The Information Literacy Land of Confusion

Higher Education in 2022

2012-02-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

Predicting the future can be a risky endeavor. In a very short time, conditions can change which make the “prophet” look foolish. Indeed, the ability to accurately predict the future can almost seem to be driven by chance. Mark Twain is reported to have said, “Prophecy: Two bull's eyes out of a possible million.” Despite this, with some environmental scanning (and a dose of humility) it is sometimes possible to make good predictions on what the future may be like.

This paper will make an informed attempt to predict what higher education may be like in the year 2022. What changes may occur? Predictions include international students, technology, public opinion, tuition and access, and the changing role of the campus library.

International Students

As the market for undergraduate enrollment has become increasingly competitive, so too has the market for international students. Universities have put a greater emphasis on the recruitment international students at both the undergraduate and graduate level and this will increase in the next decade. Private industry has continued to demand that higher education prepare a workforce that can function as global citizens. International students are able to help universities in their efforts to provide domestic students with the skills necessary to be competitive in an increasingly global economy.

Universities have recognized the value that international students add to campus not only in terms of providing a diverse learning environment but also in terms of financial revenue. In 2005, it was estimated that international students contributed over $13 billion to the US economy. Almost $9 billion of those funds went to tuition and fees. (NAFSA1, 2006). When looking at the financial contribution these students bring to an institution, the advantages of a strong international student presence on a campus increases. This will continue to make them an important source of revenue in the year 2022.

Although there will be a desire to increase the numbers of international students most campuses will not be successful. Already in 2006 there is concern over the decreasing numbers of international students that are enrolling US institutions of higher education. This concern will increase in the next ten years. The United States has seen a steady decline in international student enrollment numbers since 2002. Although this was initially blamed on the events of September 11, 2001 and the perceived unwelcoming atmosphere that the nation presented to international students, there is more to blame for this decrease.

For too long, the US higher education industry has rested on its reputation when recruiting international students. The higher education industry took the market for granted and was unprepared for competition. From the turn of the 21st century, these students have turned to Australia and the United Kingdom in increasing numbers. This is due, in part, to those country’s coordinated national efforts at recruitment, (something the US has failed to do) and, in part, to a perception that access to the US is increasingly difficult and unpredictable. (Johnson, 2006) As stories of arbitrary visa refusals increase, students are choosing to turn elsewhere and the US will no longer be a desirable destination in the minds of most students.

Enrollment has also dropped as fewer students choose to enroll in their home countries. Decreasing student populations at home have resulted in increased access to their own higher educational system and this trend will continue. Students who in the late 1990s and early 2000s would be denied entrance to the highly competitive local universities are now able to win spots at home and do not need to turn to institutions overseas. Countries that traditionally have sent the US large numbers of international students will continue to strengthen their own system of higher education and fewer students will see a US degree as something of value. When the US government continues to put restrictions on research opportunities for international students (Johnson, 2006) and when the US economy fails to grow at the same rate as their own country, students will realize that there is no economic benefit to studying in the US and will choose to remain home. By 2022, the impact of these trends will be felt throughout all levels of higher education.

Technology

In 2006, technology is seen as the savior of higher education. As public funding for higher education decreases and the demands of non-traditional students for alternative access to educational opportunities increases, higher educational institutions of all classifications are looking at technology and technological innovations as the prescription to cure their ills. By 2022 this hope will remain, however, some important lessons will have been learned. Innovations in instruction, increased efficiency, expansion of distance learning opportunities, reduction of support staff and faculty are all hoped for advantages that technological innovations are predicted to bring to the industry by 2022 (Altbach, 408). Some of these will occur but not necessarily as they are envisioned today.

Universities will continue to innovate and the best faculty will use technology to increase student participation and learning. Classroom instruction will become more interactive and high tech because students will demand it. The traditional age student in 2022 will have grown up with his or her own cell phone from the time he or she was in elementary school. These students, with their multi-tasking lifestyle, will not be able to sit in a lecture hall and take notes for an hour.

A blending style of teaching that will allow in-person interaction with a faculty along with off-sight participation will develop. More and more students will alternate between distance learning and the traditional method. The millennial generation will be more comfortable learning from their apartment or room on campus than going to a large lecture hall. This type of participation will allow institutions to combine on campus students with distance learning students in the same classroom. This blending of students into one campus will only be successful for institutions that recognize that the need for student services does not go away when students are not physically on campus and when they effectively use technology to allow off-site students access to campus life (Kendall). By 2022, those successful institutions will see an increase in enrollment and will become models for schools that want to change to meet the demands of the new age. They will use innovations to encourage student creativity and productivity.

By 2022, institutions that are unable to afford the expense required by advances in technology will struggle to maintain their enrollment. They will be unable to meet the demands of their student body and will look for cost cutting measures in other areas to fund their technology costs.

Public Opinion

By 2022, a change of public opinion towards the role of higher education will be on the horizon. Throughout the next decade, there will continue to be a decrease in state funding for higher education. Direct funding to public institutions will decrease to a minimal level (Hovey, 1999). Legislatures will view higher education as a low priority and insist that tuition revenues be used to fund its costs. This opinion will be supported by the public as universities as the importance of the value that the higher education industry serves to society is lost to the public.

By 2022, the largest source of public funding at institutions will be in the form of need based loans and grants to students. The larger, research based universities will see a continuation of research grants from the government but their availability to other institutions will be limited. As this trend in funding continues, state and federal government will increase their demands on institutions for increased reporting requirements, access to student records and for input to governance issues. These demands will not be accompanied by sources of funding. The burden that these factors place on institutions will become heavy enough that there will be a reaction by the industry to move towards changing public opinion. Higher education has enormous public relations machines on their campuses. By 2022, these departments, that were previously put to use to attract students, will increasingly be used to turn public opinion. There will be a concerted effort by the industry to reflect the societal value of higher education. The importance of higher education to the community will become the message.

Tuition and Access

Closely related to public opinion is the issue of rising tuition costs. As noted in the previous section, state governments are less willing to fund higher education. As costs for institutions of higher education continue to rise (health care, labor. etc.), this has created a shortfall in cash. The response by most institutions has been to raise tuition well above inflation rates year after year. This is steadily making a college education more and more unaffordable to those in the lower and middle economic class. As in 2006, in 2022 this will remain true as a higher education becomes increasingly unavailable to large portions of society.

Heywood (2006) reported that parents are more concerned with paying for college costs than they are with retirement. He noted that parents often say, “Too bad about retirement savings; my kids are going to college” (p. 10). In 2022, this will still be a concern for many parents. However, many others will have given up on the idea of college for their kids because even by sacrificing their own retirement they will be unable to save the sums necessary to pay for a college education. These parents will focus on retirement and inform their children they are on their own for paying college costs.

In 2006, many students are paying for college costs by using credit cards. McGlynn (2006) noted that 24% of college students charge tuition on their cards. She also noted that another 71% are charging books and food. This is resulting in huge credit cards debts for students. In 2022, burned by high default rates by college students and recent college graduates, credit cards will be more selective in issuing accounts and students will be less able to turn to them to pay for rising college costs.

Fitzgerald (2004) noted that of 900,000 college-qualified high school graduates from low and moderate income families in 2002, over 500,000 were denied access to higher education by either being prevented from enrolling due to lack of proof of ability to pay or they simply did not attempt to enroll. He wrote, “Such a large group of college-qualified high school graduates denied access today portends substantial losses over the rest of the decade as the number of high school graduates rises to historic levels…This staggering toll suggests that one of the core values we hold as a nation – equal educational opportunity – now stands in stark contrast to reality of college access for low-and-moderate-income students in America today” (p. 14, 15).

In 2022, this trend will continue. Institutions of higher education will make deliberate and strong efforts to provide low income students (particularly those from minority backgrounds) with scholarships in an attempt to keep diversity alive on campus. However, the majority of students will not qualify for significant amounts of aid and a large number will not enroll. Increasing, fewer and fewer students from low and moderate income homes will attend college. This will lead many to conclude that higher education access is a privilege based on income rather than merit which will probably lead to a backlash against higher education in the United States of America.

Changing Role of the Campus Library

In 2022, the role of the library will be greatly changed on campus. With the reality of online access to scholarly material, coupled with the ever increasing costs of higher education, many institutions will make the decision to reduce the role of the library on campus. The beginnings of the trend can be seen in 2006 as academic libraries in the United States have seen their budgets and staffs trimmed in cost-cutting moves. This will result in libraries being used as book storage warehouses and student study spaces with fewer professional librarian supported activities such as reference and instructional services. The fewer number of librarians who remain will be more involved with working with providing access to online resources and support staff management.

The changes in access to scholarly resources are visible in 2006. Google Books is a project of Google which is scanning millions of books and journals and making them available for free to the public. Many publishers of scholarly resources are opening up their collections and relying on advertising to support their businesses. This trend will accelerate and in 2022 many institutions will question the wisdom of supporting a costly library on campus when much of the material is available for free or minimal cost online. The library buildings will remain but the role of the library staff in these buildings will be both reduced and changed.

One example of this is the Federal Government Document Depository Program. Currently, most large academic libraries participate in this program and receive hundred of thousands of print and microfiche material from the Federal government for free. However, as noted in Shuler (2005), the Government Printing Office is seeking to contain costs by shifting from print to electronic access to government documents. By 2022, this shift will have been completed. All government documents which are not classified will be online and there will be no need for library participation in the program except as keepers of pre-digitization era government documents.

Another example of the growing free electronic access to scholarly materials is the open source journal movement. One response to restrictive and expensive traditional journal publishers is for some scholars to create peer-reviewed journals which are available freely online. Ehling (2004) described the development of open source journals at Cornell University and Penn State University which were added by their respective library systems. The author noted, “Presses and libraries can leverage one another’s strengths” (p. 7).

Despite the optimism of the article, problems have become evident in the open source journal movement. Even online journals have expenses and the open source journal publishers have had to charge steep reviewing (redactory) fees to submitters. Further, faculty publishing in these journals have had to deal with bias from senior members of their departments who expect the junior faculty to publish in established journals for tenure or promotion. However, by 2022 these problems will be resolved and the primary expression of peer-reviewed scholarship will be available for free online and this will reduce the role of the library.

Bailey-Hainer and Forsman (2005) wrote about declining state support for higher education and how this will translate for libraries. They predict grim results. They theorize that as revenue falls, institutions of higher education will find new ways to charge for public services. The library is a public service which is hard to charge for and is also expensive. Hence, it is likely to wither.

Tennant (2000) wrote, “The game has changed. We face an array of possibilities and challenges that will leave no library untouched. We are, whether we want to or not, about to become much more than we are now - or much less” (p. 55). In 2022, the role of the library and librarian will be reduced but not eliminated. However, as a consequence, quality information will be more accessible than ever and all will benefit.

Conclusion

What does the future hold for higher education in the United States of America in 2022? It is difficult to know for sure but this article hopefully provides a few good predictions. It is unlikely that everything here will occur but even the misses may still point to potential areas of concern or hope.

References

Bailey-Hainer, B. & Forsman, R.B. (2005). Redefining the future of academic libraries. Journal of academic librarianship, 31(6), 503-05.

Ehling, T. (2004). The development of an open source publishing system at Cornell and Penn State universities. ARL, n. 237.

Fitzgerald, B.K. (2004). Missed opportunities: Has college opportunity fallen victim to policy drift? Policy drift, 36(4), 10-19.

Gumport, P.J, & Chun, M. (2005). Technology and higher education. (pp. 393-424). In P. G. Altbach, R. O. Berdahl, & P. J. Gumport (Eds.), (2005). American higher education in the twenty-first century: Social. political, and economic challenges. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Heywood, J.C. (2006). Parents worry more about pying for college tham retirmet, survey shows. Diverse issues in higher education, 22(25), 10.

Kendall, J. R. (2005). Implementing the web of student services. (pp. 55-68). In K. Kruger’s (Ed.) Technology in student affairs: Supporting student learning and services. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, Inc.

Johnson, M. (2006, July 28). Toward a new foreign student strategy. Chronicle of higher education, 52(47), B16.

McGlynn, A.P. (2006). College on credit has kids dropping out. Education digest, 71(8), 57-60.

NAFSA. (2005, November 14). The Economic benefits of international education to the United States of America: A statistical Analysis, 2004-2005. Retrieved August 1, 2006 from http://www.nafsa.org/public_policy.sec/international_education_1/economic_imp act_statements_2005.

Shuler, J. (2005). The political and economic future of federal depository libraries. Journal of academic librarianship, 31(4), 377-82.

Tennant, R. (2000). Determining our digital future. American libraries, 31(1), 55.

Budgeting in Higher Education

2012-02-05T08:52:00.000-08:00

For this reflection, I am going to concentrate on two chapters from a 2001 ASHE Reader on finance in higher education. This will include Chapter 35 (Schmidtlein, 2001) and Chapter 36 (Brinkman and Morgan, 2001). I found both of these chapters to be insightful readings.

Schmidtlein (2001) had the most insightful of the two chapters by often stating the obvious in very well constructed sentences. His chapter examined the issue of why it is so hard to actually link budgets in higher education to planning. One of the reasons that Schmidtlein noted was that it is difficult to predict the future of higher education in the first place. Since predictions are hard, making a budget to fit the future may prove to be futile.

Schmidtlein (2001) made a reference to the Oracle at Delphi as an example of how people have tried to explore the future for planning purposes. Although he does not develop this idea, I think it is an excellent example. The many women who served as the Pythia at the Oracle showed cleverness in predicting the future. It appears they really did not know either so they couched their prophecies in ways that could be later validated regardless of what happened. In 560 BC, Croesus of Lydia asked the Pythia if he should invade Persia. He was told, "After crossing the Halys, Croesus will destroy a great empire." He thought this meant he would win. Instead, he got beat and in the process destroyed his own empire. The Oracle had it right no matter what. As an oracle of higher education, I could make predictions such as, "Funding in the state will present many surprises for higher education this year" or "Seek the path of diversity in your institution and many rewards may be reaped." However, these statements would not actually help in planning a budget. Although I have exaggerated the oracle example here, I think it does illustrate how predicting the future can be tough and that Schmidtlein was right in his view that this is a reason why budgets do not always align with planning.

Another reason that Schmidtlein (2001) wrote was a problem for connecting planning to the budget was time. Higher education politics can be fierce. When planning is done, the politics continues. Those who lose in the planning stage tend to keep fighting looking for ways to reverse decisions and get more money despite what the original plan was. There is such a huge gap between when planning is done and when funds are dispersed that there are lots of opportunities to hijack the process and get funds reallocated in ways that did not fit the planning process.

Yet another problem in connecting budgets to planning is organizational attitudes toward budgets. Schmidtlein (2001) wrote, “Organizational units nearly always view planning as a means to enlarge their budgets, while central staff frequently seek reallocations and reductions” (p. 419). This belief is very evident in higher education. Departments always see the planning and budgeting process as a way to get more funds. The idea that funds may be shifted away to other areas of the institution is not received well. Almost every department on a campus has a list of projects they want funded in the future. No matter what the planning goals are, these departments recast their wish lists to appear to fit the new planning goals.

When departments on a campus do not get increases to fund wish list projects, they often get angry. Athletics is a frequent target of their anger. Many in academia are not supporters of athletics. Some are actively hostile towards the whole athletic endeavor. When these individuals see athletics getting more money, they imagine that this was at the expense of their departmental wish list. They the angrily complain that academics are not a priority on campus as they point their finger at the athletic department. It does not matter how badly athletics might have needed the money. The point to the department not getting more money is that they did not get more money. Athletics easily becomes a scapegoat and point of complaint for those frustrated with the budget process.

Schmidtlein (2001) also wrote, “Even in the best of times, organizations tend to view their budget base as a given and seek to confine discussions to requests for increases. Cutting budgets usually is a politically difficult task” (p. 420). I have certainly seen this is relation to the library acquisitions budget. Funds for purchases of books and periodicals are given to the library with a certain amount allocated to support every college on campus. The formula was set up decades ago and it no longer reflects changes in programs. Hence, some areas get more money than they needed and others do not get enough. Not surprisingly, those colleges which are overfunded in relation to others have fought tooth and nail to keep their allocation as is. Each college views their library acquisition fund as a given base that can only grow. To them, reductions in the amount are not acceptable under any circumstance.

