College and Research Libraries Letters Search and Screen Committees To the Editor: The artiness of the science of manage- ment was never more clearly demonstrated than in the article on "University Library Search and Screen Committees" in the July 1976 issue. In paragraph 12 (p.353) under "Strengths" the authors state, "No objective evidence was located concerning the su- periority of the judgments made or the candidates appointed through search and screen committee use. . .. Nevertheless, most respondents felt such committee meth- ods to be more successful than traditional administrative methods." [Italic mine] My own experience with campus search and screen committees, which ranges from the search for a college president, vice pres- ident, and a school dean, as well as being rejected by a couple of search and screen committees for library directorships, leads me to the conclusion that the weaknesses far outweigh the strengths. I say this as one who long advocated such committees and still uses a highly participative procedure for recruiting staff members. The typical search and screen committee begins by setting criteria, often with the ad- vice of the faculty. Such criteria are so lof- ty in experience, education, publications, and other professional activities that few librarians below retirement age could pos- sibly meet them. Then they advertise the position using those superperson qualifica- tions which scare away all applicants who have a decent and desirable amount of modesty. So they receive applications most- ly from those who have grand notions of their own importance or are desperate enough to apply for anything. When the committee realizes that the criteria are too high, it is too late and too embarrassing to advertise the position again so the committee makes do with the pomp- ous. and the desperate. If by good fortune COllEGE & RESEARCH LIBRARIES some genuinely promising but modest can- didates have applied (due to someone' s urging) the committee either weeds them out because they do not meet the criteria or, if they should advance to the interview stage, one member of the committee is nQt absolutely convinced of the applicant's per- fection beyond a shadow of doubt in the interview. It takes only one member of the committee to ding a future Keyes Metcalf! So the committee becomes desperate itself and selects a sweet talker who displeases no one. If authors Harvey and Parr want to get some objective evidence on the best method of appointment of university librarians, I suggest that they study the methods that were used to select the university library directors who have been and are now suc- cessful. But objective evidence, or the truth itself, is of little value unless it is used. Par- ticipatory management must become more than a euphemism for shifting responsibility to the members of a committee, or the sci- ence of management will not even be an art.-R. Dean Galloway, Library Director, California State College, Stanislaus. Response To the Editor: We appreciate Mr. Galloway's comments on the article. His negative opinion of search and screen committees is shared by many; however, he, as well as others, con- tinues to use them as a management tech- nique. While some committees carry on their work as Galloway suggests, many other pat- terns exist around the country. No compre- hensive survey data exist which show all of the patterns or , all of the policies being followed. Certainly, the "sweet talker who displeases no one," to use Galloway's ohrase, often seems to be the candidate se- lected for the position. I 551 552 I College & Research Libraries • November 1976 Galloway's suggestion for collecting ob- jective evidence on the best method of se- lecting university librarians does not seem feasible to us because defining "successful" librarians is almost impossible, and we sus- pect that the method by which they or any other group were initially selected would present considerable variety.