Book Companion:

Library and Information Center Management,
Seventh Edition

What Now, Jeanne Leforte?

At 9:05, Jeanne Leforte (née Nysill) was walking briskly toward the entrance of the central building of the Deuxville (pronounced Dukesville) Public Library, one of the nation's largest urban libraries (Appendix I). Despite the heaviness of the air-the humidity, even at this early time of the day, was as thick and impenetrable as the Spanish moss that clung to the row of ancient trees shading the impressive Corinthian-columned façade of the library-she felt happy, almost light-headed. Why? Last evening her doctor had given her the news she had been eagerly hoping for: she was going to have a baby. She and her husband, John, had wanted a baby for a long time, and this exciting development helped to offset the unfortunate reality of John's predicament: he had been seriously injured several months ago in a car accident, and would be unable to work for some time. Fortunately his company's health insurance plan had covered his medical expanses, but since the mishap was not work related he was not eligible for Workmen's Compensation.

But there was also another reason why she felt happy. This feeling of happiness was based on the belief that her salary would shortly be increased by 15%. Every year at this time, the library (and, in turn, the city) requires performance evaluations for all employees. In the years she had worked at the Deuxville Public, her annual evaluations had been superior in each of the categories on the library personnel office's evaluation form; the comments sections also contained warm words of praise for her and her work. Consequently, she had always received the city's maximum possible raise-the cost of living increment (voted each year by the City Council; it was usually 5%), plus the library's merit increase (a function of the library board of trustees, but usually resolved at 5½ or 6½% and sometimes even 10%, as this year) based on the performance rating for every year of her tenure as a professional librarian. So, although her husband could not resume work for a while, they would be able to get by on her salary-that is, as long as she got the 15% increase. And in anticipation of it, they had bought a modest home located within 30 minutes driving time from the library.

She was to have her appraisal interview with her supervisor, Marshall Edmonds, at 9:30. It was almost 9:00. She would go to her desk, get her material ready for a meeting at 10:30 of the selection policy and procedures revision committee, which DPL executive director, Lee Derfer, had asked to attend, and have a cup of coffee in the cafeteria before her rendezvous with Edmonds.

Vaguely blissful, but with nothing to occupy her save reflection, she sat in the cafeteria and gave herself up to the physical pleasures of coffee. All was quiescent, languorous, and beautiful in the glow of the sunshine slanting into the room through the open window. Again and again she formulated in her fancy, scenes of the future. Her life became grand to her. By a curious chain of thoughts she soon found herself reconstituting in detail her association with the Deuxville Public Library.

Until Lee Derfer, a young, dynamic librarian with a multitude of experiences in all types of library, took over as executive director of the Deuxville Public five years ago, the place was a fascinating, if thoroughly depressing, study in feudal-style administration. Derfer was determined not only to revitalize but to expand library services into heretofore under- and unexplored areas. He instituted staff participation in deciding what changes should take place, to encourage meaningful input on the one hand and to discourage resistance when the changes evolved into policy and procedure on the other. A management team of upper level administration was created, and the participatory management style pervaded the organization. Derfer built his team by recruiting, nationwide, both experienced librarians with proven records of achievement and those librarians new to the profession who showed good potential. Team members were then given the responsibility of recruiting the staff who would report to them; this was done through an interview/selection committee process to allow for a variety of opinions, with the final choice that of the appropriate administrator.

When Jeanne Nysill had been hired to work as a librarian in the central building's Education Department four years ago, her interview committee was made up of the library personnel assistant executive director, the central library associate executive director, and the head of the Education Department. The interview went smoothly; the committee was impressed by her knowledge of the current library scene, her enthusiasm, and her engaging personality-perfectly suited to public service work-and she was immediately offered a position. Later, she realized that the interview was a pro forma procedure, a matter really of placement more than anything else, since she had already been hired by the director when he came to talk with graduating students at her library school several months before. By the time she had returned to school, had finished packing her belongings in her dormitory room, and had made arrangements to have her things shipped from home, she still had more than two weeks in which to return to Deuxville, settle in and find an apartment, and get to know the city.

One afternoon, after she had been on the job a month, she went downtown to apply for life insurance (above and beyond the small policy offered as a benefit of her new job) and met John Leforte, the assistant manager of a branch office of the Amalgamated Life and Casualty Company. Their professional relationship soon blossomed into a personal one, and a year later they became engaged. They were married two months later.

