College and Research Libraries By ARTHUR M. McANALLY The Dynamics of Securing Academic Status T HE TREND IN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ad- ministration during the last ten or fifteen years in the direction of academic or faculty status for professional librar- ians has not been studied as an adminis- trative process. Afthough the initiative in seeking a change in status usually be- longs to librarians, the power to ap- prove such a change lies outside of the library in the field of university govern- ment and administration. This then is an analysis of factors and processes in decision making at the university level.* The virtues or defects of academic status for librarians lie outside the scope of this study, consequently they have been excluded from consideration as far as possible. For this reason, the proce- dures used ·in this analysis could be ap- plied almost equally well to the reaching of decisions about other major library problems, such as an effort to consolidate branch libraries. This project started out as a case study of the University of Oklahoma. A re- quest for faculty status, initiated by the library staff association and endorsed by the director, beat its way about the uni- versity for a couple of years but ulti- mately was shipwrecked on the rocks of faculty disapproval. In a number of oth- er institutions, where such a request had been approved, different conditions might exist and different factors be in- * Paper presented at a meeting of the University Libraries Section of ACRL, June 26, 1957, at Kan sas City, Mis souri. Mr. McAnally is director of the library an{l library school_. University of 0 kla- homa. volved. Accordingly, to broaden the study by drawing upon the opinions and experiences of others, who also might be more thoughtful or more ingenious, a questionnaire was sent to the librarians of 105 institutions. Of the ninety-seven replies received, the status held by professional librarians, in descending order of frequency, was: academic status, thirty; faculty status, twenty-four; professional, administrative, and special, twenty-three; non-academic and uncertain, twelve; mixed, six; and state civil service, two. Academic or fac- ulty status was held by fifty-four of the ninety-seven library staffs. Requests for academic or faculty status had been dis- approved in twenty-three institutions, four times in one particular university. Several requests are pending. Faculty status for librarians is defined as the possession of all or most of the privileges of the classroom teaching fac- ulty, including faculty rank. Academic status is held to be the possession of some but not all usual faculty privileges, with definite classification as academic but always without faculty rank. Aca- demic status thus may be considered a kind of reduced faculty status. Because faculty status and academic status are quite similar, and for convenience, the term academic status is used loosely throughout the rest of this paper to apply to both forms. The decision about whether or not to approve a request for academic status may' be affected by a very large number of factors. Some of them may be very influential, some quite trivial. Occasion- 386 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES ally one single factor is decisive but usu- ally a mixture of influences is involved. For convenience these factors may be gathered into six groups: (1) institu- tional, (2) administrative and financial, (3) pertaining to the faculty, (4) orig- inating in the library, (5) other intra- institutional forces, and last (6) extra- institutional forces. Each of these groups will be discussed in turn. INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS The nature of the institution ·of which the library is a part obviously will have some bearing upon the decision. Size of the university, in terms of the number of students, might be thought an important factor. Oddly, however, it apparently is not. Academic status is held almost equally, percentagewise, in small, me- dium, and large institutions covered in the survey. The character of the institution ap- pears to be more influential. Almost three-fourths of the separate land-grant institutions (often called agricultural and mechanical colleges until recently) grant academic status to their profes- sional librarians. Two-thirds of the state universities which are also the land-grant institutions for their state have granted academic status, as have two-thirds of the technical institutes. State universi- ties and private universities bring up the rear, with slightly less than half of both granting academic status to their librar- ians. The governmental structure of the university, especially its clarity, has a . definite bearing upon the action which will be taken. If there are clear lines of authority and responsibility, the librar- ian will be able to select the most appro- priate channel for the request, and the administration will know clearly where the request belongs and who has the power to act. On the other hand, a de- tailed set of laws or regulations for the government of the university can be a SEPTEMBER 1957 disadvantage, for they may specify al- ready what status librarians shall have. Of course it is easier to secure a favor- able decision on a proposal that has never