College and Research Libraries


MARY LEE BUNDY 

Conflict in Libraries 
·~ ' 

Intergroup conflict in libraries is explored, including conflict between 
departments, between professionals and bureaucracy, and between older 
and newer staff members. Other special interests such as informal power-
holders and the subprofessional are identified. This analysis shows that 
existing organizational relationships in libraries let "mean8' become 
"ends." Strong forces toward conformity hamper desirable growth and 
char:ge. A restructuring of libraries is proposed along the lines of pro-
fesStonal rather than semiprofessional organizations. Principal changes 
to be made are in existing processing-service relationships and ad-
ministrative-professional relationships. 

THE PROBLEM 

C ONFLicr IS A FAcr of existence. It 
exists whenever and wherever people 
come together to work. Some types of 
conflict encourage strong vitality and 
exert the right kinds of pressures to meet 
the objectives of an organization. Other 
kinds of conflict, however, work in re-
verse; They act to sap the energy of an 
organization, to subvert its goals- and 
can even endanger its existence. 

Conflict has been given major atten-
tion in management literature, but it has 
been largely neglected in the literature 
of library administration. This article is 
devoted to the analysis of conflict in the 
library situation with particular attention 
focused on its undesirable aspects. While 
practical solutions are proposed, its chief 
purpose is to develop understanding of 
the causes and consequences of conflict 
in libraries. 

Librarians frequently attribute conflict 
to "problem" staff, yet individuals can 
leave the library and the conflicts per-
sist. All libraries are likely to have 
similar conflicts for they are often caused 
by common organizational forces in the 

Miss Bundy is Associate Professor in the 
Library School at the University of Mary-
land. 

library environment. Chief among them 
is departmentaliz'ation and hierarchial 
organization. Groups other than formal 
organizational groups also conflict with 
each other. Older and newer staff mem-
bers typically disagree on important 
questions. Since conflict has organiza-
tional causes, it can- and indeed it must 
-be dealt with on an organizational 
basis. 

This ·paper undertakes to deal with 
a complex and highly volatile subject 
because of its implications for library 
development. It draws upon manage-
ment literature and speaks in manage-
ment terms. What is truly at stake 
here, however, is professionalism itself. 
Librarianship gives major attention to 
the organization of its physical materials. 
It must give equal attention to the or-
ganization of its human resources, if the 
reason for material flow:-service-is to 
be realized. This article attempts to ex-
plain why service objectives are often 
subordinated to other considerations. 

In the ensuing discussion several or-
ganizational concepts are used. Hier-
archy or bureaucratic organization refers 
to the pyramidal structure characterized 
by the "chain of command" where each 
person has one person to whom he re-
ports who in turn reports to someone 
higher in the heirarchy. Professional or-

/ 253 



254 1 College & Research Libraries • July, 1966 

ganizations are discussed and a distinc-
tion made between professional and 
semiprofessional organizations. 

Organization, as it is used here, re-
fers both to the formal 'organization and 
to informal aspects of organization, those 
outside the formal structure. One way 
to examine informal groupings is in 
terms of interest groups, that is, of 
people who have common goals and act 
together at least part of the time to 
achieve these goals. The informal or-
ganization also includes people who hold 
"power"; these are, by definition, people 
in the organization who decide what 
goes on. As will be developed, power is 
only partly a function of authority 
granted by the administrative organiza-
tion. Professionalism is considered here 
in terms of what constitutes professional 
behavior in the various organizational re-
lationships of librarians. 

TECHNICAL SERVICES vs. PuBLic SERVICES 

Dividing into departments achieves 
the important advantage of specializa-
tion, but departmentalization also im-
mediately establishes the conditions of 
conflict. The various departments must · 
compete with each other for a share of 
limited resources. Since their work is 
interrelated in many ways, the success of 
one is partly dependent on the success 
of another. Each department develops its 
own specific goals which may conflict 
with those of other departments. 1 

Every department in a library can con-
flict with every other, but the most 
serious and also the major divisional con-
flict in libraries is usually between tech-
nical services and public services. For 
processing units the goal becomes one of 
efficiency-the greatest output in least 
time. Of equal, if not greater, importance 
to them is the maintenance of their sys-

1 For a discussion of intergroup conflict see: J. G. 
March and H. A. Simon, Organizations (New York: 
Wiley, 1963 ), p . 121. 

terns and procedures. These goals can 
and do conflict with public services' 
goals to serve the user. 

