Book Companion:

Library and Information Center Management,
Seventh Edition

Mae Gets A Job

Voris University is located on three campuses at Hackley, a modern industrial city in the land of the buttes and the sagebrush plains. The uptown campus, comprising some 90 acres, is at the heart of the urban area of 55,000 population. Six miles to the south lie the 325-acre Greendale campus and the 220-acre University Medical Center.

VU is both a land-grant institution and a comprehensive major research university in the state. Its distinct mission within the system of higher education is to serve as a center for graduate education, professional education and training, research, extension, public services, and continuing education. It is organized into 16 colleges, schools and divisions, which include 89 academic departments, located in 120 buildings (including residential facilities). These academic units offer 157 different programs, leading to degrees at either the bachelor's, master's, or doctoral level.

Academic year enrollment in all campuses is about 24,000. Summer enrollment generally exceeds 5,000, while various extension programs throughout the state enroll approximately 4,000 students. Full-time faculty number about 1,700 with over half having the doctorate; employees of the institution total approximately 5,000. VU has a total budget in excess of $200 million for the present fiscal year. As part of the state-supported system of higher education, it is governed by the state Board of Regents; there is also a law advisory board.

The university has a single library system whose director, Elsbeth Bajalovic, reports to the provost, and has the rank of professor. Her age is 35. The system consists of the three major units and several working collections, which are housed in those departments that have demonstrated a need for them. There are six assistant directors: four at the uptown campus (administration, public services, collection development, and technical services), one at the Greendale campus (called director of the Greendale campus and assistant director of the University Libraries), and one at the Medical Center (called director of the Medical Center library and assistant director of the University Libraries)(Appendix I). The assistant directors report to Bajalovic and hold faculty rank. The directors at the Greendale Campus (i.e., the graduate school) and the Medical Center have assistant directors.

Mae Noel-Pardon joined the uptown campus library staff two years ago, right out of library school, as a reference librarian. Having devoted herself to medical librarianship in her elective course work, she hoped when she received her degree to put her knowledge to work at a university medical school, preferably (before long, she trusted) as a director. Upon accepting the job, she made it known that she would appreciate being considered for a position at the Medical Center library when one became available.

Little did she expect then that two years later, at the age of 30, she would be sitting in Bajalovic's office and hearing the director say, with the joy of glad tidings: "How would you like to be acting director of the Medical Center Library?"

Her amazement was apparent as she blurted out, "I'd love it!"

A broad grin came over the other woman's face. "Splendid!" she said, with an air of settling the business. "Now let me tell you something about the job."

Noel-Pardon jumped her chair closer. Bajalovic commenced by stating that she assumed Noel-Pardon had heard that Faye Weir (the Medical Center library director for the past three years) had suffered a nervous breakdown and would be on leave of absence for at least six months. Weir had requested when she returned to be transferred to a smaller departmental library, but a decision had not yet been made on her request - although she had done a fine job at the Medical Center, and although the staff (with the exception of the assistant director) had accepted her well. Noel-Pardon expressed sympathy for Weir, saying that she had heard about it "via the grapevine." Bajalovic then said she and the assistant director for public services felt Noel-Pardon was an unusually capable person. In her last appraisal they had observed how she blended many attractive personal qualities with intelligence, energy, and determination, and that they had identified her as someone to be considered for early promotion. The young appointee swelled with pride. "I've been very happy here," she remarked. She could think of nothing else to say.

The director resumed. Her assistants enjoy considerable freedom of action, she said, and she does not exercise close supervision over them. It is her policy to let each person run his or her department, and she encourages individual initiative in making decisions. She is there for consultation, but other than that Noel-Pardon would be free to administer the library as she fit. She pointed out that the budget for the Medical Center library was appropriated from the Medical Center, and that the Medical Center library director also reports to the dean of the medical school, who reports directly to the president. By personal choice, the dean stays out of the selection of library personnel. As the person in charge, then, Noel-Pardon would be responsible for every activity of the library - supervising fiscal matters, making policy decisions, selecting and organizing materials, providing services, directing the staff, and so forth. The operation of its services requires 18 people. Seven are Professional employees, and the others are clerical workers; there is the usual complement of student assistants (Appendix II).

Bajalovic observed with a warm smile that she had been doing most of the talking and invited Noel-Pardon to ask questions or make comments.

"When do I start?" the younger woman inquired eagerly.

"In one week - on Monday, the 19th."

That was fine. Bajalovic then said that rather than for her to attempt to cover the things she thought the acting directory should know about she would prefer Noel-Pardon to accumulate a list of questions she would like answers to once she had been on the job a week or two. Noel-Pardon thought this a strange way to operate, but said she understood.

