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Trends in the Governance $Libraries F ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Large-scale Digitization Project, 2007. LibrarvJ Trends VOLUME 26 NUMBER 2 FALL 1977 ITrends in the Governance $Libraries F. WILLIAM SUMMERS Issue Editor CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE INTRODUCTION . 157 F. William Summers DEVELOPING PATTERNS OF GOVERNANCE IN PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS . 161 Charles Curran EQUITY AND PATTERNS OF LIBRARY GOVERNANCE 181 Michelle Rudy FEDERAL FUNDS IN GOVERNANCE OF LOCAL LIBRARY INSTITUTIONS : A REAPPRAISAL . 195 Ernest R. DeProspo, Jr. GOVERNANCE OF NATIONAL LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION SERVICES AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL . 207 Russell Shank and Elaine Sloan GOVERNANCE OF LIBRARY NETWORKS . 219 Charles H. Stevens GOVERNANCE OF SPECIAL INFORMATION CENTERS . 24 1 James G. Williams THE BETTER MOUSETRAP: EXTERNAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND STAFF PARTICIPATION . 255 James F. Govan THE CONTROL OF PUBLIC EDUCATION AND SCHOOL LIBRARY MEDIA PROGRAMS . 269 Daniel Barron LIBRARY GOVERNANCE BY CITIZEN BOARDS . 287 Virginia G. Young LIST OF ACRONYMS . 298 This Page Intentionally Left Blank Introduction F. WILLIAM SUMMERS ONEOF THE MOST persistent and perplexing problems of recent years has been the governance of the large and complex social organizations which have developed to provide the goods and services demanded by an expanding society. Much attention has been focused on the design of organizational forms which might avoid some of the disad- vantages of the traditional military/industrial (hierarchical) models. An almost equal amount of attention has been devolted to examining the na- ture of individual behavior in complex organizations (the behaviorist approach). Underlying these investigations and explorations has been a series of myths which are themselves largely untested and unverified. Among these myths are: Agencies of government, be they libraries or tax offices, are inherently inefficient and will inevitably replace accomplishment of purpose with maintenance of the organization as the major goal if left alone. Private agencies, especially those involved in production, are inherently efficient because of the necessity to maintain a profit, and are the models which should be used to measure government activity. Management theories and methods developed for the control and gov- ernance of production are directly applicable to the control and gov- ernance of government activities. is the purpose of this issue to examine the impact of these myths upon libraries and library services in a number of areas and over a relatively recent time period. The plan of the issue is relatively simple, proceeding from the examina- tion of several rather general questions to the examination of governance F. William Summers is Dean, College of Librarianship, University of South Caro- lina, Columbia. F. WILLIAM SUMMERS in particular situations. In this latter instance the papers are arranged in a roughly hierarchical order descending from the national to local levels of service. Charles Curran’s paper examines trends which are apparent in the governance of a variety of public organizations and relates these trends to libraries. His paper is designed to set the stage for the more detailed examination of library organizations which follows. Certainly one of the more significant forces affecting social organiza- tions in the last twenty years has been the search for equity on the part of various minority groups. Michelle Rudy examines the impact of the equity movement on library governance and concludes that while participation may have increased, it has not necessarily had a significant impact on library governance. A major force affecting libraries for the past quarter-century has been the impact of federal dollars -and the federal regulations and priorities which have accompanied these funds -on local libraries. At this moment, and certainly until the conclusion of the White House conference, discus- sion will be focused on the role of federal support of libraries. Ernest R. DeProspo joins a small group of writers in suggesting that broad-based “aid” from the federal government must be replaced by carefully designed programs with clearly articulated policies. He also suggests that the time has long passed for the states to be asked to address seriously their respon- sibilities for establishing, funding and regulating library systems. The first paper addressing governance in the context of a particular set of libraries is that of Russell Shank and Elaine Sloan, and it is appropri- ately concerned with libraries at the national level. Shank and Sloan re- view the legislative, policy and coordinating bases of national libraries and conclude that there is not a clearly established national policy, despite definite need and great pressure for its creation. Charles H. Stevens, from his experience as director of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science and his current position as executive director of the Southeastern Library Network, examines the acute problems of governance of a relatively new creation -the inter- library network -and concludes that, over time, user-governed networks will probably be better able to deal with the complex problems involved in these highly intricate and costly ventures. In his discussion of the governance of specialized information centers, James G. Williams explores the operation of a very specialized center which sells its services. These relatively recent information marketing agencies present new and intriguing problems of governance. b581 LIBRARY TRENDS Introduction Throughout public organizations, there appear to be two major con- flicting trends: a demand for external accountability of performance and an expectation that staff will have a major voice in policy- and decision- making. Common to all types of libraries, these conflicts are perhaps most clearly revealed in the academic library and are insightfully examined by James F. Govan. He concludes that librarianship must develop its own accommodations to these pressures, because those developed for other enterprises do not seem adaptable to libraries. Another facet of the conflict between societal expectations and institu- tional policies has affected the public schools, which have been forced to accept greater and greater responsibilities at the same time that they are held to increasingly strict accountability. Daniel Barron examines the im- pact of these pressures on the school media program and suggests that solutions must depend on coherent and cohesive actions by media profes- sionals. Virginia Young examines the phenomenon of the public library board which exists and apparently flourishes, despite strong trends away from such boards and toward professional management. She suggests that it is not sufficient that boards endure but rather that they must assert their responsibilities with intelligence and vigor if they are to meet societal ex- pectations of governance. These papers reveal that while the governance of libraries has under- gone significant change in the last two decades, even greater change may be forthcoming. The results of societal changes-such as the equity movement, revised federal priorities, citizen control of local schools, union- ization of professionals, technological innovation, and sophisticated net- working -are yet to be seen. The present governance arrangements can- not be viewed as anything other than interim steps which accommodate the demands of time. The future will undoubtedly bring other accommo- dations and other forms of governance. PALL 1977 This Page Intentionally Left Blank Developing Patterns of Governance in Public Organizations CHARLES CURRAN “Growth is not automatic. It does not follow from success.’” “But all dinosaurs had tiny brains.”’ DINOSAURS,THE LARGEST and most terrifying land ani- mals that ever prowled the planet, could have used some governance. They simply could not cope with change. The process was gradual and they did not rush to destruction in the manner of lemmings-yet al- though Marlin Perkins was not there to photograph the event for “Wild Kingdom,” most authorities acknowledge that after 150 million years, there are no more dinosaurs. It seems that when nature’s forces altered their landscape, climate and food supply, the giant beasts could not ad- just. They liked things the old (very old) way, and competition from mammals, the new creatures in the neighborhood, did not help matters. The new plants were less tasty than the old ones; exit the plant-eaters - and exit the meat-eaters, too, for their favorite food was the plant-eaters. It matters what kinds of governance models are employed in the public organizations now and in the future. The performance of assigned func- tions is dependent upon the establishment of policy, the allocation of re- sources, the utilization of personnel, and the regulation of services-the stuff of governance. Although the survival of some organizations may not be the crucial issue, perhaps those which fail to carry out their assigned functions ought to go the way of the dinosaur and make way for organiza- tions which can perform. While consolidation has affected some police agencies, and decreased enrollment has forced the closing of some colleges, public organizations Charles Curran is Assistant Professor, College of Librarianship, University of South Carolina, Columbia. FALL 1977 [I611 CHARLES CURRAN such as those concerned with law enforcement and education are not in immediate danger of extinction; however, the quality
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