Since processing departments are 
perennially behind, the priorities they as-
sign to processing materials influences 
the degree of public service possible. 
Few processing departments have an 
organized plan for processing in an order 
based on user needs. They may "rush" 
specific requests, although they often do 
so reluctantly. Important new statistical 
s<z_urces essential to reference service, for 
example, may be lost for days as they 
wend their way through processing with 
other less urgently needed materials. 

Improving the speed of processing 
would alleviate this problem. But the 
order of processing materials is only one 
aspect of the conflict. In making de-
cisions relevant to the degree and type 
of cataloging to be given materials, effi-
ciency considerations and conformity to 
existing practices can also be in opposi-
tion to service needs. These aspects may 
have more long-term effects if only be-
cause it is more difficult to detect when 
service requirements are not being met. 

One reason for processing policies and 
procedures not being geared to service 
needs is that processing units are fre-
quently isolated from the first-hand ex-
perience with users and their needs for 
materials. Generally libraries have not 
been successful in devising organized 
ways to feed back to technical services 
information on the success of their opera-
tion. Technical services tend to let their 
systems and procedures become ends in 
themselves. Public services departments 
can try individually and on a depart-
mental basis to get changes or decisions 
which will improve service, but-and this 
is the crux of the matter-they will not 
always be successful because technical 
services have an equal position in the 
line operations of the library. Therefore, 
service needs cannot automatically win. 



Library goals are, under such circum-
stances, subordinated to a means opera-
tion in the library. 

It can be disputed whether cataloging 
is a goal or a means toward goals, but 
the intellectual or professional character 
of the operation cannot be disputed. 
Within technical services departments, 
however organized, cataloging too must 
deal with pressures of physical process-
ing activities which can be in opposition 
to professional standards of excellence. 
Certainly in the medium-sized operation 
catalogers are sometimes forced to give 
major attention to processing problems 
at the expense of time they would nor-
mally give to cataloging questions and 
problems. The professional services in 
libraries are, under such circumstances, 
and by the way work is arranged, forced 
to take second place to the operations 
which should in effect serve them. 

HIERARCHY 

Library schools, teaching in the classi-
cal administration tradition, have taught 
librarians the advantage of bureaucratic 
organization. This type of organization 
does achieve important advantages in lo-
cating responsibility, directing communi-
cations, and assuring coordination. But 
bureaucracy also has limitations in-
herent in it. 

By its nature, advancement in hier-
archial systems depends on pleasing 
superiors. "What the boss wants" enters 
into the decisions of subordinates. There 
is a distinct tendency for people not to 
communicate events or information 
which may reflect poorly upon them. 
Personal motives inevitably enter into 
relations with superiors. Indeed, this 
facet is built into the hierarchial struc-
ture which dispenses rewards as a way 
to win loyalty and ensure compliance. 
There are times, of course, when doing 
what the boss wants is not in the best 
interest of the library. 

Conflict in Libraries I 255 

There is conflict in any bureaucracy 
which employs specialists.2 Some deci-
sions can only be made by people with 
a particular expertise. Yet the specialist 
who has the knowledge to make the 
decision may not occupy the position in 
the hierarchy assigned for this decision. 
This is particularly true as organizations 
get more specialized. No administrator 
can have the knowledge required to 
handle all the complex technical matters 
which come to him because policy, 
change, or money is involved. Admin-
istrators may call on individuals or on 
groups for advice, reserving the final de-
cision for themselves, but if they habit-
ually follow this advice, their decision-
making power in effect is going into the 
hands of the specialist. 

One reason heads of organizations r~­
sist this is that the specialist sometimes 
makes his decisions on a different basis 
from that used by the administrator. He 
uses technical criteria and may or may 
not have the immediate organizational 
objectives in mind in making his deci-
sions. This conflict may be seen operat-
ing with scientists employed in govern-
ment and industry. 

