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State University of New York, Albany. 

Schlipf, Frederick A., ed. Collective Bar-
gaining in Libraries. Proceedings. of a 
Conference Sponsored by the Illinois 
State Library and the University of ll-
linois Graduate School of Library Science 
and University of Illinois Office of Con-
tinuing Education and Public Service. 
Urbana-Champaign, Ill.: University of 
lllinois, Graduate School of Library Sci-
ence, 1975. 179p. $8.00. (Available 
from Publications Office, Graduate School 
of Library Science, 249 Armory Building, 
Champaign, IL 61820) (LC 75-25240) 
(ISBN 0-87845-042-4) 

The entry of librarians into organized la-
bor relations presents a largely misunder-
stood challenge to the ethics of librarian-
ship, even though it is estimated that in the 
United States some 33 ·percent of school li-
brarians, 20 percent of academic librarians, 
and 10 percent of public librarians already 
are represented by collective bargaining. 

The purpose of the Allerton Park Insti-
tute held in 197 4 was to examine library 
unionization in a dispassionate way. Thus, 
these ten papers review the evolution of 
the union movement, cover basic bargain-
ing methods, and summarize the impact of 
bargaining on libraries. The first two papers 
conclude that librarians are on the thresh-
old of unprecedented unionization, due to 
increasing financial problems and new laws 
allowing collective bargaining in the public 
sector. Five succeeding papers deal with 
legal considerations, bargaining agent rec-
ognition, unit establishment, topics of nego-
tiation, and grievances. The concluding 
three papers assess collective bargaining as 
it applies specifically to libraries and in-
clude a simulated bargaining session and 
evaluations of public and academic library 
unionization. Appended are a comprehen-
sive bibliography and a glossary of labor 
terms. 

As a general introduction to the technical 
details of bargaining, this volume provides 
some helpful insights. It is not, however, 
a how-to book for librarians expecting a 
realistic guide to negotiations, nor is it an 
objective examination of what forms of par-

Recent Publications I 377 

ticipatory management have been achieved 
through bargaining. 

It is in the final three papers, those ex-
amining bargaining as it functions · in li-
braries, where the aim of the institute goes 
awry. The simulated bargaining session 
uses a plastics firm as its example, an un-
fortunate choice in that bargaining in the 
public sector, where most librarians are 
employed, is very different from the private 
sector where bargaining laws are less re-
strictive and there is little question of final 
authority. In addition, the evaluations of 
the effects of bargaining, both written by 
library directors, deal with library staffs in 
general and are apprehensive in attitude to-
wards governance, arbitration, accountabil-
ity, and other negotiable issues. Indeed, the 
paper on bargaining in academic libraries 
contains a whole section entitled "Threat 
to the Service Function." Further, the eval-
uation of academic libraries is by a Cana-
dian who admits more familiarity with the 
libraries of Canada than those of the U.S., 
which is demonstrated by her misinterpre-
tation of the bargaining unit model set at 
Wayne State University. (Contrary to her 
report, only supervisory librarians with final 
hire-fire authority, namely, the director of 
libraries and assistant/ associate directors, 
are excluded from the unit.) Thus, in these 
assessments, collective bargaining is not ob-
jectively, nor always accurately, presented. 

It is worth noting that, of all the con-
tributors, only one represents a union; five 
are lawyers, agency representatives, or pro-
fessors outside the field of librarianship; 
and only four are librarians, including two 
directors of libraries and two professors of 
library science. Only one contributor ap-
pears to have had actual experience as a ne-
gotiator representing library employees. 
Significantly, no rank-and-file librarians are 
included. Thus, this volume has a disturb-
ing lack of balance between viewpoints. 
Clearly, library management and those not 
directly involved with some of the basic is-
sues of collective bargaining in libraries are 
curious choices for presenting a fair and 
complete picture of library unionization. 

A definitive analysis of collective bargain-
ing in libraries is yet to be written.-
Lothar Spang> Assistant to the Director, 
Wayne State University Libraries> Detroit, 
Michigan.