ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


263

Report on Peter D ruckers Speech 
at ACRL Membership Meeting

Submitted by 
Linda Beaupré

Coordinator of Public Services 
Moffitt Undergraduate Library 

University of California, Berkeley

In his speech at the Association of College 
and Research Libraries membership meeting, 
June 30, during the ALA Annual Conference 
in San Francisco, Peter Drucker outlined the 
fundamentals of managing a service organiza­
tion. Drucker is a highly respected management 
consultant and author whose latest book, Man­
agement: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, has 
been accepted as a basic source of management 
theory. His paper, “The Management of Public 
Service Institutions,” focused on the basic over­
view of an organization necessary for effective 
administration. At a time when many libraries 
are developing goals statements, Drucker’s em­
phasis on knowing the user communities, eval­
uating the usefulness of library programs, and 
efficiently using and developing library staff is 
particularly appropriate.

Mr. Drucker began by telling us he was not 
going to speak specifically about libraries be­
cause he didn’t know very much about libraries. 
However, as he continued he demonstrated a 
knowledge of the primary functions of libraries 
and librarians which is rarely expressed outside 
of the profession. He obviously uses libraries 
and consults with librarians, whom he charac­
terized as people who understand the dynamics 
of information and act as catalysts to convert 
data into information.

Drucker noted that in libraries, as in other 
public service institutions, the fundamentals of 
management are often pushed aside as we deal 
with daily crises. One of the fundamentals is 
that we know our “publics.” Who are the peo­
ple who depend on the library and who are the 
people outside the library who have the power 
to influence the future of the library? This sec­
ond public Drucker defined as any group who 
can stymie you, e.g., taxpayers and school 
boards. We must know how each group per­

ceives the library, what they demand and ex­
pect from the library. Librarians’ concepts of 
what the library should be may not correspond 
with the concepts of our public. We should pay 
continuing attention to how people use the li­
brary, and as patterns of use change, the library 
must change to accommodate current needs 
and expectations.

Secondly, we must look at what we are doing 
and ask, If we didn’t do it already, would we 
start doing it? What are the results of energies 
spent? What can we abandon or downgrade to 
channel our energies in the way most appreciat­
ed by our users? Drucker indicated that often 
resources are wasted defending yesterday; that 
the less viable a program, the more energy is 
needed to keep it alive. He also cautioned that 
if we plan to start something new we should 
plan to phase out something old, a concept that 
often means difficult decisions. A new program 
should be handled by an experienced staff 
member, a proven performer, rather than some­
one new who hasn’t been through crises within 
the system. As the market changes, in this case 
the change from predominantly liberal arts 
oriented colleges and universities to more pro­
fessionally oriented schools, the library must 
change. In reviewing library operations we 
have to establish priorities. Since an institution 
cannot be a leader at everything, we must de­
cide in which areas we can make the greatest 
impact. These risk-taking decisions are the re­
sponsibility of administrators who should seek 
input from faculty, staff, and students before 
committing the organization to a path of action.

Finally, Drucker turned his attention to the 
library staff, particularly to librarians as profes­
sionals who tend to be more interested in the 
profession than in their institution and who are 
often overtrained for the duties they are re-



264

quested to perform. He suggested that perhaps 
librarians could be as effective with less educa­
tion than is now required. More important, he 
stressed that a professional staff should be a 
partnership, not a hierarchy. Managers should 
discuss with each professional staff member 
what that person sees as his or her particular 
contribution to the institution; w hat are the re­
sults of his or her efforts. Drucker referred to 
much of what librarians do as “donkey work” 
involving bringing order out of the chaos of 
many forms of data. In order for this “donkey 
work” to be satisfying and for the staff member 
to be productive, the manager must help to fo­
cus the individual librarian’s vision on the re­
sults of his or her labors.

Drucker summed up his talk with a warning. 
Noting that libraries, information centers, are 
expensive and that most users see yesterday’s 
library, he cautioned that w ithout the knowl­
edge of what users want and w ithout the users’ 
understanding of w hat they are getting, we are 
at the mercy of accountants. In other words, if 
librarian/administrators do not know their pub­
lics and respond to their needs, if they do not 
know their institutions and make a visible im­
pact with their programs, people who deal in 
figures will determine the future of our librar­
ies. ■ ■