A question occurred to her right away. "Would it be bold of me to ask," she said hesitantly, "why if the Medical Center library is virtually an autonomous unit - I am right in assuming the staff there does it's own selection of materials, its own cataloging, everything, am I not? -"

"Yes," interpolated the other.

"-Well, wouldn't it be better if it was a completely autonomous library? Many medical school libraries are only affiliated with their medical schools. As I see it the library has physical and operational autonomy, but not administrative autonomy." There was no immediate reply from the director. "You don't waste any time making suggestions, do you?" said she, at length, musingly. "It's the old centralization versus decentralization question. I tell you what, look into the pros and cons of the idea. I'll consider them. I must admit that I have very little to do with the medical library, and it might not be a bad idea. Perhaps some form of coordinated decentralization is the answer, but anyway we'd have to sell it to the administration. Send me a memo in the form of a recommendation. Be sure to include ideas on how to sell it. This is all very preliminary, of course. Noel-Pardon nodded and remarked that she would do some work on it in the next week. "By the way," Bajalovic appended, very quickly, "you won't be able to have any overlap time with Faye. She left last Friday. The assistant is in charge this week. I'll call him and tell him about your appointment."

Which, too, was fine. Thereupon Noel-Pardon said:

"This may sound strange, but in a way I think it's a good idea not to have any overlap time with one's predecessor. He or she can transmit all kinds of prejudices about staff members to the successor and these can be some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy." "I'm not sure I know what you mean." Bajalovic was interested.

"Well, if I'm told beforehand that so-and-so is not too bright, and not to expect too much from him or her, I might approach that person differently than I would if I hadn't been told anything. What I mean is, I can't then start with a clean slate toward everybody. I might find myself looking for signs to confirm somebody else's notion and in some mysterious way help to retard the person at his or her present level."

Bajalovic entreated her to go on.

"Well," recommenced the young librarian, buoyed up by the director's interest, "I believe that everybody is a good employee until they prove differently to me - not to some other person. If I make the assumption that they're top-notch, I'll transmit that confidence to them and they'll live up to my expectations. But if I'm warned about them beforehand, I can't approach them completely without prejudice."

"I see," remarked the director thoughtfully. "Is there any evidence to support your claim?"

"I think this is what Douglas McGregor is saying in his book The Human Side of Enterprise. You see, it can work the other way, too. The predecessor can have his or her favorites, and I can be pre-conditioned to expect more from them - the so-called "halo" effect. People react differently with different people. There's no reason to suppose that if I have a bad relationship with someone, another person will, too."

"Yes, but don't you think that a new person should be warned about a potential problem? If they're forewarned they might take special pains to try to ensure that a relationship works. They might give extra attention to the person and his or her special needs."

"Maybe," Noel-Pardon agreed, but without conviction.

"I think a person would be derelict in his or her duty not to forewarn someone about a problem," the director suggested tactfully. Then: "For instance, I'd feel negligent if I didn't tell you that you might have trouble with Craig Duff (the assistant director at the Medical Center library). Now if you'd prefer me not to, I won't," she added, after a calm inspection of her new assistant. Noel-Pardon looked her fairly in the face and smiled guardedly. "You'll have to tell me now! Remember, what I said is just a theory!"

Craig T. Duff, aged 57 and a tenured professional librarian at the associate professor rank, had worked at the Medical Center library for 29 years, of which 16 were as assistant directory. He did not expect or want promotion, and in all probability would not leave his present job until retirement. He was said to be "100% loyal" to the library and perfectly satisfied with his position. He has good relations with the faculty and students, but not the staff (none of whom were interested in taking over from Faye Weir).

There were two main problems with Duff. First, he is dogmatic and autocratic, given to intimidating staff members and involving himself in the pettiest of details. His subordinates - everyone reports through him to the directory of the Medical Center library - suffer from the quickness and the depth of his fury when he disapproves of something. He's frequently abusive of them, doling out sever tongue-lashings for perceived shortcomings. Second, he has not been responsive to instructions from any director - especially a younger one, and especially a woman, whom he views with a mixture of sexist attitudes and resigned acceptance. Noel-Pardon seemed puzzled, taken back. "How come he's been kept on? And how come the staff stays?" "I thought you'd ask that!" Bajalovic said with a responsive smile. "Well, he has tenure, of course." Her eyes had a 'far away' look, as she added, "He's a complex paradoxical man. He sets difficult goals for himself and his staff. He looks for perfection in everybody, and he gets upset when he doesn't see it."

