College and Research Libraries


Editorial 

The issue of academic status generated recurring debate at the ACRL 
membership meeting in Atlantic City. Although the primary debate cen-
tered on academic status, the motion as presented to the membership 
actually embodied two distinct issues: academic status and internal li-
brary management. Let us keep the two separate. The achievement of 
academic status requires the cooperation and consent of the total academic 
community, from the newest member of the teaching faculty to the Board 
of Regents. Library management, however, is not campus-wide; resolution 
of internal problems is primarily a library responsibility. 

We should not allow any issue to detract from the matter of status. Yet 
why did the authors of the motion feel compelled to inject the manage-
ment issue, and then defend its inclusion in a spirited floor debate? I know 
many colleagues who are bored, frustrated, or simply fed up with their 
present positions. Library school graduates are often heard to grumble that 
their first professional position demanded the intellectual skills of filing 
cards, shuffiing papers, and providing such reference service as pointing 
the way to the nearest pencil sharpener or the "john." Exaggeration? 
Maybe. But let us acknowledge that many younger professionals are dis-
satisfied; they want more challenging positions and more opportunity for 
promotion. 

The terms "participatory management" or "democratization of adminis-
tration" are now in vogue. Participation of staff in the formulation of 
policy decisions is a healthy trend. But to achieve meaningful staff par-
ticipation, we must begin to train young middle-management librarians 
for top administrative positions. Why can't we initiate a plan similar to 
the American Council of Education's administrative intern program? The 
ACRL or ALA could play a leading role. Libraries could nominate their 
most promising middle-level administrators to internships in leading aca-
demic libraries. Costs, including salaries, could be borne either by the 
participating library or by a munificent foundation. The intern would be 
exposed to a spectrum of problems that an administrator of an academic 
library might expect to encounter. He would be given an opportunity to 
meet and work with faculty and other non-library administrators. 

Some may react negatively to a management intern program, fearing 
that it would produce a brain drain of promising administrators from the 
smaller to the larger institutions. Perhaps. But in the long run we will 
have provided the profession with a better prepared, more skilled 
leadership. 

RICHARD M. DouGHERTY 



Scholarly 
Reprints 

THOMAS BLOUNT. Nomolexikon: A Law-

dictionary. London, 1670. $19.00 

EDMUND FRY. Pantographia. 

London, 1799· Illustrated. 

RoBERT GREENHOW. The History of 

Oregon and California. Boston, 1844. 

Folding map. Index. $12.50 

GEORGES GuiLLET DE ST. GEORGES. 

The Gentleman's Dictionary. 

London, 1705. Illustrated. $9.00 

CHRISTOPHER IRVINE. Historice Scoticce 

Nomenclatura Latino-Vernacula. 

Edinburgh, 1682. $12.00 

FRANCISCUS JuNIUS. Etymologicum 

Anglicanum. Edited by Edward Lye. 

Oxford, 1743. $45.00 

DAVID MALCOLME. Essay on the 

Antiquities of Great Britain and Ireland. 

(Expan~ed Is-part edition.) 

Edinburgh, 1738. $12.00 

LAWSON ANDREW SCRUGGS. Women 

of Distinction. Raleigh, N.c., 1893. 

New introduction (1970) by Otey M. 
Scruggs, Professor of History, Syracuse 

University. Photographs. Illus. $r o.oo 

STEPHEN SKINNER. EtymologiconLinguce 

Anglicance. London, 1671. $55.00 

JOHN THOMAS SMITH. Vagabondiana; 

or, Anecdotes of Mendicant Wanderers 

through the Streets of London. 

London, 1817. Illus. 

S 1 LAS TAYLOR. The History ofGa'Vel-kind. 

London, 1663. Folding chart. $12.50 

[JOHN WoRLIDGE]. Dictionarium 

Rusticum f.5 Urbanicum. 

London, 1704. Illustrated. $27.00 

JOHN WoRLIDGE. Systema Agriculturce. 

London, 1675. The 2nd edition. $23.00 

All books printed on acid-free "3oo-year" 

paper and bound in buckram over binder's 

boards. We shall be pleased to send our cat-

alog. Address orders (5 inquiries to: 

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