Book Reviews 97

to sustain these efforts. They stress the 
intensity of embedded instruction and the 
necessity of being available to students 
over long periods of time. Several note that 
they transitioned to less labor-intensive 
means of serving students while still 
finding ways to maintain the level of per-
sonalization critical for embedded librari-
anship. All of them identified the value of 
evaluative feedback from faculty members 
and students, as well as the need to revise 
programs in light of this feedback.

Embedded Librarians: Moving Beyond 
One-Shot Instruction will be useful to li-
brarians looking for “how-to” guidance 
on embedding instruction in a course, 
program, or department. The case studies 
and reports are well written, theoretically 
based, and adaptable, and the chapter 
references will benefit those who wish 
to read more about this topic. This book 
provides stimulating ideas for librarians 
who want to create, expand, or deepen 
an embedded librarian program and 
for those who wish to expand the role 
of librarians within the academy. It is 
recommended highly to all academic li-
brarians.—Margaret N. Gregor, Appalachian 
State University.

Wyoma vanDuinkerken and Pixey 
Anne Mosley. The Challenge of Library 
Management: Leading with Emotional 
Engagement. Chicago: American Li-
brary Association, 2011. 169p. alk. 
paper, $52.00 (ISBN 9780838911020). 
LC2011-011349. 

The Challenge of Library Management: Lead-
ing with Emotional Engagement is a concise 
change leadership treatise that should 
be required reading in every library and 
information science graduate program. 
The work opens with the premise that 
the greatest challenge facing libraries is 
the recognition that, without change, our 
past strengths will become our liabilities. 
In nine brief chapters, the authors detail 
the unique challenges facing administra-
tors and managers charged with leading 
change in a library environment. Through 
the translation and application of private 

sector corporate change management 
literature and research, the authors ad-
vise how to become an effective change 
leader in library environs. The structure 
of the book, well documented with over 
150 sources, is effective for both new 
managers and seasoned managers in 
need of a refresher who may be charged 
with leading either small- or large-scale 
organizational changes. 

Each chapter ends with “Keys to Suc-
cess,” a summary of the major points 
discussed in the chapter. The “Keys 
to Success” are followed by a series of 
questions under the heading “Thinking 
Exercises” that encourage the reader to 
explore a hypothetical situation using the 
theory, research, and advice provided in 
the chapter. The “Keys to Success” and 
“Thinking Exercises” operate similarly 
to a book discussion guide at the end 
of a novel. Although written with “a” 
reader in mind, the book’s narrowly fo-
cused chapters and “Thinking Exercises” 
suggest that the work could easily serve 
as the basis for a management training 
program. It is easy to envision the book 
as a framework for a series of weekly mid-
level management lunch sessions (each 
based on one chapter) or as a discussion 
tool in a mentor/mentee program.

In brief, vanDuinkerken and Mosley 
begin with “Change in Libraries,” an intro-
ductory chapter on general management 
challenges and on the difficulties of lead-
ing change in libraries, given their unique 
personnel, organizational structure, and 
culture. The remaining chapters identify 
issues and provide solutions as they might 
arise on a change initiative project timeline. 
At the end, the reader is left with the com-
forting perception that, although difficult, 
there is an overall template for initiating, 
implementing, and evaluating the relative 
success of a change initiative, which can be 
studied, learned, and successfully applied 
to most situations. 

The main theme of the work is that 
change initiatives in libraries often fall 
short or simply fail in reaching a stated 
objective because management fails to 



98 College & Research Libraries January 2012

account for the human factor. First, man-
agers are different from staff in how they 
react to and view change. Second, manag-
ers coming from other types of organiza-
tions are often frustrated or perplexed 
by the constraints of traditional library 
structure and management, whether it 
is tenured or grade-level staff or a lack 
of market forces that enable the manager 
to develop a staff able to more readily 
adjust to the needed change. Assuming a 
manager will need to implement a change 
initiative with the staff already in place, 
Chapter 2, “The Human Factor,” provides 
techniques for managers to use to actively 
engage staff, including guidance on how 
to avoid making costly mistakes based on 
common erroneous assumptions about 
change-resistant employees.

Chapter 3, “Organizational Culture 
Impact,” explores the role organizational 
culture plays in determining the success 
of a change initiative. The authors review 
types of organizational culture and their 
importance to the process of change and 
provide instruction through examples 
of implementing change in healthy or-
ganizations. In this chapter, as well as 
others, the authors caution that even a 
good thing can be a double-edged sword 
when implementing change. For example, 
a healthy, trusting organization might be 
less likely to have employees who pose 
the questions necessary to challenge, 
evaluate, and improve the change initia-
tive on the front end of the process. Most 
important, the authors advise that, even 
though you may not be able to change 
the organizational culture as a whole, a 
good manager can and should change the 
culture in his or her sphere of influence.

