College and Research Libraries


Letters 

To the Editor: 
With reference to "Destruction of 

Knowledge: A Study of Journal Mutila-
tion at a Large University Library" ( C& RL 
56 [Nov. 1995]: 497-507) by Constantia 
Constantinou, this may be a naive ques-
tion. Has any library calculated the 
"trade-off" between free photocopies and 
the costs of replacing mutilated materi-
als? 

Marvin H. Scilken 
Editor 

The U*N*A *B*A *S*H*E*D Librarian 
The "How I Run My Library Good" 

Letter 

To the Editor: 
As I began to read Constantia Con-

stantinou' s interesting article on journal 
mutilation, I was shocked by a reference 
to "Anthony, emperor of Rome" on page 
497. Mark Antony (Anthony, Antonius, 
etc.) was many things, but he was never 
an emperor. I would not quibble over a 
phrase such as "would-be emperor," but 
"emperor" is the sort of error that discred-
its librarians in the eyes of other academ-
ics. I am surprised that such a boner got 
by; it detracts from what is otherwise an 
interesting article. 

To the Editor: 

Jon M. Suter, Ph.D. 
Director of the Library 

Houston Baptist University 

I have no quibble with the logical con-
clusion that Carolyn W. Jardine reaches 
in "Maybe the 55 Percent Rule Doesn't 
Tell the Whole Story" (C&RL 56 [Nov. 
1995]: 477~85), namely, that positive be-

193 

havioral traits will result in 
greater user satisfaction. But 
it is important to· keep in 
mind that librarians are not 
pharmacists: it does not re-
ally matter if patrons indi-
cate that they are satisfied if 
they concomitantly have not 
achieved their goal, specifically, the ac-
quisition of the material that they seek. 
Reference personnel are not in the busi-
ness of providing users with satisfaction. 
We tender apposite sources, search strat-
egies, data, and information-even to 
dissatisfied customers. 

A simplistic analogy might help here. 
A man who needs a snow shovel goes to 
a hardware store. He discovers that be-
cause of a recent blizzard the store does 
not have a single snow shovel in stock. 
On the way out, he notices that some eso-
teric grass seed has been reduced from 
twelve to two dollars a pound. He pur-
chases a large bag (not realizing that the 
seed will have lost much of its viability 
by the time planting season arrives). As 
he heads for his car, an interviewer asks 
him if he is satisfied. "Indeed I am. I did 
not get the shovel I need, but I was lucky 
enough to find this incredibly priced 
grass seed." Satisfaction is not necessar-
ily a tenable indicator of success. I am ob-
viously not advocating the purposeful 
alienation of our clients. I am indicating 
that in our business satisfaction is a sec-
ondary, not a primary, consideration. 

Robert Hauptman 
Professor 

Learning Resources Services 
St. Cloud State University