College and Research Libraries


Libraries for Decision- Makers 

Last November the American Society for Information Science held its 
annual meeting. "Communication for Decision Makers" was to be the theme: 
a focus upon the user and his needs, an emphasis upon the manager's atti-
tudes toward information systems. 

The presentations, alas, were disappointing. Most speakers concentrated 
upon the efficiency or effectiveness of information systems, especially man-
agement information systems. The latest jargon, too, echoed between the 
walls, and one left most sessions with a weary sense of deja vu, or at best, 
a wary sense of having witnessed a rewrighting of a very familiar (and 
ancient) wheel. 

No one asked the Big Question. Which is: How can we affect the actions 
of the decision-maker, if he does not view the information center .as a 
source of the information he needs to formulate his decision? Substantial 
research, particularly by Allen, Garvey, and Price, shows clearly that 
decision-makers, as well as most other information-users, do not rank the 
information center as .an important source of information. 

Academic librarians confront a similar predicament. Haven't we all nodded 
with the platitudes offered at graduation-especially the one about the 
library being the heart and soul of the institution? But consider for a 
moment the actions of those same speakers now that money is tight and 
institutional priorities must be reordered. Have their actions reflected their 
summertime rhetoric? 

On the other hand, are there many librarians who have placed a high 
priority on fulfilling the information needs of academic decision-makers? 
Have we even identified the campus decision-makers? Have we attempted 
to .approach them, to learn how we might assist them? We know that our 
collections are an immense reservoir of information germane to contempo-
rary problems. But does the decision-maker consider the academic library 
a source for his information?' And is the decision-maker, after all, really 
concerned with the efficiency or effectiveness of our libraries/information 
systems? Or is he more concerned with the problems which are aggravating 
his ulcer? 

Can we realistically expect the hard-pressed decision-maker to support 
our cause when the library is so remote from his own decision-making 
process? 

R. M. DouGHERTY 

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THE BEST WAY TO STUDY 
THE ISSUES THAT ARE TEARING 

AMERICA APART IS 
TO BRING THEM TOGETHER. 
Any newspaper or contemporary text can bring you astute observers 
of American dissent. 

We can bring you the dissenters. 
Through a new microfilm program, Protest, Controversy, and 

Dissent, we've put together selections from 102 radical and polemical 
periodicals-all dedicated to moving America sharply to the left, or the 
right, or making it disappear altogether. 

The program is designed to let you examine dissent by 
reconstructing it in your library. Students read the Christian 
Anti-Communism Crusade Newsletter in conjunction with Worker's 
World. The National Review with The Village Voice. So one point 
of view can be studied in the light of its opposite, thus throwing both 
into sharper perspective. 

For complete information, write us. And get to know the enemy 
better-no matter whom you consider the enemy to be.