I think this ties in well with Brinkman and Morgan (2001). The two wrote a very technical chapter that looked at many of the nuances of the budgeting process. In particular, they wrote about performance budgeting and responsibility center budgeting. I will admit that my eyes rolled into my head as I read this forcing me to have to reread passages several times. I believe this is important but it is also hard to get too excited about it. I know people who are excited about this stuff and I appreciate it. As a leader in higher education I plan on having people like this around me so I can rely on them for help with the importance of budget mechanics. Any library dean who does not follow the budget process closely is not going to do well…

One key point that Brinkman and Morgan (2001) wrote about was the trust factor of higher education. The authors referred to this as a trust market. They wrote, “higher education has been drawing down on what was once a large reservoir of trust” (p. 428). In essence, buyers are starting to doubt that higher education is worth the cost. Those losing trust include different levels of government, parents, and students. Reasons for this may include steadily rising tuition, seemingly politically motivated faculty at odds with most of the population, ineffective faculty and lack of proof for learning, etc. The constituents of higher education are skeptical of escalating costs.

Yet, Schmidtlein’s (2001) points about institutions believing their budget should only go up is relevant here. Central Michigan University is a good example. The institution lost millions of dollars in state funding over the last five years. Administrators on campus have kept track of this and call small increases from the states as a “restoration” rather than the increase that it is. Simply put, they feel entitled to whatever was the highest level of state funding in the past with growth to this expected each year. Higher education is not alone in this view in Michigan. The state prison system is complaining about coming cuts to their budget and the closing of a few prisons. However, the governor believes paroling non-violent offenders and elderly inmates can be done safely and save the state money. This makes sense to me but as it reduces the prison system budget it of course is opposed by the prison administrators and their allies in the state legislator. Yet the trust factor is in play here. The public no longer believes that giving more money to higher education or to prisons is necessarily in the states best interest. The trust factor for both is down.

Brinkman and Morgan (2001) also briefly touch upon the library in a resource center based budget system. Libraries do not quite fit the model. They wrote, “Additionally, in most RCB systems, the central administration of an institution oversees a taxing or subvention system where some activities such as libraries, judged to be valued but outside of proper market forces, are subsidized” (p. 429).

Works Cited

Brinkman, P. T., & Morgan, A. W. (2001). Changing fiscal strategies for planning. In J. Yeager, G. M. Nelson, E. A. Potter, J. C. Weidman, & T. G. Zullo (Eds.), ASHE reader on finance in higher education (pp. 425-436). Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing.

Schmidtlein, F. A. (2001). Why linking budgets to plans has proven difficult in higher education. In J. Yeager, G. M. Nelson, E. A. Potter, J. C. Weidman, & T. G. Zullo (Eds.), ASHE reader on finance in higher education (pp. 415-424). Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing.

Why is Higher Education Hard to Pay for?

2012-02-04T08:38:00.000-08:00

At the Google Scholarship and Libraries Conference in March 2006, Bruce James, CEO of the U. S. Government Printing Office, noted the steadily rising costs of higher education. He asked then why if we have one digital library why every campus needed a library at all? He contends that the growing cost issue in higher education will be dealt with and the closing of some libraries is going to happen as a result. I was at this conference in Ann Arbor and he got quite the reaction from the heavily librarian audience.

As I read for this course, the issues of who pays for higher education and why tuition keeps rising were in my mind. And I kept thinking about what Bruce James had said last year. He actually predicted that at the current rate of tuition inflation that a year of college would cost more than a house in 2050. It seems that no matter what anyone does, colleges and universities demand more money. And just as clearly, the state and federal governments do not want to pay and these costs keep getting passed onto the students and their families.

Heywood (2006) reported that parents are more concerned with paying for college costs than they are with retirement. He noted that parents often say, “Too bad about retirement savings; my kids are going to college” (p. 10). This is a big concern for many parents. However, many others have given up on the idea of college for their kids because even by sacrificing their own retirement they will be unable to save the sums necessary to pay for a college education. These parents focus on retirement and inform their children they are on their own for paying college costs.

Many students are paying for college costs by using credit cards. McGlynn (2006) noted that 24% of college students charge tuition on their cards. She also noted that another 71% are charging books and food. This is resulting in huge credit cards debts for students. Can this trend continue? Burned by high default rates by college students and recent college graduates, will credit cards will be more selective in issuing accounts and students will be less able to turn to them to pay for rising college costs?

Johnstone (2006) wrote about the complexity of higher education in the United States. One of the points he noted was that in the USA higher education access was directly connected to social class. The richer a person was, the more likely a person was to have access to higher education. In addition, having a college credential was a necessity for entry to the middle and upper classes. The poor and middle class are at a disadvantage in getting access to higher education. However, Johnstone also noted that taxpayers have grown more conservative recently and are less willing to support poor students.

I understand why the public has problems with funding an ever expensive higher education system. Porter (2002) reported that a bachelor’s degree added on average a million dollars in income to a person’s income. Why should the average middle class taxpayer give money to institutions of higher education which then goes to ultimately enrich students who will make lots of money? Why shouldn’t students fund their own eventual higher paychecks? However, I also think the public realizes that higher education access is not always fair. Some families can not afford to send children to college and this hurts these individuals unfairly. The public wants higher education to be affordable but does not necessarily want to keep throwing money at the endeavor.

This lack of access for some is happening. Fitzgerald (2004) noted that of 900,000 college-qualified high school graduates from low and moderate income families in 2002, over 500,000 were denied access to higher education by either being prevented from enrolling due to lack of proof of ability to pay or they simply did not attempt to enroll. He wrote, “Such a large group of college-qualified high school graduates denied access today portends substantial losses over the rest of the decade as the number of high school graduates rises to historic levels…This staggering toll suggests that one of the core values we hold as a nation – equal educational opportunity – now stands in stark contrast to reality of college access for low-and-moderate-income students in America today” (p. 14, 15).

Johnstone (2006) also wrote about the difficulty of determining how efficient institutions of higher education were in educating students. Bowen wrote a great deal about this as well. So why do students pay 30K a year to attend Harvard? Do the students learn more than the students who pay 5K a year to attend Central Michigan University? How exactly do we measure how efficient institutions of higher education are at teaching students?

Former US Secretary of Education Spellings introduced a plan to begin a process that may someday result in institutions of higher education having to demonstrate what their students learn. In other words, these schools will have to prove that their cost (from tuition or government aid) is worth it. Not surprisingly, the majority of academics are objecting to this. There really is no desire from the schools to actually be held accountable for student learning. This is being noted by both the public and by politicians. It may lead to more attempts at assessing student learning in the future.

The article by Gladieux and King (2005) discussed a variety of points which tie into a lot of the issues I have been writing about. They correctly noted that the American Constitution provides no role for the federal government in education. This means that states regulate and provide some funding for higher education for public institutions. Despite this, higher education impacts so many people that the federal government still takes an interest in even provides some funding.

Gladieux and King (2005) wrote that the federal government funds higher education through student aid and research and development. The feds give money to students directly via Pell grants and guaranteed student loans. They also fund research by giving money to schools to do studies which benefit many areas such as health and the military. In some cases, this type of support is rather substantial. The federal government also funds higher education by giving money for things like the ROTC.

References:

Fitzgerald, B.K. (2004). Missed opportunities: Has college opportunity fallen victim to policy drift? Change, 36(4), 10-19.

Gladieux, L. E., King, J. E., & Corrigan, M. E. (2005). The federal government and higher education. In P. G. Altbach, R. O. Berdahl, & P. J. Gumport (Eds.), American higher education in the twenty-first century: Social, political and economic challenges (2nd ed., pp. 163-197). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Heywood, J.C. (2006). Parents worry more about paying for college than retirement, survey shows. Diverse issues in higher education, 22(25), 10.

D. Bruce Johnstone, “Higher Education Accessibility and financial Viability: the Role of Student Loans,” in Tres, Jaoquim and Francisco Lopez Segrera, Eds., Higher Education in the World 2006: The Financing of Universities. Barcelona: Global University Network for Innovation (GUNI) published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, pp. 84-101.

McGlynn, A.P. (2006). College on credit has kids dropping out. Education digest, 71(8), 57-60.

Porter, K. (2002). The value of a college degree. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education

Critical Comparative Essay in Method of Inquiry

2012-02-02T09:11:00.000-08:00

(I am posting this reflection on a research article as a sample for students in my class. If this is useful or odd to others who may find it, so be it. Not like this blog gets a lot of traffic...)

This paper will provide a critical analysis of “The Land of Confusion? High School Students and Their Use of the World Wide Web for Research” by Michael Lorenzen which was published in Research Strategies 18 (2001), 151-163. As I am the author of the article being analyzed, I will use the first person to avoid awkwardness in writing about research.

Background

In the Spring Semester of 2000, I took a doctoral level course (EAD 955B) on qualitative research methods at Michigan State University. As a requirement for the course, I conducted a study of local high school students to determine how they were using the Web for research. I received a 4.0 on the paper (and in the course as a whole) and after some rewriting I submitted it to the journal Research Strategies. The referees sent it back to me once for revision but it was published in 2001. I was very pleased with this result as Research Strategies was the leading journal for library instruction and information literacy research at that time.

Have I Described My Methodology and Theory Base?

Beginning a review of my study, it is evident that I was not clear about what exactly I was doing. I note that the study was the result of me having interviewed students. However, at no point did I describe that this is a case study. As such, I make no attempt to explain why a case study method was selected and why it is appropriate.

However, I did attempt to justify why I used a qualitative study. One of the peer reviewers voted to reject the paper as my sample size was too small and did not use any quantitative methods. The editor realized that the reviewer did not understand qualitative research and she asked me to add a paragraph explaining and justifying this approach. I wrote, “The methodology used for the study was qualitative. It differs from most research in the library science field, which tends to use a quantitative model. Many researchers have trouble accepting qualitative data as valid” (p. 156). I then detailed why this approach was valid and I think this helped to frame the study a bit for readers who are not used to qualitative research.

I believe the study is well grounded in a theory. I used Perry’s Scheme of Student Development to justify my methodology and to explain what I was expecting to find in the study. I liked the idea of dualism and multiplicity as rationales for student information seeking behavior. I believe I adequately explained Perry’s theory and referenced it properly throughout the entire article.

Did I Articulate a Set of Research Questions?

Actually, this study had only one research question. It was looking to see how high school students used the Web for research. This is clearly stated early and often in the study. That being noted, it probably would have been useful for me to have broken this one question down into some smaller research goals. I could have added several additional research questions to this which may have allowed me to probe the overarching question a little better. However, the question being examined is well stated, open ended, and clearly answerable with the method selected for the research.

Did I Identify a Research Context and Explain How Access Would be Attained?

I did not do a good job explaining this at all. I believe that the research was indeed doable and that the context selected was appropriate. However, I did not explain this. I did make it clear that the study was conducted at a high school but I make no attempt to justify why this is the best setting for the research. There are good reasons for using a high school to study high school students but I was not clear enough about this.

Further, I do not describe how I received permission to do this study at the high school. I knew the teacher who allowed me to interview her students and that is how I gained access. I also did not describe that the teacher had brought her class to the Michigan State University Library during the term and this may have influenced the results some. Conversely, I did an adequate job explaining how I gained consent from subjects and/or their parents.

Did I Describe Procedures for Selecting Participants?

I completely fail to mention at all how the participants were selected. I did not explain how the subjects were selected and invited. I do reference how many subjects participated but I do not indicate why I used the number I did and how much time was spent with them. I do note that some of the subjects had difficulty in answering some questions and gave brief responses but I do not really report how much the participants were involved. If I was to rewrite this study, this entire area would be described much better!

Did I Identify a Data Collection Method and Justify it?

This is another area that I did both right and wrong. I clearly indicated that I interviewed students. I provided the number of interviews conducted and provided a list of questions. These questions also relevant to the project and I think it would obvious to most readers that they would help to answer the research question. However, I make no real attempt to justify using interviews or any of the questions.

Did I Describe Data Analysis Procedures Used?

Incredibly, I did not do this! I looked over my findings section where I discovered that I just rattled off what I found with no explanation of how I got there. I am a little sheepish about this now. As such, there is no description of what I did with non-matching interviews that went against my findings. There is no way to determine if the data analysis method made sense as I did not list the data analysis method.

How Could I have Improved?

Looking back at this paper, I see many ways I could have improved it. To being with, I would have added a rationale for why I used a case study. I would have listed one or two more research questions to study as well beyond the one I pursued. I would have explained why I choose a high school as the research setting and I would have listed how I gained access. I would have explained how I selected the students who participated as subjects. I also would have noted my data analysis method.

This paper was my first attempt at qualitative research. I was very fortunate to have had it published. Had this been submitted to an education journal instead of a library journal, it probably would have been rejected. My methodology section is only three paragraphs long. However, I am happy with my use of theory to ground the research and I think my findings have held up well over the last five years. I am happy to see people citing this paper in their own research.

Behind the Digital Curtain

2012-02-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

Could digital humanities to undergraduates boost information literacy? Steve Kolowich explores this in an article at Inside Higher Education.

From the article:

The buzz surrounding the digital humanities has largely emphasized its implications for professional scholarship. But here at the annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities on Thursday, a panel of digital humanists said that weaving digital humanities research into undergraduate education could help boost information literacy among college students.

“I think it’s a little disgraceful how little our students are forced to learn about the tool they and their friends use every day,” said Christopher Blackwell, professor of classics at Furman University.

Critical Thinking and the Web Lesson Plan Analysis

2012-01-31T15:54:00.000-08:00

(I am posting this as en example of a reflective analysis paper for teaching as an example for students in my course. If others find it helpful or weird, so be it. Not like this blog gets tons of traffic.)

On October 25th, 2006 I taught a class for EAD 680 at Central Michigan University. The topic of the session was critical thinking. Although I was not feeling well, I believe the class was successful and that students learned. Looking back at the class, I believe I did exhibit one of the five Pratt teaching perspectives. Further, I think I have an understanding of what I did well and some of the areas I might be able to improve upon in the future.

The Lesson Plan

I divided the lesson into three distinct parts. This included an introductory lecture based on the 19th century Cardiff Giant, class discussion based on two articles, and a web evaluation exercise I called “Hoax or Just Strange? A Web Evaluation Exercise.” The entire lesson was supposed to last an hour but it wound up going for an hour and fifteen minutes. I believe I know the reason for this and it is one of the points I will be addressing when I look at weaknesses in the lesson plan.

I began with the Cardiff Giant story. This was a straight lecture for about five minutes which related a story from 19th century America that helps to emphasize the importance of critical thinking. I usually start each section of my LIB 197 class off with this story before I even hand out the syllabus. My delivery was off a bit and I had to backtrack some but I think I was successful in relating the story and then connecting it back to the topic of critical thinking.

The second part of the lesson had the class discussing two articles from the assigned readings. This included “Teaching for critical thinking” by Diane Halpern and "Writing and thinking" by John Bean. I created a list of questions in advance to ask about each article. The students were slow to respond and I may have spoken to soon in response. However, as people started talking, I had less need to facilitate as the students became engaged in the topic. In fact, I needed to cut off the conversation so that there would be time to complete the entire lesson.

I had a small class (8 students) and I passed each a website address to examine and evaluate. Each website was accompanied by a set of four questions.

These were:

1. What is this site about? For what purpose was it created?

2. What evidence do you see that would indicate this is a valid site for information?

3. What evidence do you see that would indicate that this might not be a good site for finding valid information?

4. In your opinion, is this a hoax site? If not, would it be a good site to use for information even if you think the site is strange or out of the mainstream?

Each student got a different site. Sites used included:

Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus - (http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/)

Texas Independence Movement - (http://www.texasrepublic.com/)

Southern Lake Michigan - Where You Will Meet The Whales and Dolphins! (http://www.lakemichiganwhales.com/)

Voluntary Human Extinction Movement - (http://www.vhemt.org/)

A Concise Grammar of Feorran -(http://www.lib.montana.edu/~bcoon/feorran.html)

The First Human Male Pregnancy - (http://www.malepregnancy.com/)

Shards O'Glass - (http://www.shardsoglass.com/)

Dominion of British West Florida - (http://dbwf.net/)

Before I passed out the exercise, I went over with the class what to look for when evaluating a site. I used Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages from Cornell (http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webcrit.html) as a guide. The students offered suggestion and I wrote these on the board as well.

The students had mixed success. They correctly identified the whale watching, shards of glass, male pregnancy, and tree octopus sites as being hoaxes. They correctly identified the Texas independence and the human extinction movement as real. They mistakenly labeled West Florida independence site a hoax. They also believed the Feorran site was real.

After the results were shared, I again (briefly) went over criteria for web evaluation and how the points could be used in looking at the sites. The students agreed that they were helpful when looking at these sites and that even the real sites would not be good sources for unbiased information. For example, the Texas independence site would be good for getting information on Texas separatists but it would not be a good source for Texas history due to political bias.

As a side note, I wrote up the web evaluation exercise and posted it on my information literacy blog last week. I did change the circumstances of the class a little though. Over the weekend, a major news website (Ars Technica) included the post in a story about information literacy posting. I have attached both the blog post and the article to the end of this paper.

