College and Research Libraries Recent Publications BOOK REVIEW ESSAY: DEANING IN ACADEME Adams, Hazard. The Academic Tribes. 2d ed. Urbana: Univ. of lllinois Pr., 1988. 185p. alk. paper, $21.95 (ISBN 0-252- 06000-8). LC 87-19051. Martin, Josef (pseud.). To Rise Above Prin- ciple: The Memoirs of an Unreconstructed Dean. Urbana: Univ. oflllinoisPr., 1988. 180p. alk. paper, $19.95 (ISBN 0-252- 01507-X). LC 87-27227. Morris, Van Cleve. Deaning: Middle Man- agement in Academe. Urbana, Univ. of Il- linois Pr., 1981. 182p. $19.95 (ISBN 0- 252-00871-5). LC 80-26119. Announcing new books in 1988, the University of lllinois Press called attention to the above three titles on academic ad- ministration. The one with the most in- triguing title, and also the most fun to read, is the work of Josef Martin, a pseu- donym used to "protect the innocent." Deaning, by Van Cleve Morris, a former Dean of the College of Education at the University of lllinois at Chicago, is more pedestrian but does contain useful infor- mation. His book is a somewhat cynical view by someone who obviously had his problems as an administrator of a major unit on an urban university campus. Haz- ard Adams's book is not really a new edi- tion but is essentially a reprint of a book that appeared in 1976. The U of I Press has reissued the book in paperback, with a new preface and with three speeches enti- tled, "A Triptych of Appendixes" at the end. The cover describes it as "a wise yet witty excursion down the halls of academe by a seasoned veteran of departmental and administrative politics." In my re- view of the earlier edition I noted that Adams is not as 'I wry'' and more I 'bitter'' than the jacket indicates, a view I have moderated this time around. 1 All three books are worth reading by li- brarians, especially those who know little about how higher education operates or who haven't experienced academic ad- ministration firsthand. The authors share the frustrations of being "middle man- agers in academe" and claim that deans have little power (except to keep the wrong things from being done), but they do help the reader understand more clearly both the constraints on administra- tors and the political context in which uni- versities operate. This reviewer recom- mends to all academic librarians Martin's chapters on evaluations, tribal stereo- types, and tricks of the trade. Despite his biases (and there are a good many C&RL readers won't like), Martin's chapters ex- plain processes in academia that may be poorly understood by most librarians and teaching faculty. And he is a delight to read, even when one disagrees with him. There are a lot of similarities in these three books. All three deal with the aca- demic environment, specifically its hu- man relations aspects and its politics. Ad- ams declares his book to be "good-natured musings that have arisen out of personal experience," while Morris declares that his book is not a technical treatise but ''an individual perspective on an unlit corner of academic life." Martin, who found it I' exhilarating to be dean'' (as did I), claims that nothing has been writ- ten about the ''extraordinary incidents that flavor a dean's life." His numerous, 261 262 College & Research Libraries and humorous, war stories certainly illus- trate his principles. Despite the book's ti- tle, it is clear that Martin indeed has princi- ples; they are frankly old-fashioned, classic, liberal principles. Both Martin and Adams take a dim view of the social sciences, which try to be sci- entific and rarely succeed. Adams's book opens with the famous quote from W. H. Auden: "Thou shalt not sit with statisti- cians nor commit a social science.'' Martin also has a bias against social scientists and professional schools, but then both he and Adams obviously come from the humani- ties. Not that either exempts their human- istic colleagues from criticism, some of it aimed at their unfortunate attempts to ape the scientists. One might dub all three authors as neoconservatives, especially in the areas where they had to deal with restrictions imposed by the federal government, whether in grants and contracts, affirma- tive action, or dealing with the urban envi- ronment. They are committed to scholar- ship but realize that much posturing goes on in this area. The manner in which dif- ferent disciplines disparage another disci- pline's methods and approaches reminds Six Million Citations Just Met Their Match! Match wits with the BIOSIS Previews • database. The new 1989 edition of the BIOSIS Previews Search Guide is the key to quick and effective searching of the BIOSIS Previews database. Here's what you get: • Almost 1 .000 new words in the Master Index-nearly 17.000 entries. The Master Index in the BIOSIS Previews Search Guide will lead you to all the words you need to know when searching for life science literature. • The Concept Code Section has been broken down into three parts so you can more readily locate the information you need . These sections help you to March 1989 one of Walter Prescott Webb's comment on historians: that he had never known two historians to agree on anything except that a third historian was not a good histo- rian! Among other qualities that mark a good dean, ability to listen is regarded by the writers as at least as important as dealing with issues. Martin suggests that it is al- ways better to talk face-to-face with indi- viduals than to write memos, because this way "one is less likely to attribute unwor- thy motives to people with whom one dis- agrees" (p.154). He follows this with one of his (and my) favorite injunctions: Never attribute to