College and Research Libraries link it presents between national develop- ment and university library devel- opment.-David L. Easterbrook, University Library, University of Illinois at Chicago. Jones, Ken H. Conflict and Change in Li- brary Organizations: People, Power and Service. London: Clive Bingley, 1984. 274p. $19. ISBN 0-85157-367-3. Libraries have not served as the play- grounds of organizational theorists. In- creasingly, however, as researchers begin to recognize libraries as complex social in- stitutions interacting with a dynamic envi- ronment, and as library administrators broaden their understanding of the key concepts of organizational development, the library as an organization will be sub- ject to expanded and fruitful analysis. The work of Ken Jones (Leeds Polytechnic School of Librariali.ship) significantly pro- motes this process. Its British perspective and theoretical focus complement well the recent survey published by Lowell Mar- tin, Organizational Structure of Libraries (Scarecrow, 1984). This is an excellent book-thorough but not burdensome in its description of the ,. J~ Recent Publications 191 classic theories of organizations, insight- ful but not obtuse in its analysis of library developments, and provocative in its con- clusions and recommendations for future research. Jones targets the library practi- tioner and students of librarianship and organizational theory as his audience. His objective is to provide a systematic and critical evaluation of organizational theo- ries in terms of their "practical sig- nificance." This should contribute to the creation of the ''knowledgeable and ever- compassionate participant-observer'' who will be better able to "devise reme- dial and developmental strategies" for li- braries. The first three chapters introduce the bureaucratic systems and human- resource perspectives on organizational theory, focusing in particular on their ana- lytical, prescriptive, and cumulative char- acteristics. The balance of the book inte- grates this theoretical framework with questions of organizational climate and culture, staff attitudes and satisfactions, and management style. The result is a sig- nificant addition to the "reader's concep- Concentrated ... Condensed ... Compact. .. No matter how you say it, smaller is better. People want more information in a smaller package. And that's what you get with Biological Abstracts ® in Microform as your life sciences reference tool. Delivering the scope of coverage you've come to expect from BIOSIS®, SA in Microform ·provides you with rapid access and saves a lot of shelf space. In fact, you can store 18 years' worth of SA in Microform in the same amount of space taken up by just one year of the printed publication. See for yourself. Contact BIOS IS Customer Services, 2100 Arch Street, Philadel- phia, PA 19103-1399. Telephone (215) 587-4800 worldwide or call toll free (800) 523-4806 (USA except AK, HI, PA). Telex: 831739. BIOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS IN MICROFORM BIOSIS is a not-for-profit organization serving the biological community since 1926. 8/0S/S and Biological Abstracts are registered trademarks of BioSciences Information Service. CRL2861CP ~-------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - 192 College & Research Libraries tual tool kit for the understanding, man- aging, managing in, and changing of organizations." Jones demonstrates a thorough and de- tailed knowledge of organizational re- search and library developments. Most of his examples are drawn from the British experience, but they translate well for the American audience, and recent and ap- propriate research results from both the social science and library literature in the United States are cited. The organization of the text is almost symphonic in charac- ter. A harmonious complexity undergirds a well-designed interweaving of themes that supports and leads the reader over the "well-structured and signposted" path. The language is characterized by clarity and ingenuity, and one appreciates the use of the words "she" and "her" to describe the reader and the library profes- sional throughout the text (;m unfortunate exception is a reference to ''his authority'' on page 182 in a discussion of the library director). The important and familiar concepts of organizational theory and management are covered: the library as classical, ma- chine, paternalistic, and professional bu- reaucracy; scientific management and so- cial engineering; systems management methodology; job satisfaction; leadership; interpersonal skills development; group relations; power; organizational change and development; decision making; con- flict resolution; and contingency theory. More exciting for this reader, however, were the less familiar and more novel con- cepts presented: bureau pathology, equi- finality, human resources/soft systems, mechanistic and organismic paradigms, dialetical interactionism, psychologism, ecological view of organizational change, the Marxian approach to conflict resolu- tion, the Janus syndrome, and groping pragmatism. It is this last concept that ultimately is the target of Jones' analysis. He recog- nizes the need to provoke the library pro- fession beyond ''groping pragmatism'' as he adopts a prevailing positive, resource- ful, and contingency approach to manage- ment development. The profession must !llove away from the bureaucratic base- March 1986 line, despite the persistence of bureau- cratic characteristics. The professional role . is viewed by Jones as one of mediation be- tween the client and a system of "non- human professionally-provided facili- ties," that is, information services and retrieval systems. The history of librarian- ship is an attempt to increase the signifi- cance of the mediating role and to counter the concept of librarian as ''handmaiden or butler in the house of knowledge. II Jones concludes that library professionals seem to be "moving restlessly around the field looking for a place where they will be better respected and treated by their em- ployers and customers.'' He recommends a "more proactive and egregious library professionalism.'' Jones' work ultimately must be assessed on the basis of its conclusions . Librarians must focus on adaptation (translate: plan strategically) in the face of "diminishing resources, socio-economic stagnation, and political hostility.'' Librarians must adopt a contingency approach (translate: no right way) to the management of their organizations and their professional lives. Libraries will experience a return to smaller-group organization, greater reli- ance on expertise, and less supervision (translate: special library model) as there- lationship between technology and the