Many library administrators think they 
allow for full exploration of a topic by 
professional staff, but the impact of 
status is nevertheless present. This may 
be observed in a library staff meeting. 
Junior members hesitate to express their 
opinions frankly in the presence of their 
department heads. However much ad-
ministrators like to think their meetings 
are democratic, the decision-making ac-
tually rests on how supervisors feel ·and 
not upon the consensus of the profes-
sional staff. 

Because of th·ese limitations, profes-
sional organizations take over certain 
areas of, decision-making. A professional 

2 For one presentation of this conflict see: V. A. 
Thompson, "Hierarchy, Specialization and Organiza-
tional Conflict," Administrative Science Quarterly, V 
(March 1961), 485-521. 



256 i College & Research Libraries • July, 1966 

organization is one in which what the 
majority of the professionals do is the 
major goal of the organization. In these 
organizations, typically, the professional 
group through full group participation 
and through their representation on com-
mittees takes over the decisions relating 
to the goals of the organization. The ad-
ministration concerns itself with means 
decisions and activities (those involving 
economy and efficiency and auxiliary ser-
vices not central to the enterprise, such 
as business affairs) . An administrative 
hierarchy still exists, but there is actual-
ly a sharing of power between the pro-
fessional group and the administration. 

It is important that this division of 
authority be achieved. Since professional 
organizations are non-profit in nature, 
there is no test of success in the competi-
tive market place. Their activities are 
difficult to measure. Control groups nat-
urally seek to keep costs down. Since 
need cannot be proved, it is important to 
have a professional group insisting on 
standards as a counterpressure to pres-
sures for economy. 

Library administrators, coming from 
the ranks of the professional, should also 
be expected to fight for standards, and 
they do. But they are directly susceptible 
to external pressures. Their job depends 
on getting along with control groups. 
They need a strong counterforce from 
the professionals. Too, the administrator 
is fundamentally loyal first to the ad-
ministration for whom he works. The 
professional's major commitment is to his 
clientele and to his internalized set of 
professional standards and ethics. 

Most libraries probably fall into the 
classification of semiprofessional organi-
zations. A semiprofessional organization 
is characterized by the fact that its pro-
fessional group has not achieved control 
in matters relating to goals and stan-
dards. Means or economic considera-
tions characteristically dominate goals 
considerations. Ways and means become 

ends in themselves. Substantive ques-
tions having to do with the intellectual 
side of the enterprise are either ignored 
or downgraded by leaving them to staff 
down the line who do not have the 
authority to make decisions and carry 
them out. Consider again the library staff 
meetings in which ways and means and 
routine matters dominate discussions. 
Few academic library staffs engage in 
defining service goals and in working out 
plans to achieve them. 

Hierarchy and change. Another aspect 
of hierarchy which acts against profes-
sional goals has been implied. People in 
hierarchies tend to act to protect their 
position or status. When a change is pro-
posed they examine and act on it in 
terms of how it will affect their status. 
This means that new ideas and proposals 
.do not get the free and critical appraisal 
they require. Rather, people in hier-
archies tend to be strongly committ~d to 
the status quo. Innovation frequently 
can be made only after long struggle or 
not at all. The absence of conflict in the 
face of social conditions requiring inter-
nal change becomes dangerous.3 Profes-
sionals can also resist change for the 
same reasons . or because they fear they 
cannot perform in new ways. Manage-
ment can be also effectively stymied by 
a staff unreceptive to change. 

Why do librarians not demand greater 
voice in library affairs? One reason is 
that they have not diagnosed the prob-
lem in these terms. Another is that li-
brarians are more "employee" than "pro-
fessionally" oriented, feeling their obliga-
tion is to "go along." They have no strong 
commitment to their clientele or to stan-

1 Presthus deals with this aspect in a more general 
social context. Organizations tend to stress conformity 
rather than difference. In the face of social and tech-
nological pressures for change they frequently respond 
with inflexibility. Yet, survival depends on critical 
inquiry into patterns of organization, thought, and be-
havior. With critical inquiry, the quality of decision 
is sharpened. Without it, decision-making rests danger-
ously on tradition and on status. R. Presthus, The 01'-
ganizational Society (New York: Knopf 1962) p. 
287-94. ' , 



dards. These obligations are normally 
the basic loyalty of a professional group 
and constitute the reason the profession-
al, either individually or in groups, takes 
action and assumes power over certain 
types of organizational decisions. 4 If the 
professional person in a professional or-
ganization does not see the need and 
assume these responsibilities, all other 
arguments for his professional status be-
come academic. 

