Cutback Management in US Public Libraries: Deliberations, Decision Spaces, and Reflections

Abstract

Public library management literature and public administration theory have been unduly influenced by economic thinking appropriate to the private sector but a poor fit to the public sector. In this chapter we attempt to explain that public sector interests are different and that decisions about their future should be made on a different basis. Specifically, this chapter addresses the problem of cutback management and compares decisions made by library managers in the Great Depression to those being made in current economic times. Questions are raised about the approach to cutbacks that typify current public management practices, and it is suggested that new models are needed to help public library managers and trustees deal equitably and efficiently with recurring economic fluctuations and the fundamental changes that these periods sometimes produce.

Citation

Weil Arns, J. and Daniel, E.H. (2011), "Cutback Management in US Public Libraries: Deliberations, Decision Spaces, and Reflections", Woodsworth, A. (Ed.) Librarianship in Times of Crisis (Advances in Librarianship, Vol. 34), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 37-58. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0065-2830(2011)0000034006