Book Reviews 297

gues that these approaches and frameworks are useful in capturing the “‘bottom up’ 
story” from this generation of librarians, providing insight into the period of transition 
in which they lived (167). Finally, chapter 8, “Practical Oral History Advice,” offers 
suggestions to librarians planning similar studies. Smith warns that it is “rewarding 
and terribly labor-intensive” because it depends upon building human relationships 
(175). The chapter ends with “a final meditation on oral history” (183), which broadly 
and warmly encourages readers to embark upon similar projects.

This is an excellent companion and introduction to the “Capturing Our Stories” 
oral history project, which is accessible online through the School of Information at 
the University of Texas. By identifying trends and highlighting excerpts from the 
thirty-five recorded interviews, Smith provides a useful summary and overview of 
the project. In doing so, it gives readers an interesting window into the experiences of 
librarians who worked through the second half of the twentieth century. This aspect 
in particular would make the work an interesting reading for introductory classes on 
librarianship, or in courses in library history. The work is not, however, an exhaustive 
academic study. Readers interested in a more detailed academic examination will be 
better served by Smith’s 692-page (including appendixes) dissertation, which he has 
laudably posted online. “This book,” Smith assures the reader, “intends to be just the 
good stuff” from the dissertation (xvii). Similarly, the short primer on oral history prac-
tices in Part II is interesting, but more detailed studies on the topic can be found. The 
work is not meant to be a lengthy study, however; instead, it successfully serves as an 
interesting and useful window into the experiences of the last generation of librarians. 
Their stories, which span a significant period in the history of librarianship, will be of 
interest to librarians at all stages of their careers.—Richard M. Mikulski, Drew University

M. Leslie Madden, Laura Carscaddon, Denita Hampton, and Brenna Helmstutler. 
Now You’re a Manager: Quick and Practical Strategies for New Mid-Level Managers in 
Academic Libraries. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries. 2017. 
94p. Paper, $28.00 (ISBN 978-0-8389-8787-2).

What do you get when four mid-level managers from 
an academic library begin to evaluate what they have 
learned from being in this important role? Most likely 
you would get a book much like the one authored by 
these four managers from the Georgia State University 
Library. Written to fill a gap in both the literature and 
available professional development courses on manage-
ment in academic libraries, this book provides advice to 
those mid-level managers who may be filling a leader-
ship role for the first time. This includes both leaders of 
teams as well as departments. The authors draw upon 
their own experiences, discussions held between them, 

and the literature they explored in an effort to learn to be a better, more effective 
manager. The reader of this book should keep in mind that it acts as an introduction 
to a range of concepts associated with being a manager. It is meant more as a tool for 
those who may have less experience as well as those who may want to rethink their 
current practice. 

The book is broken up into ten chapters. The authors indicate that the book can be 
used by an individual or as part of a discussion and that the chapters can be read in 
any order a person chooses. Chapters cover a range of topics associated with the work 
of being a manager. Some of the chapters deal with operational management issues 
like conducting effective meetings, building departments and teams, and dealing with 

doi:10.5860/crl.79.2.297



298 College & Research Libraries March 2018

policies and bureaucracy. Personnel management is covered in chapters on dealing 
with problem employees, managing a diverse department, providing professional 
development and training, mentoring and coaching, and managing change. A chapter 
on managing between library administration and employees and a chapter on man-
aging as a team provides some exposure to organizational management. These two 
chapters, along with the two on change and bureaucracy, provide insight on the fact 
that management happens in the context of the organization and culture you are in. 

All of the chapters are relatively short. They do not go into any heavy theory. Each 
chapter cites a few sources from which it has drawn some supportive quotes or ideas. 
The reader will find some quotes not cited. The lack of any citation notation within the 
chapter does make this problematic. With the cited works, the authors also provide 
suggested readings, although the items cited and the suggested readings sometimes 
overlap, giving the same titles. At the end of each chapter, the authors give exercises, 
samples, and worksheets that the reader can use. The exercises include some ques-
tions to be answered and help to apply the content covered in the chapter. Readers 
will have to figure out how they can check their responses to the exercises since no 
answers are given. 

There are many who might benefit from this book. Although it targets current man-
agers, readers currently not in management roles and wanting to think about some 
of the challenges associated with the work will find this a good overview. Someone 
being supervised can also use it to provide feedback to his or her own manager. The 
library’s human resources staff may also find that this is a good tool for providing 
training to new library managers. It is a relatively easy read and is not filled with lots 
of management jargon or theory. Being more on the practical side, the exercises pro-
vided at the end of the chapters allow readers to think about how they might approach 
the tailored problems based on what has been covered in the chapters. The exercises 
also give readers opportunity to discuss their solutions with their own supervisors to 
compare how a seasoned leader might approach the problem. This makes the book a 
good mentoring tool that a senior leader might use to help develop a new manager. 

There is a whole industry that provides information on being a manager. Within 
this book, the reader will find much discussion about familiar management topics. 
Other than the fact that the authors themselves are librarians, one might wonder just 
how much of the book is really about academic libraries. The exercises are library 
focused. Some of the literature cited and some of the suggested readings come from 
the library literature. At times the authors do frame some of the chapter discussions 
as taking place in a library. That is about where its association with academic libraries 
end. That said, if we go back to the title, which indicates that it is a book of quick and 
practical strategies, then readers will find that that is exactly what they get.—Mark E. 
Shelton, College of the Holy Cross

David Thomas, Simon Fowler, and Valerie Johnson. The Silence of the Archive. London: 
Facet Publishing. 2017. 187p. $80.00 (ISBN 978-1783301553). 

In Silence of the Archive, Thomas, Fowler, and Johnson present the case that archives do 
not, and cannot, provide a complete historical record by looking at gaps, or “silences,” 
relative to the contents of archives. There are limits to what archives can provide, 
something that a researcher or casual user may not know. This book helps shed light 
on the silences, enforced and otherwise, that occur within archives. 

Fowler opens chapter 1 with a statement that needs to be considered: archives are 
not neutral spaces. He suggests several reasons for the silence of archives, such as 
records may not exist yet, or never will, due to conflict or oppression by a regime or 
others in power. Materials deemed more historically valuable prevent the selection of 

doi:10.5860/crl.79.2.298