SPECIAL INTERESTS 

There are other special interest groups 
in the library which are in conflict with 
the formal administration or with other 
groups in the library. One of these 
groups is the "old community." 

The old community. The old com-
munity consists of people who have been 
on the library staff many years. They 
may have long-standing differences with 
each other, but they are held together 
on important issues by a common com-
mitment to the status quo. There are 
many good reasons for this. To a new 
person change is an opportunity to show 
his worth. An older staff member may 
feel that changes casts a bad reflection 
on him, that advocacy of change shows a 
lack of appreciation for the accomplish-
ments of the past. The newcomer brings 
outside experience and a fresh viewpoint 
to a situation. The older staff member is 
more likely to be settled in his notions. 
Past disappointments may have caused 
him to lower the level of his aspirations. 
The older staff member in most libraries 
is likely to be conservative in his outlook, 
to see the library as a passive rather than 
an active service. He simply will not 

4. Etzioni suggests another reason. In his characteriza-
tion of the semiprofessions, he points out that the 
majority of their members are women and women may 
be more submissive to authority. A. Etzioni, Modem 
Organizations (New Jersey: Prentice, 1964), p. 89. We 
may also fiRd part of the explanation in the relatively 
passive personality of librarians. See A. L. Brophy 
and A. M. Gazda, "Handling the Problem StafF 
Member, Illinois Libraries, XLIII (December 1961 ), 
750-63 for an analysis of the personality of librarians. 

Conflict in Libraries I 257 

see the need for, nor the appropriateness 
of, certain kinds of innovations. 

Conflict between older and newer staff 
members in libraries is common and has 
varying consequences, depending on a 
number of factors, but if the majority 
of the staff are older members it is likely 
that they will successfully resist efforts 
of newer staff. All change is not neces-
sarily good and all new staff members 
are not change agents, but change is 
normally introduced through new staff; 
often they are hired for this specific pur-
pose. Administrative approval, however, 
cannot wholly gainsay the conservative 
and uncooperative attitude of a staff. It 
can form an effective force against de-
sirable change in libraries. 

Informal power. All power, of course, 
is not in the formal organization. There 
are people whose position does not ac-
count for the amount of influence they 
have in library matters. People can hold 
power for several reasons. Some people 
get power simply because they have 
been around a long time. Much of what 
goes on in organizations is not written 
down. People who hold information 
about the organization's business wield 
power in the way they provide or with-
hold it. Another type of power enjoyed 
in libraries is that of the group which 
has the special confidence of the head 
librarian. These are the people upon 
whom he relies and to whom he turns · 
for advice. The "in-group" need not be 
those who report immediately to him. It 
is more likely to be the people with 
whom he habitually shares his lunch or 
breaktime. Libraries also have natural 
leaders, people who have won the re-
spect and confidence of the staff. Since 
they speak for the staff, management 
must take their point of view into ac-
count in decision making. 

It is not necessary to attempt to probe 
further into the complex topic of power 
relations in organizations, but it should 
be emphasized that individuals and 



258 I College & Research Libraries • July, 1966 

groups outside the official hierarchy do 
have power. One result of having power 
is to seek to hold it. As many new li-
brarians have discovered, what looks 
like getting a new and minor change ac-
tually turns into a power struggle with 
the "in-group" or with individuals with 
power who resist the change. Making 
many library changes depends on wheth-
er those furthering them can secure 
a position of influence or power in the 
library. It should also be noted that de-
partment heads can and do resist efforts 
for change from upper level administra-
tion. A head librarian can be blocked 
by his subordinates who subtly o~ direct-
ly resist his authority. 

This discussion of special interests in 
libraries would not be complete with-
out including two other groups in li-
braries which cross formal departmental 
lines. Neither is relatively powerful; 
both are likely to be dissatisfied. 

The subprofessional. Subprofessional 
levels were established in libraries for 
the worthy purpose of relieving profes-
sional staff of routine, nonprofessional 
work. But this class system, neverthe-
less, creates conflict. No matter how well 
the subprofessional performs, he can 
never join the ranks of the professional 
-and far better paid-class. Further, in 
many libraries the distinction between 
what the two groups do is highly arbi-
trary. A subprofessional can carry a posi-
tion of nearly equal responsibility at half 
the pay, as he sees it, only because he 
has not been to library school. Some pro-
fessionals achieve much of their profes-
sionalism by looking down on the non-
professional. Under these conditions, 
whether or not it is openly expressed, 
the subprofessional is likely to feel con-
siderable resentment. A democratic staff 
association alleviates but does not solve 
the problem. 

Junior staff. The junior professional 
staff member has two strikes against him; 
he is probably relatively new and he has 

no organizational status. Further, he is 
probably kept doing subprofessional 
work for an excessively long period of 
time. He is likely to be similarly re-
stricted in his outside professional activi-
ties, for library associations are also slow 
to accept newcomers and are influenced 
by status in making committee appoint-
ments at any very high level. Librarians 
have been acutely conscious of their lack 
of status, particularly in the academic 
community. Yet librarians themselves 
give their junior entrants into the profes-
fession something far less than the col-
league relationship they deserve. 

OTHER AsPEcrs 
The individual and the organization. 

Actually, any individual has a struggle 
with the organization in which he works. 
In going to work, he must give up a cer-
tain amount of independence. Organiza-
tions naturally seek to take as much of 
his time as possible. He has other group 
memberships besides the library and is 
therefore pulled between the various 
groups for which he has a loyalty and 
which have a claim on his time and 
effort. 

Some jobs get so monotonous, so de-
void of opportunity to use imagination 
or initiative, that they impair the human 
beings' growth forces. 5 In the interest of 
efficiency libraries have reduced some 
people to doing jobs which are over-
whelmingly monotonous and fatiguing. 
This is not only true for stack readers. 
Many professional jobs in libraries, in 
the interest of "mass production," ap-
proach this level. It is important to treat 
any human being as an individual and to 
provide him with opportunities for 
growth, but for librarians to be stymied 
in this fashion is the antithesis of profes-
sionalism. 

5 Argyris contends there are basic incongruencies be-
tween the growth trends of a healthy personality and 
the requirements of the formal organization. Frustra-
tion, conflict, failure, and short term perspective are 
the resultants. C. Argyris, Personality and Organiza-
tion (New York: Harper, 1957). 



Excessive authoritarianism. Under ex-
cessive authoritarianism all the weak-
nesses of bureaucracy are magnified. Or-
ders, threats, and criticisms characterize 
communications with staff. People are 
treated like cogs in a machine. Basic 
feelings and rights of employees are dis-
regarded. This is a sorry state for any 
library and .whatever the outward ap-
pearance, fear, interpersonal hostility, 
and resentment are present. People are 
forced to act simply to protect them-
selves. They cannot act freely in the 
best interest of the library. Indeed, they 
would be criticized if they did, for com-
pliance and conformity are the essential 
demands of this type of administration. 6 

The external environment. The impact 
of pressures from control and support 
groups to keep costs down has already 
been noted. The external environment 
affects the internal library situation in 
other ways as well. Organizations which 
occupy positions of low regard and 
status in their community, which is 
sometimes true of libraries, can be ex-
pected to be less receptive to new ideas, 
to be less likely to welcome and explore 
innovations. Being treated like semipro-
fessionals by their community reinforces 
their own semiprofessional behavior. 

What a professional organization 
hopes from its community is that it will 
provide challenges and give it support 
and encouragement. When the opposite 
is true, the attitude of the community 
will complement and give support to 
the more conservative elements inside. 
Under such circumstances these con-
servative elements may be quite ac-
curately reflecting what the community 
wants in the way of service and expects 
from its librarians. 

The external environment of any li-
brary contains some elements which are 

6 In a "before and after" study, Guest explores staff 
feelings and attitudes under an authoritarian regime. 
R. H. Guest, Organizational Change : The Effect of 
Successful Leadership (Homewood, Ill.: Irwin, 1962). 

Conflict in Libraries I 259 

sympathetic and concerned with library 
development. In the academic com-
munity, faculty committees can be ex-
pected to concern themselves with and 
support service improvements. These 
groups are not equally effective and of-
ten represent special interests. They can 
become critical of the way the library 
operates. 

Any organization should arrange to be 
influenced by its environment in the 
form of planned-for data about the com-
munity and about its effectiveness and 
satisfaction with its services. Yet most 
libraries have little more than a highly 
impressionistic, individual, and prob-
ably distorted idea of how satisfied 
their community is with their services. 
This failure adequately to take the com-
munity into account in internal decision-
making defeats service objectives and 
can be politically dangerous. As has been 
indicated, the failure of librarians to 
build strong professional-clientele rela-
tionships and give first loyalty to that 
clientele is a major reason for their not 
being pressed sufficiently for service im-
provements. 

An examination of internal conflict in 
libraries therefore identifies the groups 
and interests whose attitudes and activ-
ities decide whether or not a library 
gives good service. Processing -service re-
lationships and administrative-profes-
sional relationships, as they now exist in · 
many libraries, let "means" become 
"ends." In the absence of a strong pro-
fessional voice, economy considerations 
lower service standards. Intellectual as-
pects are downgraded. Formal and in-
formal organizational elements conspire 
to defeat proposals for change and 
growth. The basis for much decision-
making in libraries is personal or is 
power motivated, in opposition to the 
best interest of the library. This is not 
the organizational setting for maintain-
ing a high level of professional service. 
It can perhaps only be changed signifi-



2601 College & Research Libraries • July, 1966 

Director 

. __ ._---~-· ·--·--··-- Au:'\iliary Services 

Professional Services 

Humanities Science and 
Technologv 

Purchasing Inventory 

FIGURE 1. 

cantly by changing the ways of organiz-
ing work into divisions and by changing 
the way power is distributed in libraries. 

SOLUTIONS 

One organizational structure that 
might contribute to the accomplishment 
of these changes is modeled after and 
closely parallels that of institutions of 
higher education. Libraries could be re-
structured to group professional activi-
ties together and then organizationally 
designate them as the central activity of 
the organization. This could be done by 
assigning other activities to a staff or 
service relationship to them, as shown 
in Figure 1. 

Within the subject divisions, the pro-
fessional activities of selection, indexing 
(cataloging), reference, and readers ad-
visory service would be performed. As a 
library grows, these divisions would have 
one head occupying much the same po-
sition as an academic vice president 
holds in a university. Under these broad 
subject divisions, various subunits or 
further specialization of effort could de-
velop. Units might be further subdivided 

by subject-chemistry, etc. ( Departmen-
tal libraries would fall within the juris-
diction of the appropriate division.) Or, 
some staff might spend full time on in-
dexing materials; others operate pri-
marily in readers service. Departments 
would be run on the relatively demo-
cratic basis of teaching departments in 
a university where, regardless of rank, 
every faculty member has an equal voice 
and an equal vote.7 

A second informal framework should 
also be established. Permanent profes-
sional committees crossing departments, 
such as indexing committees and selec-
tion committees, would function. These 
committees would concern themselves 
with common problems and with areas 
where common policies are desirable. 
The decisions made by these groups 
would be more or less binding on the or-
ganization. Professional staff would also 
be represented by advisory committees 
to the head librarian to advise from the 
professional point of view on such as-
pects as personnel policies. Similarly, 

7 See J. D. Millett, The Academic Community (New 
York: McGraw-Hill, 1962), for an exploration of the 
academic organizational structure. 



auxiliary units would have professional 
advisory committees concerned with ser-
vice implications of their various activi-
ties. The auxiliary units would bear to 
the central departments the same rela-
tionship as business offices do to aca-
demic teaching departments. 

