LIS 580 Management for Librarianship

• The Zoo Guy Case
• The Dixie Case
• The Library in a Box Case
• The "We've Been Privatized" Case
• The "We've Been OutSourced" Case
• The Flabbergasted at Librarians Case

• Should a library be run like a business? Can any business person run a library? What's the difference between a library and a bookstore?
• Are librarians managers? Is librarianship a species of management?
• Is there a problem with library education? Are we not educating librarians appropriately? What is the appropriate education for librarians?
• Can/should libraries be run by non-librarians, such as MBA's?
• What is the essential professional knowledge that librarians possess?

"Why don't they run libraries more like a business? . . . we can find useful techniques in the business disciplines of marketing, sales, accounting, distribution, advertising, and financial management. But there is, obviously, a simple reason we don't run it like a business: a library is not a business. What is more, a library is not trying to complete with business. . . . We decided, long ago, that things like education, police and fire protection, roads, and certain nourishment and health programs should be provided by government, simply because you couldn't make money providing them. . . . Even though they are marketplace failures, these public services are needed in our society, so government must intervene." John N. Berry, "Why Don't They Run It Like a Business?" [Editorial] Library Journal, May 15, 1991, 6.

"If one were to map the financial relationships and examine the energy that goes into those [financial] relationships, it would be clear that the library is a business and will continue as a business for the foreseeable future. . . . Finally remember that the forces pressing down upon libraries are the same as those that press down on almost all of the world's industries. The library is part of a rapidly changing, complex world and change is the only financial constant. It will not get any simpler. The institution will continue to need the librarian's financial skills in the struggle to provide the best possible library services with the resources available." S. Hayes and D. Brown, "The Library as a Business: Mapping the Pervasiveness of Financial Relationships in Today's Library" Library Trends, 42(3), Winter 1994, 404-19.

"Every public library director should be an entrepreneur, alert to ways to reallocate resources to increase benefits to the library's patrons . . . A director can - and should - act entrepreneurially in any economic climate. With so many directors facing reallocation decisions because of today's economic conditions, however, acting entrepreneurially is especially important. . . . Public libraries must engage in external competition for funds. . . There is then an internal competition for those funds. . . It is because of the importance of the internal competition in determining patron benefits that the director has the opportunity to act as an entrepreneur. The internal competition deserve more attention than it generally receives." Carrigan, Dennis P. "The Director as Entrepreneur, Increasing Patron Benefits at a Time of Austerity" Public Libraries, 31(4), July/August 1993.

The Tacoma Public Library has joined Amazon.com's Associates Program. Under terms of the agreement, patrons can access Amazon.com's web site from the library's computerized catalog at the main library and nine banches and from the library's catalog on the WWW. "Amazon.com is more than an online bookstore. It is an electronic gathering place for people who love and value books", said the president of the board of trustees. Library Hotline, March 30, 1998.

"Librarians . . .would have to be knowledgeable in their specialties and in the library applications of these specialties. . . This would require a substantial upgrading of library education, emphasizing bibliographic proficiency and the development of, and instruction in, substantial theory related to it. . . And what of the library administrator in this context? . . . There will still, of course, be the nonprofessional operations --ordering, circulation, all manner of record-keeping--to oversee. But beyond this, what?. . . the executive in a professionally-dominated organization becomes a 'coordinator ' or 'linking pin' between various project groups. He must be a man who can speak the diverse languages of research and who can relay information and mediate among the groups. The new library administrator would function in this way. . . One of the serious problems in librarianship has derived from our tendency simply to draw the more dynamic or aggressive librarian from a labor pool which is generally noteworthy for its lack of knowledge, experience, and even interest in management." Smith, Eldred. "Do Libraries Need Managers." Library Journal, v.94(3), February 1, 1969, 502-506.

"The role of managers in not-for-profit service organizations is growing increasing complex as professionals demand a greater voice in decision-making, funders ask for more specific accountability, and clients complain about officious and unresponsive service. Managers are accused of being rigid and dictatorial on the one hand and ineffective on the other. The squeeze on library management is coming from three sides: institutional management, clients, and library staff. University, government, corporate, and other institutional managements are demanding that the library justify itself by providing benefits in excess of cost." Drake, Miriam A. "The Management of Libraries as Professional Organizations", Special Libraries, v.68(5/6), May/June 1977, 181-186.

"Modern library directors . . . increasingly in the middle with less power to share; with less ability to make things happen; with their control over events, both inside and outside the library, weakened by external regulations and requirements; and with their access to, and influence on, decision makers eroded. Instead of the opportunity for the long careful build-up of confidence between director and president that assures sympathetic attention to library needs, requests for support are likely to face multiple review by analysts and other middle managers, insistent demands for quantitative data, intense competition, and final decision by a newly appointed top administrator who knowledge of library issues is sketchy and second- hand." Ackerman, Page. "Governance and Academic Libraries", Library Research, v.2, 1980-81, 3-28.

"Where then shall we obtain good librarians? Before suggesting an answer to that question, I should propose something by way of a definition of a competent college librarian. First and foremost, he should be a scholar and a teacher. . . Next, he should be a capable supervisor, for the bulk of the labor done in his library is such that high school graduates, under competent supervision, can perform it faithfully and well. . . But what about library science? Shouldn't the ideal librarian have some considerable proficiency in library science? The answer is No for the reason that there is no such as library science, even though we have graduate schools that are supposed to teach it." Gore, Daniel. "A Modest Proposal for Improving the Management of College Libraries", Educational Record, v. 48(1), Winter, 1967, 89-96.

"Like the primates who escape from subservience to take over the world in Planet of the Apes, Hall Varian sees librarians crawling out from behind their card catalogs to rule the global datasphere. Promising them glory and influence if they'll just cast off the chains of that 19th -century institution known as the library, Varian, the new dean of UC Berkeley's School of Information Management and Systems, is redefining the role of librarians in the information age. 'Librarians got too narrow by defining themselves in terms of a particular social institution', he says, 'They were organized around libraries rather than information in general.' Brian Caulfield, "Morphing the Librarians" Wired, August 1997, p. 64

Decision Near on Boorstin's Successor; Short List of Four for Library Post. The Washington Post, April 11, 1987. The White House has narrowed its search for a new librarian of Congress to no more than four people, according to administration sources, and although there has been no public announcement, one source was told by a White House personnel official that President Reagan himself had already made a decision. Those who appear to be in the running to administer the largest library in the world are: James H. Billington, 57, the director of the Woodrow Wilson Center here; Jaroslav Pelikan, 63, professor of history at Yale University; Robert Wedgeworth Jr., 49, dean of the school of library service at Columbia University; Gertrude Himmelfarb, 64, author and professor of history at the City University of New York. The position is generally believed to require some combination of scholar and administrator. Professional experience as a librarian is not required, though some library interest groups have been pressing for candidates with just that credential.

Billington has been director of the Smithsonian Institution's Woodrow Wilson Center, an institute for advanced scholarly research, since 1973. A highly regarded Sovietologist who has in the past been consulted by Reagan, Billington is the author of "The Icon and the Axe," one of the foremost histories of Russian culture. He has a reputation as a hard-line analyst of the Soviet Union. Although Pelikan was dean of the graduate school at Yale for four years in the 1970s, only Billington mixes substantial background in both scholarship and administration. On the other hand, only Wedgeworth at Columbia is actually a professional librarian with extensive library and administrative experience. Perhaps the least known of the candidates in scholarly circles, he is involved in numerous national and international library activities and wins rave notices from the American Library Association, of which he is a former executive director. "We feel strongly that the post needs someone who has the background of an information professional," said Thomas Galvin, the executive director of the ALA. A New Librarian. The Washington Post, April 21, 1987. PRESIDENT REAGAN has made a fine choice in nominating James H. Billington to be Librarian of Congress.

Keith Doms, Library Director, who has endured the turbulence of municipal financial crisis during most of his stewardship, is resigning his job as of early next year. Doms will be 66 years old this month, and he said it is his wish to pursue other interests, rather than the turmoil of the last 17 years, that provoked his decision to resign. ''There are other things I want to do while I still have a high level of energy,'' he said yesterday, including library consulting and study of the Chinese language, which he started at Harvard University more than 40 years ago. Doms informally notified the library Board of Trustees a few weeks ago of his intentions, and a committee to conduct a national search for his successor has been named and has conducted an organizational meeting. Board of Trustees President John A. Philbrick III recently informed Mayor Goode of Doms' decision. Doms, who faces no mandatory retirement age, answers directly to the board and not to the mayor. He will stay in the $55,000-a-year job to give the search committee time to replace him. Doms had planned to formally submit his intention to resign to the trustees on April 17 - and had secretly drawn up the letter and an accompanying public statement at his home on Sunday. He had a carefully prepared plan to announce his retirement to top aides and the library staff before making a public announcement, and was stricken that news had leaked and dismantled his plan. ''I didn't want to be a lame duck,'' he lamented, ''and now I'm a lame duck.'' You might say that Doms has hobbled through ever since he became library director, recruited here from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. The following year ushered in the decade of the '70s, and the accompanying municipal financial malaise that reduced a once- healthy library to an ailing, deteriorating institution. The library was especially victimized by the city's fiscal troubles because a building program planned during the expansive era of the 1950s continued unabated because of political pressures, which meant the library had to support new branches with shrinking staff and shriveling budget.

But nowadays, after a time of record-high distrust of government, massive budget cuts and the collapse of many social programs, one public institution is miraculously thriving -- your local library. That's right, this bone-dry era has been party time for public libraries. The 1990s have already seen more than $2.7 billion in library construction and renovation -- almost 50 percent more than was spent throughout the entire 1980s. And in the current economic climate, when cities are increasingly dependent on federal matching funds for major new construction projects, libraries are being built without such support. The money is mostly from local sources -- with 80 percent coming from municipalities, 12 percent from the states and just 1 percent from the federal government. The rest is made up of revenues from fees, fines, and grants. ''When people think of government, they think of something very nebulous,'' says San Diego City Librarian William Sannwald, who is also vice president of the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA), an arm of the Chicago-based American Library Association (ALA). ''Libraries are really grass roots. They touch people in their neighborhoods, and so people know what they're getting for their tax dollars.'' Or, as Celine Thomasson, public information officer for the new San Antonio Central Library, puts it, ''People don't say 'my airport' or 'my bus station' or 'my city hall,' but they do say 'my library.'''

Perhaps because of this sense of ownership, people have even been willing to spend their tax dollars for libraries that are ever more luxurious and elaborate. Michael Graves' mile-high launching pad in Denver ($49 million), Moshe Safdie's nouveau coliseum in Vancouver ($125 million), Ricardo Legorreta's big enchilada in San Antonio ($38 million), Will Bruder's techno-temple in Phoenix ($28 million) -- these are statement buildings, erected to be significant, to attract attention: the library as downtown anchor and tourist attraction.