Pratt Teaching Perspective

Looking at the Pratt teaching perspectives, I can see my teaching in this session to be reflective of several perspectives including transmission, apprenticeship, and developmental. For example, the Cardiff Giant lecture I started with is clearly a transmission approach. However, I think the dominant teaching perspective was a developmental one. Both the open discussion about the two articles and the web evaluation exercise were primarily developmental in tone.

There are several advantages to a developmental approach. The goal of this approach is to help students develop more complex cognitive structures for understanding content. If questions and exercises are structured well, students can move from simple thinking on a topic to more in-depth critical thinking skills on the subject. Also, the questions and exercises can also help the students relate the content to their prior learning if the lesson can bridge the content to prior student knowledge.

There are some disadvantages to this approach. For one, well crafted lessons incorporating a developmental perspective take time. It takes longer to present the session this way in contrast to transmission approach based on lecture. Less content can be covered in the same amount of time. This was very clear to me. The open discussion and the web evaluation exercise took much longer to get through than I thought it would. This was my biggest surprise of the session.

In addition, some students resist the developmental approach as they have grown used to or just prefer another perspective such as transmission. If a student likes lectures, he may be angry that a teacher is using discussion or group exercises to teach. If the teach is the expert, why is he note telling me what he knows? This can cause a problem for a teacher using a developmental model.

Assumptions

I brought several assumptions into this session. To begin, this is a class composed of graduate students. I assumed there would be big differences between them and the undergraduates I normally teach. At one level, this was true. The students were more motivated to contribute to a discussion. In addition, I assumed the students would perform better at the web evaluation exercise. This was true as well.

However, one student failed to identify her site as a hoax. This was directly related to technology I believe. I am used to students who can operate a mouse and find and navigate web pages. This student was older and she had difficulty with this task. As she never really had a good chance to evaluate the site in question, she just guessed. Clearly, my assumptions about the abilities of the students in regards to technology were wrong for one student in this session.

As mentioned previously, I was surprised by the amount of time my session took. I had believed that an hour would have been sufficient. This assumption was incorrect. Both the discussion and web evaluation exercise portions of the lesson expanded beyond what I intended.

Reflection

Overall, I think this was a successful teaching experience. I believe I lead the discussion and the web evaluation exercise well and the students gained a better understanding of critical thinking and one way which the skill could be taught in an active learning format. However, as I have noted, there are some areas I can improve.

Things I think went well:

1. I believe the brief Cardiff Giant lecture peaked the interest of the students as was an appropriate lead into a class that would actually have little lecture. This allowed me to engage students with a differing teaching perspective than I used later.

2. The discussion questions I asked were appropriate for the readings and lead to some good conversation on critical thinking.

3. I was good at allowing students to speak what they thought about the articles and the web sites. However, I also used good judgment in moving the conversation forward when discussion was taking up too much time one a single point.

4. The web evaluation exercise was very hands on and appropriate for the topic of critical thinking. Students were engaged with it and I believe many will remember this exercise later when they themselves are thinking about how to teach about the web or critical thinking.

Things I would change:

1. The two articles I picked for discussion may not have been the best for teaching about critical thinking. In particular, “Teaching for critical thinking” by Diane Halpern was not well received by me or the students. I would use a different article next time.

2. I would ask fewer questions in the discussion of the articles to leave more time for the web evaluation exercise.

3. If possible, I would team students up to evaluate web sites. This would reduce the chances that a student would not have the technical skills to find and navigate a web site. With a small class, this was difficult. Perhaps when I noticed the student in difficulty I should have stayed with the student and helped with the page navigation?

Final Conclusion

Despite being ill, I enjoyed this experience. One thing I have learned about myself in my time in academia is that I enjoy getting up and teaching. I have had to work to get beyond just lecturing (which is my preference) to get to a more active learning approach. I think as time has gone by, I have definitely developed a more developmental perspective on my teaching even though I still like to go back to the lecture transmission perspective. I think this class session has shown my growth in this area.

Case Study Analysis: The Case of Secretary versus Principal or The Recalcitrant Secretary

2012-01-17T15:47:00.000-08:00

Introduction

This paper will analyze the case study “The Case of Secretary versus Principal or The Recalcitrant Secretary” which was written by Angus MacNeil and Richard Fossey of the University of Houston. It will take a perspective from the angle of one of the sides in the situation, define the problem presented in the case study, indicate what information is missing that would be helpful in making a decision, it will propose and analyze several possible solutions including possible consequences, select a preferred solution, propose a plan for implementation, and conclude with ideas for evaluating the decision.

Perspective

For this case study, I will take the perspective of Jo Hart. I had been a very successful secretary at Kingsville High School for the last twenty years. Recently, I accepted a transfer to a comparable job in the district at another school

Problem Definition

Until the arrival of Alex Cochrane as the new Principal at Kingsville High School, I had significant responsibilities at the school. I had been empowered by the previous Principal to take on many tasks including making class schedules, timetables, and assigning teachers to classes. I had a reputation as a take-charge person who got her tasks done.

Further, I had helped to correct many of the abuses that the district administration had heaped upon the clerical staff in the district. I successfully lobbied for the formation of a clerical union which helped us to win a court battle over pay equity. In gratitude, my colleagues voted me President of the Secretaries Union. This clearly shows that in addition to the support I had from the previous school administration, I had the support of my colleagues in the clerical staff.

Unfortunately, the new Principal caused problems. While he had been hired to fix the school, he came in and promptly started breaking things. He insisted on an unnecessary upgrade to the scheduling software which was working fine before his arrival. He ignored my well founded advice on how to fix the school by empowering many of the deadwood teachers who I had told him should probably be removed from the school. Further, it became clear that he had altered my schedule so that I would not get to work with him much. This created an obstacle for us to perhaps resolve our differences through communication.

Tragically, despite the mess that Principal Cochrane made of the school, he was quickly acclaimed as a success story. What the Principal cited as success by empowering teachers was in fact evidence of how he misused his power by assigning it to teachers. Sure the teachers were happy. The deadwood teachers loved him because he let them do whatever they wanted! Principal Cochrane was slick when it came to PR and he widely publicized his “success” at getting local businesses more involved with the school. Many in the district also gave him unfair credit for helping to improve the records of the athletic teams. It is not like he scored any points himself.

The problem as I see it is that Principal Cochrane is going to get away with what he has done. He has created a ton of problems and has disrupted the successful main office operation which I had worked my entire career to establish. I did my best to inform people of the truth but I fear that Principal Cochrane cited that as evidence that I was creating strife in the school. He is the one that created the strife! The Superintendent took an interest in moving me from the high school to another school. Now that I am no longer at the high school, my influence is all but gone and it is going to be very difficult for me to convince people how poorly that Alex Cochrane has done his job as Principal and it may be impossible for me to ever get back to Kingsville High School and fix the mess he has created.

In retrospect, I wonder if the reason that Principal Cochrane was transferred to Kingsville High School was to punish me. I had been very successful at organizing the Secretaries Union and we had won a court battle against the Superintendent. Shortly after this, Principal Cochrane arrived and started undercutting my influence. Now I am no longer in the job in which I had been so successful. This whole scenario may have been engineered in an attempt to undercut the Secretaries Union.

Missing Information

There are several pieces of information that I would like to know. To start, I want to know why I agreed to accept the transfer to another school. Why did I voluntarily agree to leave? Was I threatened? Did I get a sweet deal?

Further, what are the terms of the transfer? Did I agree to not file any grievances or lawsuits against the district in relation to how badly I was treated by Principal Cochrane? What agreements have I made which may hinder my ability to solve the problem of Principal Cochrane?

In addition, I want to know more about Principal Cochrane’s last stint as Principal at another high school in the district. He was seen as running a model school before coming to Kingsville High. However, did he use the same tactics he is using at Kingsville now? If so, his reputation has been built with puffery, PR, and an abdication of his authority to teachers. It is undeserved. If this is the case, are there others out there who have seen through his charade who might help me build a case against him?

Possible Solutions (and Consequences)
I really believe that I have only two options for this problem. I can accept it as it is and finish out my career quietly. Or, I can use my influence in the Secretaries Union to harass Principal Cochrane and find other ways to undermine him. If I work hard enough, it is even possible that the second tactic may result in me reclaiming my prior job at Kingsville High School.

The first solution has attractions for me. As much as I feel I have been wronged, I have had a long (20+ years) and successful career working in the district. I garnered the respect of my colleagues and the previous school administration. I made the school a better place. As I get older, I am moving closer to retirement and it might not be worth fighting any longer. I am in a new school now and if I work hard perhaps I can use my expertise to improve the functioning of the main office there.

However, I am not sure I can accept that approach. I may be the only person who can make sure that Principal Cochrane is held responsible for his actions. If I do nothing, he will be allowed to continue to damage Kingsville High School and may even be promoted to being the Superintendent within the district or elsewhere.

The second option is for me to use my position as President of the Secretaries Union to keep the pressure on Principal Cochrane. As a union, we can monitor his performance and file grievances (and potentially lawsuits) every time he does anything that could be construed as a violation of our contract. Each and every one of these events (even if we do not win) can be used to bring attention to questionable decisions that the man has made. At the same time, I can personally talk with people in the schools and the local community to continue to let them know about how poorly Kingsville High School is being lead to counter the belief that Principal Cochrane is doing a good job.

There are consequences to this plan as well. There is a good possibility that my plan could fail. In the meantime, I could severely damage the reputation and effectiveness of the Secretaries Union. If the union is seen as merely being a vehicle for my personal war, it will lose standing with the administration and the local community. Further, if I am unsuccessful, it may lead people to believe that I am ineffective and utterly irrelevant. I don’t know if I could stomach that.

Preferred Solution

I am going to go with the second option. Although I know I might not be successful, I feel I owe it to the community to ultimately expose and remove Principal Cochrane. I just don’t think I can sit around and end my career quietly on this. If I fight hard, maybe I can return Kingsville High School to the state it was in when I was there prior to when Principal Cochrane arrived. I might even be able to help get rid of some of the deadwood teachers.

Implementation Plan

I will begin this plan be addressing the grievance process for union members at the next meeting of the Secretaries Union. I will encourage members to watch for a variety of possible contract violations with the reminder that if there is any doubt about an issue that they should contact me for guidance. I will also review with the members the steps that are gone through when the lengthy appeals process is invoked.

Later, I will meet with the clerical staff from Kingsville High School. I will inform them that Principal Cochrane is being watched closely for a variety of reasons. I will “strongly” encourage every member to watch him and his fellow administrators for possible problems. In particular, I will ask them to look for problems which could be grieved dealing with teacher autonomy and the impact of that on secretaries, outside business interfering in school matters, and the how the Principal communicates in issues dealing with the clerical staff.

Any problem which can be grieved will be acted upon. The union will go as slow as possible and drag the process out. We will attempt to bring in as many people into the procedures as possible. The entire process will be used to shed a negative light on the Principal and his administration. If any errors are made in the process by the district, a law suit will promptly be filed and publicity will be sought from the local press.

In addition, I will use every opportunity to let other people know what is really going on in the high school. I will talk at my new school, at home, at church, and at community events about events at the school and how I was treated unfairly. I will also attend as many Kingsville High School athletic events as possible being sure to talk about Principal Cochrane with spectators.

If enough grievances or lawsuits are filed, it will give me an excuse to attend a school board meeting and ask why such a situation is being allowed. I will be able to document and show the increase in grievances under Cochrane’s management in the school and ask the board how they plan on improving the situation. Ideally, I will be able to bring in community members who can express their concern at the direction the school has taken.

If I manage to make Principal Cochrane look bad by filling multiple drawn out grievances and by damaging his reputation in public, then that progress may ultimately result in his resignation or dismissal. If I play my cards right, someday I may get my old job and powers back. The problem will have been solved and I will have helped the district out in a big way.

Evaluation

This plan succeeds or fails based on whether Principal Cochrane is removed or leaves his job at Kingsville High without being promoted. Here are some results which might indicate progress or success:

1. A significant number of grievances are filled against Principal Cochrane. Regardless of the success of the grievances, the amount of time and people involved make him look bad.

2. One or more grievances are handled improperly or have a result which allows for legal action. Again, the time and district staff tied up in resolving this helps to make Principal Cochrane look bad.

3. Feedback from community members causes district leaders such as school board members and the Superintendent to reconsider their positive impression on Principal Cochrane.

4. The end result is successful if Cochrane leaves the district or is demoted.

Case Study Review: Mountain State University Opportunity Scholarships: Encouraging Students of Color to Participate in Higher Education

2012-01-10T15:44:00.000-08:00

Introduction

This paper will analyze the case study “Mountain State University Opportunity Scholarships: Encouraging Students of Color to Participate in Higher Education” which was written by Amy Aldous Bergerson of the University of Utah. It will take a perspective from the angle of one of the sides in the situation, define the problem presented in the case study, indicate what information is missing that would be helpful in making a decision, it will propose and analyze several possible solutions including possible consequences, select a preferred solution, propose a plan for implementation, and conclude with ideas for evaluating the decision.

Perspective

For this case study, I will take the perspective of President Sam Clark. This will allow me to examine this case from the view of the upper levels of higher education administration.

Problem Definition

The university has had a difficult time in building a diverse student body. There are several reasons that are listed as possible causes of this. Mountain State University is located in a state that is 89% white. As such, there is not a large pool demographically to recruit from within the state for diversity purposes. Additionally, a high percentage of diversity high school students do not actually apply to attend any college. There is a belief among many of them that they can not afford college.

The current student population is short on diversity. Only 7 percent of students can be considered as being from groups that would add to ethnic diversity. As the University president, I believe this is a problem. All students (including the white ones) benefit when they learn in a racially diverse community. As such, I have announced several strategies for pursuing a more diverse student body including scholarships and guaranteed admission for all students who graduate in the top 10% of their high school class.

Further, the state that Mountain State University is located in is very conservative. The state government is controlled by conservative elements. Attempting to diversify the student body for the sake of diversity alone may not be perceived well. As such, I will need to tread carefully to garner support from the state officials who provide funding for my institution.

Missing Information

There are several missing pieces of information that I would like to know about. For example, does the university have a reputation as a place that is welcoming or threatening to students who are from a minority group? Is there a past history which would raise a warning flag in the minority population that tells them to steer clear of Mountain State University? If so, there needs to be some preliminary work done to help the university community acknowledge and address this image problem.

Also, have there been initiatives in the past to try and diversify the student body? If they failed, what were the reasons? A list of previous efforts in this area would make it easier for me to find a successful strategy. I would be able to either discard or alter failed ideas. I could also build on any strategy that resulted in success.
Further, I would like to know about other institutions of higher education in the state. How are they doing in attracting a diverse student body? I would like to see how the competition is or is not addressing the issue and what success they may be having. Is there a school in the state that is predominately African-American? If there is, there might be a good reason that many minority students are not coming to Mountain State.

Recruiting against such a school would be very difficult and it would certainly alter my approach to the situation.

Possible Solutions (and Consequences)

As I have already announced my plan for more diversity, I will need to stick with it. However, there are different solutions that may allow me to achieve my goals of increasing diversity in the student. Each solution will have potential benefits and consequences.

The initiative I announced centered around giving $5000 a year scholarships to students who were first-generation college or economically disadvantaged. I did not specify that the students had to be minority. However, as minority students would almost always qualify I am hoping that a large portion of the scholarship awardees will be minority. Further, the award only pays for tuition and fees. It does not cover lodging. As such, this will skew the award winners to those living in the local community. As the city has a 20% minority population (as compared to 11% for the state as a whole) this also would help to make sure that much of the money goes into minority hands.

Coupled with this scholarship, I also announced that all students who graduated in the top 10% of their high school class would be assured of admission and would receive a one time $1000 scholarship. As many minority students are clumped together in the same districts, I am hoping this will tempt some of the high performers in primarily minority districts. (And it will be nice if we get lots of other top notch students too regardless of their ethnic background.)

One way of following up this announcement would be to just do what has been proposed. Now that it is in place, we can sit back and wait and see if this helps increase diversity in the student body. This is a substantial program and it has already gotten good PR. It has been well received and in many ways will promote itself. While we will continue to fund it and tell recruits about it, we will not necessarily do any promotional activity.

There are several advantages to this. By allowing the new program to work quietly, we will not raise the ire of anyone in the state government. If we actively target it to minority groups, we would face a backlash from the many in state who oppose affirmative action type programs. We would also be able to see if creating new scholarships based on economic status all by itself can make positive improvements in ethnic diversity.

There is one big drawback to this approach. If it is not actively promoted, it might not reach the audience we want. It could be that white students take up almost all of the scholarship slots. Or, many of the scholarships may go unused.

A second approach could be to aggressively market the scholarship all over the state. In addition to having our admissions staff pitch this at every school in the state, we could invest in some TV and radio advertisements. If tons of potential students and parents here about this, we have a good chance of getting a good response rate.