been acted upon formally than it is to have a previous decision reversed or modified. The by-laws or constitution also may cover an important point, how the pres- ent faculty may be added to and how new departments can be established. If the governmental structure is not clear, everyone may be uncertain about the proper procedure to follow. Uncertainty tends to add to the normal administra- tive and faculty caution or inertia. The degree to which authority is cen- tralized is a most influential factor. If the president has a great deal of author- ity, he may decide to act himself. Four out of every five of the institutions ac- cording faculty status to librarians, and four out of five giving academic status, did so by administrative decision with- out the prior approval of the existing faculty. The president almost invariably has the authority to grant academzc status. He usually can grant faculty status him- self, with the approval of the regents, by virtue of his power to establish new departments, schools or colleges. He is likely to have much less power to add to the membership of an existing .depart- ment without departmental consent. The librarian certainly ought to point out these alternatives, and the actual power of the president, either privately or within the statement of the proposal, if the administratiye route is to be fol- ·lowed. Action by the president is far simpler than action by the faculty, and is more likely to be favorable on the question of academic status for librar- ians. The concept of a university which a particular institution holds is important. The medieval ancestor of the university . was solei y a teaching organization in the 387 beginning, and those who did not teach classes tended to be excluded from the government of the organization. Later on deans and a rector or president were found to be necessary, so they were added, and for them the rule about teaching usually was waived. Research faculty were a luxury financially, but in time some of them were added to the faculty too. The early American college was a simple teaching institution. The modern American university be- gan its evolution about a century ago. The accepted purposes of the school were expanded gradually by adding new curricula and new services. Among these may be mentioned the rise of profes- sional and vocational schools in law, medicine, engineering, business, agricul- ture, education, library science, etc. Ex- tension services, begun b y Columbia in 1830, have spread widely, especially after the Morrill land-grant act of 1862. Uni- . versity presses were begun, the first at Cornell in 1869. Summer sessions and correspondence study were popularized following the initial success of Chautau- qua in 1874. Acknowledging a responsibility for the welfare of campus students outside of the ·classroom, universities also have established specialized welfare services. Among these are deans of men and women, student health services, testing and counseling units, placement bureaus, alumni offices, and university bookstores. All of these services and the people who perform them go to make up the modern American university. Universi- ties vary widely, however, in the recog- nition accorded to these new areas of service. All of you are familiar with the attitudes of some faculty members to- wards some Johnny-come-lately academ- ic departments such as education. In how many universities is extension looked on askance? Some of these "new" activi- ties are -regarded as basic, others are only ·sanctioned. Most of them were 1n- stalled by presidential action rather than by faculty request, it is interesting to note. A fairly conservative definition of a university is that of Abraham Flexner. He accepts four major concerns: conser- vation of knowledge and ideas, interpre- tation of knowledge and ideas, the search for truth, and the training of students.1 He thus accords full recognition to re- search. It should be noted, by the way, that many faculties still stick to the me- dieval rule, that facult y members to en- joy tenure must teach at least half-time in formal classes. In any such university, which does not even grant tenure to full-time research professors on campus, the librarian might be wise to avoid asking the faculty for full faculty status. A broad definition of a university is that employed b y Washington State Col- lege. There the fa.culty consists of seven "functional" staffs: (I) administrative, (2) resident instructional, (3) research, (4) library, (5) extension, (6) student welfare, and (7) graduate faculty. To teach these larger curricula, to of- fer these new services, and especially to meet the tremendous increase in enroll- ment in the past fifty years, the staffs of universities have grown enormously in numbers and in variety. The very size of the staffs, r eaching into the thousands, has tended to force the larger universi- ties to adopt some kind of personnel program in order to cope with this un- wieldy number of faculty and other em- ployees. Many librarians question whether or not the library staff is large enough and · wields enough power by itself to achieve a suitable independent status within the university. Others question whether the library should operate as an independent entity, instead of seeking closer coopera- tion with the classroom faculty and clearer recognition of the library as a 1 Universities: A merican , E nglish, German (N. Y., Oxfo r d U ni v er sity Press , 1930 ), p . 