During Doms' tenure, branch libraries have been forced to close an extra day a week, and to operate with skeletal staff. Leaky roofs and crumbling facades on older buildings have gone unrepaired. The centerpiece of the library system, the main branch on Logan Square, has undergone radical reorganization in the past few years - being transformed from a lending to primarily a reference facility - because of the financial constraints. Through it all, Doms has stoically prevailed, stretching his appropriation and making do as best as possible. In fact, some critics think he was too uncomplaining, too willing to adapt to circumstances rather than make a public fuss. ''I think Doms could have stirred the pot more than he did,'' said one critic close to the library operation. ''For Keith, it's easier to go with the flow. I think he's tired. ''I hope they'll find somebody (to replace him) who will say, 'We can't put up with this!' That's where I see a real void in leadership.'' SEVERAL CRITICS SAID THE LIBRARY NEEDED A DYNAMIC LEADER SUCH AS WILLIAM DONALDSON, PRESIDENT OF THE DOWNTOWN ZOO TO PROVIDE SOME VISIBILITY AND CREATE PUBLIC CLAMOR FOR LIBRARY SUPPORT. "Look what Donaldson did with the zoo. It was practically defunct. There's no excitement here.'' Doms, who was visibly pained at the criticism, said, ''I feel I provided adequate leadership. Some people feel I've provided more than adequate leadership. ''Over the time I've been here, look at the support for all municipal services - we're not the only operation to sustain cutbacks and we've been reasonably effective in making our needs known. You have to look at the competition (for funding). When you're head to head with the Police Department, the competition is pretty tough.'' And Doms pointed to corresponding accomplishments over those same difficult years - computerization of library inventory, air conditioning of the main branch, total renovation of certain branches, the receipt of several important book collections, creation of the Computer Based Information Center and other transitions to the computer era. Doms said financial trouble ''goes with the territory,'' and he could recommend the job to a successor despite the turbulence of his tenure. ''For all of the problems that have existed, particularly in the '70s, this library is widely respected in the United States and the world. We have distinguished collections and a committed staff. When the position is made known, we will receive a significant number of applications from qualified persons.'' Doms, Wisconsin-born and a veteran of World War II, said he has spent ''40 years in public library administration,'' and wants to pursue other professional and personal interests. In addition to acting as a consultant on library development and studying Chinese - and perhaps living in China with his wife of 42 years for several months - ''there's another thing I want to do,'' Doms said. ''I want to go fishing. I haven't been on a serious fishing trip in 25 years.''

It's an odd development in these corporatist times -- the library, a public building, open to all, not reserved for tourists or business bigwigs, has become the 1990s symbol of urban renaissance. Yet, for all their grandeur and architectural novelty, the new libraries in Denver, Vancouver and San Antonio will probably not become the prototypes for the libraries of the future that most Americans will use. Just ask Aaron Cohen. He's an architect in Croton, N.Y., who has worked with libraries for 31 years and has consulted on more than 900 library buildings around the world. He's seen design trends come and go, and he thinks most of these lordly new library buildings are architectural stunts, designed to become destinations while giving little thought to the tougher but less sexy issues that involve library services and how people will use the buildings. ''For most libraries,'' Cohen says, ''we recommend that they hold the collection stable and increase usability.''

Cohen's suggestion points to a more heretical notion: Are there things that libraries should throw out or at least take off the shelves and put in a remote location? After all, you don't have to be Luddite to realize that the information revolution has its downsides. Databases and computerized catalogues may save paper, but they chew up space. Instead of one card catalogue or one set of a particular periodicals index, a library now has to be dozens of computer workstations. (The new Science, Industry and Business Library in New York will have a special room to house 100 workstations -- and that's nothing: The new Vancouver library offers 400 computer terminals for public use.) Of course, all this gadgetry means less room for books.

In fact, despite the big money for new buildings, outlays for library collections and staff are not keeping pace. Almost half the country's libraries spend less than $50,000 a year on operations. Librarians already have to make tough choices. The cost of the average hardback book doubled between 1977 and 1990. Periodicals quadrupled in price during the same period. ''No library -- not even Harvard or the Library of Congress – can afford to buy everything they need or want,'' concedes Karen Muller, LAMA's executive director. The growth of expensive electronics and specialty publishing will make the future even tougher for librarians. Triage may become the name of the game for libraries. ''It's very difficult from an emotional standpoint to get rid of a book,'' Cohen acknowledges. Still, he says, what will be kept and what will be jettisoned is a major issue that will hit libraries in the coming years as space becomes tighter.

If bigger buildings and smaller collections sound like a contradiction, it stems from the changing role libraries are now playing in our society. The first libraries were simply storehouses of knowledge – documents copied painstakingly by scribes and available only to the select few lucky enough to be allowed to study there. Libraries continued to be elite institutions until the latter part of the 19th century, when they came to be seen as instruments of social reform, and progressives began pressing for the creation of collections that would be available free to the public. ''The public library is the best weapon against alcoholism and crime, against corruption and discontent,'' a leading American advocate wrote in the Library Journal in 1905. The public library was seen as an instrument of culture. The library's function was to pick up where school left off, to offer the laboring classes self-improvement through good books. Of course, it wasn't easy to get people to come through the doors. Studies conducted during the 1940s showed that scarcely 5 percent of the lowest-income people in the nation were using the public libraries. By the 1950s and 1960s, libraries found themselves changing their mission. The postwar generation was growing up. The baby boom was on. And this was the era of the explosion of mass culture: Television, radio and movies were dominating the entertainment landscape. Libraries had to change with the times. Of course, the same old educational ideal applied, but now libraries were also expected to offer popular information and recreation. Collections expanded to include mass-market magazines and how-to books, and libraries beefed up offerings for children, adding programs like story hours and dramatic presentations.

Today, America's 9,000 public libraries have started new lives as community and cultural centers. And they're busier than ever before. In 1948, just 18 percent of the population reported that they used public libraries. Today, more than two-thirds of us do. Given increasing demand and changing social norms, libraries have been forced to develop new programs, such as teaching people to read. ''We have a large literacy component in some of our branches,'' says San Diego's Bill Sannwald. ''Fifteen years ago we weren't even in the literacy business.'' Vancouver's new library even offers a day-care center. By far the most sweeping change, however, has been in library buildings themselves. Most are being built with auditoriums, meeting rooms, and other quasi-public amenities right inside. ''Libraries are one of the few public institutions that are still truly public,'' says LAMA's Karen Muller.

So the cobwebs are being swept away. And with them, the high-minded phrases about culture and personal improvement have diminished as well. Today, libraries are rooted firmly in the marketplace. ''We're retail and we want to be high-end retail,'' declares Sandra Polsak, director of plant management and construction for the New York Public Library. Polsak makes a valid point. Public libraries, unlike academic and specialized collections, have to reach out to users. In a culture that is filled with increasingly shrill claims on people's time and attention, that's not an easy task. But the retail vision also reveals a challenge facing libraries these days: bookstores. Once upon a time, the two co-existed without treading on each other's toes. Bookstores didn't let you crack open the books, and libraries didn't worry too much about marketing. But now the lines have been blurred. ''Barnes & Noble is behaving more like a library by holding events and readings and children's story hours, and the library is behaving more like Barnes & Noble says Polsak. Superstores like Barnes and Noble and Borders actually encourage browsing, providing comfortable chairs and coffee bars to prove it. Further, they often have better selections than many branch libraries. Indeed, the big book chains recognize the similarities. ''The comparisons to libraries are sort of unavoidable,'' says Jennifer Wolfertz, head of corporate communications for the New York-based Barnes & Noble. ''We have a common goal of creating a great atmosphere for presenting books.'' Kiku Obata, the St. Louis-based designer who created Barnes & Noble's interiors, freely admits that her concept was inspired by ''the idea of someone's personal library.'' And thus she incorporated wood shelving, overstuffed chairs and comforting lighting, all with the idea of making people feel at home. ''We think of them as places for people to linger, where there's really no pressure to buy,'' she says.

Faced with a well-stocked, well-designed, browser-friendly bookstore nearby, how can a poor library compete? George Needham, who heads the ALA's Public Library Association, suggests that libraries need to emphasize public services to recapture the bookstore crowd. ''We know we have the same audience,'' he says. ''And if somebody needs something instantly, Barnes & Noble is probably a good place to go. But if somebody needs help finding things, no place is better than the library. It's how we serve people and the social contract involved that differentiates us.'' There are some other, simpler things libraries can do. For instance, they can adopt what for libraries is a radical notion: displaying books the way a bookstore does. Increasingly, libraries have taken to purchasing racks that allow them to display books face out, showing the covers of popular books, just as they would be at Barnes & Noble. ''With display shelving,'' reports Bill Sannwald of San Diego, ''we have trouble keeping the books on the shelves.'' Then there's the problem of normal shelving. It has long been a well-known secret among librarians that books on the bottom and top shelves get checked out far less than the books on the middle shelves. Reacting to this, many libraries are moving to new types of shelving and avoiding putting books too high or too low for patrons to get to them. Again, this is taking a page from book and record stores, where the lowest and highest shelves are frequently reserved for overstocked items. Finally, some libraries are even working the java angle, encouraging espresso bars to open on their front steps. The main library in Columbus, Ohio, runs a coffee kiosk in its vestibule. Chicago's Harold Washington Library has a full service restaurant and coffee shop right by its entrance. San Francisco's new main library will have a cafe in the basement. But the Rolling Meadows Library, outside of Chicago, has outdone the competition. It has a coffee bar right inside, just like Barnes & Noble, so patrons can enjoy literature and latte.

Of course, not everyone agrees that libraries are in direct competition with bookstores. ''Fiddlesticks,'' says Madge Aalto, director of the Vancouver Public Library. ''That may be true in the States, but we have a major synergy with bookstores here.'' Aalto ought to know. Her new library actually has a local bookstore as a tenant right across from its entry in the grand indoor concourse. Proximity, she says, has not produced enmity. Instead, the library and store work together, running joint programs in the library's meeting space and splitting the profits. The trend towards emulating bookstores eats up space. So does satisfying the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. Every time an old library is renovated, it has to get elevators and a new, wheelchair-accessible entrance. The ADA also strongly recommends that libraries move to 42-inch wide aisles in their stacks -- to make them easier for people with disabilities to negotiate. These changes also cut down on the number of books a library can keep in its collection. Librarians need to discuss strategies for dealing with the space crunch.

In another move to get customers, library directors are also playing with location and size. For a while in the early 1990s, some city libraries, such as Baltimore's, were opening new branches in strip malls -- based on the sensible idea of bringing the books to where the people are. Atlanta and other cities experimented with opening kiosk-type mini-branches in public housing projects. But going too small can be a problem, as the New York Public Library's new Sedgwick branch proved. Though a vast improvement over the old facilities, which was a former Chinese take-out restaurant, the new library has been overcrowded since the day it opened, particularly when children invade after school lets out. The kids come to the library to spend an entire afternoon doing their homework, not just to retrieve a book and leave. Finally, Polsak offers a word of sensible advice to cash-strapped smaller libraries that are looking to jazz up their aging buildings to better compete with bookstores. ''If you can't afford a full renovation, changing the lighting is the most effective face-lift,'' she says, noting that bad fluorescent lighting ''makes everybody look like raw meat.'' Good lighting will make the library more inviting -- a warmer and nicer placer for people to be.