malice what can be explained by [simple] incompetence. All three make passing references to li- braries and books, of which they obvi- ously approve. Adams is more concerned with a small, well-selected collection for undergraduates than a massive research collection (p.125-26). However, their strictures concerning general university service units that support scholarship and teaching could also be applied to libraries. These units come in for criticism as the au- thors fulminate against an increasingly bureaucratized university, with staff more match keywords and subjects with approximately 600 indexing terms . • The Biosystematic Code Section enables you to match taxonomic names with over 700 alpha-numeric codes assigned by our indexers. • New for this year is a Search System Information Section which includes vendor specific information on how to search the database. • The enhanced Searching Fundamentals Section shows you how to make your search strategies more effective and provides you with even more money- saving tips. The new BIOSIS Previews Search Guide is a perfect match for searching the BIOSIS Previews database. And this year it's better than ever. Why not start cutting down the time you spend online? Order your copy now! Just $95.00 for this invaluable reference tool. Place your order today! Contact BIOSIS, Cus- ~~ tomer Services Section, 2100 Arch Street, Dept. ••II•' CRL389MM, Philadelphia, PA 19103-1399 USA . • , Telephone (215) 587-4800 worldwide; toll free " 1-800-523-4806 (USA except PA) : Telex 831739: BIOSIS• Fax (215) 587-2016. 8/0S/S Prelllewa 1s a registered trademari< of BIOSIS. BIOSIS is a reg istered trademari< of Biological Abstracts Inc. concerned about rules than service. All three confess that the faculty (from whence they came and to which they re- turned) do not understand administration but think they know what administrators do. (Shades of Herbert White's comments vis-a-vis faculty who think they under- stand libraries and librarianship!) In an earlier paper on ''Defining the Ac- ademic Librarian," this reviewer sug- gested that librarians, in addition to their basic skills, need to understand the his- tory and development of higher educa- tion. 2 As a former director and dean, I can fully appreciate the frustrations of which these three ex-deans speak. But I do not buy their argument that deans have little power, nor do I think their examples sub- stantiate that view. Hazard Adams is right, though, about the importance of ad- ministrators returning to the faculty (p.8). Most deans have a limited time to be effec- tive; fixed terms for deans/directors is one way to ensure that the length of their ad- ministrative terms does not outlast their effectiveness. In a recent article, Anne Woodsworth has suggested other ave- nues to deal with the problem of middle managers in service areas who have no place to go after their term of service in one position. 3 Other observations that should be use- ful to librarians are Morris's chapters on "Salary, Promotion, and Tenure," "Out- reach,'' and ''Governance''; Martin's principles in chapter 18, "To Rise Above Principle"; and Adams' essay on "How Departments Commit Suicide.'' Aca- demic librarians have been struggling Recent Publications 263 with similar problems for a long time. One wishes that these issues were more often discussed in the context of higher educa- tion at annual conferences. In the last twenty years, Jossey-Bass and other publishers have issued numerous books on higher education. There have been a few good "how to" textbooks and several decent histories. But these three authors chose a different genre for sharing their experiences in administration at the decanal level, that of personal observa- tion. In such a genre, background and bias are obviously present. But so are insights that are often not present in other ap- proaches. Many librarians will find that they can relate well to many of the illustra- tions and principles. What these authors do best is provide the reader with their observations on the very human failings of academicians and the structure of the academic enterprise. Librarians need to understand both the personal element and the structure of higher education better. These books, generally well written and often entertain- ing, should help them. 1. The Journal of Academic Librarianship 3:311-12 (November 1977). 2. Edward G. Holley, "Defining the Academic Librarian,'' College & Research Libraries 46:462-68 (November 1985). 3. Anne Woodsworth, "Library Directors as Middle Managers: A Neglected Resource," Library Administration & Management 3:24-27. -Edward G. Holley, School of Information and Library Science, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. BOOK REVIEWS Leadership for Research Libraries: A Fest- schrift for Robert M. Hayes. Ed. by Anne Woodsworth and Barbara von Wahlde. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1988. 255p. $25 (ISBN 0-8108-2129-X). LCBB-6634. The authors note in the introduction that this book is "in celebration of a leader in the library and information profession, still at the zenith of his professional activi- ties, who has significantly impacted infor- mation policy, library services, and educa- tion for information and library science in many countries." The occasion is the deci- sion of Robert M. Hayes to relinquish the Deanship of the Graduate School of Li- brary and Information Science at the Uni- versity of California, Los Angeles, to de- vote himself to research and teaching. The festschrift includes an assessment of the impact of Robert Hayes, ably chron- icled by Dorothy Anderson. Beyond the