The drawback to this is that most of the applicants for the scholarship will probably be white if we promote it everywhere in the state. I want to help low income students regardless of race but the point of this scholarship is to increase ethnic diversity. Large scale promotion may actually hinder that goal. Further, a PR campaign would cost money which would reduce the amount which could be used for scholarships.

A third plan would be to selectively promote the scholarships. For example, we could identify the poorest 25 school districts in the state and push the scholarships at these schools. Minority students are proportionately over-represented in poor school districts so selectively targeting these schools would mean we would be more closely targeting the group we want to recruit with this scholarship.

This plan could backfire if some in the state government see this as an attempt to sneakily promote an affirmative action scholarship. As such, it is important to go about this quietly. At the same time, we can honestly claim that this scholarship is not about race but is instead about economic status.

Finally, there is an additional strategy that can be used with any of the three options listed above. This is to more aggressively recruit foreign students. Students from Asia and Africa would definitely add to diversity on campus. An African from Kenya adds just as much (if not more) diversity to campus than an African-American student from the local community. As an added bonus, many of these students would study at the
expense of their home governments. Foreign students would help to give all students a better education by adding new perspectives to classes and to campus life.

Preferred Solution

While all the above solutions have merits, I am going to go with number three. I want to actively promote these scholarships in a way that results in more diversity in the student body. No publicity would probably doom this program. Too much would bring in too many white applicants. However, if we carefully target the poorest districts in the state and single them out for aggressive publicity about the scholarships, I think we have a better chance of recruiting a more diverse student body. Just as importantly, picking districts based on economics will give us political cover if our actions unintentionally attract the attention of the state government in a negative light.

On top of this, I also want to beef up recruitment of foreign students of color. They will not qualify for this scholarship but I think our admissions department could assign staff to getting the word out about our school in Asia and Africa. Just a few percentage points swing in foreign enrollment could have a huge impact on the diversity of the student body.

Implementation Plan

I will start by calling in members of my senior staff and telling them about what we are going to do. I would have them instruct their staff to support the admissions department in this endeavor in every way possible. I would also talk in depth with my Head of Admissions to make sure that he understands exactly what we are doing and what the goals are for the scholarships.

At this point, we would identify the 25 poorest school districts in the state. After doing this, we would make plans for targeting them for scholarship recruitment. The admissions department would send recruiters out to each school hyping the scholarships and how great Mountain State University is. I would personally call the superintendent of each school district asking for his/her support. Further, I would authorize limited media buys in the local markets of each school district which would be aimed at parents and grandparents.

After making initial contacts, I would make sure that the recruiters would maintain a roster all minority students who showed any desire at Mountain State University at all. I would have the admissions department make multiple follow up contacts with each. I would also encourage the admissions department to contact parents with offers of possible free money. In the case of particularly talented minority students who are on the cusp, I would personally call them myself. Perhaps they would be impressed by the fact that the President of the university cared enough to call them himself.

Evaluation

This plan ultimately succeeds or fails based on the number of new minority students who enroll at Mountain State University. To evaluate it, I would be looking at the following:

1. How many new minority students enrolled at Mountain State University in the first and second years of this scholarship?

2. How many scholarships went unused or went to white students?

3. How well received were the scholarships by the targeted school districts? Was there cooperation from the district administration in helping to promote the scholarships?

4. Did this plan generate any controversy over affirmative action in the state? If so, did the use of economic factors rather than race provide me and the school with adequate political cover?

5. Is foreign student enrollment up? If so, can it be traced to efforts in the admission department?

6. How well are the new minority students doing? What is our minority retention rate? Are the scholarship recipients being successful on campus?

Case Study Analysis: Do You Hear What I Hear?

2012-01-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

Introduction

This paper will analyze the case study “Do You Hear What I Hear?” which was written by Marion Czaja, Carl Harris, and Dianne Reed of Sam Houston University. It will take a perspective from the angle of one of the sides in the situation, define the problem presented in the case study, indicate what information is missing that would be helpful in making a decision, it will propose and analyze several possible solutions including possible consequences, select a preferred solution, propose a plan for implementation, and conclude with ideas for evaluating the decision.

Perspective

For this case study, I will take the perspective of a community leader representing the primarily Hispanic population living in the west areas of Cloverdale. I am very supportive of education but I am concerned by the treatment of my community by the local school board.

Problem Definition

The problem as I see it is that School Board and the Superintendent are not consulting with or taking into account the needs and desires of the people of my community that I represent. The city of Cloverdale has seen dramatic shifts in demographics over the last decade. The percentage of students who are Hispanic and/or economically disadvantaged has risen sharply. Hispanic students now account for nearly 50% of all students. Poor students now account for nearly 70% of the student population.

There is a need to build new schools to accommodate the growth in the district population. Unfortunately, the leadership of the school has made a decision to pursue a bond to generate funding for two new magnate schools. Neither will be built in the west neighborhoods that I represent. Instead, they will be built in the affluent white neighborhoods on in the east of the district. It will require students from my area to be bussed 30 minutes to attend the new facilities. Further, a lottery system will be implemented meaning that many of the children in my area will be denied the ability to attend the new schools.

None of the members of the School Board have made any attempts to consult with citizens of the school district about what they might want. Further, the Superintendent had not made many efforts to get to know me or the other leaders in my community. When a School Board meeting was announced with the topic of a bond election, rumors spread that the school leadership did not care about the concerns of the people in my community.

The School Board went ahead with their controversial plan and by a 4-3 vote have decide to place the bond issue on the ballot. It was apparent from the meeting that the Superintendent was ambivalent about the bond issue as well. From the tone of the feedback offered by community members at the meeting, there will be significant opposition to the bond issue with much of it generated from my community.

Missing Information

There are pieces of information missing from this case study which would prove helpful as the leaders in my community decide how to respond to the school leadership and the bond issue which will now be on the ballot. To begin with, is ignoring the members of the poorer neighborhoods a new trend? Or, has this happened repeatedly in the past? If there is a history of this sort of behavior, it will be harder to come up with a plan that will reconcile the school leadership and members of my community in a plan that both can accept.

Also, what is the ethnic composition of the School Board? We know that five of the seven members of the School Board are long-term residents of the town. We also know that two of them are female. However, of what racial background are the Board members? If one or more School Board members are representatives of the minority groups in the district, this also might help to smooth over hurt feelings that the views of residents of some neighborhoods are not being heard.

Further, how much time do we have to get the bond issue language changed to reflect the desires of member of my community? If not, is there time to convince the school leadership to temporarily remove the bond issue from the ballot so that it can be resubmitted in the future when feedback from all school district residents has been heard and considered? Election laws are very strict on timing in regards to filing for an election and for when changes can be made to previously submitted ballot measures. Is there time to have a bond issue that the people in my community can accept or do we have no choice but to vote this bond down?

Possible Solutions (and Consequences)

There are several different ways as a leader in my community that I can encourage others to find a solution to the problems created by the bond measure. Each would require a different approach. Each possible solution also has potential consequences for both my community and the school district.

One solution would be for me to advise the members of my community to accept the decision of the School Board and to support the bond issue. Although the plan developed by the School Board is not the best one for my community, all students in the district would benefit by the addition of new facilities. It would cut down on overcrowding in the district and the newer buildings may help to attract new teachers. Although this solution would not be the best one, it could have a positive long-term impact on the quality of the education that students receive.

There are several drawbacks to this solution. A big one would be that many members of my community would ignore my advice and work to defeat the bond issue anyway. In the process, I could damage my credibility as a leader as would others who would urge this path of least resistance. Further, having large numbers of people in my neighborhood working at cross purposes with each other would dilute the voice of my community and make it harder to stand as one to try and influence future issues in the school district.

Finally, this approach would allow the School Board to get away with ignoring the citizens in my community. If they marginalize the concerns of poor Hispanics (and African-Americans who live in the communities to the north) and are then successful in getting the bond issue passed, the School Board is unlikely to take the concerns of my community seriously in the future. And why should they? If they can do as they please without gathering input and consensus from the community that they serve, it is probable that they will continue to ignore citizens in the neighborhood I represent and others as well in the school district.
A second possible solution would be to seek dialogue with the school leadership. In the months to come, I could work with the district and other leaders in the community to present opportunities for the school leadership to reconsider the bond issue. If this could be done in a timely manner, there still may be time to rewrite the bond issue or to get it delayed until a future election so that a new bond issue can be placed on the ballot that the community could support.

This possible solution looks like it may be successful based on the actions of the school leadership. The School Board decided this issue on a split 4-3 vote. If only one School Board member could be persuaded to change his or her vote, a compromise could be reached between those who were not listened to previously and the School Board. Further, it was clearly observed that the Superintendent was uncomfortable during the School Board meeting which resulted in the bond issue being agreed to in the first place. It is well known that the School Board and the Superintendent have had disagreements in the past as the School Board has overridden several of his recommendations. Could this be another area of disagreement that could be exploited to allow for the people I represent to provide their feedback to the school leadership?

The potential benefits of this approach are enormous. If the school leadership will allow for feedback from the community on this issue, and then alter their plan accordingly, the bad feelings caused by this entire incident can be cleared. If a bond issue can be offered that has full community support as a result of these meeting, then myself and other leaders of my community are going to be seen in a positive light. We will be seen as people that it is worth it to work with and we will have the opportunity to be listed to again in the future by the school leadership.

This possible solution still has the potential to backfire. If the school leadership refuses to engage in real dialogue on this issue (or if they just pay lip service to this idea and do as they please anyway), then the anger in my community will likely increase. The result would almost certainly mean that people in my community would work to defeat the bond measure. Their cynicism about the entire process could also discourage some from wanting to ever try to work for change in the district again. The may feel that their feedback is entirely unwelcome and unappreciated by those in charge of the schools.

A third option that could yield positive results for my community would be to recommend that we all openly oppose the School Board and work together to defeat the bond measure at the ballot box. If our voices are not important to the school leadership, then we have no obligation to support the school. We could send a clear message by helping to vote down the bond measure. As a lot of older long-term district residents seem to be opposed to the measure, it might be easy to send the leaders of the school a clear message about the dangers of ignoring us.

If successful, this approach could then allow us to approach the Superintendent and School Board after the bond measure is defeated. We could then offer to have a candid series of discussions about the needs of our community and then work to find an acceptable bond measure to put on the ballot. If the school leaders prove unwilling to hear our message, then at that point we could work to remove current School Board members and elect members of our community to be on the School Board instead. This could ultimately assure that the needs of our community are adequately addressed in the school district.

However, this approach would generate a lot of negativity and ill will in the community. Many strong school supporters would not see this as a means for my community to be heard by the school leadership. Instead, they will probably see it as a vindictive strategy that will hurt kids used by people who did not get their own way. Finding a common ground with school supporters and the School Board will be difficult if this solution is tried.

Finally, there is the possibility of filing a complaint with State Education Agency claiming that the school leaders have mismanaged funds. The declining achievement scores in the district could be cited as proof of this claim. This course of action could be coupled together with any of the three above proposed courses of action. For example, we could attempt to seek dialogue but also file a complaint at the same time. If there is real funds mismanagement in the district, this could be a positive step in helping to publicize it. However, a claim such as this would be difficult to prove and little would probably come of it. Further, it would not be taken well by the school leaders and would hinder dialogue. This additional tactic should probably only be used if the third option of fighting the bond measure is decided upon.

Preferred Solution

I will recommend that the members of my community try the second solution that I proposed above. I believe it is the most positive of the three. The first solution would not be bought into by a significant number of citizens in my neighborhood dividing our voice from the start. Further, it would probably result in our needs being ignored by the school leadership in the future. The third approach is too negative. It may be necessary to attempt to defeat the bond measure on the ballot with an orchestrated campaign but it really should be a last resort. Taking on a School Board by trying to defeat a ballot measure is very much like using a nuclear weapon in war. There is no going back once it is dropped.

My preferred solution engages the citizens of the school district with the school leaders directly. Feedback works both ways and each side really needs to sit down and talk this out. It may not work but I think it might. If not, there is nothing preventing us from attempting another tactic such as trying to defeat the bond measure.

Implementation Plan

Implementing the plan I am suggesting is very time dependent. We must be able to get changes made to the bond measure before the election law deadline passes. If we are not fast enough, we will be stuck with a ballot measure we can not support. As such, all the steps noted below may be done in as short of time as a few weeks or it may be done slower over half of a year.

To start, all of the interested leaders in the west and the north communities should get together and discuss this. What do we want from the school leadership? What changes would be necessary for us to support this bond measure? After this, we need to have an open forum for members of our communities to discuss what the citizens want. The School Board and Superintendent will be invited to this meeting.
After establishing what the members of the west and north communities desire, we will seek to form several task forces relating to the bond measure. It will be made clear that we expect members of the school leadership to participate in these task forces. If necessary, appropriate pressure tactics will be used to “encourage” participation by the school leadership.

At every School Board meeting, an agenda item will be placed dealing with the task forces. Members of my community will pack the School Board meetings every time ready to make comments encouraging changes to the bond measure. If it looks like needed changes are being stalled or not seriously being considered, it will be made clear to the school leadership that they are facing the real likelihood that the bond measure will fail.

Throughout the entire process, we will seek to garner positive PR from the local newspapers and TV/radio stations. We will emphasize that we are seeking to work with the school leadership and that we are strong supporters of public education. All of the meetings relating to the bond measure will be covered by the press. It is important that this issue is not dealt with in private. It must be public so that the school leadership can feel pressured to make changes.

Evaluation

Ultimately, this entire endeavor will be judged by whether changes were made to the bond measure that will make it more acceptable to the citizens of my community. Until we all talk, we will not be sure what these changes may be. It could be that school leadership agrees to build one of the new magnet school in the west or north neighborhoods. Knowing this, here are some specific indicators I would be looking for to see if this solution is working:

1. Are the members of my community willing to meet together and discuss this further? If so, can we agree on a common vision for the bond measure?

2. Is the school leadership willing to meet with the community and hear what they have to say?

3. Are the members of the school leadership willing to serve on task forces?

4. Is it apparent at School Board meetings that progress is being made towards making changes?

5. Is the local media covering this issue? Are most citizens in the school district aware that there is a controversy?

6. Finally, are acceptable changes being made to the bond measure that will allow it to get the support of my community?

If the bond measure goes to the ballot unchanged, then this solution has failed.

Using the Living Dead To Teach Information Literacy

2011-04-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

This is really cool. This is one of the best recent efforts I have seen for information literacy instruction. Teach it with zombies!

Using the Living Dead To Teach Information Literacy by Michael Kelley has details. He writes, "The staff at McPherson College's Miller Library in Kansas has come up with a unique information literacy tool: zombie attack. The library has just released an online 23-page library guide in graphic novel format called Library of the Living Dead that features students taking cover in the library from zombies run amok on campus, and the flight to safety becomes a point of departure for a blood-stained lesson, replete with decapitations, in the Dewey Decimal system and other library tools."

The comic can be found at http://blogs.mcpherson.edu/library/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Library-of-the-Living-Dead-Online-Edition.pdf.

Enjoy!

Google’s New Algorithm Cuts Off Content Farmers at the Knees

2011-03-03T14:56:00.000-08:00

Google's new attept to kill spam and content farmers from good search results is paying off and getting good reviews. The New York Times has the article Google’s New Algorithm Cuts Off Content Farmers at the Knees.

The article points out:

Here's what you can expect to see a lot less off on your results page: "sites that copy others’ content and sites with low levels of original content." This takes aim at scrapers — the types of sites that pull content from other sources typically by pulling from an RSS feed without permission. And content farmers — the types of sites that churn out articles like "How to Create a Start-Up Floppy Disk" in order to sell advertising for questionable profit. This announcement follows another anti-spam measure: Google's recently released personal blocklist, which lets users who are browsing on Chrome specify what unsavory sites they don't want showing up.

Good for Google. Real content should be at the top of the search results. Plagiarized or contrived articles shouldn't be.

Reframing Information Literacy as a Metaliteracy

2011-03-01T14:54:00.000-08:00

Thomas P. Mackey and Trudi E. Jacobson have a new article titled Reframing Information Literacy as a Metaliteracy. It is in the January 2011 College & Research Libraries, vol. 72 no. 162-78.

From the abstract:

Social media environments and online communities are innovative collaborative technologies that challenge traditional definitions of information literacy. Metaliteracy is an overarching and self-referential framework that integrates emerging technologies and unifies multiple literacy types. This redefinition of information literacy expands the scope of generally understood information competencies and places a particular emphasis on producing and sharing information in participatory digital environments.

‘Tree octopus’ is latest evidence the internet is making kids dumb, says group

2011-02-03T13:14:00.000-08:00

The Tree Octopus site is old. I really doubt it fools many students anymore. Yet, it is still getting publicity. See ‘Tree octopus’ is latest evidence the internet is making kids dumb, says group. I much prefer the Fresh Water Whales.