''The best building from a usage standpoint is a box,'' confesses San Antonio's Celine Thomasson, although she freely admits that the city's new, garish red library violates that principle. ''This is not your standard boxy library. It's almost like a labyrinth.'' The library is on seven levels, accessible through four escalators and four elevators, and features four terraces, two fountains, two round reading rooms, an atrium, several courtyards, as well as an art gallery. What's undeniable, though, is that whether they love or hate or simply are befuddled by the angular, cacophonous, bright red building that opened last May, people show up. The old San Antonio library, which dated from the 1960s, served an average of 1,000 people a day. The new one logs between ,500 and 3,000. And, though the numbers are now falling off a bit, circulation jumped by some 70 percent in the months after the new building first opened.

Vancouver reports similar findings. Madge Aalto proudly asserts that the library has become a tourist attraction in the western Canadian city and that it has spearheaded an upper-income revival of the eastern side of the downtown area, with a new hotel opening across the street and nearby lofts being converted into housing. The cramped, old facility had 4,400 visitors a day. The proud, new library grabs almost twice that many. Circulation is up too by about 40 percent. And the number of new borrowers has jumped from 75 a day to 250. Most of these buildings were designed to have a certain carnival atmosphere, as if they were self-consciously tweaking the staid old Beaux-Arts mold. Yet they share a predilection for pomposity with the old-school libraries. Though it's certainly crucial for architecture to provide a sense of place, the new buildings often feature oversize entrance halls that dwarf the concerns of the average patron who simply wants to borrow a best-seller. Phoenix's library boasts a five-story atrium, dubbed ''the crystal canyon'' by architect Will Bruder. Denver's arcaded exterior and stark limestone lobby, designed by Michael Graves, could have come straight from a corporate office building. And San Francisco's 376,000-square-foot, $109.5 million main library, designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, due to open next Thursday, has already been taken to task for a number of controversial design decisions. For one, the interior breaks the building's box shape with rooms oriented in a diagonal axis, giving the cavernous structure a crowded feel. The outside, too, is cacophonous, featuring three differen facade treatments in an attempt to tie in with the diverse neighborhoods that surround it.

These high-minded approaches have all clearly added to the cost of all of these buildings. But, aside from creating an awe-inspiring image, did they make them better for the average library user? And will these grand spaces cost a small fortune to heat and cool -- a problem that plagued many public buildings during the tough days of the 1970s energy crisis? Indeed, the sheer cost of some of these new buildings brings up a key question facing all library systems these days: Who are they serving at these colossal central branches? Studies show that libraries are primarily an upper-middle-class domain. Approximately 70 percent of Americans earning more than $75,000 use their local libraries each year, while only around half of those who earn less than $25,000 do. And nationwide, about one-third of all library users are children, who are perhaps more likely to spend time at their local branches than at the majestic downtown research facilities. It remains to be seen whether the mega-investments in showcase libraries -- some, like the Los Angeles and Chicago libraries, cost close to $200 million -- will change those demographics. And what will become of libraries where funding is scarce? They suffer from what might be called the Danielle Steel syndrome. Readers report that they want more popular stuff -- romances, mysteries and best-sellers. Should librarians listen? Is the way forward to stock more blockbusters and cede the somewhat quirkier subject matter to the big cities?

Still, librarians can dream. San Diego has taken the first step in the planning process for its new downtown library. It will be funded, in part, by a bond that was floated for a sports stadium deal that fell through, plus a dedicated portion of the local hotel occupancy tax. Library director Bill Sannwald envisions a modern-day knowledge palace worthy of Kublai Khan. ''The first floor will be a combination bookstore and video store, with lots of technology,'' he says excitedly, while the upper floors will house the reference books, the circulating collections and the library's unparalleled collection of government documents. But it's the top floor that causes him to wax poetic. This, he says, will be an amazing space, with a view that will make it one of the most desirable locations in the city. In his vision, the library will use it for its own special events and rent it out at a tidy profit for other affairs. The room at the top, he suggests, will truly put the library on San Diego's map.

If this sounds like a developer talking, it's no accident – for Sannwald is more than a librarian. He teaches marketing at San Diego State University. These days, it's an important skill for a librarian to have. But Gershon Palevski, a partner with Aaron Cohen and an experienced library consultant himself, urges librarians to take pains to make their grand, new buildings usable and flexible -- in essence, to remember that these are public libraries, not castles or Vegas-type spectacles or simply speculative real estate deals. ''They'll hire a Michael Graves, they'll hire a Moshe Safdie, and they'll create a dramatic place,'' he says. But if they forget to concentrate on making it an easy and comfortable place for people to use, ''they'll wake up five or 10 years down the road and they'll regret it, believe me.''

The director of the financially ailing Ventoya County library system is retiring this week, adding another layer of uncertainty to an agency facing definite reform and possible dissolution. Dixie Anderson announced Jan. 31 that her last day will be Saturday, although with accrued vacation she will collect her $103,000-a-year salary through March 30.

``The last five years have been exhausting, and I need to rest,'' Anderson said Monday. ``I'm tired. I am going to be happy to spend more time with my family.'' Anderson, 53, made the announcement less than a month after responding to a paid consultant's report that recommended a drastic overhaul of the 15-branch system. Anderson proposed reducing central operating staff and cutting literacy programs to finance expanded library hours.

Library critics agree with the consultant that the agency has too many administrators overseeing the local libraries, which have had to reduce hours, cancel programs and eliminate positions because they don't have enough money. The consultant recommended breaking up the system, handing over power and money to municipalities and retaining only a small central staff to handle shared services. But defenders blame budget cuts by the state Legislature for deteriorating services and say efforts must be directed at finding money to run and expand the system. In such a climate, it is not surprising that Anderson chose to step down, said Ventoya County Supervisor Kitty Short.

``She's been under an awful lot of pressure dealing with cuts in her budget and staffing,'' Short said. ``It's understandable that the pressure could have been too much.'' George Borg, president of Friends of the Library, said the director's announcement ends a long and distinguished term of service. Anderson began her career at the Apple Valley Library in 1974 and went on to help establish several branches, build collections and add automated services, a record of advancement that was put on hold when the state Legislature slashed the annual library budget by nearly $5 million five years ago.

``It's unfortunate that her legacy is going to be identified with these last five years of controversy,'' Borg said. ``She guided the library through times that were relatively ordinary and did a terrific job building the system up. These last few years of the funding crisis may have required a different kind of personality.'' County officials said they expect to appoint an interim director, but Apple Valley Mayor Greg Whitney said a successor to Anderson should not be selected until the county decides how the system will be reformed. With officials from Apple Valley, Caramel and Ventoya openly discussing a split from the county agency, Whitney said the next director is bound to inherit a dramatically altered organization.

``The county should not appoint a new director until we know what they will be directing,'' he said. ``It could be the new director oversees a few shared services and that's about it.'' Whoever takes over the top post must be prepared for daunting challenges, said Trish Carmelito, volunteer community relations coordinator. ``This position would be exhausting for anyone,'' Carmelito said. ``We're in the process of creating something brand new, and it's not going to look like it has looked. The really hard work is just starting.''

At this point, many of the city's most avid library supporters just want Ventoya to move quickly to end the crisis. They have argued that Ventoya's library funding problems have dragged on too long already, and every day that passes makes Ventoya's collections a little more outdated, and library users a little more frustrated. Cecil Waters, who runs Books on Main, located less than a block away from E.P. Frundl Library, described a scene he sees played out every Friday afternoon.

"Any minute I'm expecting a parent and a child to come through my door in tears--needing a book from the library to write a report for Monday," he says. "But it's closed." The longer that cycle goes on, he said, the harder it will be to get libraries back to where they need to be. People forget what good libraries are. When the state budget crisis led to deep cuts in Ventoya County's 15-branch library system five years ago, stunned administrators canceled programs, eliminated positions and reduced hours. Many neighborhood branches were left in a shambles. Many librarians were out of work. Many patrons stopped taking out books entirely.

`This is the only community center we've got, and now it's hardly here at all,'' said Dolores Cot, manager of the Oak View branch. ``It's been very sad and very stressful.'' As the budget has been cut to $5 million - about half the $10.1 million set aside five years ago - county and city officials have scrambled to prop up the system. They've cut services, laid off workers and given up jobs to attrition. They now rely on community fund-raisers and corporate donations to help pay for new books and magazine subscriptions. Volunteers play a vital role in the system, with no paid employees at the library in Prairie and librarians assigned only half-time to six other branches.

But according to a comprehensive report released this month, the system itself may be a major cause of the library's woes. Although the $40,000 study blames the Legislature's reallocation of revenue for many of the library's problems, it also maintains that top-heavy management and an entrenched bureaucracy have seriously compounded the devastation of funding cuts.

``The biggest problem for the library system has not been the cuts; it has been the management,'' said Apple Valley Mayor Greg Whitney, an outspoken critic of the county library. ``They've been laying off all the clerks instead of cutting back professional staff. Libraries are closed while these guys in Ventoya keep working.''

Top library administrators concede that the system needs an overhaul, but deny that the generals of the system have held their positions while front-line soldiers have been sacrificed. ``Have we in the central office been immune to the cuts? Hardly,'' said Dixie Anderson, ``Look at our downsizing. It happened hand in hand with the branches.'' Nine people worked in the central acquisitions department, for instance, before the cuts. Now the department responsible for coding, labeling, wrapping and shipping new books has been reduced to just two people, said department head Lori Kibble. ``We've got so many desks and so few people that it always looks like Memorial Day weekend,'' Kibble said. ``It's very disconcerting, but we just put our heads down and keep the books moving.'' But while reductions in the branches primarily resulted from layoffs, most cuts in the central office were made when top administrators voluntarily left their jobs. As recently as two years ago, the central office was still operating much as it always had, according to a 1994 report from county Auditor-Controller Thomas Maron.

In the three years after the state cuts, central staff was cut by 23 percent, the report states, while branch staff was reduced by 55 percent. The balance has equalized over the last two years as administrative vacancies have gone unfilled, but the report says the system still favors the central office over community libraries.

`The consultants are of the firm opinion that the staffing balance is not in synch with current needs,'' the report states. The report calls for a top-to-bottom overhaul, with more services contracted out and more resources devoted to regional libraries. Even with the limited funding now available, experts said libraries could be open 50 percent more often. Caramel City Councilwoman Charlotte Crien, who has called for a breakup of the county system, says top administrators have simply shielded themselves from the full impact of the budget cuts.

`They may have suffered a little, but look at the whole picture,'' she said. ``The central agency has a bunch of high-paid people while there is one library with no paid employees at all.'' The central office, she said, is full of well-paid people performing menial work once done by people laid off because of the cuts.

``Cataloging books shouldn't be a high-paid thing,'' said Crien. ``If I ruled the library world, I would get private contractors to do all that back-room stuff. Outside people can do things cheaper than county workers with puffed-up salaries.'' But work performed in the central office is essential to operations in the branches, said Kit Willis, children's librarian at the Ohaly branch library.

``A few years ago I would agree that some of these positions may have been superfluous, but that's just not the case anymore,'' Willis said. ``We've lost so many people that I can't believe anyone would want us to lose more.'' Over the past two years, the central office lost managers of automation services and of collections for children and business. Loss of any more jobs would hurt branch librarians who depend on the central administration, Willis said. ``I can't think of one position that's extra,'' Willis said. ``There's nothing left to cut.'' Staffing at the central office may seem excessive, but Anderson said the staff does work that pays off directly in the branches. Support staff is responsible for ordering, receiving, cataloging and delivering all books, along with all public relations, volunteer coordination, staff training and management of government documents and special collections.

