Librarianship - Quo Vadis?: Opportunities and Dangers As We Face the New Millennium

Contents......Page 8
Foreword......Page 20
Introduction......Page 22
Look at All Those Beautiful Birds Overhead!......Page 39
Out of Focus......Page 40
No Pain, No Gain......Page 41
Fight the Real Enemy......Page 42
Priorities for the Research Library Budget: A Humble Proposal......Page 45
Where Do We Go from Here?......Page 48
The Tale of BCPL......Page 49
The Painful Truth About Librarians......Page 50
A Longstanding Administrative Team......Page 51
Luck Is Not Enough......Page 52
Public Libraries Have Diverse Wants......Page 53
A Productive Administrator......Page 55
Focusing Principles on Librarians......Page 56
Putting Our Money Where Cincinnati Is......Page 57
Upholding Our Self-Righteousness......Page 58
Small Public Libraries—Challenges, Opportunities, and Irrelevancies......Page 59
The Alaska Model and More......Page 60
Certification As Subterfuge......Page 61
Training the Pseudolibrarian......Page 62
Libraries Begin with Librarians......Page 63
The Budget/Program Relation......Page 65
Making a Choice......Page 66
On the Wrong Track......Page 67
Our Fascination with Doing Good......Page 68
Avoiding Overcommitment......Page 69
Our Goals and Our Programs: We're Better at Caring Than at Getting Others to Care......Page 71
Bosses Will Opt for Fuzzy Vagueness......Page 72
The White Example......Page 73
So Let's Play Hardball......Page 74
The Politics of Reinventing Government Libraries......Page 77
Fairy Tales from the Wonderful World of Library Politics......Page 91
Will Libraries Always Be Wonderful?......Page 92
Trivializing Ourselves......Page 93
Raising Citizens' Expectations......Page 94
No Relief in San Francisco......Page 95
Is Anyone Still Training the Circus Animals?......Page 97
Terminology Over Substance......Page 98
Communications Improvements......Page 99
Information Sanitary Engineers......Page 100
And Now Onto the Highway......Page 101
Our Role in Education Is Flawed......Page 103
A Fancy Name for Reference Work......Page 104
Healthcare and Librarians......Page 105
Technologists on the March......Page 106
Beware the Lemmings......Page 107
Library Studies or Information Management—What's in a Name?......Page 109
Managing Info Isn't New......Page 110
Teaching the Good Ol' Stuff......Page 111
It's Time to Define Ourselves......Page 112
Preparing for Library Work......Page 113
Technology in Libraries—A Continuous Process......Page 115
Educating for the Now and Future Profession......Page 121
Dampening Our Ardor......Page 122
Being Prepared for All Futures......Page 123
Our Unpredictable Future......Page 124
The Self-Confident Librarian......Page 125
The Cost of Knowledge and the Cost of Ignorance......Page 127
Costing Out ILL......Page 128
Service Doesn't Come Cheap......Page 129
Tell the Truth About Costs......Page 130
How Many Priorities Are We Allowed to Have—And Who Sets Them?......Page 131
We Have More Than One Priority......Page 132
Meeting All Their Needs......Page 133
It's Only Words......Page 134
Block Grants Won't Cut It......Page 135
Never Mind Being Innovative and Effective—Just Be Nice......Page 137
Appropriate Committees......Page 138
Does Being Nice Mean Gaining Power?......Page 139
Voluntarily Formed Teams......Page 140
Can We Be Sports About Teams?......Page 143
Elitism Is a Broad Term......Page 144
Our Still Basic Wants......Page 145
Diversity Is Essential......Page 146
The Role of Information Intermediaries and the Superhighway: Crucial, Important, Trivial, or Non-Existent?......Page 147
Unity Through Diversity: We Need to Define Some Terms......Page 159
Differences As an Additive......Page 160
Favoring Bilingualism?......Page 161
Libraries Promoting Unity......Page 162
The Search for Terminology......Page 163
Blaming the Victim—The Academic Library Version......Page 165
The Perilous But Also Opportune Future for Special Librarians......Page 169
Parenting the Parents......Page 170
Management by Objectives......Page 171
Closing Arguments......Page 172
Managing Within Change—Or Helping to Shape the Management of Change......Page 175
Introduction......Page 181
The Meatware Industry......Page 182
The Trouble with Consulting, Advising, and Downsizing......Page 183
Equal Access to Information......Page 184
Conclusion......Page 185
We Cope, We Survive......Page 187
A Chilling Childers Study......Page 188
Nonpartisanism and Libraries......Page 189
The Priority Short List......Page 190
Traditional Leaders = Nothing......Page 191
Focusing on the Trivial Is Certainly More Fun......Page 193
Managers Must Manage......Page 194
Subsumed by Special Interests......Page 195
Meeting in Comfort......Page 196
Correction......Page 197
Sweeping Resolutions......Page 199
Site Selection......Page 200
Holding Us Hostage......Page 201
Chicago, Always Chicago......Page 202
Research Library Directors and the Squandered Opportunity to Lead......Page 205
Paralyzed on Pricing......Page 206
Outside the System......Page 207