From the site:

Pearson's release explained that the Department of Education funded the study and that it was administered by Dr. Donald Leu, a former teacher and "national authority on integrating technology into instruction." Leu's study highlighted fallacious reports on the fate of the "tree octopus" -- an allegedly endangered species roaming the treetops of the Pacific Northwest -- as a key illustration of this baleful trend.

Researchers on Leu's team asked a group of students to hunt down information on the critter, which of course does not exist. But the same researchers pulled a bit of trickery on the students -- they directed them to a website dedicated to saving the mythical tree octopus from extinction. And presto: the kids taking part in the study fell for the hoax and even continued to believe in the tree octopus after the study's leaders explained that there was no such thing.

This I Believe…All Libraries Should Be Teaching Libraries

2011-02-01T14:51:00.000-08:00

There is a noteworthy article titled This I Believe…All Libraries Should Be Teaching Libraries. It is from portal: Libraries and the Academy - Volume 11, Number 1, January 2011, pp. 575-582. The author is Catherine Palmer.

Here is the abstract:

In this article, I imagine a library that prioritizes teaching users how to find, evaluate, and use information over the traditional library public service activities of collection development, access to materials, and reference services. If I ran the library, all services would support end-user education.

Position Announcement: Diversity Resident Librarian (Western Washington University)

2010-07-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

Diversity Resident Librarian

The Western Washington University Library seeks a creative and innovative person to serve as Diversity Resident Librarian. The objective of the residency is two-fold: 1) to attract and set the foundation for a recent graduate in a challenging and rewarding career as an academic librarian and 2) to improve Western Washington Libraries efforts to reach out to and engage students, faculty, and community members from diverse backgrounds. The person in this position will report to the Assistant Dean for Public Services and provide support to reference, instruction, and outreach efforts, working in these areas to engage library users.

The successful applicant will have the following: strong interpersonal and communication skills, with a demonstrated understanding of multi-cultural competency; demonstrated ability to effectively interact with diverse student, faculty, and staff populations; demonstrated ability to relate to and address the needs and challenges of minority students on a predominately white campus, as well as the needs of students from other diverse groups, including LGBT students and students with disabilities; ability to foster a collaborative work environment in the Library that emphasizes inclusion.

Based on the interest of the successful candidate and the needs of the library, other areas of librarianship may also be explored. The Resident will be expected to participate in diversity outreach initiatives and will receive support to do so. An important component of this position will be collaboration with other librarians and inclusion on library committees. The successful candidate will bring vision and energy to serving students, faculty and staff at an outstanding comprehensive public institution.

This is a full time, one year (limited term) position. Salary is $43,000. Deadline for applications is August 27th, 2010. The position will be available October 1, 2010.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide support at library public services points, including Instruction and Research Services: on-site and virtual reference service points and library instruction program; Circulation: the media desk, and reserves to serve the public and learn about different aspects of library public service.

• Serve on committees with other library staff.

• Contribute to an environment of collegiality, inclusion, trust, and teamwork that enables library staff to participate and contribute to the goals of the organization, particularly as they relate to valuing diversity.

• Foster effective working relationships within the public service unit, with other library departments, and the University community.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS (Candidates must be able to demonstrate the following requirements)

• An MLS or MLIS from an ALA-accredited program that was awarded after June 2008.

• Demonstrated skills in interpersonal and written communication, and creative problem-solving.

• Demonstrated experience working with diverse students, faculty and staff.

• Demonstrated cross-cultural communication skills and multi-cultural competency skills.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Previous experience working on diversity outreach projects in or outside of libraries.

• Previous instruction experience. Instruction experience from practicums and internships is sufficient.
Application Instructions and Requested Documents: Please log in on the link below and submit your application via WWU’s Electronic System for Employment (EASE). Note: You will need to be using Internet Explorer to utilize our online application system. A letter of application detailing your qualifications, a curriculum vitae, and a list of three references is required. You can upload or cut and paste your materials as noted on the EASE application.

https://jobs.wwu.edu/JobPosting.aspx?JPID=1864

For further information, please contact Ms. Connie Mallison, Search Committee Coordinator, by email at Connie.Mallison at wwu.edu.

WWU is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, committed to assembling a diverse, broadly trained faculty and staff. Women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply. For disability accommodation, call (360) 640-3774 or (360) 650-7696 (TTY). All new employees must show employment eligibility verification as required by the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service before beginning work at WWU.

Research in Cryptozoology

2010-07-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

I have always found talking about crytozoological issues (monsters) a fun way to teach critical thinking skills and library research skills to college students. It doesn't matter if Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, etc. exist or not to be successful in doing this. I hope they do exist but regardless I can use examples from this field to teach web evaluation, database searching, and how to use multiple sources to search an interdisciplinary topic. As such, I put up a new LibGuide today Research in Cryptozoology. I hope others find it helpful.

How Handouts for Research Assignments Guide Today's College Students

2010-07-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

Project Information Literacy has a progress report out titled Reading Between the Assignment’s Lines. It is by Allison Head and Michael Eisenberg. It can be found with some background information at http://acrlog.org/2010/07/13/reading-between-the-assignments-lines/.

From the Abstract:

A report of findings from a content analysis of 191 course-related research assignment handouts distributed to undergraduates on 28 college campuses across the U.S., as part of Project Information Literacy. A majority of handouts in the sample emphasized standards about the mechanics of compiling college research papers, more so than guiding students to finding and using sources for research. Most frequently, handouts advised students to use their campus library shelves and/or online library sources when conducting research for assignments, though most handouts lacked specific details about which of he library’s hundreds of databases to search. Few handouts advised students about using Internet sources, even though many of today’s students almost always integrate the Web into their research activities. Very few handouts recommended consulting a librarian about research assignments. Details about evaluating information, plagiarism, and instructor availability appeared in only a minority of the handouts analyzed. The findings suggest that handouts for academic research assignments provide students with more how-to procedures and conventions for preparing a final product for submission, than guidance about conducting research and finding and using information in the digital age.

Break the Ice, Build the Momentum: Successful Strategies for Beginning a Library Instruction Session

2010-07-13T12:39:00.000-07:00

LOEX2010 on Prezi

Break the Ice, Build the Momentum: Successful Strategies for Beginning a Library Instruction Session

Carrie Donovan and Rachel Slough (Indiana University Bloomington)

Abstract:

For information literacy instructors, a common teaching challenge is how to start a class effectively. Without previous exposure to learners, library instructors have little understanding of students' prior knowledge or research needs. At the same time, the reason for a librarian's involvement in a course at all is usually a mystery for students.

The benefits of introductory learning activities, such as warm-ups, are pedagogically sound, but library instructors may be reluctant to incorporate these strategies into information literacy instruction due to limitations of time. Yet librarians still strive to design engaging information literacy sessions that result in meaningful and long-lasting learning opportunities. Considering the constraints of time and content-coverage that are inherent to librarian-led information literacy instruction, how can library instructors ensure the relevance of these warm-up activities to information literacy learning outcomes? What are strategies, rooted in educational theory, for successfully engaging students from the beginning of class?

To answer these questions, the facilitators gathered data through surveys and focus groups from library instructors throughout the U.S. during the 2009-2010 academic year. This workshop will reveal the findings from that study, as well as address their implications for the practical application of incorporating warm-up activities into information literacy instruction. Attendees will learn new strategies for starting a class successfully and have the opportunity to practice designing their own activities. The facilitators will collect and review the activities in order to construct a set of pedagogically-proven strategies that can be shared amongst the LOEX community.

A Scoring Rubric for Performance Assessment of Information Literacy in Dutch Higher Education

2010-07-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

The new (Summer 2010) issue of the Journal of Information Literacy has an article titled A scoring rubric for performance assessment of information literacy in Dutch higher education. It was written by Jos van Helvoort and is available full-text as a .pdf file.

From the Abstract:

The main purpose of the research was the development and testing of an assessment tool for the grading of Dutch students’ performance in information problem solving during their study tasks. Scholarly literature suggests that an analytical scoring rubric would be a good tool for this.Described in this article are the construction process of such a scoring rubric and the evaluation of the prototype based on the assessment of its usefulness in educational practice, the efficiency in use and the reliability of the rubric. To test this last point, the rubric was used by two professors when they graded the same set of student products. ‘Interrater reliability’ for the professors’ gradings was estimated by calculating absolute agreement of the scores, adjacent agreement and decision consistency. An English version of the scoring rubric has been added to this journal article as an appendix. This rubric can be used in various discipline-based courses in Higher Education in which information problem solving is one of the learning activities. After evaluating the prototype it was concluded that the rubric is particularly useful to graders as it keeps them focussed on relevant aspects during the grading process. If the rubric is used for summative evaluation of credit bearing student work, it is strongly recommended to use the scoring scheme as a whole and to let the grading work be done by at least two different markers.

Want Buy-In? Let Your Students Do the Buying!

2010-07-10T00:10:00.000-07:00

I just read Want Buy-In? Let Your Students Do the Buying! A Case Study of Course-Integrated Collection Development by Anne Barnhart. It is in the recent issues of Collection Management. The full citation is Barnhart, Anne C.(2010) 'Want Buy-In? Let Your Students Do the Buying! A Case Study of Course- Integrated Collection Development', Collection Management, 35: 3, 237 — 243.

You can see why this is intersting from the abstract:

This paper describes how library instruction sessions (both oneshots and credit-bearing information literacy courses) can be used as collection development opportunities. Students were assigned the project of selecting materials for the library’s collection as a way to demonstrate understanding of research tools. The titles selected by the students were purchased by the library. The author discusses the creation of this assignment and how it served to increase course enrollment and build a more useful library collection. This model integrates outreach efforts with collection building and information literacy.

Yes, this is a "how-I-do-it-good" paper but it is well done and thoughtful. It is well worth a look.

The Accidental Profession: Career Paths of Academic Library Development Officers

2010-07-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

The Accidental Profession: Career Paths of Academic Library Development Officers

Michael Lorenzen

(This paper was presented January 7th, 2011 at the 9th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Education. It is published in the conference proceedings. It can be cited as:

Lorenzen, M. (2011). The accidental profession: Career paths of academic library development officers. In the Proceedings of the 9^th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Education (pp. 4830-4846.) Honolulu, HI: Hawaii International Conference on Education, online at http://www.hiceducation.org/EDU2011.pdf.)

ABSTRACT. Libraries in higher education are increasingly seeking to expand their fund raising efforts to address declining financial support from their institutions of higher education. Development officers who specialize in raising money for academic libraries have proven to be an important aspect for success in library fund raising. This paper examines how individuals in academic library development positions find themselves in these positions in the first place. The results of a qualitative study are presented which demonstrates that most academic library development officers do not set out to seek their current jobs and instead they arrive in the positions by happenstance and accident. The paper also looks at implications of this finding and offer suggestions for better recruitment and training of academic library development officers.

KEYWORDS library development officers, fund raising, academic libraries, career paths, philanthropy, higher education

Introduction

Higher education is an important but expensive endeavor. The costs to attend and operate colleges and universities continue to rise at the same time that governmental support for these institutions has waned (Gladieux & King, 1999). Clark and Brandon (2006) argued that the majority of the states (43 of 50) deserved F's in college affordability because they have chosen as a matter of public policy to place much of the financial burden for a college education on families through higher tuition and other expenses thus making degrees less affordable. As a result of the decline in public support and increasing costs, many institutions of higher education are seeking increased private funding. Turning to private money to supplement other sources of income is a reasonable strategy for higher education as state governments cannot be relied upon to fund at the same levels they did in the past. Evidence indicates that there is private funding to be found. According to Summers (2006), "By several measures, well over $100-trillion will exchange hands in the next decades as baby-boomer wealth passes to the next generation" (p. 22). Thus, institutions of higher education in the United States of America are seeking supplementary new sources of revenue from private donors just as one of the largest transfesr of wealth is about to occur between generations.

This need to fund raise has not gone unnoticed by librarians. Clearly, "academic libraries have become active players in the fund-raising game" (Hoffman, Smith, & DiBona, 2002, p. 540). Latour (2003) found that while 96% of academic libraries were involved in fund raising efforts, only 61.3% of them were successful. The literature suggests that raising funds for a library is closely tied to marketing a library. Donors are unlikely to give to a library if they are unaware of it or if they do not think highly of it. Past experience strongly suggests that it is not enough for potential donors to simply “like” libraries. A general knowledge and appreciation of libraries often does not make libraries a high priority for donors. How can donors be made aware that a library is a worthwhile beneficiary of a gift? Part of the problem is simple competition. Weingand (1998) noted, "The library's present and potential customers have increasing numbers of choices and competitors for their time and support. Simple 'goodness' will no longer suffice" (p. 132). In the last two decades, higher education has lost substantial public funding as both state and federal governments have had to struggle with budget deficits (Legon, 2005). This has caused library administrators to look for ways to raise funds to support the library including new approaches such as targeting alumni of distance education programs (Casey & Lorenzen, 2010).

This need for fund raising for the academic library has required that libraries employ development officers. Surprisingly, very little research has been conducted on this group. This paucity of literature relating to library development efforts makes it difficult to know much about library development officers (Wedgeworth, 2000). This study helps fill in a need in learning how academic library development officers enter this career. This should help in the better recruitment and training of academic library development officers in the future.

Library Development Officers

Although the literature calls upon library leaders to personally learn fund raising skills (Browar & Streit, 2003; Dewey 2006), because of the demands upon leaders’ time it is likely that this solution to the problem will not prove particularly successful. An alternative response to the problem of having a lack of fund raising know how is to employ development officers in the library. Development officers in higher education work to raise funds for an institution. Most major academic units in a large university will have their own development officers who work to raise funds for a particular area of campus as well as the larger institution. Several authors (Dewey 2006; Miller 2002; Ruggerio & Zimmerman 2004) have called for academic libraries to hire development officers. Many academic libraries have employed a development officer with experience in fund raising. Other libraries have chosen to train library staff in development skills (Eaton, 1971). There is a belief that it is easier to train library staff in development skills than it is to teach development staff library skills (Welch, 1985).

Some library development officers have been successful in helping to lead academic libraries in productive fund raising endeavors. This includes key development functions such as cultivating donors and encouraging them to give (Greenfield, 1999), collaborating with both internal and external teams (Miller, 2002), working with library staff to identify potential donors (Lerud & Dunn, 2001), and highlighting the success rather than needs of a library (Lowenstein, 2001). Library development officers have also been successful in connecting library fund raising to college athletics. Neal (1997) found, "affiliation with a central academic agency like the campus library can help to restore credibility and to legitimize the heavy investments in sports programs" (p. 59).

A variety of administrative structures exists for library development officers (Martin, 2000). The development officer may report to the library director (decentralized) or to the campus development office (centralized) or may work in some hybrid of these two systems. Martin warned that the centralized approach could be dangerous to libraries. “Development officers tend to focus on the sexier academic programs unless the university administration has made the library a specific high priority - a rather unusual circumstance" (p. 5). Nevertheless, Martin believed that the relationship of a library with the development office on campus was central to its success and that a library not supported by the development office would be hampered in fund raising efforts.

Downes (1984) argued that an organizational approach between centralized and decentralized was best. He believed that a library development officer should report directly to the library director and also be a part of the library administration. However, he also felt the library development officer should have an adjunct appointment in the central campus development office to represent the needs of the library to the larger development unit.

Regardless of the reporting relationship between library development officer and library director, fund raising is still ultimately the responsibility of the library director and the library management team. Mulhare (1991) stated, "It is the library's key leaders who raise funds by working in cooperation with the development officer…Asking for money is only one stage in a far more complex process involving prospect research, cultivation, solicitation, and recognition" (p. 117). The role of the library director remains central in the fund raising process regardless of where the development officer reports in the campus hierarchy. It would seem then that the relationship that a library director has with the library development officer is equally important to the success of the process.

Not all academic libraries can afford to hire a full-time development officer. Some alternatives to this include giving development duties to a public relations officer or hiring an outside consultant to create a development plan and then having library staff implement it (Clark, 1986). Part-time development officers are also an option for libraries (Welch, 1985). Another staffing consideration involves assigning a library development officer a clerical assistant to help keep track of donors (Eaton, 1971). Regardless of how a library staffs a library development office, those libraries which have a larger development unit are more successful than those with fewer staff (Brittingham & Pezzullo, 1990). However, those libraries with larger development staffs also tend to be bigger and have more prestigious reputations which may account for some of the success.