6 . 388 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES teaching agency. At any rate, institu- tional growth is compelling universities to reach decisions about the · status of all. Librarians must fall into some ap- propriate classification like everyone else. ADMINISTRATIVE FACTORS Among administrative factors, the at- titude of the president of the university and his chief assistants is most impor- tant. Time and again librarians whose request for academic status was ap- proved by the administration have re- ferred to the great value of having a "li- brary-minded" president. Sometimes a president may even go so far as to per- suade the faculty to app:r;ove full faculty status for librarians, when he considers faculty approval necessary. Other presi- dents may disapprove and say so heart- ily, but they are in the minority. Of all personal factors, the attitude of the president clearly is the most iiJ.fluential. The cost of a change, unless it is ex- cessive for the values to be received, is never decisive by itself to an administra- tor. Most changes in status do appear to include an increase in salary scales, eith- er immediately or in the future. If a large sum of money is involved, this cost certainly can be influential and a few in- stances occurred in which cost became a rna jor adverse factor. Usually, how- ever, if the general attitude of the presi- dent was favorable, the increased cost was eliminated or deferred for future action. Even modest increases can cause hesitation and delay, if new money must be found. Incidentally, the existence of an ir- regular salary scale for the teaching fac- ulty can be a favorable factor, for obvi- ous reasons. If the president knows that he has the authority, and if the exact procedures for effecting a change in status are evi- dent, then the librarian has only to con- vince the president that t~e proposed SEPTE!vlBER 1957 change would be beneficial to the uni- versity as well as good for the library. As noted before, the alternative routes which the president might follow ought to be mentioned. Other officers of the university admin- istration do not appear to be involved frequently. The academic vice-president or dean of faculties is mentioned most often among these other officers. Prob- ably their opinions tend to be channeled directly to the president. Even the personnel officer, if the uni- versity has one, does not seem to appear in the decision, though the existence of an adequate classification and pay plan for librarians can be a fairly important negative influence. Several librarians mentioned the consent of a personnel of- ficer to the proposal. Actually a proposal for a change to academic status, remov- ing librarians from the purview of the personnel officer, probably lies outside the field of authority of that official. Finally, administrative inertia must · be recognized as a factor. Failure or un- willingness to act is not necessarily a lia- bility in administration, for the decision not to act can be beneficial in maintain- ing stability in an organization. When normal administrative inertia is coupled with uncertainty about procedure or un- easiness about the effect of a favorable decision on other parts of the organiza- tion, no action is likely to follow. Some of these other parts of the uni- versity that usually have not been rec- ognized as fully as the classroom teach- ing faculty are the extension staff, the university press editors, professional peo- ple in the student welfare services, and junior administrative officers. If such groups do not have faculty status, and if they become involved in the library decision, or even if the president be- lieves that favorable .action on the li- brary request could set a precedent for them which he is unwilling to do, aca- demic status for librarians may be re- 389 fused. The faculty are likely to be even more opposed on this point. FACTORS PERTAINING TO THE FACULTY When the classroom faculty become involved in the decision or when their attitudes have a bearing on the outcome, trouble more often than not lies ahead. The first stumbling block may be the existing definition of who constitutes the faculty. Many faculties limit their membership as strictly as did the teach- ers in the medieval university, who found it necessary to form exclusive cor- porations or guilds to negotiate with the students about salaries, as well as to protect the quality of teaching. Later, when salaried or endowed professorships were established, the protection of the teaching organization became even more important.2 A good many faculties still limit their membership strictly to those who actually teach in the classroom, · though this requirement is modified of- ten to require not less than half-time in the classroom. Incidentally, the wording of the statement about teaching can be important. "Teaching formal classes" or "classroom teaching" excludes librar- ians; just plain "teaching" can be inter- preted to include professional librar- ians. Protection of salaries used to be im- portant. Perhaps two of the chief per- quisites of faculty membership today are the benefits of academic freedom and the tenure that must accompany freedom. These are precious rights indeed. Pe- culiarly, the need for protection of the library collections from censorship or hook-burning and the need to give ten- ure to librarians for their protection were not mentioned as important or even a factor, by any librarian. In fact, several noted that this was not a factor. Who has control of faculty member- 2 Hastings Rashdall, in The University of Europe in the Middle Ages, ed. F. M. Powicke and A. B. Emden (new ed., Oxford University Press, 1936), vol. 1, pp . 