During her second year on the job, word of Leforte's exceptional abilities as an organizer, he thoroughness and attention to detail, and her good working relationships with fellow librarians and support staff in the central library building as a whole as well as in the Education Department, reached the ears of Marshall Edmonds, the Assistant Executive Director of the regional library program for the Deuxville Public Library. Edmonds, himself a former library director and most recently, prior to his position at Deuxville, the head of a midwestern state's library development agency, was brought to DPL by Derfer to help plan for several new regional libraries; it was believed that the regionals would help to bring increased materials and services more rapidly to the neighborhood branches and, more importantly, would relieve some of the ILL pressures on the central collections and staff. Edmonds supervised the planning and construction of two such regional libraries, in the northern and southern parts of the city. A city-instigated, library staff study revealed that the materials, personnel, and maintenance costs of operating the two 100,000 square foot buildings was approaching $2 million annually and, not surprisingly, the regional building program ground to a screeching halt on the basis of negative cost effectiveness. Fortunately, another assignment awaited Edmonds.

The staff and management team-originated proposal to contract for OCLC services in cataloging (with the thought to future use of the computer-generated tapes to create a COM or online catalog) was unanimously approved by Derfer and the library board of trustees. The decision had far-reaching consequences, for with the plan to utilize OCLC came a complementary strategy to close the Dewey catalog, begin exclusively with LC classification, and reorganize the 20 Dewey-related central building subject departments into five, broad LC-based subject divisions.

As is so frequently the case with central library buildings built in the country's large cities in the early part of the century, Deuxville's main downtown library was beautifully decorated in rare woods and marbles, bronze lighting fixtures and stained glass, but had public spaces cut up into rooms that did not allow convenient access to the collections either by patrons or staff, and certainly did not permit collection growth. Regrouping the collection to accommodate five, broad LC-based subject areas would provide a more logical flow of subject materials for all library users, and would also help to justify expansion needs for the future selling to the board and city council of a new building or an addition.

A stickler for details, sometimes to the point of compulsion, Edmonds was deemed a fortuitous choice to head the monumental reorganization process. As his assistant, Edmonds hand-picked Jeanne Leforte. She was given a leave of absence from her position in the Education Department to take on the special assignment. She did not know at the time that she would never return to that department, or to the larger division that later incorporated it.

There was a feeling of mutual respect between Leforte and her new supervisor from the start. Leforte realized that she had a lot to learn from Edmonds and therefore kept an appropriate student-mentor attitude of deference in most of the crucial decision areas. Edmonds, in turn, lavished her with praise, which was officially documented in the annual personnel evaluations (Appendix II). Consequently, Leforte came to expect-perhaps even take for granted-the periodic boosts of ego and income that the evaluations provided. Her work, in both quantity and substance, was exemplary and superior evaluations were completely deserved.

The reorganization was completed in a little over 24 months, during which time Leforte assumed increasing responsibility (when Edmonds permitted her to do so) and received two excellent evaluations. Concurrent with the emergence of the central building's streamlined subject divisions came two staff retirements: the assistant executive director of technical services and the head of adult materials selection for branches, in the tech services department. The logical choice for the technical services position was Marshall Edmonds, who had several years experience in a similar position before he had become a director and then head of a state library agency. He accepted it happily. An interview committee, consisting of the library personnel officer, Edmonds, and the associate executive director for branches, convened to speak with applicants for the adult materials selection position. Jeanne Leforte had been encouraged to apply for it by Lee Derfer himself. She did so with the understanding that she would be offered the job, with an increase in pay; Edmonds wanted her, too.

Jeanne Leforte did get the position and felt that the working relationship that had been so successful with Edmonds in the immediate past would continue. The management team, through Edmonds, had given her the charge of revamping the policies and procedures for branches to select their adult level materials, and she started to work on this assignment immediately, with a committee of branch librarians and others. It was an exciting opportunity for her to show some real initiative and originality, and she relished it. Edmonds, on the other hand, found that his new position meant he had to work late into the evenings, early in the mornings, and even during weekends; the work load seemed to compound geometrically with each passing day. Having been accustomed to delving into the minutiae of each subordinate's daily operations in his last two positions at DPL, with their small, accommodating numbers of staff, he was suddenly faced with six large divisions with over 150 employees in technical services. Yet, he continued to perpetuate his "one-man show," with all of his division heads reporting their every move to him-moves for which he had had to give permission in the first place. His obsessive concern for detail precluded the delegation of responsibility to others. Very soon tech services division heads, all of whom, except for Leforte, had been in their positions for many years, opted to relinquish a contributing administrative role and adopted instead the comfortable attitude of indifference. For their indifference, they were rewarded with personnel evaluations which reflected an imaginatively fabricated version of the truth, but which did afford the requisite ego boost and commensurate pay increase.