Methodology

This qualitative study used a phenomenological approach based upon interviews with library development officers from academic institutions. Participants were identified by using the list of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) members. ARL is an association of 123 of the largest research libraries in the United States and Canada. Participants were identified via an e-mail sent to all ARL library development officers in academic libraries asking them to suggest the best development programs within ARL. Out of 123 ARL libraries, 80 were selected to receive the e-mail. The remaining 43 were not included as they were not academic libraries (being special or public libraries) or because it was impossible from their websites to determine who their development officer was at all or even if they had a development office. In addition, several institutions had vacancies in the development position resulting in their exclusion from the study.

A small number of programs frequently selected by ARL library development officers had their library development officer invited to participate in this study. Selected participants were contacted by e-mail with consent forms faxed to them in advance of interview dates. Nine were selected to participate. One individual declined due to a family emergency. Eight agreed to participate and they returned the signed forms via fax. The participants were interviewed over the phone. Conversations were recorded and notes maintained during the interview. Later, the data from the interviews was transcribed into Microsoft Word files. These files were then entered into NVIVO 7, a qualitative research software, for analysis.

Participants were scheduled for one hour interviews. Creswell (1998) noted that after a period of time, participants will begin to repeat themselves. Thus, a small workable number of participants and a reasonable number of questions can still provide meaningful data for analysis.

Purposeful sampling is an overall sampling strategy that can be used in a qualitative study. In it, individuals are selected that provide the information needed to address the purpose of the study (Patton, 1990). LeCompte, Priessle, and Tesch (1993) argued that the overall sampling strategy used in qualitative research was criterion based selection because inclusion criteria to select individuals are developed by the researcher. Purposeful samples study people, organizations, communities, cultures, and events that are information-rich (Johnson & Christensen, 2004). The participants included in this study of academic library development officers were selected from a purposeful sample of information rich individuals who provided the information needed to address the research questions of this study. The researcher was able to determine what experiences these individuals have had as they provided in-depth descriptions of their perceptions of these experiences as is what is important in phenomenological research.

An individual, over the phone, in-depth interview was the main mode of data collection for this study. Lincoln and Guba (1985) suggested that the researcher is the best instrument "because it would be virtually impossible to devise a priori a nonhuman instrument with sufficient adaptability to encompass and adjust to the variety of realities that will be encountered" (p. 39).

Data Collection Procedures

Each participant was called at a mutually agreed upon time. The participants were reminded that participation was voluntary, that there were no adverse consequences for refusing to participate, and that his/her identity would remain confidential. The researcher requested permission to tape record the interview to ensure the participants' responses were accurately recorded for later analysis. A speaker phone was used to better facilitate the recording of the interviews.

A semi-structured interview protocol guided the conversation. It is important to recognize in the interview process not to constrain the participant's responses to a predetermined framework (Lancy, 1993). As such, participants in the study were allowed to stray from guiding questions although they were also asked all questions on the list. Patton (1992) wrote that truly open ended questions allow participants to respond on their own terms as the questions do "not presuppose which dimensions of feeling or thought will be salient for the interviewee" (p. 354). The questions for the interviews were all open ended and allowed the participants to answer in whatever manner they wished.

The study participants were asked a total of eleven questions relating to their perceptions of fund raising for academic libraries. Most of these did not deal with their prior training or their career paths. The responses to those questions are not considered in this paper but can be found in Lorenzen (2009). One relevant question was, “Describe for me your career path on your way to your current position.” Several probes relating to this were, “Have you always worked in higher education?,” “Did you specifically aspire to this position?,” and “What positions did you have that prepared you for this current position?” Participants were also asked what training they had had in the context of defining their roles as library development officers.

In addition to tape recording the interviews, the researcher kept field notes during the interview process. By necessity, this was selective as not everything could be written down. Schwandt (1997) wrote about inscription as "a particular kind of practice whereby data are generated, undertaken in the midst of other activity" (pp. 71-72). The written notes were used to record key points made by the participants in the study and used later to help in the transcription process.

Data Analysis

Data analysis is a process that transforms interview and document data into the interpretation of the findings. The analysis of the data collected began as the researcher recorded insights during the interviews. In addition, key points were marked and summarized immediately after each interview was concluded. An assistant was hired to transcribe the interviews and place the data in Microsoft Word documents. After each transcript was finished, the researcher checked for accuracy by listening to the tapes while reading the transcript (Patton, 2002). Transcripts were sent back to each participant for a member check to make sure that the transcripts were accurate as well.

After the transcription process was completed, the transcripts were uploaded into the NVIVO7 qualitative data program for coding and analysis which also allowed for easy organization and access to the data. On computer-assisted data analysis, Scwandt (1997) wrote:

Software tools are used for recording, storing, indexing, cross-indexing, coding, sorting and so on. They facilitate the management of large volumes of data and enable the analyst to locate, label (categorize or code), cross-reference, and compile various combinations of segments of textual data. (pp. 17-18)

Reading the transcripts, the researcher looked for recurring statements and coded them in the smallest interpretable units that relate to the research questions being studied (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Merriam, 1998; Patton, 2002). As a result, the data were coded in sentences or paragraphs, with some sections being coded multiple times. As the initial themes emerged, they were compared and contrasted in the same interview and across different interviews (Merriam, 1998). This allowed for the process of horizontalization where the data were laid out, clustered in themes, and had irrelevant data removed leaving only the "horizons…of the phenomenon" (Moustakas, 1994, p. 97). A phenomenological reduction of the data was allowed for using the horizontalization method as the researcher was involved in reflecting on the data to understand "how the experience of the phenomenon came to be what it was" (Moustakas, p. 98).

The researcher looked for internal homogeneity to confirm that “the data that belong in a certain category hold together . . . in a meaningful way” (Patton, 2002, p. 465). In addition, the researcher was also was concerned about external heterogeneity to make sure that the “differences among categories . . . were clear” (Patton, 2002, p. 465). The data was also worked with "to affirm the meaningfulness and accuracy of the themes until the interview data were analyzed exhaustedly" (Chen, 2006, p. 62).

The coding and grouping were created by inductive inferences (Schwandt, 1997). Inductive coding is used when codes are developed from the text of interviews rather than in advance. Inductive inference is a process of exploring and identifying themes based on the raw data. Deductive inference involves testing and confirming the appropriateness and inclusiveness of the coding system (Patton, 2002). Deductive inferences were used after the coding was developed from an inductive process. The themes that developed to represent the data allowed for broader conceptual dimensions which then allowed for them to be incorporated into multiple themes. In the end, this allowed the researcher to make some meaningful conclusions.

The researcher sought to enter the contextual world of the participants in the study to better understand the phenomenon of academic library development officers’ perceptions of fund raising. To not allow personal biases to interfere, the coding schema was not developed until after all the interviews had been completed. The researcher read the transcripts and developed a coding schema based on the responses of the study participants.

Findings

It became quickly apparent that for the majority of participants in this study that becoming a library development officer was an accidental career decision. While many had training in development, only one participant had any training in library work. For a number of differing reasons, and from a variety of backgrounds, the study participants found themselves raising money for an academic library.

This lack of training was noted even when the preliminary e-mail survey results were examined. Many of the survey takers reported that they were new to library fund raising and were not sure how to successfully fund raise yet. A total of seven of the 25 respondents to the e-mail survey made notes in their responses that they were new to the field. It is probable that many of the ARL library development officers who did not participate in the e-mail survey may have felt the same way prompting them to decline the opportunity to respond.

Of the eight participants who were interviewed, only one had training as a librarian and had worked in libraries before taking up library fund raising. The other study participants had worked as a teacher, a community educator, a buyer for a retail chain, a small business owner, and in development work. Further, participant responses indicated that most of them had not planned to work in fund raising for academic libraries.

As one participant noted:

So no library experience and all fundraising experience. I also got an MBA, so I did an executive MBA while I was at one of my jobs. But I was not at all aspiring honestly. To do it in libraries, it just happened to be that way.

Another participant described in detail how she got into development work in a library:

There are several executive search firms here that focus on non-for-profits, and I was recruited by them to come talk to the library. And to be real honest with you, I didn’t know why these people were calling me. They called several times over several months and I said I wouldn’t know how to raise money for a library. I don’t know anything about a library. I know about the university because I grew up on the south side of the city but I wasn’t really excited. Then I finally said okay I’ll go meet with the university librarian. Then the information he gave me about the library, I got so jazzed within twenty minutes I thought this is something I should probably pursue.

Although many of the study participants had experience in development work, many of them had not. For four of the eight study participants, their job in the library was their first job in fund raising. One participant, when asked if she had planned on working in higher education, retorted “never.” Other participants claimed they had been clueless about fund raising before getting their current position.

As one study participant related:

I said that I was new in town, that I was available part time or temporary and they hired me to be a reference librarian. It was just around the time that the dean of the library, wanted to raise money for the library. So he asked me if I was interested in the position. I didn’t know anything about fund raising, but he really wanted a librarian to do the fund raising for the library. He hired me and I started doing library development there.

Another participant noted:

I had no training in working in a library or raising money. I really learned on the job. I found my colleagues to be invaluable in learning what I needed to do. I also have learned a lot by going to conferences. I just figured this job out as I went.

In addition, not a single participant in this survey had aspired to work in library development. Several participants had goals to work in development and one had been a librarian prior to moving into library development work. Yet, not a single participant had anticipated or sought a job in library development. Working in library development was not a calculated career move but instead an accident of opportunity. One of the study participants even questioned the wisdom of the library when she interviewed for the library development position as she assumed she had no transferable skills.

Finally, even after getting a job in library development, formal training in development work was not always forthcoming. Five of the eight participants who were interviewed had little to no formal training in development work. Several of the participants said their only training was done “on the job.” Even the participant who had worked fifteen years in library development stated he had no formal training and that he learned the job by doing it.

As noted by several authors (Martin, 1998; Winston & Dunkley, 2002), fund raising skills are not taught in library schools. Hence, it is not a surprise that librarians lacked the education and skills needed to successfully perform development work. However, it does seem surprising that many of the study participants lacked experience and education in both development and libraries. If libraries were seeking outsiders to manage the development process for them, why were they hiring individuals for these positions who have no better development background than members of the library staff? At least if a library insider was hired for the job, he would understand libraries. This seems puzzling. However, because the role is constructed with the emphasis on development, rather than libraries, it is probably more critical to have the people skills for relationships and fund raising. These skills likely develop better in a business school than a library.

Despite often not having a library background, the library development officers in the study did see mentoring library staff as part of their role. This was particularly true of the library director. Many of the study participants felt they needed to train library staff in development work if they themselves were going to be successful. The library staff did not appear to have sufficient skills in development of their own.

Two authors (Eaton, 1971; Welch, 1985) wrote articles arguing for the training of library staff in development practices and many of the study participants were actively engaged in it. Several of the study participants noted their role as a team captain for the library staff in fund raising and that library staff were often very good at it. However, it was also noted by participants that some library staff were suspicious of fund raising efforts.

Closely related to a lack of library staff development training was a concern about turnovers among the library staff that library development had to deal with. Many librarians were retiring and some of the participants felt this was starting to hinder their fund raising ability. One participant said, “You know a lot of our key librarians have been in place for 30 years, boards and our big donors have really developed a strong relationship. They really have not groomed any really strong people to follow them It’ll be a stranger coming in and that scares me.” Efforts are going to need to be made to train and educate library staff on fund raising to replace the knowledge being lost by retirements in the library.

The library development officers who participated in this study appeared to be successful in exercising leadership skills and in maintaining good donor relationships. However, the lack of training of themselves and library staff is still evident from their background stories and from their descriptions of many of the realities of their positions. Better training for both library development officers and for library staff could well make both more effective and allow for academic libraries to raise even larger sums of money. However, it may be difficult to identify who is best suited to doing this training.

Implications for Practice

There are several areas where the evidence from this study suggests implications for practice for academic library development officers. One of the stated purposes of this study was to help those working in the library development field find ways to be more successful in fund raising. All of the recommendations in this section are intended to accomplish this goal.

Library development officers would benefit greatly from increased professional development. The participants in this study as a whole had little experience in development work before starting in their current positions. They had even less experience in libraries. Professional development or training in both areas would help. It is a question to who should provide this training. While learning on the job is inevitable, this learning would probably be smoother if new library development officers were given frequent and early exposure to professional development training in development practices. Further, as knowledge of many principles of library science (especially collection development) are important for success, library development officers should be given more exposure to the relevant aspects of running a library as soon as they start in their positions. In addition, professional development training in both areas should continue throughout the career of the library development officer to keep individuals in these positions up-to-date on new trends in both fields.

Further, potential library directors looking to go into these positions in higher education should be carefully vetted for a knowledge of and interest in fund raising. If this is important to an institution, it should be a major criterion for evaluating candidates for library director positions. Library development officers need an interested and knowledgeable fund raiser in the library director’s position to be successful long term. Library director candidates lacking substantial knowledge in this area, but who are otherwise qualified, should only be hired if they are willing to commit to professional development training in development work early in their tenure at an institution.

Also, library staff need better training in development practices as well. These individuals are the front line when donors visit a library and their knowledge is often key in getting donors committed to a project. Yet, they often lack even basic knowledge of good development practices. Not all library staff should be targeted for this. It makes no sense to train most catalogers or circulation clerks for example. However, librarians engaged in management or collection development should be trained in the basics on how to deal with and cultivate a potential donor who comes unexpectedly through the door. They should also be comfortable long-term in helping the library development officer to close deals if it impacts areas they work with directly.

One possible training solution would be to provide future librarians a course on fund raising in library school. If this became a mandated part of the curriculum for graduate schools of library and information science, eventually all library directors and a large number of library staff members would have exposure and basic training in fund raising skills. The American Library Association (ALA) is the accrediting body for library and information science programs in the United State and Canada. If ALA became convinced that this form of education was necessary, this could become a valuable part of the education of new librarians.

Conclusion

Libraries in higher education are increasingly seeking to expand their fund raising efforts to address declining financial support from their institutions of higher education. This will not be changing any time in the foreseeable future. The need for development officers who specialize in raising money for academic libraries will continue. The results of a qualitative study demonstrate that most academic library development officers do not set out to seek their current jobs and instead they arrive in the positions by happenstance and accident. This should be a cause for concern for those in library administration. Why are we not better preparing those in the fields of librarianship or fund raising to work in development work for academic libraries? In addition, since it is clear that most library staff (in addition to academic library development officers) are also lacking needed fund raising skills, remedial instruction in these areas should be implemented when it is possible in order to allow for increased fund raising success.

References

Brittingham, B. E., & Pezzullo, T. R. (1990). The campus green: Fund raising in higher education. Washington, DC: School of Education and Human Development, The George Washington University.

Browar, L., & Streit, S. A. (2003). Mutually assured survival: Library fund-raising strategies in a changing economy. Library Trends, 52(1), 69-86.

Casey, A. & Lorenzen, M. (2010). “Untapped Potential: Seeking Library Donors Among Alumni of Distance Learning Programs.” In T. Peters and J. Rundels (Eds.), Fourteenth Off-Campus Library Services Conference Proceedings (pp. 85-96). Mount Pleasant, MI: Central Michigan University.

Chen, S. (2006). A case study of evaluation use and influence in school settings. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota, 2006).

Clark, C. K. (1986). Private support for public purposes: Library fund raising. Wilson Library Bulletin, 60(6), 18-21.

Clark, K., & Brandon, E. (2006). How to pay for college. U.S. News & World Report, 141(10), 61-92.

Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five alternatives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Dewey, B. I. (2006). Fund-raising for large public university libraries: Margins for excellence. Library Administration and Management, 20(1), 5-12.

Downes, R. N. (1984). Integrating fund-raising into the administration of university libraries: Goals, plans, strategies. In S.H. Lee, Library fund-raising: Vital margin for excellence (pp. 38-45). Ann Arbor, MI: Pierian Press.

Eaton, A. (1971). Fund raising for university libraries. College & Research Libraries, 32(5), 351- 361.

Gladieux, L. E. & King, J. E. (1999). The federal government and higher education. In P. G. Altbach, R. O. Berdahl, & P. J. Gumport (Eds.), American higher education in the twenty- first century: Social, political, and economic challenges (pp. 151-182). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Greenfield, J. M. (1999). Fund raising: Evaluating and managing the fund development process (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Hoffman, I. M., Smith, A. S., & DiBona, L. (2000). Factors for success: Academic library development survey results. Library Trends, 48, 540-559.

Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. (2004). Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches (2nd edition). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

Lancy, D. F. (1993). Qualitative research in education: An introduction to the major traditions. White Plains, NY: Longman.

Latour, T. (2003). A study of library fund raising activities at colleges and universities in the United States. (Doctoral dissertation, Florida State University, 1995).