204-16. ship certainly is important. As noted be- fore, the president can add to the fac- ulty administratively by creating a new department or school. If approval or consent of the faculty is necessary, then the attitudes of the faculty toward mem- bership of professional librarians be- comes all-important. In twenty-eight in- stitutions in which the attitudes of the faculty affected the decision, either di- rectly or operating through the presi- dent, thirteen were said to have been favorable to membership for librarians, and fifteen were either unfavorable or opposed. There is one strange characteristic of the conduct of faculty affairs which mili- tates against the granting of faculty sta- tus to librarians, when the faculty must approve the action. That is the extraor- dinary influence which a minority can exert upon an issue not regarded as im- portant to the faculty. Although a large majority of the faculty may be in favor, when this majority does not feel strongly on the issue a few determined and out- spoken men can kill the proposal. Rath- er than fuss about the matter in an un- dignified fashion·, the majority gives way. Perhaps this happens because there are not equally vocal and determined men defending the majority view. Whatever the reason, this does consti- tute a kind of academic blackballing. It occurs frequently enough for several librarians to comment upon it vigorous- ly. They conjecture that this small group of outspoken men feels the need, in the realm of the subconscious, to feel supe- rior to somebody; that everybody wants someone he can look down on. Strange- ly, most of these people are the library's best friends otherwise, in the sense that they fall largely in the social sciences and humanities. Perhaps the classical or medieval tradition exists most strongly in those subjects. Another adverse factor is the fact that certain faculty practices may have to be 390 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES modified for librarians, or else librar- ians may have to modify their own prac- tices in order to conform. Among these may be mentioned criteria for promo- tion, academic vacations and holidays, a rule that instructors must go up or out by five years, promotion not tied to ad- ministrative responsibility, length of the faculty year, and membership in one particular discipline. LIBRARY FACTORS Whether or not librarians are entitled to academic status, in the eyes of those who are to do the judging, depends to a major extent on presidential or faculty · acceptance of the case for the teaching function of the library. If people outside of the library can be convinced that the librarians really perform an essential teaching function, which contributes ef- fectively to the total educational and research program of the university, then the action is half won already. Here lies the real opportunity as well as the chal- lenge for the librarian and his staff. Before a good case can be made, the library should be operating at some- thing more than a mere custodial or housekeeping level. The library actually ought to be doing individual teaching and counseling, bibliographical and other research. It should be working ac- tively to promote the independent and cultural learning that should constitute ten to twenty per cent of its use. The library staff ought to be professionally alert and intellectually alive. And the librarian and his staff should not be dif- fident, as so many are, in participating in the discussion of stimulating intel- lectual problems in the university. All of these qualities contribute to the giv- ing of a good opinion about the library, to establishing its prestige. Meeting all of these conditions still may not convince the library's public that the library actually is engaged in teaching, at least in the traditional SEPTEMBER 1957 meaning of the term, but this can lead to a better recognition of the importance of the role of the professional librarian in the teaching and research programs of the university. This may be enough. In simple terms, the prestige of the li- brary has to be high. The library staff itself, rather than the quality of the col- lections, the adequacy of the physical plant, or the size of the budget, tends to determine what the prestige of the li- brary will be on the campus. A presi- dent or faculty can understand why the budget or quarters or collections may not be good, but they will not condone poor service by librarians. Turning then to the library staff; the answers to the questionnaires indicate that the qualifications of the present staff very frequently must be taken into ac- count. Qualifications are of two kinds, educational and professional. Library education differs in kind and it differs in degree from that of traditional fac- ulty members. The advent of