Jeanne Leforte's evaluations continued at their usual high level because she deserved them; and the fact that Edmonds insisted upon involving himself in virtually every aspect of each of his employees' work had long since ceased to trouble her. She was quite used to his management style, and had adapted nicely to it. She had every reason to believe that this year's evaluation would be no different from those of previous years: she would read Edmonds' comments and check the numerical rating, react positively, and utter a few embarrassed words of gratitude. (The evaluation forms were not the kind employees had to sign.) Within two weeks, her paycheck would reflect that her accomplishments of the past year were indeed appreciated.

The appearance of a cafeteria worker to re-fill the salt and pepper shakers tilted her out of her fantasy. She looked at her watch: 9:25. She put her empty cup in the dirty-dish cart, and mounted on the wings of a pure and ingenuous elation the long flight of stairs leading to the offices on the first floor.

Her first hint that all was not well was with the sudden appearance of Consuelo Feng, head of the cataloging division, whose no-nonsense approach to her job was emphasized by the emphatic clicks of her heels along the highly polished terrazzo floors. Leforte could usually identify those footsteps easily; but today they sounded less forceful and deliberate and certainly more rushed than what could normally be expected from the cataloging head. As Feng swept by with an almost inaudible "Good morning, Jeanne" escaping from her lips, Leforte thought she detected the tell-tale indications of crying on her face-the red, swollen eyes, the puffiness. Before she could respond and follow up with a question about her distraught state, Feng escaped to the women's room. "Strange," thought Leforte, "I wonder what happened." Rather than risk being late for her appointment by stopping to find out, she proceeded to Marshall Edmonds' office; she would ask what was bothering her friend at lunch.

Bernice Washington, Edmonds' secretary, jumped nervously as Leforte entered the outer office. "Oh, Jeanne!" she said, turning white, "I have to speak to you."

Leforte glanced at her with interest: "What about, Bernice? What's up?" What with Consuelo Feng in tears and Bernice Washington very pale, and startled, all was incomprehensible.

"Jeanne . . . I don't . . . I need to talk . . . ," she spluttered. She could not command herself sufficiently to be able to articulate.

"Bernice!" said Leforte with much curiosity and concern. "Is anything wrong? Are you ill? Is there anything I can do?"

Tears gleamed in Washington's eyes. Astounded and frightened by those shimmering tears, Leforte repeated her questions: "Bernice. Please. Is anything wrong? Can I help?"

"Jeanne," she said feebly. "Mr. Edmonds has become an alcoholic."

Jeanne Leforte experienced precisely the physical discomfort which people feel when an elevator drops unexpectedly. "Oh!" the exclamation escaped her unawares. From her knowledge of him she could not believe it. How could it be that she had not noticed? Well, come to think of it, perhaps she had. But no, she could honestly say that she had seen no change in him. Could this be? Could she not have detected that something in his behavior was awry? Before saying anything, she glanced long into the humid eyes of the woman sitting helplessly in front of her. "Are you sure, Bernice?" she asked, extremely startled by the turn of events. Washington shot a timid momentary look at her. "Yes," she replied, scarcely audible.

A long silence followed. Then Bernice Washington, having rallied herself, invited Leforte to sit down, which the librarian did, with a weak placatory smile. "I'll let him know you're here in a minute," the secretary said forlornly.

In another moment or so she had regained her self-control, and she managed to tell Jeanne Leforte in a fairly usual tone the whole story.

Said she:

"I'm telling you, Jeanne, because I consider you a friend and I respect your judgment. I haven't mentioned this to anyone else. Not Consuelo. Not anyone. I'm hoping you can help me. I don't know what to do. If he had a wife or lived with someone, perhaps I could tell them. But he's alone. He started drinking soon after he took this job. I think the job's too big for him, at least with his style of management. As you know only too well, he's the type who likes to have a finger in every pie, but he can't with so many people reporting to him. As you also know, I've been his secretary since he joined the DPL, so I know him very well. I know he's drinking heavily-he goes through a fifth at work; he keeps the bottle locked in the credenza behind his desk-because he's hung over almost every morning. He also keeps a supply of breath fresheners of various sorts in the credenza, too. He really gulps it down when he works here late at night, which he does most evenings. But the worst is he won't acknowledge he's becoming an alcoholic. He just won't recognize there's a problem. When I mentioned the bottle to him one night when I stayed late, he shrugged it off and said that he just takes a drink or two, and that one or two drinks never did anyone harm. He's able to hide the effects for the most part. I don't think anyone else knows or even suspects. I know Mr. Derfer doesn't suspect anything. He's one of those people who can conceal any signs, but it's affecting his judgment." She paused to wipe the tears from her eyes. Then: "Oh, Jeanne, I need your help, and so does he. You're his favorite person, you know. He likes you better than anyone else."

