Structure of Medical Care (New York: Atherton, 1970), p.136. 23. Rueschemeyer, "Doctors and Lawyers," p.28. 24. See William J. Goode, "Encroachment, Charlatanism and the Emerging Profession: Psychology, Medicine, and Sociology," American Sociological Review 25: 902-14 (Dec. 1960). 25. Rueschemeyer, ''Doctors and Lawyers," p.30. 26. Harold L. Wilensky, "The Professionaliza- tion of Everyone?" American Journal of Sociology 70:145 (Sept. 1964). 27. Robert D. Leigh, The Public Library in the United States: The General Report of the Public Library Inquiry (New York: Colum- bia Univ. Pr., 1950). 28. Frederick G. Kilgour, "The Ohio College Library Center," Datamation 16:87-89 {Jan. 1970). 29. Harold Sackman and Norman Nie, eds., The Information Utility and Social Choice (Montvale, N.J.: American Federation of Information Processing Societies Press, 1970); Harold Sackman, Mass Information Utilities and Social Excellence (New York: Auerbach, 1971); Michael A. Duggan, "Computer Utilities-Social and Policy Im- plications: A Reference Bibliography," Computing Reviews 9:631-44 (Oct. 1964). 30. Edwin B. Parker, "Information Utilities and Mass Communication," in Sackman and Nie, eds., Information Utility, p.53. 31. Florence Field, "Branch Power," Library Journal94:3409 (Oct. 1, 1969). 32. Bill DeJohn, "Social Responsibilities: What It's All About," American Libraries 2:300 (March 1971). 33. Ludwig von Bertalanffy, General Systems Theory: Foundations, Development, Appli- cations ( New York: Braziller, 1968 ) . 34. Walter F. Buckley, comp., Modern Sys- tems Research for the Behavioral Scientist: A Sourcebook (Chicago: Aldine, 1968). Alernative Model/ 187 35. Fremont E. Kast and James F. Rosenzweig, Organization and Management: A Systems Approach (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970). 36. Daniel Katz and Robert L. Kahn, The So- cial Psychology of Organizations (New York: Wiley, 1966). 37. Ibid., p.19-26. 38. Mark Lefton and William R. Rosengren, "Organizations and Clients: Lateral and Longitudinal Dimensions," American Soci- ological Review 31:802-10 {Dec. 1966); Mark Lefton, "Client Characteristics and Structural Outcomes: Toward the Specifi- cation of Linkages," in Rosengren and Lef- ton, eds., Organizations and Clients, p.17- 36. 39. For an explanation of this type of librarian see Kathleen Molz, "Joiner and Goer," Wil- son Library Bulletin 38:349-51 (Dec. 1963); and Eric Moon, "A Day in Bedford Stuyvesant," Library Journal 89:3689-93 (Oct. 1, 1964). 40. Robert Burgess, "The Subject Bibliogra- pher: General Background" and "The Sub- ject Bibliographer: Defining a New Role in the University Library," mimeographed (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York at Albany, School of Library and In- formation Science, 1970). 41. Thea Haimann and William Scott, Man- agement in the Modem Organization ( Bos- ton: Houghton, 1970), p.175-88. 42. Ha~, ':.Professionalization and Bureaucrati- zation, p.94. 43. R. B. Land, "Recent Developments in Edu- cation for Librarianship in Canada," Ca- nadian Library Journal 26:36-40 (Jan.- Feb. 1969); G. Edward Evans, "School of Library Service at the University of Cali- fornia, Los Angeles," Library Scene 1: 20- 27 (Summer 1972). 44. Edgar H. Schein and Diane W. Kommers, Professional Education: Some New Direc- tions (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972), p.43. 45. For descriptions of these and other meth- ods, see Ibid. , p.l09- 23.