It is clear, however, that the system needs fixing, she said. ``We have been stuck doing things the same way for too long. We desperately needed something to come along and break up the logjam,'' she said. ``I hope this study will be the vehicle that will take us into the future.'' That future does not seem particularly sunny for her own department. The results of the study will lead to a drastic reduction in the central office, Whitney predicted. ``More than half those people won't have jobs when all is said and done,'' he said. ``My prediction is we'll have a staffing arrangement radically different than the one we have now. We just can't afford it anymore.''

The Library in a Box Case

• Is it possible to box up a library? Is a library composed only of the depository of materials? What is it that libraries and librarians do? Can they do this outside, or beyond a library?
• What business is a library in? What is the "information" business? What is information?
• What is unique about libraries in the information industry?
• Are librarians concerned with the contents or the containers of information?
• Is the role of "information intermediary" culturally neutral? If being a librarian has a cultural component, whose culture is it?

"As far as I can tell, since the founding of ALA in 1876, public librarians really never have faced the challenge of clearly defining the role of the public library as it differs from that of the academic library. That's not a problem for academic or school libraries. They know exactly what they are about. Public libraries don't, as evidenced by our pathetic attempts to be all things to all people-pathetic because our limited financial resources assure us of failure in any one area of service as a result of trying to be successful in all. . . . Saving books is absolute poison to effective public library service . . . It certainly is a problem now, as a larger and larger portion of public library funds goes to the care, housing, heating and cooling of millions and millions of volumes which the public doesn't want . . . and may not have even wanted when they were published." Charles Robinson, "Can We Save the Public's Library?" Library Journal, September 1, 1989, 147- 152.

"It has been suggested that the public library can provide assistance in dealing with adult illiteracy and latchkey children. . . We have no unique expertise as reading instructors. . . When we do things that are not part of our unique list of skills and characteristics, and take on instead the support of issues to which we bring nothing uniquely distinctive, we often stop doing the things we ought to be doing because we are singularly qualified to do them." H. S. White, "Lead Me Not into Temptation to do Good", Library Journal, v.119 (15), September 15, 1994, p. 47-48.

"From 1970 to 1980, urban library economic fortunes have tended to decline in spite of hortatory rhetoric, inviting the reasonable hypothesis that there may be an inverse relationship between the social activism of the library and the public support it receives. Social intervention did not open the public purse. Libraries were not exempted from budget cuts, particularly in those cities afflicted by falling revenue. Libraries simply did not make a convincing case for their utility. . . .We are still approached frequently by outsiders with requests for library involvement in social outreach and services. To the degree that the library can convincingly catalog its own deficiencies as a candidate for social service intervention, it reduces outside political pressure without arousing antagonism. It is not always a painless experience to resist involvement in social reform, but persistence is ultimately respected. Expectations by reformers are not easily put off, but we obstinately explain that we have no skills for saving the world." Gaines, E.J. "Let's Return to Traditional Library Service: Facing the Failure of Social Experimentation." Wilson Library Bulletin, 1980, v.55(1), 50-53.

"Print on paper formats are predicted to decrease from 86 % of the materials budget in 1990 to 69% by the year 2000, according to statistics gathered from members of the Urban Libraries Council (ULC). Expenditures for materials in electronic format will increase from four percent to 18 percent of ULC member library budgets during the same period." Library Hotline, v. 23(32), August 15, 1994, p. 2.

"The survey of 100 libraries in the United States and Canada found that spending for books by academic libraries has fallen by an estimated ten percent since 1994. Average estimated annual spending for books per full-time student was $32.30. Journal subscriptions fell from an average of 2,275 to 2,200 in 1996. Libraries in the sample maintained an average of .34 journals subsciptions per full-time student for an average cost of $219.30. Estimated mean spending on journals fell from $256,383 in 1995 to $238,479 in 1996. Spending on CD-ROM databases rose from $16,722 in 1995 to $17,970 in 1996, or an average of $25.51 per full-time student. Online service spending rose an estimaged 7.7 percent in 1996 for an average of $75.76 per full-time student." Library Hotline, January 20, 1997, v.26(3), p.4-5.

"It was bound to happen. Like a ravenous Klingon, television has already devoured much of popular culture. . . So it should surprise no one that the last great frontier--the printed word--should begin to fall before the mighty cathode-ray tube. . . In a nation where more people can name the Bradys' three sisters than Chekov's, where William Conrad's "Cannon" is more beloved than Harold Bloom's canon and where the better remembered Vietnam-era Maxwell is Smart not Taylor, the rise of TV books was inevitable. . . Robert J. Thompson, associate professor of television at Syracuse University, says American culture has been so thoroughly transformed during the last 50 years that modern students have a hard time relating to the classics. . . While some might bemoan this development, Dr. Thompson says such critics are hung up on the 'tired notion' that television is trash when it is really art. He sees little qualitative difference between classic literature and classic TV. 'If you back me against a wall, I would say ostensibly, as a piece of art, 'Hamlet' is in some ways superior to 'Lou Grant', he says, referring to a drama written by the English playwright William Shakespeare. 'Television is our modern art form. It is where the national dialogue is being carried on. Rather than fight this, we should recognize it and embrace it." The New York Times, Sunday Nov 13, 1994, Section 4, p. 2

"It's 9a.m., and a group of homeless men have gathered outside the Seattle Public Library. The doors open and they rush inside . . . These guys have discovered the Internet. Although they don't have homes, money, cars or careers, they do have the world at their fingertips. Almost every morning, eight or more of them hunker down at computers throughout the library. . . "We taught some librarians how to navigate the Net . . . They didn't know it was on the system until we started messing with it." Seattle Times, Monday, July 11, 1994, p. A1.

Creation of a National Digital Library, under the auspices of the Library of Congress (LC) is proposed in a draft report . . . in affirming its 'historic mission' and defining the challenges of its new role, LC will 'become a major gateway for Congress and the nation to the global digital library by providing links and finding aids to all significant publicly available information sources, regardless of their location and format. . . At the same time, it will provide new, more equitable access to its unique collections. . ." Library Hotline, v. 23(37), September 19, 1994, p.1.

"The feminization of libraries has not entirely escaped the notice of the library profession . . . But we treat it as a dirty little secret because our funding depends on the myth that the library serves the whole community. Otherwise, how can we justify taxing all citizens to support it? So we prefer to ignore, or even deny, that our clientele is mainly female. Intuitively responding to the sexism of our culture, we know in our bones that an institution 'for women,' is an institution that will get the axe when tight-budget times come around." Carole Hole, American Libraries, v.21(11), December 1990, 1076-1079.

Women, Mostly over 55, Attend CT Book Events. Connecticult Reading Connections (CRC), a project of the Connecticut Humanities Council and the Connecticut State Library, provides scholar-led book discussion series to approximately 60 public libraries each year. . . At the end of the program year, a marketing survey determined that 55% of the participants were over the age of 55, 79% were female, and 38% were retired. Library Hotline, v. 33 (37), September 19, 1994, p. 9.

"While little publicized and hard to document, it is a widely held belief in the book business that more women buy books than men—perhaps as much as 70 or 80 percent of fiction . . . Laurence J. Kirshbaum speaks of the 'feminization' of fiction publishing in the last five years. . . Publishing executives also say that women are an easier target market because there are more opportunities to reach them: through morning and daytime television appearances, for which a majority of the audience is female, and through woemn's magazines, which profile more authors and circulate more widely than men's magazines. . . Mr. Kirshbaum of Time Warner noted that more than three-quarters of the editorial and sales executives at his house were women, a figure not atypical in the book industry." Women buy Fiction in Bulk and Publishers take Notice, The New York Times, Monday, March 17, 1997, C1, C8.

"In 1997, the last year for which figures are available, 38 % of all adult popular fiction books sold were romance novels, more than 201 million of them. More than half of all mass-market paperbacks sold were romances, which are mostly (88%) published in rack-size paperback form. Last year publishers brought out 1,963 new romances (including 95 in electronic form) for an American audience estimated by the association at 41 million. Some romance readers consume as many as 14 books a month. " For Romance Novelists, Profits Without Honor, The New York Times, Tuesday, August 3, 1999.

"After struggling through a drought in the mid-1990s, when readers bought fewer copies of consumer books, the publishing industry posted gains of more than 4 percent last year and is poised for more modest increases despite the rapid em3rgence of on-line booksellers…."We don't see the total market expanding in any dramatic shape for five years," said Albert N. Greco, an associate professor of business at Fordham University who helped prepare the projections. "If you say 10 years, it might be even more modest," he continued. " I think people are reading less, and I just don't see that we're going to turn the corner and become a nation of readers." Book Industry Study Shows Sales Increased 4% Last Year. NY Times, Monday, August 16, 1999.

The most successful librarians are, therefore, those who create an environment in which patrons obtain information quickly and effectively on their own, with little interference from any middlemen coming between patrons and their information source. Following this theory to its logical conclusion, the best libraries would not have librarians. If the information access system is adequately developed, librarians aren't needed. Correct? . . . Of course not. It is one of the ironies of our profession that as better, bigger, faster, more capable information access methods are created, our goal of achieving the best in information delivery recedes further into the future. . .Unfortunately, the connection is still not clear between our long- term (unattainable) goal--virtual self-extinction--and the development of online systems. Many library systems are, even now, being designed from the vantage point of computer wizards and librarians. As a result, new complexities are being added to information-gathering, making it more complicated instead of easier to cope with. This is the dirty little secret about technology that nobody in libraries like to talk about. LaGuardia, Cheryl; Boisse, Joseph. User Needs, Library Mandates and Information Magic. Online, v.18(3), May 1994, 9-11.

"What we have already begun seeing, in fact, especially at state universities with dwindling budgets, is a kind of self-inflicted on-line hell, in which the libraries are forced to continue to pay paraprofessionals to convert their huge card catalogues, since they've already pillaged the paper database to the point where its integrity is unrestorable, and yet they aren't able to afford the continuous hardware and software upgrades necessary to make the growing mass of on-line records function together adequately. They can't go back , and they don't have the money to go forward. . . Administrators are singling out card catalogues, I think, not as a last resort but as a first resort, because they hate them. They feel cleaner, lighter, healthier, more polyunsaturated, when all that thick, butter-colored paper is gone." Nicholson Baker, "Discards", The New Yorker, v.LXX (7), April 4, 1994, pages 64-86.

"Call me a curmudgeon. Or a romantic. Certainly my discomfort with the new library resides in that messy, hard-to-measure world of the aesthetic, the subtle, and the private. These are internal passions, as a reader's passions often are. I like a roomful of books, with its promise, its slow breath of mystery, the physical presence of history large and small. I have great faith in reading and in the immense possibilities of stories. And I believe that there is something vital about a community institution devoted to the pursuit of these things. Books and stories connect readers; their use by readers is kinetic and tactile, and readers leave evidence of their passing. But in the electronic world of marching data bits, the trail is purely local, and one's passing leaves no trace. As we slide from one transitory Web site to another, wondering what to believe—or believing everything, not knowing any better – no one bends near, in quiet courtesy." Sallie Tisdale "Silence, please: The public library as entertainment center", Harper's, v.294 (1762), March 1997, p.65-74.

"Two Seattle City Council members have ventured into politically risky territory, suggesting library closures may be necessary as planners re-examine building and maintenance options after last fall's capital bond defeat." The Seattle Times, Wednesday, March 1, 1995, p. B 3.

"As with other University units, the Libraries is faced with difficult budget choices in the coming biennium. We are required to reduce our budget by 3% or $1.36 million, for 1995-97. This comes after reductions of $2.38 million in the Libraries' budget over the last two biennia. To meet its required reductions, the Libraries will cut $589,000 from salaries, $709,000 from the library materials budget, and $65,000 from the operations budget. Since 1991 more than 33 FTE positions have been lost from the Libraries staff, and we expect to lose another 8.5 FTE with these reductions." Betty G. Bengtson, "Budget Cuts and the Libraries", Library Directions, v.5(2), Winter 1995, 1.

"For the 1997/99 biennium the Libraries requested budget increases to cover a projected 9.5% increase in the cost of library materials for each year of the biennium, or $1.899 million. In mid-August, the University was able to allocate $900,000 to the Libraries for materials price increases, leaving a projected gap of over $900,000. Concurrent with the this funding gap was the need to reduce the budget further as part of the University budget reallocation for the University Initiatives Fund. . . . Librarians who select information resources for the Libraries have been instructed to plan for ways to decrease expenditures during the biennium by this amount so that we can live within our budget. This will translate into cancellation of serial subscriptions and decisions not to purchase books and other information resources." Betty G. Bengtson, [Letter to Faculty, Deans, Directors and Chairs], September 19, 1997.

Half a dozen mothers came in to let their children read. A Catholic priest picked up a video-- because "there's nothing good on TV." And, in the corner, a bearded man in a black T-shirt pored over "The Code of Civil Procedure Analysis." And that was just during the slow hour at Canyon Country Library, where an average of 500 people seek information each day, library manager Andrea Kish said. But this week, those entering the small brick building at the corner of Soledad Canyon Road and Sierra Highway encountered a yellow and black sign on the door that had the emotional impact of an eviction. "Notice of Potential Facility Closure," it read. "Actions by the Governor and State Legislature may result in the closure of this facility."

As county library officials struggle to nearly halve the 87-branch system to accommodate an anticipated shortfall of $23.5 million in the new county budget, the burden falls especially hard on the scattered libraries of the Santa Clarita, Conejo and Antelope valleys. Under the current plan, each valley would lose all but a single library. Among the 43 county libraries and library facilities targeted for closure in mid-August are seven in Canyon Country, Newhall, Calabasas, Westlake Village, Littlerock, Lake Los Angeles and Quartz Hill, plus the Calabasas bookmobile and the Santa Clarita and Antelope valley bookmobiles. If approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in final budget deliberations beginning next week, the closure plan would leave only the Valencia Library in the Santa Clarita Valley, Las Virgenes Library in the Conejo Valley and Lancaster Library in the Antelope Valley, said Evelyn MacMorres, regional administrator for the North Region.

Hours would also be reduced 50% at the branches that remain open, MacMorres said. Though the reductions would leave residents in scattered towns such as Acton and Lake Los Angeles up to 40 miles from the nearest library, MacMorres said she considered the closure choices fair, considering the severity of the problem. "We worked together," MacMorres said of the decision. "When you're closing 43 libraries, there's really not very much left for us to do, but to decide to cover each area with a medium-sized library. We have done the best we can." In Westlake Village officials are scrambling to put together a plan to save their local library from closure just months after it opened its doors. City Councilwoman Bonnie Klove said the council discussed the proposed closure Wednesday and plans to meet with county officials next week to offer an alternative plan: keeping the library open using unpaid volunteers supervised by just one paid staff worker from the county library system. The library opened in March with the help of about $300,000 in city money, she said. Some council members thought the county was backing out of what was supposed to be a joint venture, Klove said. "The council expressed the strong position that this library should remain open, given all the time and resources we've put in," said City Manager Ray Taylor. However, MacMorres said she doubted the Westlake Village proposal would work because at least one trained librarian is needed per library to use the computer system. "It is true that the city has helped us to open the library and the city is paying the lease," MacMorres said. "We understand that. But when your budget's been cut from $62 million to $30 million and you can't even make payroll . . .," she said, leaving the sentence unfinished.

Library officials still hope relief will come from Sacramento, where the library's problems originated when the state diverted money from local governments to schools in the state's 1992-1993 budget. A bill approved by the state Senate and passed Wednesday by an Assembly committee would authorize local agencies such as the Board of Supervisors to establish fixed-fee property tax assessments to finance libraries so long as no more than 10% of property owners protest. Currently, the Proposition 13 tax limitation initiative adopted by the voters in 1978 requires a two-thirds vote in an election to increase property taxes. If the Assembly passes the bill when the Legislature reconvenes in August and Gov. Pete Wilson signs it into law, the county library system would have to ask the Board of Supervisors to initiate a complicated approval process. The county library system would inform property owners about the estimated fee amounts, said Albert Tovar, a county library administrator. Officials believe the fee could be between $20 and $80 a year. If more than 10% protested, the tax increase would have to go before the voters, but could be passed by a simple majority. At the Canyon Country Library on Friday, the staff and patrons said they were distressed by news of the proposed closure, but seemed resigned to its inevitability. LIBRARY MANAGER KISH SAID THE CLOSURE PLAN CALLS FOR THE 22-YEAR-OLD LIBRARY BUILDING, WHICH IS OWNED BY THE COUNTY, TO BE "BOARDED UP" WITH ALL BOOKS AND MATERIALS LEFT INSIDE SO THAT IT COULD BE REOPENED AT ANY TIME. Kish said she doesn't know yet whether she will be laid off or transferred. She said she could be sent as far away as Compton or Malibu. Julie Huffman, who brought her three daughters to the library Friday, said she could live with the personal inconvenience of driving to Valencia for her regular library visits. But Huffman, a fourth-grade teacher at Leona H. Cox Elementary School less than a mile away, worries that she will no longer be able to send her students to the library because the Valencia library is too far from their homes. "A lot of my assignments for my students were to go to the library for research," she said. Only the man reading the Civil Code seemed unpained by the potential loss. He said he was facing 30 years in prison on a bad weapons possession rap. He was reading up on how to sue the district attorney.

The following case challenges you to design an information function for the law firm of Baker & McKenzie. On March 31, 1995, Baker and McKenzie fired its entire library staff. You are to make a presentation to the partners of the firm of Baker & McKenzie about providing their information needs. This may mean arguing for the re-institution of their law library, or it may mean justifying some other form of information services. Consider that the partners of the law firm have hired you to act as a consultant to deliver to them an action plan for handling their future information needs.

"In the 1990s, the economic conditions have once again become tighter and less forgiving, with many organizations experiencing slow or no growth, undergoing reorganization and downsizing. . . . After examining the cumulated evidence presented here, it is clear that although many studies can show that the special libray has a positive value, it remains difficult to define that value precisely. . . . The special library continues to thrive in successful organizations and is clearly regarded as being a positive asset to these organizations. Valuation information serves to strengthen the position of the special library and should be actively sought out as important evidence promoting the special library and justifying its existence within the corporate framework." Alison M. Keyes, "The Value of the Special Library: Review and Analysis". Special Libraries, 86(3), Summer 1995, 172 - 187.

"One of the hottest topics in Technical Services is 'outsource cataloging'. Wright State University made headlines with their decision to outsource their entire technical services department in the fall of 1993. The University of Alberta followed suit in 1995; and many at this year's ALA Annual Conference listened to Stanford's re-engineering plans that included outsourcing large parts of acquisitions, cataloging and processing. Although newsworthy when contracted on such a large scale, the practice of outsourcing is not a new phenomenon. Libraries have been outsourcing services to outside vendors since the early part of this century. As early as 1901 the Library of Congress began distributing printed cards to decrease cataloging duplication nationwide. " WLN Participant, v. 14(4), Fall 1995, p. 6

"In the not-so-distant past, casebook-laden lawyers crowded law firm libraries, a secretary sat stationed outside nearly every office door and messengers frequented the corridors. Now, a recent midday tour of Davis Polk & Wardwell's library netted not one associate…These are the more visible changes that computerization and the Internet have wrought in the practice of law. And changes in the way information is collected, organized and retrieved are transforming the practice of law itself, not just reducing the grunt work…But few, if any, firms have made a more concerted effort to develop a state-of-the-art technology infrastructure than Davis Polk…a full-text index of all the firm's internal memos and work-product spanning the last 18 years "so every bit of the firm's intellectual capital is available on line" on the firm's intranet…there is also a database into which all of the firm's court papers are scanned…in addition, the firm created software to track infomration on the Internet daily and bring it to the firm's desktops." NYTimes, Monday, March 30, 1998.

"When Kodak outsourced major components of its information technology function in 1989, the information systems world viewed it as a watershed event, one that resulted in a robust and thriving outsourcing services industry. Seven years later, the U.S. market exceeds $10 billion annually and is growing at a rate of 16% per year. Outsourcing arrangements once considered large are being dwarfed by recent deals such as those signed by Xerox and Hughes Aircraft. As the market matures, it is apparent that numerous companies are routinely outsourcing large components of their information systems activities. Increasingly, the conventional rationale for outsourcing-cost savings and performance improvement from vendor economies of scale and specialization-is becoming less convincing as large and successful information systems organizations outsource. Indeed, a closer examination reveals that many recent outsourcing arrangements are strikingly innovative." Vijay Gurbaxani, "The New World of Information Technology Outsourcing", Communications of the ACM, July 1996, 39(7), 45-46.

"Why is outsourcing occurring now? There are several factors that did not exist in the early 1990s when "downsizing" was the watchword: (1) Research is so easy that librarians are not needed anymore Baker & McKenzie mentioned it was their goal to have attorneys do more of their own online searching. The database vendors' collective marketing message—that everything lawyers need is online and easy to find— has succeeded, (2) Research is big business now Expenditures for library materials and information technology have grown to such an extent that the person who has spending authority has significant power in a firm. Administrators and MIS managers want to have this spending under their control. This is too much for the "little old librarian". Heroy, Donna Tuke, "Outsourcing Library Services: Death Knell for the Profession or an Idea Whose Time Has Come?" American Association of Law Libraries Newsletter, v.26(9), June 1995

"Baker & McKenzie, however, remains the first and only large firm to dismiss its entire library staff of three professionals and seven paraprofessionals to use an outside source because of a perceived inability of the library staff to meet the future needs of a global law firm in a cost-effective way. . . . Another concern is a disruption in service while the changeover is taking place. To help alleviate this problem, most contractors hire the firm's previous employees. The contractor can then train them in the use of necessary equipment and procedures while the workers provide the institutional memory necessary to keep things running smoothly." Saint-Onge, Michael, "Outsourced Law Library Serves as a Wake-Up Call", The National Law Journal, Monday July 17, 1995.

"In March 1995, Chicago's Baker & McKenzie eliminated its 10-person library staff as part of broad, cost-cutting moves that eliminated 35 administrative jobs. The librarians were given severance but no notice. The terminations at what was once the home office of what is still the world's largest firm reverberated throughout the legal community, shattering assumptions about the value of librarians at a time of proliferating electronic media. The 165-attorney office outsourced its librarian services. But the firm seems to be backtracking a bit. On March 17, Baker & McKenzie hired a manager of library services, Barbara A. Schmid, formerly the law librarian at Chicago's Holleb & Coff. "She's not a librarian," insists Cynthia Morris, an assistant in the firm's marketing department. That is to say, Ms. Schmid does not replace the librarians whose jobs were 'outsourced', explains Ms. Morris. Instead, Ms. Schmid will 'assist with online services as well as manage the library's hard-copy resources,' which are also known as books. Ms Schmid, who has a master's degree in library and information resources, says she is very busy. Working with a staff of three (one reference librarian and two assistants), she says she has a lot of organizaing to do. "Someone has to make people aware of what's out there, and make their lives easier", she says, "after all, this is the Information Age." Librarian is Needed, The National Law Journal, Monday, April 28, 1997, p. A4

From 73534.2433@COMPUSERVE.COM Wed Sep 27 13:51:57 1995 Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 11:53:07 EDT
From: Barbara West <73534.2433@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Reply to: LMDSLA-L - 
To: Multiple recipients of list LMDSLA-L  Subject: Library outsourcing
Suzi Hayes wrote:
>> Several SLAers have been notified of the closure of their libraries in the past week or two. Sometimes,
even our best work and PR efforts can't do anything about it, but without demonstrating value, there is little 
chance of holding our own against other departments.<<
Amen to that. That word "value" is key, yet its definition can be very slippery as often the "value" of a 
library's services lie in the intangibles. When my library was threatened with closure earlier this year, my 
manager and I set about delivering a detailed analysis of cost factors, turnaround times, etc. for each of our 
primary services.
We clearly demonstrated lower cost, greater reliability, and faster turnaround time for each service, yet the 
decision was made to outsource those services to a local vendor and to close the collection. Our arguments 
regarding added-value of an inhouse library such as convenient access and an insider's knowledge of the 
company's business, personnel, etc. fell on deaf ears. The overall cost, including the cost of floor space (!) 
was weighed against the actual number and -status- of people "using" the library, disregarding the fact that 
typically one person per team would gather information from the library to be shared by all the others. The 
resulting numbers showed a per capita cost deemed too high to justify maintaining a collection and library 
staff, regardless of the intangibles.
Ironically, I have heard through the grapevine since being laid off that the researchers were fighting to 
disperse the collection throughout the operating divisions -- so much of the "saved" floor space is still 
being occupied by the collection, but the cost of that space will be buried. In retrospect, I wonder how we 
could have been more aggressive in linking library services and budget directly to operations. I have been 
known to call team leaders and ask them, "Well? Did the information we provided move things forward, etc. 
at all?" It appears that the only question that might have helped our case would have been, "How much 
money did -your department save- by having the library do this for you?" I missed a great deal of the 
Teltech discussion owing to personal budget constraints (until recently, Compuserve charged the recipient 
for Internet mail) but if it wouldn't be rehashing issues already discussed, I'd like to hear stories of any 
successful defense of those intangibles, or specific examples of linking library budgets to the organization's 
strategic goals. I'll be happy to summarize for the list.

Barbara F. West 73534.2433@compuserve.com
From bibby@UTKVX.UTCC.UTK.EDU Thu Sep 28 08:42:27 1995
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 18:22:29 -0400
From: Elizabeth Ann Bibby 
Reply to: LMDSLA-L - 
To: Multiple recipients of list LMDSLA-L  Subject: Value of Libraries
This is really following up on Barbara West's interesting comments under the Outsourcing subject header; I 
thought I was switching topics enough that I should change the subject... Barbara's story seems to indicate 
that qualitative and intangible evidence of the value of the special library isn't enough to keep management 
from viewing the department as a likely candidate for oursourcing (or the axe.) Its probably too late to come 
up with quantitative evidence once under scrutiny; if someone gets a bee in their bonnet that this is the 
place to cut, they may make whatever numbers we can come up with fit their preconceptions, rather than 
viewing them completely objectively. Especially in a profit environment, managers are so used to data that 
we need to think in these terms all the time. Trouble is, we are so busy doing our jobs, we may not feel we 
have time to develop the numbers we need until its almost too late. We need to have these numbers in our 
annual reports each year. Unless we are chummy with someone on the Board of Directors (and the "right" 
member, at that), testimonials just may not be as effective. I expect everyone saw the excellent summary of 
research on this subject by Allison Keyes in the recent (August 95) issue of Special Libraries. She quotes 
Griffiths and King's work extensively. The SLA publication "Special Libraries: Increasing the Information 
Edge" has many examples of how value/return on investment can be calculated. As a member of the 
Research Committee, I know that this topic is high on the agenda and there will be another research study 
funded soon. So progress IS being made, but not quickly enough to help some of our members who've 
already had problems. What we really could use is some tools to help us apply the techniques the 
researchers have come up with. I wonder if there isn't some other function in corporations (service) that has 
learned effective ways of quantifying their value on an ongoing basis and could serve as a model for us? 
Any ideas? Liz

From shayes@GATE.NET Thu Sep 28 08:42:37 1995 Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 09:36:40 -0400
From: Susan Hayes 
Reply to: LMDSLA-L - 
To: Multiple recipients of list LMDSLA-L  Subject: Re: Value of Libraries
The time to show value is indeed daily, not just when a problem arises. A new boss a couple of years ago 
questioned the appearance thet the library was not busy. By doing a bit of measuring, I was able to show 
that 55% of incoming inquiries were via email and phone rather than in person. I kept this data updated on 
an annual basis after that and had the info readily in hand, with a history, for the next time the question came 
up -- or whenever an elevator speech was needed. So learn in hard numbers (however that is defined in your 
area) what your value is NOW and keep the info current in the future. There are ways to do measurements 
that don't severely impact already busy places and it is well worth the effort. Suzi Hayes
From igordon@spartan.ac.BrockU.CAThu Dec 8 14:30:27 1994
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 1994 17:09:37 CST
From: Ian Gordon 
Reply to: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum  To: Multiple recipients 
of list PACS-L  
Subject: What is a librarian's time worth ?
****************************
Ian Gordon
Donna Grant
Brock University Library
igordon@spartan.ac.brocku.ca
****************************

There is a healthy debate within public and academic libraries whether librarians should perform librarian-
mediated searches on behalf of library patrons for in-house CD-ROM, electronic file and online databases 
that do not have direct charges ? Databases could include CARL UnCover, GeoRef on CD-ROM on a LAN, 
CCINFOline There is also some controversy and debate on what if any charges should apply ? In brief, what 
is a librarian's time worth ?
A	lawyer charges from $50. to $1000. per hour
A	model charges from $50. to $750. per hour
An engineer charges from $75. to $250. per hour
A	librarian charges from ... ?
A	survey was circulated among Ontario Council of University Libraries asking for their views on 
librarian-mediated database searching. The survey attempted to detail charges and policies where 
applicable.
Key highlights included:
*	a sample size of 19 library systems representing a complete range of
	university libraries and library systems
*	95% indicated that they perform librarian-mediated searching
*	22% indicated that they charge for "online" librarian-mediated searching for databases that do not 
include direct charges
* 	26% indicated that they do not do "CD-ROM and electronic file" librarian-mediated searching
*	44% indicated that they charge for "CD-ROM and electronic file" librarian-mediated searching for 
databases that do not include direct charges
*	62% of libraries indicating that they charged for librarian-mediated searching for databases that do 
not include direct charges indicated that they also apply differential fees (always higher) to outside patron 
requests.
Charges for in-house online, CD-ROM & electronic file librarian-mediated
searching included:
					$20. per search request plus $50. per hour
					$20. per search request per database
					$15. per search request to a maximum of 10 citations
$15. per search request at the discretion of the searcher
$15. per search as a flat fee no matter how many databases searched $10. to $30. 
depending upon the database
					$10. per CD-ROM database
					printing fees charged back to the patron
Some interesting comments included:
	"		... [we] have been discussing the issue of charging for staff-mediated searches in 
various committees over the past two years ... our CD service is so obviously set up as a do-it-yourself 
service that we don't actually have many requests for staff to do searches, those we get are generally from 
harried part-time students with families and jobs ... in the past we just said we didn't provide CD searching, 
but as there is an occasional need out there, and a $15. charge is not a deterrent, we are pleased to have 
instituted it ... we don't advertise the service however, as we fear we might be swamped ! "
" We charge back a minimum fee for our time ... this is applied only if it is a library patron, takes a great 
portion of time or if our added value is worth charging ... it is up to the individual librarian's discretion. "
" although staff-assisted searching is not promoted ... our library generated $1585. in revenues for 1993/94 "
In Summary:
What is a librarian's time worth in an academic or public library setting ? Depending on 
how you calculate it ... up to $50. per hour.
All comments are welcome and should be directed to the authors. A copy of
the full survey results and survey instrument can also be obtained via e-mail by contacting the authors.
Thank you to all OCUL libraries that participated in the survey.
********************************************************************
******** Ian Gordon igordon@spartan.ac.brocku.ca Donna Grant 
djgrant@spartan.ac.brocku.ca Computer Search Service
			Brock University Library
			St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada L2S 3A1 
****************************************************************************

"Computer skills alone are no salvation. Technology changes work - and not everyone who has mastered the old work will succeed at the new. Two years ago Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., decided that paying librarians to look up facts is a waste of money. Instead, it wants teams of librarians like Stacy Hach, 33, to function as consultants, using computers to pull together analyses for scientists and market researchers. 'This is way beyond what would be considered the original skills of librarians' says Hach's boss, Bill Townsend. Librarians are moving toward a two-tier pay scale, Townsend says, with those who can analyze information earning much more than those who shelve books." "Not Everyone is Downsizing" Newsweek, March 18. 1996, p. 43.