At this disclosure, a flush flowed from Leforte's cheeks to her neck. She had to make the motion of swallowing. Truth to tell, she liked him too. She was conscious of a strong desire to act wisely, prudently, for the best. She wanted to prove that she was equal to Bernice Washington's confidence in her. She wanted to suggest some course of action splendid and decisive, and was perturbed to find that she could not. She had never before dealt with the problem of alcoholism, and she said so.

Her listener responded that she had not expected Leforte to be able to perceive the perfect solution right then and there, but that together perhaps they could devise something. She recommended: "Jeanne, I must prepare you for your interview with him." She spoke low, like a conspirator. "I must tell you so you won't be too surprised or disappointed."

The young librarian began to discern the significance of what her friend was telling her. Her anxiety increased at a bound. The secretary continued: "He was drunk when he wrote your appraisal one night last week."

At these words Jeanne Leforte gave a little gasp of amazement, and her cheeks paled. The whole mystery stood explained. She experienced a slight feeling of faintness. The secretary was speaking. "I hope I haven't done anything wrong by warning you," she was saying.

"I better go in," Leforte muttered, a wearied, disillusioned expression coming over her pallid features. "I'll see, Bernice, if I can find something for you on what to do when you suspect someone is becoming an alcoholic," she added trying to appear composed.

"You are a true friend, Jeanne," the secretary smiled, relieved. I knew I could count on you. This is taking a terrible toll on me, too.

Nobody could have guessed from the librarian's placid demeanor that she was in a state of extreme agitation as she moved toward Marshall Edmonds' door. She looked in, and saw her supervisor behind his desk, and she called to him, in a clear voice. "I'm here, Mr. Edmonds."

The man stared at her, as if bewildered. Then he said, "Come in, Jeanne. And close the door, please." She closed it, not knowing what this cautiousness foreshadowed. He was silent for a moment, as if undecided what to say next. His eyes avoided any prolonged encounter with hers. "Sit down please," he bade her. She towed a chair over to his desk.

"When I---" he said in a low voice, and then he began again, "When I filled out your evaluation form last week I wasn't feeling well, Jeanne. . . ."

There was a pause, followed by some remarks on the weather, and then another pause. Leforte studied him surreptitiously. Suddenly she was consumed by a feeling of sadness. Marshall Edmonds seemed pathetic to her, a person more to be pitied than to be scorned.

"Well, Jeanne"-he seemed to be beginning again-"perhaps I should preface your performance evaluation with a brief explanation of what we've done this year, and the changes that were made."

She looked a startled interrogative.

He went on: "I'm sure you're aware that the City of Deuxville decided late last year to eliminate the Civil Service Department, and, in its place, create a City Department of Personnel." He gave a twisted, rather foolish smile, and continued: "Ostensibly, the maneuver was accomplished to curb patronage abuses and make it easier to dismiss deadwood employees in the long run. But one of the things it has done for us, on an immediate basis, is to create a bureaucratic nightmare."

Jeanne Leforte knew of this change in the city's structure but, like most city employees, was cognizant only of its potential benefits and none of the drawbacks. Her agitation subsided suddenly. "Yes," she said calmly.

Sounding as if he had memorized his speech word for word, Edmonds went on: "As a necessary part of this process, the library and other city departments which have their own personnel offices were requested by the new City Department of Personnel to revise their personnel evaluation forms so that information and ratings could be easily transferred from, for example, our own sheet to the city's IBM cards. Our head of acquisitions, Mike Kelly, was involved with the staff committee to design the new form-remember?"

Yes, she remembered that too; but she was not sure what all this had to do with her and her evaluation? She simply nodded, and Edmonds resumed:

"Just prior to our filling out the new forms for this year's evaluation the executive director of the City Department of Personnel spoke to the Library Management Team and explained that evaluations would have to be much more objective, more specific, and less influenced by personalities, friendships, loyalties, etc. than they had been in the past. Supervisors would also be evaluated on the accuracy and fairness of their evaluations of subordinates."

The thought continually arising in her mind was: "Why don't you get to the point, Mr. E.? Why don't you show me what you've said about me?" The words wee ready, the sentences framed in her mind. But she was silent.

Edmonds took a manila file folder from his top desk drawer and removed her performance evaluation. With a trembling hand he passed it to her (Appendix III). The appeal of his eyes was strangely pathetic. He got up, and, putting his hands in the pockets of his trousers, began to walk around the room.

