Library and Information Center Management

Citation

Stueart, R.D. and Moran, B.B. (2004), "Library and Information Center Management", Library Review, Vol. 53 No. 3, pp. 189-190. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530410526637

Stueart and Moran have prepared a sixth edition of a popular textbook on library management used in US library schools which was first published in 1977. They have arranged 16 chapters into seven sections: Evolving, Planning, Organizing, Human Resources, Leading, Coordinating and Managing in the 21st century. Each section has a short introduction and a list of general readings. Within each chapter apt quotations stress points made in the text.

The authors indicate in their introduction that they discuss new thoughts and techniques and reemphasize those that have stood the test of time. A well‐designed Web site supports the text and is a feature of the updating. It is intended to provide additional readings, case studies, in‐box exercises, organisational charts and forms, and a discussion forum.

One of the challenges in preparing management texts for a first qualification course is that only a limited amount of time can be devoted within the curriculum to this vitally important aspect of delivering effective services. Hence, it is not easy to decide what should be included in a course, and what should be dropped to make way for new topics. In general, the text covers the broad field, but one wonders why the history of management should be covered from 3000 BC – very interesting, but at the expense of providing a very limited coverage of diversity management, marketing, public relations or performance measurement. These are a few of the issues of which new managers need to have a basic understanding.

A second challenge leads on from the first point, which is the need to update the text. In some way it may be easier to make a total rewrite rather than a revision. On page 197 we read that “Although a great deal has been written about the ‘virtual library’ and ‘the library’ without walls that type of structure does not exist at the present time and will not come into existence in the near future”. Not everyone will agree with this statement. A more serious comment is that the readings appear not to have been fully updated. There are more relevant readings to be found in both management literature, for example, from the Harvard Business Review and that of Library Management. In common with most US textbooks there are very few citations to non‐US journals – and this has been pointed out in a posting to the Web site. The case studies on the Web site are taken from a text published in 1981 and updated.

The third challenge is to get the right balance between discussing management at a general level and relating this to the library sector – not easy, especially as some students prefer the former, and those with experience like to see management topics related to the library sector. This text takes the former, rather than the latter approach.

So some criticisms can be made, but this is for all textbooks. However, it is written for a US market and it is unlikely to be of value in a wider market. It is a cause of concern that US colleagues are not encouraged to examine the broader international literature, there is much that could be learnt. But this may be the influence of the publisher rather than the author's intent.