Chapters 4 and 5, “Initiating Change 
Effectively” and “Implementing Change 
Effectively,” contain the core message of 
the book. In these chapters, the authors 
detail how to effectively initiate and 
implement change. Reminding the reader 
that implementation is a small part of a 
larger process, the authors emphasize 
that effective leadership requires the 
ability to successfully sell the idea to 

the primary stakeholders. In Chapter 4, 
the authors walk the reader through the 
sale process in the initiating phase using 
practical examples. They also discuss 
the common mistakes that can easily 
derail the initiative: for example, how 
to effectively use data in the sales pitch 
to avoid the dreaded “we could have 
told you that if you had only asked us” 
response from frontline staff. Similarly, 
Chapter 5, on implementation, provides 
practical “how-to” advice on topics such 
as the importance of “paying attention to 
the small stuff” and empowering staff to 
ensure buy-in. The inclusion of steps and 
common errors, practical common-sense 
“how-tos,” and the reiteration of the im-
portance of communication in effective 
initiation and implementation enable 
these two chapters to stand alone as a 
troubleshooting reference guide. 

In Chapter 6, “Environmental Factors 
Impacting Success,” the authors identify 
four reasons why some libraries have 
trouble implementing a change goal: lack 
of sufficient resources, unsuccessful sup-
port activities, insufficient administrative 
support, or unrealistic goals. Failure to 
achieve the project’s stated goal creates 
emotional frustration and disillusionment 
in an engaged staff. An effective change 
leader manages the staff’s reaction to fac-
tors that can derail the change initiative to 
minimize the effect on the overall success 
of the project. The chapter then addresses 
two main categories of “implementation 
detours”: anticipated delays and unex-
pected delays. Included in the discus-
sion are budget concerns, institutional 
bureaucracy, staff turnover, weather, 
and personalities. In each example, the 
discussion reiterates the authors’ advice 
to remain flexible in dealing with factors 
out of your control to better manage the 
staff’s response and reactions. 

Librarians have different characteristics 
than employees in other organizations 
that can complicate, exacerbate, and 
threaten the success of a change initiative 
project. In Chapter 7, “Managerial Bag-
gage,” the authors stress the importance 



Book Reviews 99

of managing your own personal and 
employment history to become an effec-
tive leader. As stated by the authors, “it 
is an unfortunate aspect of the librarian 
profession that it is sometimes difficult 
for individuals to let past issues go by 
the wayside . . . [T]here often seems to be 
a tendency to remember into perpetuity 
decisions and mistakes one made in the 
past and refuse to acknowledge that lead-
ers grow, develop, and improve their skills 
over time.” Despite this rather pessimistic 
statement, the chapter provides many tips 
and techniques for developing and build-
ing a successful leadership style, both for 
those new to the organization and for 
those individuals moving up to a mana-
gerial role within the same organization.

Chapter 8, “Evaluating the Change and 
Yourself as a Change Leader,” addresses 
both the importance of assessment and the 
reasons assessment is generally avoided 
at the completion of a project. The authors 
remind the reader that, whatever broad 
assessment data are gathered, the data 
must answer four basic questions to fully 
assess the change leadership: How did I 
do as a leader for this change initiative? 
What did I do well? What did I do poorly? 
What can I do to improve for next time? 
These questions reinforce the concept that 
assessment not only serves to measure the 
degree of success of the particular project 
but also to ensure that the change leader 
improves with each project.

In the concluding Chapter 9, “Change-
Specific Challenges,” the authors focus on 
those changes, such as complex large-scale 
space or vision changes, that bring special 
challenges to the process. In each example, 

the authors note and provide guidance 
on how to address the management chal-
lenges in these unique situations.

This review began with the provoca-
tive statement that The Challenge of Li-
brary Management: Leading with Emotional 
Engagement should be required reading 
in every library and information sci-
ence graduate program. The authors 
emphasize that the library profession 
needs proactive engaged individuals who 
exhibit initiative, collaborate with others, 
take responsibility for their own profes-
sional development, and are committed to 
high-quality performance standards. Just 
as managers and administrators must ef-
fectively initiate, manage, and implement 
change (despite being hampered or frus-
trated by the library context), individuals 
entering the profession must be willing to 
be the employee the library needs now 
and as the future unfolds.—Catherine 
A. Lemmer, Indiana University Robert H. 
McKinney School of Law. 

John J. Huber. Lean Library Management: 
Eleven Strategies for Reducing Costs 
and Improving Customer Services. New 
York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 
2011. 197p. alk. paper, $75.00 (ISBN 
9781555707323). LC2010-050755.

John Huber has a unique perspective 
on how to help library systems improve 
customer satisfaction while reducing 
costs. He has taken the concepts of Lean 
Manufacturing typically used in business 
and industry and has applied them to 
the library environment. In Lean Library 
Management, Huber explains that Lean is 
a different way to think about organizing 
library processes. Huber makes a strong 
case that, if library leaders were to ap-
ply Lean strategies as recommended, 
customer service could indeed improve 
while reducing costs. 

In the Prologue, Huber explains what 
Lean is and background information 
about this concept. He gives a clear and 
basic description of Lean, while respect-
ing that his audience is not likely to know 
much about Lean Manufacturing. In the 

Index to advertisers
AAAS/Science Online cover 3
ACRL Publications 10
Annual Reviews 5
CHOICE Reviews Online 6
Counting Opinions cover 2
Digital Libr. Sys. Grp.  cover 4, 7,9
EBSCO 2
John Wiley 1