Her eyes traveled quickly over the document, alighting upon the "Comments to the Employee" section on the back. It read:

@Ext = "Although I have worked closely with and provided direction to Ms. Leforte for three years in a variety of situations, she still requires almost constant monitoring. Her contribution to the reorganization of the central building's subject divisions was noteworthy, but its significance was again compromised by her lack of initiative, which meant that I had to step in frequently when problems arose. She appears to be working well with her committee to revise adult materials selection policy and procedure, but I feel that her often unrealistic suggestions and unwillingness to exert a stronger control over the group will eventually dissipate the effectiveness of the committee's efforts. Ms. Leforte has good potential, so it is particularly disappointing to have to report that she is not now working at a level equivalent to it."

The words sank like a depth-charge into Jeanne Leforte's consciousness. She was mortally pieced. Her brain was in anarchy. She flipped over the document and examined her scored evaluations: all, except for attendance and punctuality, were in the low 70's, the "Fair" range, a devastatingly dramatic plunge from the former heights of her 97 to 99 scores.

She could not speak. The catch was in her throat. She realized the significance of the scores. An average evaluation grade less than the 76 minimum score allowed only for the cost of living increase, 5%, no merit increase at all. A wild thought of leaving DPL shot through her mind and was gone. After all, with a husband not working, a child on the way, and the responsibility for mortgage payments, she could not afford to be without a job. It was the most astonishing and inauspicious piece of bad luck that had ever happened to her. "Why, Mr. Edmonds?" was the only things she could induce herself to say.

He was back at his desk now, nervously rearranging his papers. "Jeanne, I wasn't feeling well when I filled it out," he explained, after a long meditative pause. It was plain, from every accent of his voice, that he had done something of which he was terribly ashamed.

She uttered no sound, but her eyes said "Go on."

He continued:

"Please forgive me, Jeanne. But I was not feeling well when I wrote it up. I can't do anything about it because it's already gone to city hall. It has to stand as the official record. I know I was wrong. I was feeling terribly sick when I wrote yours and Consuelo's evaluations. I can't possibly redo them. There would be all sorts of inquiries. Think how bad that would look; my reputation is at stake. I couldn't bear it if Mr. Derfer found out. He doesn't see them. They do directly to the Personnel Department. What would he do to me?" The urgency of his supplication was mirrored in the tense whiteness of his knuckles as he clasped his hands tightly in front of him.

So overset was she by the dramatic surprise of his remarks that she was reduced to staring impotently at him. His face was working and there was a slight haze before his beseeching eyes. With cruel suddenness she was being called upon to cover up for him. But at what cost? That additional 10% translated into a couple of thousand dollars. She was being asked to forego it to save his precious reputation. When she tried to soothe herself with other images-images of John, the baby, the house-she found that they had lost their power.

And then the young librarian, as in a dream, heard from the lips of her supervisor the words, "Jeanne, please let bygones be bygones and put this year's evaluation behind you. I'll try to make it up to you next year." Suddenly, he extracted from his pocket a set of keys and wheeled his chair toward the credenza. But suddenly he stopped and wheeled back. Then he began pushing his hand through his hair, front to back, front to back. She was maintaining a notable silence. "Please say something, Jeanne," he said, when her silence had begun to distress him.

Leforte blew forth a long breath, as if trying to repulse the oppressive heat of the September morning. "I don't know what to say, Mr. Edmonds. I have to think about it." She made the gesture of departing. With a motion of his hand he tried to stay her. "Jeanne, will you not do anything about this, please?" he pleaded. Then he turned pale, nibbled his lips, and she could see tears in his eyes.

"I have a meeting to go to, Mr. Edmonds." She spoke in a voice that showed no emotion. He was rubbing his eyes as she quit his office.

She whirred right by Bernice Washington, without saying a word. When she reached the end of the corridor she discovered that she had gone in the wrong direction. She started to turn back, but realized she did not want to go by Bernice Washington's door. Presently, she found herself in front of a women's washroom. She went in. She looked at her watch, which showed 10:00. She had half an hour before the meeting of her committee. She was moved by a sudden impulse to leave the building and go for a stroll. "Perhaps it will help to clear my thoughts," she reflected. Leaving by a side entrance, she plunged into the street and lost herself amid the crowd.

When she stepped into the meeting room at 10:30, Lee Derfer was already seated. Putting on an acting-for-the-best demeanor, she approached him and extended her hand. "Glad you could make it, Mr. Derfer," she said, making a deliberate effort to appear as if nothing had happened. "We'll get started as soon as everyone arrives."

The executive director shook her hand and smiled graciously. They exchanged inconsequential remarks as one by one the committee members arrived. After everyone was accounted for, she introduced the visitor. As he began to speak, she exhorted herself to pay close attention, not to let herself be so distracted by the earlier event that her mind would be off in some obscure cavern of her soul.