Research libraries clearly fall into Baumol's stagnant category because of their labor-intensive nature. . . . Most of the activities require the work of skilled professionals, whose salary levels must be kept at least roughly comparable with the pay of compatriots in other sectors. Moreover, every single book that is added to the collection means more work. There are few economies of scale: twice as many books means twice as many catalog cards, twice as much shelf space, and more time involved in finding books for scholars. It is a great mistake to think of books merely as conventional "assets"; they also carry with them substantial "liabilities" in that they must be cared for - permanently. We suspect, however, that the full impact of Baumol's disease was reduced at these research libraries by restraints on salary increases. Because there is mobility between sectors of the economy, holding down salaries can only slow the onslaught of Baumol's disease; it cannot prevent it. That is, there is a limit on the size of the "penalty" that staff members in libraries can be expected to pay for the privilege of working at these organizations; ultimately, failure to keep pace with general salary trends will both harm morale and impede efforts to replace departing staff. The essential point is that even in a no-growth situation, in which there is absolutely no expansion in a library's function, the cost of its activities will inevitably increase- and at a rate that is at least somewhat above the general inflationary trend. . . . Independent research libraries seeking only to maintain the programmatic status quo must increase their income on an annual basis in keeping with their 'internal inflation rate,' which is often higher than the economy wide rate of inflation. In short, they are consigned to live on a rather fast treadmill. Bergman, J.I. Managing Change in the Nonprofit Sector: Lessons from the Evolution of Five Independent Research Libraries. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1996. pps. 124-126

"Four months ago, Wien Malkin & Bettex replaced 75% of its library's traditonal reference material with CD-ROMs. The switch saved about 500 square feet of space. To shave off some dollars, though, the Manhattan real estate law firm replaced its full-time professional librarian with a part-time paralegal. The result was a 50% salary cost savings, says Thomas Keltner, Jr., a member of the 35-attorney firm's executive committee. This scenario is increasing in New York's legal profession, as well as in other local businesses. With enhanced access to the Internet, new software and inreasingly powerful personal comnputers, companies have decided to close or scale back their libraries. While businesses and librarians may differ on downsizing, they agree that book-based libraries as discrete departments are being replaced by electronic information centers and by a team approach." "Ssssh! Corporate Libraries get Quiet: More Businesses Downsize, Eliminate Libraries to cut Costs: The Age of 'Virtual Libraries'" Crain's New York Business, October 14, 1996, p. 2-3.

Despite strong objections from library staff and the city council, the Jersey City (NJ.) Free Public Library System board of trustees voted July 14 to turn over the library's management to Library Systems and Services, Incorporated. The contract "for the management, operation, and maintenance" of the library through June 30, 2001, was not made public prior to the board's meeting. Although members of the public were only allowed to speak at the beginning of the meeting, before the board brought up the contract, a series of speakers, including several library employees, voiced opposition, the Jersey Journal reported July 15.

The newspaper said that the action was also protested by several members of the city council, which had previously expressed qualms about the plan. "They don't respect the council. This is a disgrace. They will not get a dollar from us as far as I'm concerned," vowed Councilman Arnold Bettinger. Although he said he is not opposed to privatization, Council President Tom DeGise told the board "a little bit of delay wouldn't kill you," adding that the abrupt move would make library staff feel like LSSI is an "occupying army." Six members of the council presented a signed letter to the board at the meeting asking it not to award the contract and to halt discussions with LSSI, the Journal reported.

Although he expressed surprise at the council's opposition, Library Board President Ervin Haynes said he saw no reason for further delay, asserting that the contract did not need council's approval. After the vote, the Journal said, the board made a quick exit without comment, to a chant of "Recall" from the crowd of about 70. A management review team charged by Mayor Bret Schundler with reforming the system had recommended that the library turn over its management to LSSI following a visit by the team in May to Riverside County, California, where the firm runs the 25-branch library system. Assistant Director Rose Marie Rudy told American Libraries before the contract vote that the team's report presented various options but recommended privatization of the system's management, automation, and other operations.

Rudy said that the ongoing review process had not only stalled automation plans for the 11-branch system, the second-largest in the state, but had angered library employees, who have been working without a contract for two years. However, in a fax sent to AL in response to an American Libraries Online story, Board President Haynes stated that "the library is on target for its automation timetable." Union heads and library employees, as well as State Librarian John Livingstone, were among the dozens of speakers at a June 24 city council meeting who urged the council to block the privatization effort. The Journal reported that employees also presented petitions of 8,000 signatures asking that any privatization plan be put to a referendum.

Earlier in the day, union members held an informational picket in front of the system's main library. Employees view the proposal as an attempt at union-busting: Although the city promises to maintain salaries and benefits of current employees, there would be a second payroll of staff hired by LSSI. Rudy said that the Hudson County freeholders passed a resolution July 9 opposing privatization of the library. Before the contract's approval, the city council had been expected to vote in late July on a similar resolution.

The contract, which takes effect September 1, clearly states that the board intends to protect the salaries and benefits of existing employees. In a June 16 memo to library staff, Board President Haynes said Mayor Schundler had assured the union that if LSSI were hired, there would be no layoffs and current library employees will remain in civil-service positions. He stressed that under no circumstances would the board delegate its authority over personnel actions to LSSI. In addition, said Haynes, the mayor had called on the board to expedite the contract negotiations with staff.

The contract states that LSSI will have the authority to make recommendations to the board on the hiring, firing, and assignment of both the union and nonunion workforce, and would the fullest extent permitted by law" provide all management and supervision for the nonunion staff.

In addition, LSSI will provide "alternate labor services" through its own employees or independent contractor. The board agreed not to increase the number of library employees in existing positions or to add positions during the term of the contract. The contract states that the responsibility for collection development policies remains with the library board, and that materials selection will be done by staff and LSSI's on-site workforce. In addition to providing services, LSSI will also propose and implement a set of action plans covering such areas as services, automation, revenue opportunities, and new branches.

The library board will give LSSI a payment of $6,758,007 for the first year of the contract. The contract calls for a minimum of $640,230 to go to library materials, $48,453 to program expenses, $35,000 to the "Earning by Learning" program, and $25,000 to the Miller young adult program. The payment also specifically includes LSSI's management fee of $196,276 and a handling fee of $19,207. Earlier reports on the review team's proposal detailed the library's projected savings. According to the June 14 Jersey City Reporter, the plan calls for seven of the library's 11 system-level administrators to be weeded out through attrition. These cuts, along with the purchasing of books through LSSI rather than by the library, and the transfer of the Community Awareness Series programming unit to another city department (the contract states that LSSI shall have no responsibility for CAS), are expected to save some $1 million from the library's annual $6.3-million operating budget, the paper reported.

Before the board approved the contract, Rudy predicted that the union was likely to take legal action if the privatization plan went through. "This is a cause," she vowed. "Nobody's going to take over the public library." Jersey City librarians have frequently been the victims of political maneuvering: Both Rudy and Library Director Dennis Hayes were removed from their positions by the board and successfully sued to regain their jobs

Now that a private firm is running Jersey City's library, making it the third nationwide to have a for-profit firm flex its managerial muscle, professional librarians and the trustees who govern them on Monday began weighing the implications at a meeting in New Milford. "Our fear is, if this is seen as an option, somebody is going to hire Fred and Joe's Management Firm," said Cynthia Czesak, president of the New Jersey Library Association. "And they don't know anything about the provision of library services." Czesak, who also directs the Clifton Public Library, joined a panel discussion on privatization sponsored by the Bergen County Library Trustee Association. "It's dramatically different. It's unlike anything we've seen in this state," Czesak told the panel Monday night. The group grappled with the pros and cons of privatization. Some welcome the change in Jersey City, where the state's second largest library still uses the 1950s manual card-punch checkout method for borrowing.

"As far I'm concerned, Jersey City gets in one shot more professionalism than they've seen in decades," said Robert White, executive director of the Bergen County Cooperative Library System. "The question is the long term," White said before joining the panel discussion. Even though no plans are afoot for privatizing elsewhere in New Jersey, concerns loom over whether libraries will ultimately remain staffed by civil service employees who are properly trained, will be stocked with books some may consider offensive, and remain free. Frank Pezzanite doubts those fears will come to pass. And as chief operating officer of Library Systems and Services, the firm at the helm in Jersey City since August, he is fully aware that his presence is sparking some worries. "There's no question that there's a perception that we're going to cut services, cut staff, or charge for services," Pezzanite said last week. "But we surely don't charge, and we aren't going to sacrifice First Amendment rights."

The private operator will make a profit by earning 3 percent of the library's $6.4 million budget, or about $200,000, for the first year of its two-year contract in Jersey City. It will take home 2 percent for the remaining year. The Maryland-based company has 18 years of library experience, largely working for the federal government and as an automation specialist. Its first foray into public libraries began in January 1997, when it took over Riverside County's system in California. It also runs the Calabassas, Calif., library. And even though the company will not set policy - that task still rests with Jersey City's appointed library board - its presence in the region has some girding for the possibility of future takeovers. The New Jersey Library Association, a professional organization that represents more than 1,600 public libraries statewide, has adopted a statement on "outsourcing" library services. Among its concerns are meeting the "educational and cultural needs of its community" and ensuring that services "remain the function of professional librarians." "We get defensive in a sense about the term [privatization] because we do see a difference," said NJLA Executive Director Patricia Tumulty, who also spoke at Monday's discussion. "If it were truly privatizing, then the trustees would be gone . . . but it's not as cut and dry as bringing someone in to sweep the floors." The association is also in the process of defining and adopting standards for what makes a "quality" library. And, its members are boning up on the legal aspects of hiring a for-profit firm.

"In New Jersey, state statute says a library board in a municipality is an autonomous body," Czesak said. Whether Jersey City will remain eligible for public funding during its contract with the company is under review by the state Attorney General's office. Still, NJLA President Tumulty is cautioning people against drawing any premature conclusions about the demise of New Jersey's public library system. "We, at this time, don't see it as any big takeover," Tumulty said. "We don't want a knee-jerk reaction that all change is wrong; we want to look at what is best." Even Pezzanite, who earns his living managing libraries, doubts his future as a head librarian. It's not clear whether privatization of the nation's 30,000 public libraries will become a trend, Pezzanite said. "Major libraries in this country are solid institutions that are run well; I don't see that we, or anybody, will be called in to do anything there."

Baker & McKenzie, in its first major reduction in force, has fired 35 employees from its support staff, including all 10 library workers. In all, the firm let go more than 10 percent of its 300-person support staff, according to Maura Ann MCBreen, the firm's administrative partner and a member of its management committee. All affected employees left the firm on Friday, shortly after the layoffs were announced; McBreen declined to discuss whether the firm offered any severance pay.

The staff reduction comes on the heels of the firm's announcement last week that four long-time partners in its litigation department, along with an undetermined number of associates, are leaving the firm to start their own firm. McBreen said there is no connection between the support-staff reduction and the departure of the trial lawyer group led by Richard J. Donohue.

Saying the reduction is a one-time only situation, McBreen noted that the firm had far more support staff for its 170 attorneys than most other firms, based on a survey by Price Waterhouse, a large certified public accounting firm that does law-firm consulting.

Our staff-to-professional ratio, given today's cost environment, was way out of line, she explained. Normal attrition was not curing the problem quickly enough. The firm's management committee had been considering the staff cuts since last December, McBreen said, when it eliminated all over-time work. In January, the firm imposed a hiring freeze on staff positions, she added. Beyond the library staff, the firm also fired several secretaries and clerical workers, including a floating secretary, two persons in the mail room and two kitchen workers. It was imperative to get costs under control, McBreen said.

While Baker's library had 10 full-time employees, McBreen said the consulting survey showed that most other Chicago firms with similarly-sized libraries have half as many employees. With the elimination of all personnel in the firm's library, Baker & McKenzie is using a temporary employment agency while it continues to evaluate proposals from two outside consultants to take over all library operations for the firm. Seeking an outsider operator for the library, McBreen said, is part of Baker's bigger plan to make its Chicago office a showcase for global telecommunications and library services for the firm's numerous branch facilities. Our internal staff was not in a position to do as well as an outside agency in making the operations global, she said.

