Simplifying the Complex

Abstract

Librarianship abounds in theor‐ies. Financial stringency has held back many a would‐be progressive practitioner and turned him into a somewhat wistful thinker. It is so gratifying to offset a mundane achievement by contemplating what might have been under betterconditions. Occasionally a few pro‐gressive practitioners, able or fortun‐ate enough to loosen the bonds a little and avoid repressions, emerge as lucid thinkers, and a Jast or a Savage or a McColvin shakes the library world. The lucidity of an able mind, which sees where it wants to go and why, often brings unexpected and undesirable reper‐cussions. The easy exposition of a difficult theory is disarming, and the lesser mind, lethargic after a ‐losing battle against conditions, lulled into a pleasant day‐dream around once fondly imagined ideals now lost in the battle for survival, sees in the more imaginative ap‐proach of the greater mind a heaven‐sent solution to its problems.

Citation

HOWARTH, R. (1953), "Simplifying the Complex", Library Review, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 213-218. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb012206