The executive director was saying:

"I asked Jeanne if I could speak with you today so that you might have a little direction in the important work you're doing. I know that Marshall Edmonds has already provided some good advice on the procedural aspects of the committee's charge, and I want to go a bit beyond that to give you a few pointers which will lead you in the directions the management team feels are best suited to the DPL now and in the future. The first thing I want to do is to change the name of the group from the Selection Policy and Procedures Revision Committee to Collection Development Policies and Procedures Committee. The idea is to broaden the perspective and to have you all begin thinking not in terms of revision but in terms of something completely new." Derfer paused. "Any questions or comments so far?"

"I can't seem to see any difference between materials selection and collection development-why the change?" queried Sylvia Grossinger, a branch head.

"Sylvia, I'm glad you asked that question because it will serve as the perfect introduction to that whole subject. I think that materials selection, as significant as the job is in itself, is only part of the larger responsibility of collection development-what many prominent librarians and library science educators consider to be the single element of librarianship which gives it credence as a profession. This is why I started by saying that the committee is doing 'important work.' Much of a library's services influence or are influenced by collection development policies. You all have a very important, crucial task cut out for you. Let me digress for just a moment. Right now the management team is beginning to come to grips with our annual budget process, as it does every year. The city budget director announced that in the next fiscal year the city of Deuxville will adopt a program budget format. One of the ramifications of such a budget is increased accountability of each city department for its individual expenditures and the scrutiny under which all budgeted programs will be held. I think it's a good idea for us to be able to break down the budget into programs of service so that we can plan and evaluate more effectively. However, there was another part of the city budget director's message that was heard for the first time this year and is a harbinger of the future: financial constraints from decreasing tax revenues mean that city departments must do more than present their budget requests. They have to justify them and be prepared to defend them. And, it will be up to this committee to give us the ammunition-the documented evidence-that will support the library's defense of its materials allocations and the personnel expenditures involved in the selection, processing, dissemination, among other things, of those materials."

Observed Ruth Kitano, head of one of the regional libraries:

"I don't want to sound flippant or disrespectful, but I can't imagine us being able to defend or justify anything with the amalgam of grandiose platitudes that make up the present DPL materials selection, or 'collection development' policy, if you will, and I daresay that the same would be true of examples from other libraries of similar size and serving a similar population as DPL!"

"Ruth, that's exactly my point about thinking in terms of something completely new," observed Derfer with benevolent firmness. Then he asked: "How many of you can define the terms 'bibliometrics' or 'operations research (OR)', the latter as it relates to libraries?"

No one on the committee of eight indicated that he or she could do so, and all looked expectantly toward the smiling director.

"I'm really not trying to put anyone on the spot and, frankly, I'm not too surprised and only a little disappointed at your collective ignorance," he commented. "Most of the employment of scientific and statistical methods to study the use of books, periodicals, and other materials, which involve both OR and bibliometrics, has been, for whatever reasons, in academic environments and few studies have been accomplished in the public library-particularly the large urban library setting."

Jeanne Leforte's neck was elongated at the words "statistical methods." She said:

"The statistical methods course taught at my library school emphasized the 'people' aspect of library use so that relevant data for collection development policy would be gathered primarily from user studies, questionnaires, and community analysis and surveys. Is there more to it than this?"

Yes, there certainly is, Jeanne," Derfer corroborated her, "and I'd be very proud of all of you if you could come up with the means to draft a model collection development policy for a public library based on some of those other things, such as comprehensive scientific research methodology, rather than, as Ruth succinctly stated a moment ago, 'grandiose platitudes' with liberty and justice for all!"

"A number of people have written some fascinating books and articles about OR, bibiometrical studies, measuring and evaluating library effectiveness, etc. Certainly, the kind of 'people oriented' statistical data mentioned by Jeanne should also be used for a present/potential patron analysis framework, but please don't stop there. I'll drop a few hints and clues to arouse your curiosities and to help you start your research. Did you know, for example, that there is a scientific law which can statistically predict usage in subject collections of particular books and periodicals and, by extension, can be used to identify the core of the most active users of the library? Think of the effectiveness of the DPL if that core of most active users could be joined with the subjects for which they have the greatest need! And, are you aware of a mathematical model which helps predict the number of multiple copies of a title which a library needs to purchase to satisfy the demands for it and, using it another way, the ideal loan period for specific types and subjects of books? It's all pretty amazing, isn't it? Perhaps most amazing is the fact that these techniques aren't really 'new' and that librarians have taken so long to acknowledge their value. Budgetary constraints, greater fiscal accountability, and widespread acceptance of the computer have begun to change that attitude, I feel. So, I'd like you all to start thinking about these things and the ripple effect of a library's acquiring materials. How should the materials budget and the personnel allocation which uses it be divided? Our new LIBS 100 circulation system should be a big help with that one. How is the cataloging department, our use of OCLC, etc., impacted by the nature of the materials we select? Should we continue to use the McNaughton rental plan? Are we buying the right formats for most effective use of the collections? More microforms, less hardcopy? What about weeding? Collection development should ideally involve de-acquisitions as an on-going program of equal importance. How should we determine if an item should be stored remotely, rebound, or discarded? How do we ensure that unused or little-used collections will be used, or should we even worry about them? If it's the latter, then how do we justify the space such items are taking on the shelves? Are there items or groups of items which might be moved from open stacks and placed in closed ones? Or vice versa? Is the physical arrangement of the shelving conducive to browsing; is there easy access; a logical flow, or are sections of the same or related subjects on two different floors? Was our recent reorganization of the collection along LC subject lines adequate? There are a lot of questions and no easy answers!"