the new style library education, however, has tended to reduce the differences in kind, for professional education in librarian- ship generally is becoming recognized as of graduate calibre. Relatively few li- brarians, however, go on to the doc- torate. Lack of the doctor's degree is one of the difficult hurdles for the librarian. If the administration or faculty will ac- cept a master's degree or its equivalent as the terminal degree for most of the staff, then this standard had better be adhered to rigidly thereafter. Academic status requires professional- ism in the real sense of the word rather than the watered-down version common- ! y used. Too many librarians do not want to be academicians, at least are un- willing to pay the price, to submit to the same rigid standards of judgment which teaching faculty members apply to themselves and their colleagues. If full faculty status is to be requested, li- brarians must make clear that they are 391 willing to accept faculty responsibilities for membership in committees, partici- pation in the intellectual life of the in- stitution, and research and publication. They should have given good evidence of the same such interest already. Thus the attitude of the library staff and the staff support of the request for status must be strong and sincere. If the staff has a staff association,' that group can be active in support of the request, though its influence as an organization does not appear to be especially strong. The teaching of formal courses in li- brary use is an asset, as is the number of librarians who already have achieved faculty or academic status by one means or another. Teaching bibliographical or research courses in specific subject fields is a useful aid. Of course the number of people in- volved is important. The university as a whole or the individual colleges or de- partmentS' to which the librarian might belong could absorb a few people with- out difficulty, but a very large group of fifty to two hundred persons suddenly thrown into an existing academic unit can be upsetting. Colleges with their small number of librarians find it much easier than universities to give academic status to their library staffs. The modern practice of dividing li- brary staffs into professional and non- professional helps, because this identi- fies the professional and reduces the number to be considered. It is obvious to any outsider that much library work is routine and can be performed by cler- ical persons; this division makes it clear to the observer that the librarian recog- nizes this too, and only uses professional librarians (the persons for whom status is asked) for professional work. At the same time, the librarian must recognize that faculty members and sometimes even presidents find it diffi- cult to distinguish between a librarian and a non-academic person in a library. All persons in a library tend to be con- sidered librarians. Allied with this is the unfortunate practice of using the term "librarian" for the head of a small branch library who lacks professional qualifications. The profession unques- tionably should be more careful on this point, and call such persons "assistants" or use some other descriptive term. Sometimes these branch libraries are not under the control of the chief librarian, unfortunately, as noted by a couple of respondents. Thus the administrative pattern of the library can prove an ad- verse factor. When faculty status is granted, the librarian will have to decide whether or not he will follow the faculty basis for promotion or whether he will tie in academic rank with position in the ad- ministrative hierarchy. He should rec- ognize this problem beforehand and have his answers ready, for it is likely to be asked by the president or by the fac- ulty. Note the implications of the deci- sion for traditional principles of admin- istration. The predominance of women on the library staff apparently does not influ- ence the ultimate decision much, for the role of women as faculty members has been pretty well established by schools of home economics, departments of phys- ical education, and the growth of all- women's colleges. Only in salaries and ranks do they appear to be discriminated against. Two librarians commented on the difficulty of securing just salaries for women. One factor perhaps does not belong in the list of library factors, but it does not belong anywhere else exactly either. That is the question of whether or not full faculty privileges are requested. It is exceedingly important. If the issue of title is minor to the library staff, and the content of status more important than status, then the library may ask for only a part of the program. 