li- brary structural organization evolves. Li- brarians must understand the mechanistic (deductive, objective, behaviorist, quanti- tative, conservative) and organismic (in- ductive, subjective, existentialist, qualita- tive, radical) world views, and relate them to library organization, service, and re- search. Librarians must accept the politi- cal roots of organizational development and the realities of the public face of man- agement focusing on professional achiev- ment and organizational goals, as well as the "personality needs and hungers, II that produce "politicking and decep- tion." Librarians must recognize the self- limitations of formal authority, character- ized by limited knowledge and powerlessness in the face of internal and external forces. And, finally, the leader- ship of the profession must develop politi- cal influence and a ''sharp-edged social orientation.'' I Your searching takes you everywhere f o m Subject Coverage: Agriculture & Food Technology AJtronomy Behavioral Scienm BiochemiJtry Biology Biomedical Scienw ChemiJtry Computer Applicatiom & CyberneticJ ElectronicJ Engineering Environmental Science Genetio GeoJcienm Information Science lmtrumentation MateriaiJ Science Mathematio Medicme Meteorolor.y Microbiolor.y Nuclear Science Phamtacolor.y PhyJio PJychiatry & PJychology Veteri71ary Medicine Zoolor.y lmtitute for Scientific Information ® 3 501 Market Street Philadelphia Penmylvania 19104 U.S .A. 215.386.0100 Cable: SCINFO Telex: 84 5305 European Office: 13 2 High Street Uxbridge. Middlmx UB8 IDP United Kingdom 44.895.70016 Telex: 933693 UKISI For your free SciSearrh kit , pleaJe contact the IS/ cuJtomer Jervice department at800.523.1850. extemion 13 71 l And SciSearch® has it all SciSearch is the la ;gest available multidisciplinary database that provides comprehensive coverage in all the sciences. SdSearch covers all the jortrnals listed in Current Contents® with the added features of citation searching. SciSearch indexes each journal from cover to cover-from meeting abstracts to corrections as well as scholarly articles. SciSearch offers The Genuine Artie//". a 48-hour document delivery service. SciSearch may be accessed through Dialog, Data-Star and Dimdi. SciSearch , Social SciSearch®, and Arts & Humanities SearchT" are among the databases developed by the Institute for Scientific Information ( ISJ ® ). ©1985 lSI 101-4096 194 College & Research Libraries Jones provides the reader with an excel- lent synthesis of significant and timely concepts, and translates this analysis into an important agenda for professional and organizational action and research.- James G. Neal, Pattee Library, Pennsylvania State University, University Park. Management Strategies for Libraries: A Basic Reader. Ed. by Beverly P. Lynch. · New York: Neal-Schuman, 1985. 682p. $35. LC 85-5668. ISBN 0-918212-86-3. Compilations of articles centering on or- ganizational or behavioral themes are commonplace in the field of management, and books of readings reprinting selec- tions viewed as ''classic'' or particularly appropriate to the study of specific areas of business or public administration are required texts in many programs. Readers in librarianship are found less frequently-perhaps because instructors in our library schools expect fledgling in- formation specialists to do their own gath- ering of relevant material. Readers in li- brary management are fewer still. Interestingly, however, three such vol- umes have been published within the past four years: McClure and Samuels' Strate- gies for Library Administration, Person's Management Process, and now Lynch's Management Strategies for Libraries . Each is intended to set library management within a larger context of research and writing and each draws upon the broad lit- erature of the social sciences and of librari- anship. The emphasis is upon concepts and theory as they relate to libraries. The works by McClure and Samuels and by Person are organized to bring together relevant articles and excerpts from books under a number of topical management headings. Lynch takes a slightly different structural approach. Rather than dividing the readings according to traditional ad- ministrative functions or major manage- ment tasks, she gathers them within three sections: ' 'Theoretical Perspectives,'' "The Management Process," and "The Work of Management." Her intent is to provide first ''the foundations for library organization and management'' and then to proceed into the management of li- braries, the manger's job, and the more March 1986 specific management functions. Her selec- tions nicely fit these broad categories and the approach works well. Writings from administration and management fields and from sociology and psychology pre- dominate in the first two parts while the majority in the final section derive from the library field. Of the thirty-eight pieces included, eighteen are taken from the lit- erature of librarianship. Each of the sections is prefaced with an overview in which the various articles are related to the section theme and to each · other. An introduction to the volume fo- cuses on a review of basic theories that Lynch groups into structural, human rela- tions, and political approaches. She sug- gests that understanding management theory and attempting to view a problem ''from more than one theoretical perspec- tive" can provide useful insights to assist managers in their work. With the wealth of management writ- ings available the task of choosing articles for inclusion would seem to be a challeng- ing one. In particular, decisions to exclude materials surely are difficult. Given the numbers involved, I suppose I should not have been surprised to discover little du- plication between Management Strategies for Libraries and earlier readers, but I had expected to find a fair degree of overlap. I was certain that drawing from the classics of management and organization theory and from the best in the library field, the editors would have included in their com- pilations many of the same authors, if not identical works. However, a comparison of the Lynch, Person, and McClure and Samuels volumes, and of Wasserman and Bundy's 1968 Reader in Library Administra- tion as well, revealed that of a total of 134 selections, only four were found more than once (in Lynch and in McClure and Samuels); two of these were from the management literature, two from librari- anship. Only eight authors were included in more than one of the four books and none in more than two. But then a perusal of general management readers suggests this is not unusual. Editing a book of read- ings is a highly selective exercise obvi- ously influenced by one's discipline, training, position, and perspective. In her