Leforte and her committee rapidly wrote, in various personal shorthands, the rhetorical questions posed by Derfer. Leforte was first to finish and hence she spoke first. By this time she had resumed the dominion of her soul. The concern associated with the earlier contretemps had been successfully put away.

"Mr. Derfer," she said "I don't think any of us knows how to respond to your questions at the moment and maybe we won't be able to for quite some time; I do know that you've succeeded in conveying to us the importance of the committee's new charge and the challenges and many directions which confront us as we attempt to approach the problem. It will no doubt be an exciting endeavor and we hope to reinforce your confidence in us by doing a really fine job on the collection development policy for the DPL."

The group members nodded their heads in unison, most of them too overwhelmed to think of anything to say.

"Fine, that's just what I was hoping you'd feel," said Derfer. "I don't want to take up any more of your time than necessary so I'll leave you with this final word: Don't be afraid to be innovative for fear of breaking long held traditions or because your proposals might impinge on the functions of library departments which see to be unrelated to a collection development policy. One of the best things to come out of all this may very well be a new understanding of the interlocking systems of library functions and the need for communication and cooperation both within and between them. Good luck and don't hesitate to ask me or anyone on the management team for advice or assistance!"

Jeanne Leforte felt tired but elated when the session adjourned. She knew that her work as chairperson of this committee would be the kind of meaningful experience that would help her career at DPL and later; perhaps she could even write an article for LJ or some other professional publication as a result. She sauntered back to her desk, intending to work, and was a little perturbed to find that she could not work. Her head refused. She sat in her cubicle vaguely staring. How she wished the library staff was unionized. What would John advise her to do? She had much to think about.

DEUXVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY, 536 North Cyprus Boulevard. Exec Dir Lee R. Derfer; Deputy Exec Dir for Pub Servs Regina S. Armand; Dep Exec Dir for Mgt Servs Sean McDouglas; Assoc Exec Dir for Central Libr Robert Callahan; Assoc Exec Dir for Extension Servs Margaret Allen; Asst Exec Dir of Pub Info Maisie Nelson; Asst Exec Dir of Develop Taji J. Theodore; Asst to the Exec Dir W. Susumu Kurosawa; Asst Exec Directors (Pub Servs): Commu Relations & Spec Programs of Serv Selma Jefferson; Prog Planning and Eval Open; Tech Serv Marshall Edmonds; Asst Exec Directors (Mgt Servs): Bldg Programs Karl Rantoul; Facilities & Equipment James P. Robbin; Finance R. Patrick Daley, Jr; Personnel Lana Seligmann; Security & Safety William Finley; Systems Engineering Mary W. Persepolis; Operations Engineering Arnold Fields; Asst Directors (Mgt Servs): Finance Nicholas McWilliams; Personnel Admin Kenneth Ptolomy; Personnel Training Susan Jenkins; Operations Engineering John Urbaczewski; Public Info Mgrs: Broadcasting Rhonda Morrow; Graphic Design Sarah Jones; Publicity Shirley Sass; Tech Servs: Asst Dir David Sorvel; Acq Michael Kelly; Cat Consuelo Feng; Processing Juliette Bey; Redistribution Center Rachel Tovarich; Materials Selection: Adult Specialist Jeanne Leforte; Youth Specialist Michele Laughton; Extension Servs: Coord Systemwide Circ Richard Petranski; Chief Northwest District Open; Chief Northeast District Barbara L. Callahan; Chief Southwest District Chieko Salazar; Chief Southeast District Delano Maxam; Chief North Regional Library Ruth Kitano; Chief South Regional Library Nettie Pouvoir; Serv Specialists: Children Liza Pontoon; YA Willa Fox; Senior Citizens Jordan Paltz; Spanish Speaking Marguerite Ortiz; Special Programs of Serv Supvr: Blind & Phys Handicpd Dorna Jeager; Human Serv Prog Marnie Grant; Inst & Correctional Serv Prog Donald Smythe; Independent Study Prog Loretta Conroy; Coord Interlibrary Coop Ella Green; Coord NEH Grant Prog Stephano Supremi. Staff 2054 (prof 450, nonprof 821, cler 783) Founded 1895. Pop served 2,985,431; Circ 7,326,890. Inc $45,000,000 (incl fed $10,500,000, state $3,475,000, city $30,925,000, other $100,000). Exp $5,255,000, Bks $4,000,000, Per $900,000, Bd $250,000, Micro $325,000, AV $575,000; Sal $33,695,000 Library Holdings: Bk titles 726,441, vols 7,348,579; Per sub 15,904, vols bd 200,845, micro 214,726; Micro-Fiche 191,805; Av-Rec, A-Tapes, V-Tapes, Flm, Fs, Slides, Maps, Cht