Fighting Back......Page 208
Do We Want to Be Knowledge Workers?......Page 211
New Knowledge Workers......Page 212
Self-Service Libraries......Page 213
Nondiluted Quality......Page 214
A Bright Future—For Us?......Page 215
Economic and Political Issues in Determiningthe Future of the Professionally Managed Library Over the Next Ten Years......Page 217
Book Review.......Page 227
Faculty Status for Academic Librarians: The Search for the Holy Grail......Page 231
Aping Faculty......Page 232
Doing It Our Way......Page 233
Changing Perceptions......Page 234
Adapting Commercial Strategies to Managing Government Libraries......Page 237
Our Failure to Seek, Much Less Achieve, Funding and Management Support......Page 243
And Yet.........Page 253
What Must We Do?......Page 255
Notes......Page 257
Doing More with Less? If We Can Do It Now, Why Were We Goofing Off Before?......Page 259
Marketing As a Tool for Destabilization......Page 263
Paper-Training Our Officials......Page 264
Money from the Municipality......Page 265
Information Is Crucial......Page 266
Stress What Isn't Happening......Page 267
Keynote Address: Fourth International Conference on Fee-Based Information Services in Libraries......Page 269
Notes......Page 274
Our Conflicting Responsibilities: To Our Bosses, Our Staff, and Our Profession......Page 275
Local Visions, Devil's Bargain......Page 276
What Bosses Owe Us......Page 277
Suffering Victims?......Page 278
The Passion to Be in Fashion......Page 279
More Information Isn't Better......Page 280
The New Information Flood......Page 281
Needed: Information Lifeguards......Page 282
Librarians: Logical Selectors......Page 283
Who Will Lead the Unsuspecting Lemmings Over the Cliff?......Page 285
References......Page 293
Should Leaders Want to Be Managers and Give Up All That Freedom?......Page 295
Leadership Is Different......Page 296
The Constraints of Management......Page 297
Turning Leaders Into Managers......Page 298
Libraries Don't Plan......Page 299
Subordinates Worth the Trouble......Page 300
How to Evaluate......Page 301
Making Decisions......Page 302
Embarking on the Information Superhighway While Downsizing and Outsourcing Libraries......Page 305
Dangerous Misconceptions About Organizational Development of Virtual Libraries......Page 309
The Impact of the Virtual Library on Us......Page 312
The Impact of the Virtual Library on University Administrators and Budgets......Page 314
The Impact of the Virtual Library on Our Faculty Colleagues......Page 316
Summary and Conclusions......Page 317
What Is a Professional in Our Field?......Page 319
Getting the Right Staff Mix......Page 320
Librarians As Clerks......Page 321
People, Not Technology......Page 322
Is There a Surplus of Librarians?......Page 325
What Professionals Do......Page 326
Protecting Our Turf......Page 327
A Librarian in Every Library......Page 328
Library Outsourcing and Contracting: Cost-Effectiveness or Shell Game?......Page 331
Getting Honest About Cost......Page 332
Fooling Us......Page 333
It's Even Worse at Libraries......Page 334
When the Public Is Fed Up......Page 335
Organizational Change in an Era of Technological Challenges: Structuring an Environment Conducive to Learning......Page 337
Abdicating Responsibility......Page 351
Looking Dumbly at Ourselves......Page 352
Making Myself Heard......Page 353
Take Note of Alternatives......Page 354
Library Computers: Tools or Toys?......Page 357
Worrying About Our Education......Page 358
Our Role Is Unequaled......Page 359
Claiming Our Territory......Page 360
Book Review......Page 361
Can Off-Campus Teaching Work?......Page 365
Expansion Without Funding......Page 366
Hard to Evaluate......Page 367
Employers Hold the Power......Page 368
What to Evaluate and What to Reward......Page 371
People Want Recognition......Page 372
Planning for Reality......Page 373
Fairness, Not Egalitarianism......Page 374
Technology and the Pressures and Opportunities for Document Delivery......Page 375
Public Library Reference Service—Expectations and Reality......Page 387
Let Reference Librarians Do It......Page 388
Claiming Our Expertise......Page 389
We're Professionals, After All......Page 390
Edmund Burke......Page 393
Librarians and Information Technology: Which Is the Tail and Which Is the Dog?......Page 395
References......Page 407
Why Outsourcing Happens, and What to Do About It......Page 409
When Outsourcing Pays......Page 410
Beat Them by Joining Them......Page 412
Learning How to Delegate......Page 415
We Need Contracts......Page 416
When Users Don't Pay......Page 417
Punting the Problem......Page 418
Is Our Mission One of Providing Only Information or Providing Knowledge? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......Page 419
Where Is This Profession Heading?......Page 427
Where It All Began......Page 428
What Price Modesty?......Page 429
Where Are the Librarians?......Page 430
Concern, Not Consensus......Page 431
D......Page 433
L......Page 434
Q......Page 435
W......Page 436
About the Author......Page 437