LeCompte, M. D., Preissle, J., & Tesch, R. (1993). Ethnography and qualitative design in educational research (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Legon, R. D. (2005). The new work of higher education foundations. In R. D. Legon (Ed.), Margin of excellence: The new work of higher education foundations (pp. 3-12). Washington, DC: Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

Lerud, J. V., & Dunn, L. G. (2001). Opportunities for creativity: Fund-raising for engineering and Science libraries. Science and Technology Libraries, 19(3/4), 221-235.

Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Lorenzen, M. (2009). Perceptions of academic library development officers regarding their work in fund raising. (Doctoral dissertation, Central Michigan University, 2009).

Lowenstein, R. L. (1997). Pragmatic fund-raising for college administrators and development Officers. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press.

Martin, S. K. (1998). The changing role of the library director: Fund-raising and the academic library. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 24(1), 3-10.

Martin, S. K. (2000). Academic library fund-raising: Organization, process, and politics. Library Trends, 48(3), 560-578.

Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education(Rev. ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Miller, E. G. (2002). Team building for fund-raising. Library Administration & Management, 16(4), 187-193.

Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Mulhare, W. R. (1991). Development personnel. In B. I. Dewey (Ed.), Raising money for academic and research libraries (pp. 117-130). New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.

Neal, J. G. (1997). College sports and library fundraising. The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances, 10(2), 58, 59.

Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Ruggerio, A., & Zimmerman, J. (2004). Grateful recipients: Library staff as active participants in Fund-raising. Library Administration and Management, 18(3), 140-145.

Schwandt, T. A. (1997). Qualitative inquiry: A dictionary of terms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Summers, D. C. (2006). Why are community colleges so slow to jump on the fund-raising bandwagon? Chronicle of Higher Education, 53(10), 22.

Wedgeworth, R. (2000). Donor relations as public relations: Towards a philosophy of fund- raising. Library Trends, 48(3), 530-539.

Weingand, D. E. (1998). Future-driven library marketing. Chicago: American Library Association.

Welch, T. F. (1985). Taking money for granted: How to attract donors dollars with style and Confidence. In P. Spyers-Duran & T. Mann (Eds.), financing information services, (pp. 165-180). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Winston, M. D., & Dunkley, L. (2002). Leadership competencies for academic librarians: The importance of development and fund-raising. College & Research Libraries, 63(2), 171- 182.

Research Experiences Among Native American in New Mexico

2010-07-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

Lydia Lum has an article up that deals with the Research Experiences Among Native American in New Mexico. It profiles the work of Paulita Aguilar.

This great quote is from the article:

“Faculty assume that students know how to use a library before they come to college, but that’s not always the case,” says Aguilar, who grew up in Santo Domingo Pueblo, a few miles outside Albuquerque. “And those students usually feel too intimidated to ask faculty for help. Some don’t even know the difference between Google and a database.”

Community Media and Information Literacy in the Digital Age

2010-07-06T08:22:00.000-07:00

This article caught my eye. It is Community Media and Information Literacy in the Digital Age. This quote stood out, "Therefore, as boyd explains, government transparency is only one part of the equation. Literacy through engagement is often the catalyst that brings private citizens into public life. However, information literacy is still reserved for the privileged few."

From the site:

Last month, danah boyd, Microsoft Researcher and Berkman Center for Internet & Society Fellow, told the audience at the Gov 2.0 Expo: "If you want information access because you want a better-informed citizenry and a fairer society, you must start embracing the importance of information literacy and the need to provide infrastructure to help people build these skills."

Change Management and Risk Taking for Librarians

2010-07-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

Change Management and Risk Taking for Librarians

Michael Lorenzen

Scenario

There was no doubt about it, Parker Brown was in trouble. He had been denying this for a few days but as he walked to an impromptu scheduled meeting with the Provost, he finally admitted to himself that he was in for it. And he knew what had caused the problem too. It was those damnable periodicals!

Parker Brown reflected on how he had come to this situation. It had started innocently enough for the five-year Library Director of Southern Michigan University. Due to severe budget cutting by a cash strapped state legislature, Southern Michigan University had been forced to slash hundreds of thousands of dollars from the library acquisitions budget. At the same time the funds were taken away, he was informed by his Director of Collection Development that increases in periodical pricing would total 9.3 percent more for the next academic year. With less cash and higher prices, there would be no choice but to cancel a large number of periodical subscriptions. He knew that the faculty at Southern Michigan University would not like it but it would have to be done.

However, as he had reflected on the situation, he began to think of another possible solution. Parker Brown had been noticing for years that the library was paying twice for many periodical subscriptions to get the content in both paper and electronic forms. Doing some number crunching, he discovered that if he cancelled 60% of the paper periodical subscriptions which were also received electronically, he could avoid cancelling any periodicals at all.

Pleased with himself for coming up with such a novel plan, he had discussed the idea with his senior staff. There were a few concerns expressed on how the move might be perceived, but other than that they all seemed positive. Brown asked his Head of Public Services to prepare a marketing campaign targeted at faculty and students and told his Director of Collection Development to come up with a list of print periodicals to cancel. He sent an e-mail describing the plan to the library staff and asked the bibliographers to work with the Director of Collection Development to help target the best periodicals for electronic access only.

Parker Brown heard nothing about the plan at all for a few weeks. His staff was working on it and he thought all was going well. He told his Provost this as well, who also seemed to be happy that the library would not be losing access to any periodicals despite the steep budget cuts. And then the proverbial waste material hit the fan…

Brown had a meeting with Dr. Miland Jones of the Psychology Department. Dr. Jones was a big supporter of the library, and Brown was not surprised when he scheduled a meeting with him. However, he was stunned when Dr. Jones attacked him about the print periodicals cancellation plan. He wanted to know why the psychology librarian was asking him for suggestions for cancelling print journals in psychology. Jones informed Brown that this was unacceptable as he required his students to only use print resources for class assignments. He was also concerned about long term access to the journals if they were only available electronically. Jones had asked, "Can you promise me that we will have all these journals online five or ten years from now, no matter what?" Dr. Jones also offered advice on how to deal with the budget reduction. He suggested that the library lay off staff and cancel journal subscriptions that were for departments without doctoral programs.

A week later, Parker Brown was horrified to see the periodical print reduction plan on the agenda of the Faculty Senate! And then, two days before the Faculty Senate meeting, the campus paper ran an article on the plan as well which was critical. The headline read, "Library to Kill Journals." The article had quotes from students, faculty, and even a few of his librarians expressing concern or outrage over the whole idea. And then he had the emergency meeting placed on his schedule by the Provost.

Parker Brown had no doubt what the provost wanted to talk about. He was in for it over those periodicals, and he had yet to cancel a single print subscription! If he could not implement this plan, he would have no choice but to actually cancel access to a lot of periodicals which would also outrage the faculty. There were no easy answers to the problem but he expected that the Provost would demand one anyway. Brown thought about a job advertisement he had seen the day before for a Library Dean position at a university in Ohio and decided maybe it would be a good idea to apply for it.

Change Management and Risk Taking

Change is constant in the world. Very little stays as it is for long. This is true in the workplace as well. Any manager who becomes too comfortable with the way things are stands the risk of being left behind. The Bible even notes in I Corinthians 10:12 “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” Sometimes change can come gradually but others times it can become necessary quickly.

The world in which libraries operate has changed dramatically in the last several decades. For centuries, the basic operational structure of libraries remained unchanged. Librarians from different eras could have easily adjusted to working in libraries from different times. However, the advent of the World Wide Web and the shift of information resources to electronic format have resulted in a revolution in the ways that libraries are operated and how patrons are taught about library resources. This change in the information distribution has been compared to the alteration of the publishing industry by the invention of the Gutenberg Press.1

The world of education is constantly changing as well, which will further stretch the ability of the library leader. Robert Starratt wrote about this when he compared being an educational leader with being a ship captain of previous centuries.2 He wrote that these captains had to constantly scan the environment to look for signs of storms and other problems. By being alert, the captain could safely steer the ship to safety.

This is an apt analogy for library leaders today. The organization a leader is running can be seen as a ship being tossed around by turbulent waves and outside forces. How can the leader best pay attention to the changing environment and steer the institution to safety? As new technologies and political forces come to bear, this steering will often entail hard decisions about the future of the library.

Few activities create fear in the hearts of library managers like that of contemplating taking a risk or making a change. There is good reason for this reaction. However, managing change is an important job function of every manager in libraries, and those who can not perform this task when it is needed while fail in their role as a leader and endanger not only their jobs but perhaps their libraries as well.

This need for change will not end anytime soon. Continued changes in technology, funding formulas, laws, etc will dictate continued opportunities and obligations for library managers to initiate and implement change. As the consequences of these changes will be unknown, there will be an element of risk in every change endeavor. The world will change even if libraries do not, and the library manager will have no choice but to make decisions about change whether the outcome is certain or not because failure to change has almost certain negative consequences.

Resistance to Change

One thing that is certain for managers is that no matter how necessary a change is there will be resistance to it in the library and perhaps in the broader community. The opposition to change may be based on good reasons or it may be generated by those same people who oppose all change initiatives. The larger the library (and the change being proposed) the more likely that significant resistance will be encountered. This friction can sometimes be strong enough to derail a change or to make the change less effective than was intended by management.

This resistance to change is not unique to staff in libraries or even to modern times. The Roman Republic (510 BC - 27 BC) is a good example of this. The Roman people had a major problem with the concept of change. They did not like it; in fact, they were quite resistant to the idea. Tom Holland wrote, “Novelty, to the Citizens of the Republic, had sinister connotations. Pragmatics as they were, they might accept innovation if it was dressed up as the will of the gods or an ancient costume, but never for its own sake.” 3

Machiavelli noted that leaders were at the greatest risk when they attempted to make changes. He wrote, "And it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them. Thus it happens that whenever those who are hostile have the opportunity to attack they do it like partisans, whilst the others defend lukewarmly, in such wise that the prince is endangered along with them.” 4

Almost five hundred years later, this tendency to resist change can be found in most organizations including libraries. Every change a leader introduces in a library will threaten someone's position in the library. These people will instinctively fight change (actively or passively) as they feel the changes can only take away from what they already have. Conversely, those who would benefit from a change probably do not realize all the implications of the change and will be slow to rally behind the library administration in making the changes.

Inertia is another reason why change may be necessary and why it may be resisted. Often it is the library manager who is responsible for slowing down needed change. Harari noted that managers often recognize that change is imperative to the organization’s future yet the status quo remains.5 One impediment to change is managers who tolerate mediocrity. Mediocrity can work its way through every part of the organization leading to a state of inertia. The result can mean no change within the organization or instead a burst of activity that satisfies the managers' need to do something, but fails to actually change anything.

Harari wrote, “Breakthroughs begin when we as leaders accept the fact that good intentions are not enough. Let's also accept that simply pouring money into this quarter's reorganization or business fad will not yield the results we seek, either. The primary challenge before us is to confront the basic impediments to real change, which means ousting both cultures of mediocrity and obsessions with the quick fix. This demands a new type of leadership role, a new set of decision rules, and a new perspective on dealing with employees.”6

Often it is the leader who is the most resistant to making changes. Black and Gregerson noted that organizations often fail to change for three reasons. First, they fail to see the problem. Secondly, they fail to act on the problem. Finally, they fail to follow through with a needed change. All three of these failures can be seen as additional barriers to making change. Black and Gergerson wrote that a failure to make needed change could be nothing less than catastrophic for an organization. 7

What is certain is that library managers will have to manage many changes during their careers if they are to be successful. This will mean overcoming resistance in the library, the community, and from their own desire to avoid conflict. However, the resistance is likely to always be present in any library when change is proposed. There are tactics and strategies that a leader can use to smooth over this resistance, but change management is always going to have an unpleasant side. Since resistance of some sort will always be present, all attempts at change management constitute some form of risk taking.

Risk Taking

Successful managers usually have to take risks in the course of their careers, just as organizations have to take chances in order to survive. As risk taking is a form of change management, it is not surprising that risk taking also is feared by many in organizations. It may well be the risk taking itself which causes library leaders to fear change.

Ramsey wrote that managers must decide whether to choose and define their own risks or simply be victims of the random risks that that the world presents at every turn. He argued that good managers favor being proactive by deciding for themselves when to risk, where to risk, and what to risk. Responsible risk-taking implies taking carefully calculated chances and being willing to get out of the comfort zone to accomplish worthwhile goals. Since change is inevitable, the manager must decide when the right moment is to take chances. 8

The role of the manager in deciding when to take risks is also evident in the writing of Brian Tracy. He wrote that managers must take the right risks for the right reasons in pursuit of the right goals. Managers who are successful in business carefully calculate every possible risk, think about what they would do should a particular situation happen, and they also have a backup plan. In addition, they minimize risk by continually questioning assumptions and asking themselves what they would do in the event of unanticipated developments. Tracy also identified five types of risk that people face and advice on how to assess risk levels. 9

Tracy wrote, “So why would any sensible supervisor risk risk-taking? The easy answer is they have no choice. We all know change is the unchanging condition of business leadership. And every change involves some risk. The question for managers and supervisors is whether to choose and define their own risks or simply be a passive victim of the random risks life in the business world presents at every turn.” 10

People have different ways of approaching risk taking according to Hyatt.11 Tolerance for risk appears to be a stable personality aspect that impacts everyone and their daily decision making in various ways. Low risk tolerance in a person tends to go along with worrying and pessimism. People like this tend to live very carefully. People with high risk tolerance feel open and act freely. They seek change and novelty and like to live on the edge. Hyatt argued that since life is unpredictable everyone has to take risks anyway. No one group can be classified as risk-takers, but some may be better at handling it than others.

Hyatt’s advice is a good reminder that a manager needs to be flexible when assessing situations. As people have different preferences towards risk-taking, the manager will need to keep the potential of different responses to risk-taking in mind. In addition, the manager has to be aware of the environment and take risks based on the situation as well as the personal risk-taking style.

Most people attracted to careers in library management are not what Hyatt would describe as liking to "live on the edge." Library managers tend to gravitate more on the low side of his risk tolerance scale. However, successful library leaders move more to the center of this risk tolerance. Worrying and pessimism do not lend themselves well to a successful change management philosophy anymore than seeking change for the sake of novelty does. Managers should be wary of taking risks, but they also must be willing to take them when the situation calls for it.

What is New is Old

Library leaders may have to face change and risk management. One helpful technique when proposing change is to cast the new initiative as being a continuation of what is traditional in the library already. No matter what a library leader has planned it can be made to appear to fit Ranganathan's Five Laws of Library Science. Further, any change can be connected to actions and beliefs which currently exist in the libraries' culture. It is the job of the library leader to make any proposed change (no matter how new or novel) appear as a continuation and enhancement of past library traditions. Those leaders who can connect new changes with past practice will be the most successful.

Julius Caesar is a good example of a successful leader who was able to make significant changes by using tradition and history. One reason for this is that Caesar understood well the culture of the Roman state. It had flourished for almost 500 years before he took power. As such, it had developed a complex set of traditions that were not to be trampled upon. As Deal and Peterson noted, every organization has a long past which has shaped its vision, purpose and values, rituals and ceremonies, stories and history, and artifacts and architecture.12 This was true of the Roman Republic, and it is true for every library as well.

Tom Holland wrote, “Conservative and flexible in equal measures, the Romans kept what worked, adapted what had failed, and preserved as sacred lumber what had become redundant. The Republic was both a building site and a junkyard.”13 This is a key concept when contemplating the actions of Julius Caesar as he brought about the end of the Republic. The government of the Roman Republic had lasted almost five hundred years (half a millennium!) despite wars, constitutional crisis, and territorial expansion. This is twice the length of time of the history of the United States of America today. During this time, the government of the Roman Republic changed very little. As such, the change process initiated by Caesar has to rank amongst some of the most significant of all change sequences in history.

Caesar did not visibly change the Roman Republic when he took charge. He refused the title of king. He kept the Roman Senate intact (stuffed with his supporters, of course). He also kept intact the appearance of the system of rulership of having two annual consuls. The pomp and ceremony of the Roman Republic stayed in place even after the Republic ceased to exist. Caesar successfully connected his changes to make them appear to be a continuation of the past, and as such he made use of the existing culture of Rome to change it dramatically.

Getzels and Guba wrote that successful organizations often have areas that die out and are then reborn.14 This as well can be seen in Caesar’s restructuring of the Roman state. Many of the institutions of the state (the Senate and the consulship for example) literally died and were reborn as the same entities with new roles. This regeneration may have been bad for democracy, but it was highly successful in the change to one man rule for centuries to come. As such, Caesar’s actions can be seen as a successful example of what Getzels and Guba were referencing.

I think Caesar’s organizational changes to the Roman state are instructive to the library today. Both Deal and Peterson and Getzels and Guba have points that are important to ponder today for leaders, and studying Caesar can help them understand. How can a leader alter an organization and yet recognize that the culture of the organization values its past, its ceremonies, its rituals, and other expressions of what the organization has become over time? Caesar shows that change is possible and the best way to do this is to make the changes mesh with and seem to be a continuation of the organization’s growth over time.

