Book Reviews

Academic Library Management: Case Studies. Tammy Nickelson Dearie, Michael Meth, and Elaine L. Westbrooks, eds. Chicago: ALA Editions, 2018. 213p. Paper, $69.00 (ISBN 978-0-8389-1559-2). LC 2017010131.

Librarians who transition into management and administrative roles in academic libraries often find themselves there with little or even no preparatory training; and, once there, common problems and best principles and practices are more often than not learned on the job. Intensive professional development programs for emerging and current library leaders are one opportunity available to prepare librarians for managerial success; but, in addition to these programs generally only accepting small groups of people at specific times of the year, a number of factors can make supporting attendance impossible for resource-strapped libraries. Only fourteen people were selected for the 2014 cohort of the UCLA Senior Fellows program, a three-week-long immersive program for academic library leaders; but, with the publication of Academic Library Management: Case Studies, everyone can now benefit from the lessons learned through the first-hand experiences collected in this deceptively slim volume.

Editors Tammy Nickelson Dearie, Michael Meth, and Elaine L. Westbrooks, all 2014 UCLA Fellows and library leaders, were inspired by the program director to “collect our experiences and stories in case study format so that others in academic libraries could learn how we approached and solved problems” (ix). The result is a strong collection of fourteen case studies covering a wide range of problems in a variety of settings that academic library managers could potentially face in the course of their careers. Written not only by library directors and experienced administrators, case studies are also presented by archivists and librarians with managerial responsibilities in public services, technical services, and archives and special collections in the United States and Canada.

Each chapter begins with an introduction that could easily serve as an abstract for the reader to use in deciding whether a particular case study is relevant or not, and most chapters end with a reflective conclusion that shares lessons learned and helpful tips for others facing similar situations. Chapters are not grouped into sections or organized in any way I could discern, but the chapter titles are descriptive and, with one or two exceptions, clearly convey the situation and problem discussed. The index is also helpful for discovering case studies of particular relevance. Common themes such as developing participatory governance structures, collaborating inside and outside the library, and dealing with change are threaded throughout the case studies, but each case study can be read as a stand-alone chapter.

I recommend reading all of the case studies as time allows, however, since some, like Sian Brannon’s “Triage Succession Planning: How Mass Turnover Required On-the-Spot Mentoring” or Kathleen Delong’s excellent chapter, “One Incident of Violence, or, It Will Never Be the Same,” deal with issues we all hope never to face but that can and do happen. Others, such as Maurita Baldock and Verónica Reyes-Escudero’s “The Archivist Apprenticeship: Partnering with the Knowledge River Program Diversity Initiative,” may not seem relevant on the surface to anyone besides archivists, but they offer valuable insight on how to partner with cultural institutions outside the library and create pathways for increased diversity in the profession. The final case study, “The Closing of a Library: Using Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model to Manage Innovative Change” by Christina L. Wissinger, is not only about one library’s attempted shift from a physical library to an all-virtual one but also explores ways to support and encourage staff, especially long-term staff, to transition both professionally and emotionally into new roles in times of great change and uncertainty, an experience common to academic libraries everywhere even if they are not closing.

Many of the chapters do not include references, but references are often unnecessary since many of the case studies are personal narratives of experiences dealing with specific problems. One of this book’s greatest strengths is that these personal narratives include both successes and failures, demonstrating both the value of learning from failure and that becoming and being an academic library leader is a constant, iterative process. Another is the way the editors have crafted an experience similar to participating in a program like the UCLA Senior Fellows program. In their introduction, the editors conclude with a set of ten guiding questions (such as “Do I agree with the resolution or solution?” and “How can I apply what I have learned to my environment?”) and then invite the reader to turn independent reflection into an interactive conversation by e-mailing the editors and sharing how these case studies impacted them or submitting a case study of their own (x). Through this invitation, the editors have not only found a way to share fourteen valuable leadership lessons beyond their Senior Fellows cohort, but they have also opened new pathways for knowledge and experiences to travel back and forth between us all. Archivists, librarians, and library leaders in academic libraries, as well as anyone involved in designing and delivering professional development for library leaders, will benefit from participating in this experience.—Kristen Cardoso, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey