College and Research Libraries scientific research in the United States and around the world; and Weaver, in particular, helped create a paradigm for creatively managing science through control of funding. Kohler provides cru- cial material with which other scholars can further explore the means by which institutional arrangements-and espe- cially patronage--served as intermedi- aries between broader political and cultural contexts and both the daily ac- tivity of working scientists and the knowl- edge they produced. The story of foundations and natural scientists is one worth telling; and it is hard to think of anyone better equipped than Robert Kohler to tell it in as lucid and engaged a fashion.-Ed Morman, Institute of the History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Univer- sity, Baltimore, Maryland. Johnson, Peggy. Automation and Organi- zational Change in Libraries. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1991. 201 p. alk. paper (ISBN 0-8161-1919-8, hardcover. ISBN 0- 8161-1920-1, paper). LC 90-26147. Peggy Johnson has provided an excel- lent summary of state-of-the-art manage- ment of research libraries that have undergone or are in the process of under- taking a transition to automated sys- tems. While the monograph describes the results of a survey of academic librar- ies in the United States and Canada, it also contains a well-researched historical overview of academic libraries, followed by a description of the organizational envi- ronment of libraries. The introductory chapters provide substantive back- ground for the work that follows and include many references to supplemen- tal reading and supporting documenta- tion, including a substantial number o{ articles and monographs from the gen- . eral areas of organizational develop- ment and management. The remainder of the work describes the survey methodology devised by Johnson, the responses to the survey, and the interpretation of the data as they re- late to organizational development and human factors in large automated aca- demic libraries. A comparison of the sur- vey responses to predictions in the Book Reviews 479 literature places the developments in the library world into a larger management context. The survey research both confirms and refutes commonly held predictions and beliefs about the structural and or- ganizational changes to be brought about by automation. Examples of issues addressed are the "flattening'' of the or- ganizational structure, increase in the number of departments, growing empha- sis on task specialization, blurring of dis- tinctions between technical and public services, changing communication and decision-making patterns, modifications to staff classifications, and paradoxical centralizing and decentralizing effects of automation. The author demonstrates that although some changes have been slower in coming than originally predicted, the overall impact of automation has been revolutionary on collections, services, and the ability of libraries to deal effec- tively with the dual problems of rapid inflation in the costs of goods and ser- vices and the information explosion. A separate chapter describes the man- agement literature on change in innova- tion, especially as it applies to technological change, and libraries in particular. Finally, trends for the future are analyzed and "new understanding of libraries" de- scribed. The author challenges library leaders "not only to make the transition to an automated organization as pain- less as possible for the library and its users but to take full advantage of the opportunities presented." The first step is to recognize that a paradigm shift is happening: librarians must not pas- sively let the future happen, but must actively seek it. This book is both useful and interest- ing; it is also exceptionally well written. The general library reader will come away with a basic understanding of the impacts of technology on modern large academic libraries, and the reader desir- ing a more sophisticated understanding of the state of the art will benefit from both the details of the research reported in this text and the many references to the literature of general management and organizational change, as well as to 480 College & Research Libraries the literature dealing specifically with technological and organizational change in libraries. Managers and library ad- ministrators will find the ideas challeng- ing as they confront change in their own libraries and institutions of higher edu- cation.-Susan F. Rosenblatt, University of California, Berkeley, California. Lingua franca: The Review of Academic Life. Mamaroneck, N.Y.: Lingua Franca, Inc., 1990- . Individuals: $17.95/year; Institutions: $35/year. (ISSN 1051- 3310). Lingua franca: The Review of Academic Life offers scholars in the humanities, broadly conceived, a forum for debate on issues in higher education, with the reformulation of the liberal arts agenda figuring prominently. Launched with a successful trial balloon issue in June 1990, followed with regular bimonthly issues beginning in December 1990, Lin- gua franca is a gutsy, timely, and topical review of the academy and might be char- acterized as a grassroots versidn of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Published in- dependently out of Mamaroneck, New York, Lingua franca is the creation of Jef- frey Kittay, former Yale French professor and currently visiting professor at New York University. In addition to academ- ics, contributors so far include primarily New York-based journalists with cre- dentials from Esquire, the New York Times, Spy Magazine, the Nation, Dissent, and the New Republic. Rarely has a new academic rag re- ceived so much attention from the media, leading this reviewer to believe that Lingua franca is street-smart and market-wise. From the Washington Post to the San Francisco Examiner, from the Boston Globe to the Chicago Tribune, Lin- gua franca has been cited and reviewed enthusiastically. Lingua franca's ads abound with pithy testimonials from the likes of Umberto Eco, Catharine R. Stimpson (recent president of the Mod- ern Language Association and Rutgers graduate school dean), and Lindsay Wa- ters (Harvard University Press executive editor). Bill Katz, in Library Journal, se- lected it as one of "The Ten Best Magazines September 1991 of 1990." The Wall Street Journal and Harper's have reprinted its articles. Why all the fuss? Perhaps because Lin- gua franca takes us behind the scenes in academe and talks frankly about some rather delicate issues: the tenure system at Harvard, unproductive faculty, the great Eskimo "snow" vocabulary hoax, Paul de Man and his deconstruction, and my personal favorite-undercover in- side the M.F.A. creativity boot camp-in which the author reviews the propensity for "groupthink" and political consen- sus that controls writers' workshops across the country. There are also articles of a more practical nature: the diary of a faculty member serving on an affirma- tive action search, an interview with a faculty member accused of sexual ha- rassment, and a primer on new TIAA- CREF retirement plan options. Academic librarians long concerned about their drab image may be gratified to learn from Valerie Steele's article, ''The F- word" (where F stands for Fashion), that they are dressed in vogue for academe. A UCLA history professor explains: "To dress fashionably is to be labeled frivo- lous . . .. Dowdy is safe and serious; bad dressing, one of the last ways in which . academics can project the illusion of oth- erworldliness." Written in a breezy style, Lingua franca is entertaining and easy to read. Growing from forty (June 1990) to fifty (April 1991) pages in length, each issue typically has a number of regular col- umns in addition to the cover story, the feature article, and two shorter articles or interviews. Academic librarians will take special interest in the "Breakthrough Books" section of "Field Notes," in which a handful of scholars identify the most recent significant book in their dis- cipline. Although the selections are typ- ically from the mainstream scholarly press, the column serves as a timely an- notated list of top hits. "Inside Publish- ing" looks forward to new releases-for example, announcing The New York Re- view of Books' plans to initiate an Italian edition, Libri & Idee, and to develop French and German editions as well, and the resurrection of the influential I ~ J J