Special Collections: Deuxville Historical records; Civil War artifacts and personal journals; manuscripts of southern writers and poets; Miklós Rózsa Collection of Film Music: recordings, tapes, and musical scores; Deuxville neighborhood histories; photographic archives; autograph catalogs; signed first editions of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Renata Callas, Boris Lugosi, Jordan Field, James Dickey.

Oral history. US, State, UN & Deuxville Doc Dep Publications: Annual Report; Calendar of Events for the Deuxville Public Library; exhibition catalogs Partic in Southern Library & Information Network; Deuxville Regional Library Councils; OCLC, Inc. Central Library, 536 North Cyprus Boulevard. Assoc Exec Dir Robert Callahan; Head, Prof Libr Milton VanDyke; Head, Programs & Exhibits Chad Burlick; Head, AV ctr Diane Pillifort; Head, Children's Libr Lila Olde; Spec Coll Curator & Archivist Tremaine Tallahassee

General Information Services Div. Chief Marge Bytes; Head, Bibliog & ILL Ctr Marilyn Boric; Head, Info Ctr Charlotte Abrams; Head, Newspapers & Gen Per Jay Geeson

Business, Science & Technology Div. Chief Ellie J. Charles; Asst Chief Roseanne Woods; Biol Sci Donald Williamson; Bus Roscoe Davis; Physical Sci Sonia Paragon; Tech George Sylvestri Fine Arts Div. Chief Melissa Torless; Asst Chief Nancy Chumley; Art Patrice Wells; Music Rosalinde Heller Literature & Philosophy Div. Chief Herbert Ovaltine; Asst Chief Benjamin Herrmann; Lit Kelvin Early; Relig & Philos Wayne Nascimbene

Social Sciences & Hist Div. Chief Ronald Baum; Asst Chief William Graham; Educ Alfred Newman; Hist Ralph Reese; Soc Sci Gene Pectoris Popular Library. Head Janet Kawasaki; Foreign Lang Chul-Ok Lee; Travel Simon Bond

Branches: 60; Regional Libraries: 2; Reg. Libr for Blind & Phys. Handicapped: 1 The branches closest to the central library serve the largest populations of minority group members including Afro-American/Black, Hispanic/Spanish surname (of Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and various Central and South American country backgrounds), Asian American (including Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos), and new immigrants primarily from Indochina (especially Vietnamese and Cambodians), Korea, Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, and Pakistan. Branches further from the inner city core tend to serve the white majority patrons whose backgrounds include Irish, Italian, Polish, Scandinavian, French Canadian, and German in the main; the city is still very strongly neighborhood and ethnically oriented. A recent influx of Appalachian families has been documented in the central core. Of the four branch districts, the Southeast is predominantly black with all levels of economic and educational attainment; the Southwest is predominantly white working class; the Northwest is primarily white middle class; and the Northeast is the most integrated with all levels of economic and educational attainment (but the highest levels of Deuxville income are here in this district). The North Regional Library serves the two northern branch districts as does the South Regional the southern ones. All districts have an equal number of branches (15) and the district boundary lines are drawn so that each contains inner city as well as outer agencies.

Name Jeanne Nysill Title Reference Librarian
Quality and Quantity of Work 95

Reliability 95

Ability to Work Well with Staff and Public 98

Attendance Record 99

Punctuality Record 99

Total 486

Average 97.2

Civil Service Classif. Librarian I Department Education Department

Additional Comments:
Ms. Nysill is an exemplary librarian. She is organized, well groomed, and wonderful with fellow workers and the public. She has shown much initiative in her first six months on the job and always looks for additional work to do once her assignments are completed. I recommend her without reservation for permanent career status at the Deuxville Public Library.

Supervisor's Signature PAUL KREBS /s/