The young librarian nodded comprehension. The elder woman proceeded: "As far as the staff is concerned, some people will tolerate a lot of abuse before they do anything. I rarely see them, and when I do they never discuss him. Frankly, I don't go looking for problems. What I know comes from his supervisors. But I have heard good comments - excellent comments - about him from the faculty of the Medical School. I don't know if he's been reported to the Staff Association, which as you know only organizes social activities anyway. From my standpoint, things are going along nicely at that library." "It looks like I've got my work cut out for me!" Noel-Pardon exclaimed stoutly. She was cheerful, but it was the cheerfulness of determined effort.

Elsbeth Bajalovic then explained why she had told Noel-Pardon about the job rather than the latter's immediate boss - the assistant director for public services. She said it was her practice to announce promotions, and since Noel-Pardon would be reporting to her ("unless the library becomes a separate entity, of course!") she wanted to have the opportunity to talk with her. They discussed a number of other matters, including salary, which was most satisfactory. Finally, they parted with Noel-Pardon saying that she would present her preliminary thoughts on decentralization at the earliest opportunity. She would also keep her informed on how things were going with Craig Duff, and would make a list of questions - many of which she would attempt to find answers to where possible.

During her first week on the new job, Mae Noel-Pardon met several faculty members, and had a short chat with the dean of the medical school, who confirmed that he had nothing to do with the library other than to help establish the budget. As far as he was concerned, the Medical Center library director reported to the director of university libraries - except when it came to fiscal matters. She also familiarized herself with the library, and had individual "get acquainted" discussions with every member of the staff, none of whom she had met previously, although she had talked to a few, including Duff, by phone in the course of answering reference questions. No one complained about Duff to her, and she decided not to probe for discontents. She did observe, however, that his conduct was pretty well as it had been described: he was a hard-driving taskmaster and thoroughly autocratic. But he did not seem to resent her - at least that she could detect. Their contacts were cordial and business-like. Maybe the reports about him were greatly exaggerated, she began to suspect, or perhaps her philosophy of expecting the best from people was working. Her feeling of well-being was soon rudely shattered. One day, during her second week, when she was talking with him about the upcoming conference of the Association of College and Research Libraries, being held in another state 300 miles away, she suggested with innocence that it might be a good idea to have the head of the cataloging department attend. A representative of the Library of Congress would be there to outline some new cataloging decisions.

Duff regarded her with astonishment. "I have always attended those conferences," he snorted. "If there's anything the staff should know, I tell them."

Noel-Pardon had been ready to smile. But the smile was put to sudden death. "I didn't know that you always went," she affirmed. "I thought it might be a good idea if the person who is directly involved-" "I can't adjust my style to every new person who comes in here, you know," he blurted out, in a tone dictatorial and almost savage. "The dean only allocates enough money in the budget to send one person to that conference, and it's always been me. The director of this library has had his - I suppose I should say, or her - way paid to the ALA annual convention and I've had mine paid to this one. There isn't money to send anyone else to conferences. You'll find that out. And even if there was I don't think the staff should go."

As he was thus speaking, he had edged closer to the door.

"I'd like to speak to you more about this," pursued Noel-Pardon, with all the casualness that she could assume. His reply was unconciliating. "I have work to do," he said. "I don't think there's anything more to say. I'm not going to change my mind." And, as if by way of indicating that he had thrown down the gauntlet, he added, "I can be unpleasant, I warn you." With that, he turned on his heel and hastened away.

Mae Noel-Pardon got up and went over to the window. A custodian was hosing down the walkway. How she envied him his uncomplicated existence. She wondered what she should do right now - whether to chase after Duff and order him to come back or wait and see him later, after she had regained her composure. He's clearly a Theory X manager, she said to herself, think of McGregor. Then, her thoughts reverted to Elsbeth Bajalovic. Would she support her if she took firm action with Duff? And what would that action be? How does one go about terminating a tenured member of the staff? If Duff, with his stern authoritarianism, is Theory X, is Bajalovic, with her casual, laissez-faire approach, Theory Y? Her mind was an arena of perplexing questions. Why is he behaving so obnoxiously? Are women bosses having trouble with men subordinates? Has anyone investigated this and compiled a list of recommendations? Does Duff have psychological problems? How do you tell a subordinate he or she might need to see a psychiatrist? Maybe I could give him some books to read. Is there anything to Bibliotherapy? How about a T-group or an encounter group? Would that do any good? Can I force him to attend? Where would the money come from to pay for it? How about taking an MBO approach? She stood meditative as the sun descended. She must act. "What should I do?"

Written by A.J. Anderson, Professor Emeritus, Simmons College GSLIS