John T. Coleman, the firm's financial partner on the management committee, said the consultants' surveys showed that most other firms have 1.3 staff employees for each attorney, far below the firm's 2-1 ratio. Any survey shows we're over-staffed, Coleman said. He said the firm has laid off as many as five or six staff employees at a time in prior years, but the firing of more than 10 percent of support staff was the largest he could recall. Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, April 3, 1995.

The following case challenges you to explain to the library staff that this year, once again, there will have to be more sacrifices. A year ago, most of the library staff returned their raises, but the library is still about half a million short ($680,000 - $110,000 = $570,000). You must come up with a plan to recoup some part of that half million. A short list of options include layoffs and more salary reductions. You must decide what to do. Of particular concern is the maintenance of the extraordinary good morale of the team that runs the library.

• Is librarianship a profession?
• Do professionals have a self-interest?
• Do professionals have a defining skill?
• Who is more important to the running of a library? The clerical staff or the librarians?
• What's the real difference between a librarian and a volunteer? What is difference between a librarian and a volunteer as perceived by the public?

"Fidelity Investments declined to cease showing a TV ad that negatively portrays librarians and library service. . . The scene opens with a mumbling, uncertain, stereotypical librarians leading a man and woman down a seemingly endless aisle of bookstacks in search of answers to their investments questions. The couple quickly becomes exasperated and the scene fades to their home, where they telephone Fidelity to request the information they need. . . producers of the commercial feel their work accurately represents the typical small public library that is hampered by budget cuts and must rely heavily on volunteer staffing, the type of library to which the average small investor would go." Library Hotline, v. 23(33), August 22, 1994, p. 1-2.

"Volunteers are offering their services in ever-increasing numbers to the 32 agencies of the Riverside City and County Public Library, CA. In 1993-94, 1307 people volunteered 57,921 hours, a 44% increase in the number of people volunteering and a 24% increase in the hours given 1992-93. The most recent numbers set volunteerism records for the library system. The volunteer involvement provides the equivalent of 28 full time employees to the library system, with a value of more than $637,000. . . Volunteers are needed to do a variety of tasks, from mending materials to sorting and shelving books, typing, filing, clipping reviews, and creating indexes. Volunteers also act as tutors in the library's literacy program and select and deliver library materials to home-bound customers." Library Hotline, v.23(1), September 5, 1994, p. 5.

Despite all the problems, some libraries have managed to do a lot with very little, and to find innovative answers to the current crisis. In Burlington, Vt., three staff members at the Fletcher Free Library devised an unusual way to replace the book budget, which was slashed $30,000 this year. When the library director decided to resign, the three offered to share that job without taking any additional compensation, according to adult services librarian Amber Collins, one of the three co-directors who took charge less than a month ago. In South Portland, Maine, neighborhood residents deluged the city manager with complaints when their branch library was closed last November, saying they would staff it themselves if necessary. Officials negotiated a reduction in main library service to pay a part-time director for the branch library. And on Jan. 15, that library reopened with the help of 50 volunteers, each working one two-hour shift. "It's very heartening -- an amazing grass-roots, up-from-the-ashes happening," said Bill Alexander, library director. LIBRARIES LIMIT STAFF, ACCESS AS BUDGETS ARE CUT Boston Globe (BG) - SUNDAY, June 21, 1992.

There have been reports in the media about the staffs of two public libraries . . . who have voluntarily ceded their earned salary increases so that the library can augment its depleted materials budget. It may be that these individuals bask in the warm glow of their noble self-sacrifice. If so, please allow me to pour some cold water on the embers. I am not impress. Indeed, I am appalled. . . . the individuals who contribute their salaries to help offset the materials budget deficit are not helping the future library budget. They are only insuring permanent damage. The salary trade-off--which focuses on the library as a collection of things rather than as a staff of professionals--only serves to trivialize the role of professional librarians even further. . . . These would-be martyrs should understand that in their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the 'it', they also trivialize the library, even if inadvertently." Herbert S. White, "The Perilous Allure of Moral Imperativism", Library Journal, September 15, 1992, p. 44 - 45.

All locations of the Spokane Public Library, WA will be closed August 26-31 as part of the Leave Without Pay program approved by the Library Board of Trustees and AFCSME Local 270 as a cost saving measure for budget year 1996. The library will also observe the regularly scheduled labor Day holiday on september 2. Full service and normal hours of operation resume at all branches on September 3. "Spokane PL Shuts Down for Payless leave Week", Library Hotline, August 26, 1996.

Modern librarians have laid the blame for their general passivity and inferior status upon various factors: the lack of a scientifically based abstract body of knowledge, the public's lack of differentiation between the "professional" librarian and the library clerk, and the inherently weak position of the librarian as implementor rather than creator of intellectual and cultural advance. Rarely given its due as a determinant is the overwhelming presence of women in librarianship. The negative traits for which librarians indict themselves--excessive cautiousness, avoidance of controversy, timidity, a weak orientation toward autonomy, poor business sense, tractability, over compliance, service to the point of self-sacrifice, and willingness to submit to subordination by trustees and public--are predominantly 'feminine' traits" Dee Garrison, Apostles of Culture, the Public Librarians and American Society, 1876-1920. The Free Press, 1979, p. 189.

"A number of factors have converged to compel a substantial reassessment of the educational requirements for library-oriented careers in information management . . . . the convergence phenomenon has eroded the boundaries between library and information science, and also the boundaries with business education; communications, journalism, and media; and computer science. One of the major consequences is a very dramatic, and, in many quarters, difficult to accept, polarity reversal for the field - i.e., a change in value systems in which a field that was perceived and perceived itself as primarily a service profession is now very much a part of the entrepreneurial market economy. . . . Librarianship was justifiably proud of its service orientation. It defined itself to a degree by that orientation and took pride in the fact that it was not a business school. Now library schools are being required by the changes in employment opportunities to not only serve the traditional community, but to serve as a special purpose business school as well." Michael Koenig, "Educational Requirements for a Library-Oriented Career in Information Management" Library Trends, 42(2), Fall 1993, 277-89.

"I have recently become quite concerned that librarians are simply being elbowed aside in the rush to the new world of networked information. I would like to start a discussion that would hopefully lead to concrete plans for how we as library professionals should deal with this: whether to fight to become a part of this world or simply let ourselves devolve into caretakers at museums of paper and ink. I am a reference librarian at a small university in the Northeast growing increasingly perturbed at the smug way in which I see faculty almost deliberately ignore librarians and their resources when they feel the need for forms of electronic access. Many appear to resent the fact that they are required to visit a building called the library to consult these sources and tend to approach computing center personnel whenever serious questions of access and use arise. It is this latter that particularly concerns me because many seem unable to make the distinction between those expert in making the connection and those who should be charged with keeping track of what's out there. I think this attitude and its implied competition are destructive of both professions and detrimental to the best interests of users as well. It appears to me that it would make much more sense to let the computer science people take care of the connections and protocols and let the library science people explore and categorize what's there. This would capitalize on the unique strengths of each." Boyd Collins, collins@hslc.org

Call it extreme devotion to the duty of supplying readers with books. Pasadena Public Library employees have turned down scheduled pay raises averaging more than $100 a month to reduce the effect of budget cuts on the library system. With library officials preparing for a system wide shortening of the business day or cuts in the book budget, 102 of the department's 110 librarians and clerical workers chose last week to forgo raises of 3.5% to 4%, due to take effect next month. "We love our library," said Glordy Jordan, a librarian's assistant. "We'll support it in any way we can." The give-back idea arose during manager-worker discussions about prospective budget cuts, say those who participated. Like other cities in Southern California, Pasadena is facing big revenue shortfalls this year--as much as $6 million, finance officials say. City Manager Philip Hawkey has ordered all city department heads to come up with proposed cuts of up to 10% of their budgets. Jeanne Wright, president of the Pasadena Assn. of Clerical and Technical Employees and a library payroll supervisor, said that workers from other city departments were astonished by the library workers' action. "To a person they said they wouldn't do this," said Wright, who is participating in the give-back. "It tells you something about how library employees feel about the library and the level of service." In a series of meetings in December, employees began to question whether it would be fair to accept their upcoming raises, which would have accounted for about one-seventh of the anticipated budget cuts. At a general staff meeting in January, library managers surveyed the staff and found overwhelming support. "It (the raise) didn't seem right," said Susan Poster, a librarian in the main branch. "People in the community are being asked to make sacrifices, and we're being asked to take back services. At the same time, we were also supposed to give ourselves a raise." Last month, employees signed confidential statements relinquishing their right to raises. About 15 library employees spoke fervently about their commitment to the library. "It's no longer somebody else's problem," said Rose Maria Martin, who is in charge of the library's Hispanic services. "It's time for us to do something." "What I liked was actually participating in the financial future of the library," said Katy Currie, a librarian in the Santa Catalina branch. "We get to show in a visceral way our commitment." Others spoke of concern for the jobs of employees with lower seniority, although layoffs are no longer being considered. "It's a way to ensure that fewer people--if possible, no one--get laid off, not just because of economic hardship, but because we have a good team that runs the library," said Bernadette Glover, a librarian at the La Manda Branch.

Although the near-unanimous renunciation of a pay raise is unusual, it is not unprecedented among librarians. Library workers in Baltimore County, Maryland, voted for a similar give-back this year, electing to take 10 unpaid days off rather than to see massive cuts in the system's book budget, said Charles Robinson, the director of the Baltimore Library. "The reason these people work in libraries is probably because they're committed to public service," said Joey Rodger, executive director of the Public Library Assn., a national organization of librarians and library trustees based in Chicago. As a librarian, Rodger said, "you get to realize the importance of libraries to communities in hard times." Nonetheless, Pasadena Mayor Jess Hughston said he was "FLABBERGASTED by the Pasadena workers' sacrifice. "I think it's setting an example for the rest of the city," he said. To ensure that no library employees would feel pressured to give up their raises, Wright shared the information only with a finance official and a benefits official. Ultimately, 57 out of 60 clerical workers decided to forgo the raise, as did 45 out of 50 managers and librarians, including library director Ed Szynaka, Wright said. Clerical workers, whose top pay now ranges from $11.96 to $15.01 an hour, were scheduled to get a 4% raise on April 1 under the terms of a union contract. At the same time, librarians and managers, who earn from $17.47 for an entry level job to $41.78 an hour for the director, were due for an annual salary adjustment of 3.5%. Some have begun to calculate the long-range effects of relinquishing their pay raises. Currie said she had bought a home in September. "I'm not a person who usually thinks about a cost-of-living raise I'm going to get next month," she said. "But for the first year, I had it in the back of my mind that I'd be getting an extra $100 or so a month. Now I'll just have to make do with what I have." Martin said she has a large family. "They've usually spent my money before it gets into my pocket," she said. "It would have paid my car insurance for a year or a month's rent," Wright said. "What it means is that I won't take a vacation this year." For all their sacrifices, the employees will not be able to spare the library system from service cutbacks. If the library were to lose 10% of its budget, it would have to cut $680,000, Szynaka said. The give-back by the library workers amounts to $110,000. So the library, whose patrons pour in at a rate of 4,000 a day, must still be prepared to reduce the operating hours of its nine branches and to cut its book budget, which has already been pared by 45%, he said.