The auxiliary units, as libraries grow 
larger, could encompass a variety of 
specialties such as data processing per-
sonnel. Competent nonprofessionals 
could find here a career advancement 
ladder, for the upper positions in auxil-
iary services would carry high salaries 
commensurate with responsibility for im-
portant, complex, but not professional 
services. 

These changes could not be .. paper" 
changes only. They would have to in-
volve an actual relinquishing of author-
ity by administrators and an acceptance 
of responsibility on the part of profes-
sional staff. Furth·er, tliey would mean a 
major redirection of professional effort 
away from the routines of library oper-
ation. Administrators would lose a 
measure of control but in the process 
would achieve their ultimate goals. The 
quality of administrative leadership 
would be a critical factor in whether or 
not libraries succeeded in becoming first-
class professional organizations. 

New relationships among groups 
would have to be worked out. Libraries 
would have to find new ways to resolve 
conflict between divergent points of view 
under this more democratic form of ad-
ministration. Building the relationship of 
auxiliary services with professional ser-
vices would be a major task. The respec-
tive decision-making prerogatives of ad-
ministrators and professional staff can 
only be partially distinguished. Their in-
terrelationship in achieving goals is crit-
ical and would involve continued nego-
tiations and compromise. Service stand-
ards would have to bend-but not bow-
to economic realities. Systems and pro-
cedures would be modified in terms of 

Conflict in Libraries I 261 

user needs, but they would not be aban-
doned before user demands on the sys-
tem. 

In such a structure as is here described 
there would be more conflict in the sense 
of questioning, intensive scrutiny, and 
the consideration of a wider range of 
alternative courses of action. Where a 
library staff is largely conservative, how-
ever, this viewpoint can still prevail. In-
formal power will still exist, although the 
basis for it may change somewhat. Cer-
tainly, staff who have the respect and 
trust of their colleagues will formally and 
informally have much to say about what 
goes on. 

What would be accomplished is that 
powerful growth forces would be re-
leased to offset the restrictive forces de-
scribed earlier. We would have made 
clear to ourselves and eventually to our 
users what constitutes the nature of the 
library enterprise. Libraries would be ex-
pected to refocus their endeavor on their 
service character. Staff time would have 
been released to serve clientele. By limit-
ing the range of subject areas with which 
they dealt, professionals could develop 
the competency to conduct clientele re-
lationships at a truly professiona·l level. 
On a group basis, professional staff could 
concern itself with, and engage in, de-
fining purposes and developing programs 
to achieve these purposes. Out of dis-
cussion and deliberation should come a 
commitment on the part of all members 
to make them work. These goals would 
also form the basis for resolving conflict 
in the best interest of the library. A 
climate for decision-making could grow 
which values· critical inquiry more highly 
than present structures. Individual am-
bition could be better harnessed to the 
improvement of the library. With these 
orientations, libraries might be expected 
to realize a potential of service and of 
support for that service far beyond any 
that has been previously known. 

Certainly many libraries have made 



2621 College & Research Libraries • July> 1966 

advances in these directions. Many al-
ready divide by some subject arrange-
ment, although the majority still keep 
technical services in the line operation, 
and cataloging functions within this unit. 
Many public libraries have largely re-
solved this aspect of the problem by re-
moving their processing from the im-
mediate library to a central processing 
center. Many libraries, particularly medi-
um-sized libraries, enjoy a high degree 
of democracy in working out their af-
fairs, but most have been attempting to 
cope with organizational forces which in-
hibited and hampered them. The central 
issue is not democracy versus bureauc-
racy; it is whether or not librarians are 
prepared to assume responsibilities and 
arrange their organizational life to per-

mit the performance of a service which 
can be labeled professional. 

What is the alternative? In all but 
backwash situations, libraries of every 
size are going to be pressed for increased 
service. Under the conditions described 
earlier, libraries will respond with rigid-
ity. This will intensify the criticism of 
control and clientele groups and create 
internal working conditions even less 
tolerable than those now existing. Even-
tually, the entire library enterprise could 
be placed in jeopardy. In the face of 
present and future demands on libraries, 
a fundamental reassessment and realign-
ment of existing organizational relation-
ships in libraries would appear impera-
tive. 

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