392 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES It is easier, apparently, to secure aca- demic status than faculty status,. though this can be only an unproved hypothe- sis. However, some libraries have secured academic status first, proved themselves, then secured full faculty status later. Sometimes the library has succeeded in securing academic status but failed later in a request for faculty status. Some of the faculty prerogatives that were mentioned fairly frequently as hav- ing been omitted from the request, or deleted before it was approved, were the faculty salary scale, rank assign- ments, vacations, holidays, and tenure. In other instances, certain members of the staff were excluded from the re- quest. Mentioned specifically more than once were part-time people and wives of graduate students and faculty mem- bers. Exclusion of those who fell below the minimum in education was not men- tioned at all and presumably was not done. Stressing the value of academic or fac~ ulty status in recruiting was noted by eight librarians as an important favor- able factor . There may be regional or institutional variations in the weight given to this factor by those making the decision. Institutions without special advantages in climate or lacking in tra- ditions may be more inclined to give it importance. A few librarians noted the negative effect of not having it, upon the building of a high quality staff. Adequacy of the present status of the library staff appears to be influential. If important conditions such as salary, pen- sion, vacation, tenure, travel allowance, etc., are well met, the library staff itself may not particularly favor a change, and the administration also may use this as a reason for refusing to approve the re- quest. Finally, among library factors, the at- titude of the chief librarian and his pres- tige outside of the library obviously arc major factors. No request wi11 get any- SEPTEMBER 1957 where at all without the chief librarian's approval and his active support. The amount of influence he can bring to bear will depend upon his standing within the institution. Close and cordial rela- tionships with faculty members, the pres- ident and vice president of course are particularly helpful. One librarian noted a new library building and a new plan of library serv- ice as an influential factor. This might be particularly so if the faculty have been invited to participate in the gen- eral planning. OTHER INTRA-INSTITUTIONAL FoRcEs The faculty library committee is a log- ical starting place for seeking opinions and first approval of a request for aca- demic status, and most requests appar- ently are cleared through this committee even if the request is to be directed to and acted on by the president. A change of status of librarians obviously is a pol- icy matter, and most faculty committees are supposed to advise on library poli- cies. The recommendation of the faculty library committee appears to bear con- siderable weight with the administra- tion, who may accept it as an evidence of faculty consent. With the general fac- ulty, however, the committee is not so influential. Members of the committee may be suspect by the general faculty because the faculty may feel that they have to support the librarian. If com- mittee approval was given reluctantly and if the members do not support the decision strongly in talking with other faculty members, the value of commit- tee approval will be negligible. Positive support has to be given for it to have value. The status of similar or other profes- sional groups on campus certainly can have a bearing on the decision about the library staff. Perhaps the strongest single argument at the University of 393 Oklahoma against faculty status for li- brarians, at least in the general faculty meeting, was that extension personnel and other such groups might be brought into the faculty later if the librarians were added now. If these other groups- extension, university press, student health, student dean's offices, and other such-do not already have a satisfactory status arid trY, to come in with the li- brary request, the result certainly can be fatal. On the other hand, if some of them already have academic status, the librarian's task is much easier. It would behoove the librarian to examine the status of such groups before the request is submitted, and come to some conclu- sion about what to do if a problem exists. The existence of a .faculty committee on membership tends to compel a re- quest for full faculty status to go through the faculty. Even if the librarian does not direct the request to that committee, the president may be inclined to do so. The role of a personnel or civil serv- ice office on campus has already been noted. Sometimes the consent of the head of this unit must be gained, and it would appear to be advisable always whether necessary or not. ExTRA-INSTITUTIONAL FoRCE S A number of influences outside of the university campus may influence the de- cision. Chief among these may be a state civil service board. Only two libraries (of the ninety-seven) were found to have their entire staffs under state civil serv- ice, but two others had a severe strug- gle recently to avoid being put back under civil service. One library is trying to prevent such a change now (from faculty status), and several of the larger university libraries have part of their professional staffs subject to state civil service. The great expansion of govern- mental services during the past few years has led to the rise of state boards of civil service to remove state jobs from politics and bring system into state employment. Librarians who are classed as non-aca- demic would appear to be more likely to be subject to any future expansion in the state civil service. It may be noted that civil service does seem to bring many problems to library administration and also to university administration. Several librarians com- mented on faculty and administrative support for academic or faculty status for professional librarians, largely to pre- vent the intrusion of this outside force into university affairs. Many requests for academic status for librarians cite the precedents or exam- ples of other universities. This appears to be a desirable though not a particu- larly influential factor. For example, all institutions of higher education in Ok- lahoma, both public and private, grant faculty or academic status to their pro- fessional librarians, except the Univer- sity of Oklahoma. This fact was not con- sidered important, nor were the exam- ples of comparable institutions in other states. Several librarians found prece- dents more helpful than did the Univer- sity of Oklahoma, but it still does not seem to be a strong positive factor. Ex- amples may be more likely to influence a president than a faculty. The tendency to imitate the actions of other universi- ties, especially those in the east, appears to be declining. Instead, institutional de- cisions now seem to be made increasingly in the light of that particular institu- tion's needs, which may indicate more institutional maturity. Educational associations and societies often are favorable to faculty member- ship for qualified professional librarians. Examples are the A.A .U.P. and Phi Beta Kappa. There probably are others. Accrediting agencies generally appear to support or at least agree to academic membership for professional librarians, for they have long recognized the im- 394 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES - portance of good libraries. Their influ- ence on this point is probably minor. A negative influence can be wielded by an accrediting association if it places great emphasis upon the percentage of Ph.D.'s held by the faculty. This militates against faculty status but not against academic, of course. One librarian mentioned the support of an outside surveyor's recommenda- tion. The recommendation was not ap- proved. LITERATURE ON THE SUBJECT This has been a study in decision mak- ing at the university level, involving the library. There are no satisfactory text- books in university administration that will serve adequately as guides in such matters, and really very little published information about the processes except in biographies of presidents. There are, however, several guides in the field of business and government which might prove helpful.3 Sometimes, when direct action is un- successful, the librarian has decided upon different tactics. A public rela- tions plan designed to overcome resist- ance to the idea may be appropriate to the gaining of faculty approval, if in the opinion of the librarian the faculty were not fully informed' when the orig- inal decision was made. This strategy is not recommended where a president is concerned. Librarians have referred to 3 For example, see Manly Howe Jones, E xee1ttive Decision Making (Homewood, Ill. R. D. Irwin, 1957), es pecially Chapters 3, 4, 5, an(!~ Chester I. Barnard, The Functions of the Executtpe (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1954), is useful for his theory of opportunism (Chapter 14) and the executive proce ss (Chapter 16). Edmund P. Learned in Exec - utive Action (Bo ston , Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard, 19 51) is u se ful on back- grounds for decisions. In the field of governmental pro(;esses, noteworthy is D av id B . Truman , Govern- mental Process (New York, A. A. Knopf, 1951). SEPTEMBER 1957 such campaigns as "evolution," "a pol- icy of gradualism," "infiltration," and "boring from within.'' As a matter of fact, public relations authorities do not appear to advise frontal assault on human resistance. 4 Frontal assault and a possible refusal may be difficult to avoid with a faculty; it is easy and bet- ter to check beforehand with a president when the president only is involved. Any hearing before the general faculty is likely to be preceded by hearings be- fore a committee. That is the way faculty business is transacted. A favorable re- port from the committee does not assure that the general faculty will approve- note the role of outspoken minorities in faculty affairs, 5 but a favorable commit- tee report of course is needed. One sug- gestion about committees: do not de- pend on written arguments, but appear in person, state the complete case, and answer all questions fully. Committees will talk but they do not like to read. "The oral method of presentation is more effective in provoking and guiding discussion than the written."6 One final comment concerns the na- ture of the written document which is usually submitted in support of the re- ques't for academic status. This is often a long document, and sometimes very long. Many large businesses require that any memorandum or report over a few pages long be summarized on a single page attached to the front of the docu- ment. Probably this practice should be adopted by libraries. 4 See Nichola s Samtag, "Strategy ," in Edward L. Bernays , ed., The Engineering of Consent (Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, c1955), pp. 94-137. 5 Supra 6 For a good discus sion of the dynamics of com- mittees, see K. C. Wheare, Government by Committee; an Essay on the British Constitution (Oxford Uni - versity Press , 1955), p . 188. 395