-]ohn F. Har- vey and Mary Parr. The Independent Research Library To the Editor: As the founder of the Women's History Research ·Center, a former independent research library, and an associate of the Newberry Library, I welcomed your article by William Budington in the July 1976 is- sue. It gives a history, a perspective to, and an understanding of our work and struggles to survive that was most refreshing and even comforting. The funding and IRS classification prob- lems are what "sank" us, to use his word, but not necessarily "quietly!" We have dis- persed our collections and published the major ones: Women & Health/Mental. Health, Women & Law, and Women's Seri- als on microfilm, with grants (both private and governmental) . The original collections are now housed at Northwestern Universi- ty's Special Collections Library (Women's Serials) and the Archive of Contemporary History at the University of Wyoming (Subject Files) . Also, our collection of women's movement -pamphlets is now at Princeton University. The Women's History Research Center did maintain the library of record for the current international women's movement, as well as material on women in general, anytime/ anywhere. For several years we were open to the public, especially by mail, and published many books (bibliographies/ directories) on women and £1m and art, for instance, which are still in print. We certainly did seek "to enlarge the sphere of human knowledge," and "supple- menting academic libraries" was a virtual emergency. But our users taught us that there is no subject less narrow than women, who have affected and been affect- ed by every issue and event. They further shaped our collections by donating their sources and completed research as well as time and money. In turn, we believe, our very existence shaped collections elsewhere because of the demand people put on their libraries for re- sources about women. (Parts of our micro- film collections, for instance, are available in 200 libraries in seven countries due more to the interest of their patrons than to our work, as our grants only covered production and ended two years ago.) To paraphrase the American Council of Learned Societies' definition of research li- braries, we were once facilitating effective action on the frontier of a novel ... field of knowledge. But soon I hope such a field will be viewed as traditionaL-Laura X, Founder, Women's History Library, and President, Women's History Research Cen- ter F ou'ndation. NEW Up-To-Date Books Fro-m Noyes Data NOYES DATA has developed two new techniques of vital importance to those who wish to keep abreast of rapid changes in technology and business conditions: 1) our advanced publishing systems permit us to produce durably-bound books within a few months of manuscript acceptance; 2) our modern processing plant ships all orders on the day after they are received . HARDCOVER BOOKS-LATE 1976 TOXIC METALS-POLLUTION CONTROL AND WORKER PROTECTION by M. Sittig: This is a practical technical book about those metals and their cpmpounds that are most likely to cause poisoning-in industry while being processed, and in the gen- eral environment while the disposal of their process-effluents is being implemented. ISBN 0.8155-0636-8; $39 . HOW TO SAVE ENERGY AND CUT COSTS IN EXISTING INDUSTRIAL AND COM- MERCIAL BUILDINGS-AN ENERGY CONSERVATION MANUAL by F.S. Dubin, H.S. Mindell and S. 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ISBN 0.8155-0642-2; $39 ndc NOYES DATA CORPORATION NOYES BUILDING, PARK RIDGE, NEW JERSEY 07656 ,. ARCHITECTURE Bauhaus Zeitschrift fur Bau und Gestaltung. Yrs. 1 - 4 (all publ.). Dessau, 1926 · 1931. SFr~ 246.00 Pre-publication offer SFr. 198.00 Facsimile edition in original format, folio and 4to, in protective slipcase. · Available 1st December, 1976. ... The most fu,ndamental concept of the Bauhaus school of design was the integration of art in daily -life. It sought to end the 19th century schism between the artist and the technically expert craftsman by producing a functionalist design out of the interaction of both spheres. The Bauhaus journal documents the aims achieved: text and picture interrelate in a typographically unique way. More than just a register of Bauhaus activity, the journal reflects in Word and picture the dramatic changes taking place in the concept of art and its role in an industrial society. Muthesius, Hermann. Stilarchitektur und Baukunst. 1 vol. Miihlheim a.d.R., 1903. Kultur und Kunst. Gesammelte Aufsatze uber kunstlerische Fragen der Gegenwart. 1 vol. Jena, 1904. Kunstgewerbe und Architektur. 1 vol. Jena, 1907. 3 vols. in 1 clothbound SFr. 96.00 Taut, Bruno. Die Stadtkrone. (With contributions by Paul Scheerbart, Erich Baron and Adolf Behne). 1 vol. Jena, 1919. clothbound SFr. 42.00 Schumacher, Fritz. Das Bauschaffen der Jetztzeit und historische Oberlieferung. 1 vol. Leipzig, 1901. Streifzuge eines Architekten. Gesammelte Aufsatze: 1 vol. Jena, 1907. 2 vols. in 1. clothbound SFr. 72.00 new publication Bibliographie zur 'Architektur im 19. Jahrhundert. Die Aufsatze in den deutschsprachigen Architekturzeitschriften 1789- 1918. Ed. by St. Waetzoldt. Compiled by V. Haas. 8 vols. Nendeln, 1976. clothbound SFr. 912.00 Kraus Reprint I KTO Press Divisions of Kraus-Thomson Organization Limited FL-9491 Nendeln, Liechtenstein