Change Management Models

Schafer wrote that some managers should consider creating their own change model based on their own organizations.15 He argued that although managers can adopt change ideas that have worked elsewhere, change is most successful when managers create their own change model through experimentation. He gave an example of this with a change model that was designed and implemented by Eagle Star Insurance. Schafer’s approach is contingency theory based, putting the impetus for designing the change model with the manager based on the manager’s judgment of the organization.

Wrote Schafer, “For decades, CEOs have been looking for the holy grail of corporate transformation. Management consultants and academics have been working overtime to supply the answer. They haven't succeeded, however, because the search is a futile one. Every organization is unique. Leaders can adopt ideas that have worked elsewhere, but they need to create their own one-of-a-kind change model through experimentation, learning, blueprint creation, and, most of all, a strong focus on results.” 16

Huggett wrote about the strategic management of organizational change in the face of organizational resistance. He argued that the key to achieving meaningful change in an organization is to align every thought, action, and behavior with the clearly defined and communicated vision. While not a cure-all for change resistance, it can help to ease many resisters through the process.17

In 1967, Wrapp wrote about a change management approach which he called "muddling with a purpose." He envisioned the manager being patient and engaging in intense environmental scanning. When the moment is right, the leader then launches his plan with overwhelming intensity. If the leader has read the situation correctly, he is likely to be successful in ushering in change. 18

The Kotter and Cohen Eight Step Change Model

This chapter started with a scenario where a library directory got in trouble trying to initiate change in the collection development process by switching exclusively to more electronic only journals at the expense of print. While I am not going to help this unfortunate director get out of this situation, I will offer some advice on how the director could have avoided having problems in the first place. A different strategy could have perhaps avoided the controversies and drama.

I am going to base my change initiative approach on the model suggested by Kotter and Cohen in their 2002 book The Heart of Change. They wrote of an eight step plan for change that I think could be easily fit to this change initiative. These steps include creating urgency, building a guiding team, getting the right vision, getting buy-in, empowering supporters, creating short-term wins, following up victories, and making the changes stick. 19

Creating a sense of urgency is important. Right now, many libraries have to deal with huge cuts to their budgets. This usually translates into big cuts in acquisition budgets. At the same time, publishers continue to raise prices and usually sell the same periodical to a library twice in both paper and electronic form. This model has led to a large reduction in the number of periodicals that can be purchased each year. I would make sure that this is communicated to the library staff and the patrons of a library so that the urgency to make a change in collection practices is understood.

Secondly, I would build a guiding team to help me push this initiative through. Clearly, I would need to have the right department heads and bibliographers involved and supporting this measure from the beginning. In addition, I would seek out others among the library staff who wield influence. As Barnard noted in 1938, often times those with the most power are not on the organizational chart.20 I would include these people when I could identify them and had a reasonable assurance I could get their cooperation. Finally, the patrons of the library have to ultimately agree with the change as well. Thus, I would seek members of the university administration and faculty to also become involved in helping to guide the initiative to success.

After this, I would attempt to get the vision right. Why exactly do we need to do this and what is the right percentage of periodicals the library should receive in electronic format only? Where do I want to lead the library with this plan? As is noted in Isaiah, without a vision the people will perish. If there is no coherent and attention grabbing vision for success, it is very likely that there will be no success.

Fourth, I would communicate for buy-in. As often as possible, the guiding team and I would present the plan to library staff and library patrons and ask them to support it. This would give opportunities to answer questions, address valid concerns, identify those who oppose the change, and find new allies. Ideally, significant people will begin to agree to the change. As Black and Gregersen noted, change happens a person at a time. They also postulated a 20/80 rule that if the right 20% of an organization’s members accept a change, the other 80% will as well. At this stage, I would hope that the communication would get the right 20% to buy-into the change. 21

At the next stage, I would empower my bibliographers to act. How can they use their expertise in the subject matter to select the right journals to only get electronically? Which ones are really needed in paper? Also, I would ask them to identify those faculty most likely to support the change and get their support to make changes.

Next, I would look for short-term wins. I want to show that this plan will be successful. I would look to find bibliographers and academic departments who were eager to try the change. There are always departments in the sciences who are clamoring for more online access, so I would probably go to them to convince them to change their periodical holdings in the library to 60% electronic. I could then point to this as an example of progress in making the change across the entire library periodical collection. I could also cite the happiness of faculty in those departments who made the change to counter criticism to further change.

As the short-term wins started to pile up, I would shift to following up the victories by making the change across the board to the entire library periodicals collection. As more and more wins accumulated, it would be clear that this is not an experiment or a failed collections policy but instead the new model that the library will be following in the future.

Finally, I would make the changes stick. Once the change was accomplished, it would be easy for bibliographers or faculty members to argue that certain journals should be bought in paper as well as electronically. Individually, these requests would have little impact. Collectively though, it would undermine the entire completed change and could make it unravel eventually.

I believe there would be opposition to this plan from both within the organization and from outside it. Many library staff members and faculty members prefer paper holdings to electronic. Some faculty refuse to even allow their students to use electronic periodicals when writing papers. It is important to make sure that there is not an option for some staff and faculty to choose the old way while everyone else adopts the new. Making the changes stick provides resolution to the change management plan. Faculty in particular will need continued education and mentoring to help them make the transition. The continued transformation of the periodical collection will force the change whether it is accepted or not. If faculty insist on paper only in writing assignments, the students will eventually be unable to complete many of the assignments forcing a change in the reluctant faculty members.

Lewin in 1951 argued that leaders should look at a process called force field analysis when analyzing an organization. 22 One of the factors he wrote that should be looked for are restraining forces that can prevent an organization from accomplishing a goals. In this case, what restraining forces in the force field may prevent the library from being successful? I predict the analysis would identify many of the special interests on campus (in and out of the library) who would attempt to prevent the change. Hopefully, the steps outlined in my plan based on Kotter and Cohen would help the library to neutralize the opposition.

Conclusion

Change can be hard to manage; yet change management is an integral part of being a library leader. It is hard to be successful managing a 21st century library if you are unwilling to lead your library staff and the larger community down new avenues. Fortunately, many leaders have been successful in managing the change process and there are many examples that a leader can examine for ideas. There are also a lot of theorists who have written on the topic as well and their advice can be helpful too. The process of change management may be challenging, risky, and unpleasant but it is also worthwhile and the changes library leaders oversee today will hopefully make a better future for our libraries.

Notes

1. Michael Lorenzen, "Teaching and Learning on the Web. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 7, (2003) no. 1: 3.

2. John Starrat, (Ethical Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004.)

3. Tom Holland, (Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic. New York: Doubleday, 2003), 4.

4. Niccollo Machiavelli, The Prince. 1515. http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/m/machiavelli/niccolo/m149p/chapter6.html (2 January 2007).

5. Oren Harari, "Why Don't Things Change?" Management Review, 84 (1995): 30-32.

6. Harari, "Why Don't Things Change?", 32.

7. J. Stewart Black and Hal Gregersen, (Leading Strategic Change: Breaking Through the Brain Barrier. New York: Prentice Hall, 2003.)

8. Robert Ramsey, "Responsible Risk Taking for Supervisors." Supervision 65, no. 1 (2004): 3-4.

9. Brian Tracy, "Taking Smart Risks." National Public Accountant (September 2003): 41-42.

10. Tracy, "Taking Smart Risks", 41.

11. Ralph Hyatt, "The Art of Healthy Risk-Taking." USA Today, (September 1, 2001): 52-54.

12. Terrence E. Deal and Kent D. Peterson, (Shaping School Culture: The Heart of Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1999).

13. Holland, Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic, 4.

14. Jacob Getzels and Eton Guba, "Social behavior and the administrative process." School Review, 65 (1957): 423-441.

15. Robert Schafer, "Build Your Own Change Model." Business Horizons 47, no. 3 (2004): 33-38.

16. Schafer, "Build Your Own Change Model," 33.

17. James Huggett, "When culture resists change." Quality Progress 32, no. 3 (1999): 35-9.

18. H. Edward Wrapp. "Good managers don't make policy decisions." Harvard Business Review 45, no. 5 (1967): 91-99.

19. John Kotter and Dan Cohen, (The Heart of Change: Rea-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2002.)

20. Chester Barnard, (The Functions of the Executive. Boston: Harvard University Press, 1938.)

21. J. Stewart Black and Hal Gregersen, Leading Strategic Change: Breaking Through the Brain Barrier.

22. Kurt Lewin, (Field Theory in Social Science; Selected Theoretical Papers. New York: Harper & Row, 1951.)

The Backroad Librarian: Five Forwards

2010-06-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

Marcel LeFlamme has an nice article up titled The Backroad Librarian: Five Forwards. Five steps are listed to help rural libraries become more central to their communities. The second step is promoting information literay.

LeFlamme writes, "In days of yore, you went to the library to find information on a topic; today, you type a few keywords into Google and you're faced with a billion results. So research instruction, at both public and academic libraries, has focused in on teaching patrons how to sift through and evaluate information, whether it's from the Encyclopaedia Britannica or somebody's MySpace page. Librarians call this information literacy, a set of skills that employers increasingly consider essential. A 2003 study from the University of Maryland found that perceptions (and misperceptions) about the Iraq War varied significantly according to the respondent's primary news source. For rural libraries, promoting information literacy also means promoting reasoned political investigation."

The Librarian’s Guide to Dealing with Revision Requests

2010-02-09T08:52:00.000-08:00

The Librarian’s Guide to Dealing with Revision Requests

Michael Lorenzen

The manuscript is finished. You have proofread it endlessly and feel good about your work. You then safely put it in the mail or send it via e-mail to the editor. At this point, you are happy and can already envision seeing your work in print. The manuscript is forgotten and perhaps you have started on your next writing project.

And then it happens. The manuscript is returned to you. Instead of an acceptance notification, you are asked to do more work! In fact, the editor may demand substantial revisions, which may require days of effort. At this point, many authors despair and some never make the revisions; dooming their writing to go unpublished.

After all the work of writing and submitting a manuscript, there is a possibility you will get rejected or be asked to make significant revisions to your work. No matter how good an author is at writing, some manuscripts for some reason will not be accepted at the first place they are submitted. Many more will eventually be accepted but will require extra effort to satisfy the demands of the editor. The more an author writes, the more often this will happen.

Rejoice and Revise!

As disappointing as getting a revision request is, it also is a harbinger of good news. If an editor makes requests for changes to a manuscript, the editor is planning on publishing the work. If you get a manuscript back from the editor with the request to rewrite it, do so. If you follow the advice provided by the editor and referees, the manuscript will get accepted. It is highly unlikely that a manuscript rewritten to the specifics of these comments will get rejected.

It may sound strange that one should be happy to get a revision request. However, consider the worst alternative. Would you rather have a manuscript rejected outright with reasons listed by the editor you have no way to address? The revision process gives you a good chance of getting published.

Read Carefully

If a manuscript is rejected, read the rejection letter carefully. What were the reasons listed for the rejection? In most cases, these will be valid and reviewing them will actually help make the manuscript better if it is rewritten. If you have questions, ask the editor for clarification.

Make sure that the revision makes a good attempt at meeting both the spirit and the letter of what is being requested. As a journal editor, I have been frustrated by writers who are sent revision requests and then make weak attempts to address the concerns I have raised. Rather than consider what I as an editor want the author to do, the author has basically sent me the same manuscript the second time. This is usually followed by a rejection letter on my part. Take the time to read the comments, revise your manuscript, and then send it back to the editor for what should be an approval as long as a real attempt is made to revise according to the desire of the editor.

Disagreeing with the Requested Revisions

In some cases, you may disagree with the revisions requested. It is possible that the editor misunderstood your research methodology for example. If you feel the editor made a mistake, contact the editor and discuss it. It may not get the manuscript accepted as is but it may be worth the time to do so as it may result in the revision request being rescinded or made less laborious. Or, it may give you a better understanding of what is wrong with the manuscript helping you to fix it.

Sometimes a manuscript just will not be accepted as is by an editor. If you feel you cannot make the revisions requested, thank the editor and move on. Do not send a nasty note back to the editor. Not only is this impolite but it could sabotage your attempts at getting published in the future! The simple truth is that the library field is not a difficult one in which to get published. If you and an editor disagree, move on.

Be Prompt

There are few things more frustrating to an editor than an author who cannot meet deadlines. Editors have deadlines too, and tardy authors impede the whole process. When revisions requests are made, the editor hopes that the manuscript will be brought up to acceptable standards so that it can be published. The editor may hope to publish it in the near future. For this reason, the deadlines for revisions are often shorter than they are for the original manuscript due date.

Finding the mental energy to make revisions can be hard. For this reason, many authors delay too long when revising a manuscript. Be sure to work promptly on any revision requested by an editor. If you are unsure of the deadline, ask!

Conclusion

Being asked to revise a manuscript can be frustrating. Who wants to work on a paper that was thought done? However, being asked to revise one’s work is actually good news because it means that the manuscript is on its way to acceptance. Take the time understand what the editor wants in the revision and be sure to do that promptly. It is okay to disagree with the revisions requested but be sure to communicate with the editor in an open-minded way. Revisions may not always be fun to do but they are an important part of the publishing process.

Blogging Tips for Librarians

2010-01-09T08:42:00.000-08:00

Blogging Tips for Librarians

Michael Lorenzen

One of the newer methods of communicating within the library profession has been blogs. Although not as prestigious as traditional writing, personal blogs can allow an author to reach out and spread ideas. For example, Jessamyn West has used her blog (http://www.librarian.net/) to become well known in the profession. She is read daily by thousands. While these new methods may or may not be as respected as the traditional paper journal literature, they are accessed and read. They can bring a librarian a larger audience than any manuscript published in a traditional source. The Open Directory Project (http://www.dmoz.org/Reference/Libraries/Library_and_Information_Science/Weblogs/) lists 299 reviewed LIS blogs as of July 1st, 2008. It is clear that authors writing on blogs in the library profession are being read by their colleagues.

Starting a blog is easy. Keeping one going long term is much harder. It takes dedication to write on a regular basis. Further, writing for a blog is a visible activity that employers, potential future employers, and co-workers can visit and see. Many writers find this nerve-wracking which may hinder the potential of the blog. Also, understanding the different technological options can be a challenge.

Write With a Purpose

When starting a blog, make a decision about what topics you will write about. Although you may allow yourself to write on anything occasionally, your blog should have a consistent theme that is attractive to readers. You should endeavor to keep most of your posts at your blog on this topic. If your posts are on wildly on varying diverse topics, it will be hard for you to keep a regular readership.

Make sure you post to your blog at least several times a week. Blogs are easily started and many new bloggers posts a lot at first. However, over time, the blog posts become less and less frequent. Set a schedule for writing and keep to it. If your blog usually has stale content, you cannot expect readers to visit very often. However, do not just post anything either. Poor quality posts can alienate readers and harm your reputation. Have a plan for your blog and stick with it. This will allow for regular, quality posting which will build up readership.

One technique for frequent (and rather easy) blog writing is to share sites and news articles with your readership. Are there articles from news sources which relate to the theme of the blog? If so, link to these articles, quote from them, and add your own commentary to it. This way of writing keeps people up-to-date and allows the author to express views. However, it is easier than writing a post from scratch.

Whatever you do, avoid writing about the library where you work. Do not share gossip. Do not criticize co-workers, supervisors, subordinates, or patrons. Be careful about mentioning your library at all. Surfers searching for information on your place of employment may find your blog from a search engine. Even if you think your post is positive, will library administrators agree that your post is what they want potential patrons reading about the library? Also be careful about expressing your views on controversial topics. It may feel good to share your political views online but do you want it to derail a chance at a future job? Many potential employers do search the Web a candidate’s name and they may decide not to interview someone with viewpoints that differ sharply from their own. If you want to be controversial, that is OK. However, be aware of the possible consequences.

Technology Issues

The look of your site is important. It will be noticed by visitors before they even begin reading your posts. As such, be careful when you choose your layout. Most blogging platforms offer multiple basic free templates to choose from. Pick one that is easy on the eyes with a simple layout and only one or two primary colors. Feel free to make changes to the template that makes it unique to you. If you choose to run advertisements on your blog (such as Google Adsense), do it tastefully and with minimal visual disruption for readers.

Also make sure to register a domain name. Most blogging platforms offer a default “free” web address. However, mygreatblog.net is much more professional than say mygreatblog.blogger.com or mygreatblog.wordpress.com. Owning your own domain name will allow you to set up e-mail with your domain name as well. Domain names can be purchased for less than ten dollars a year. Registering for multiple years is a good idea. Whatever you do, do not forget to keep your registration current or someone may steal your domain name from you! If you have a domain name, you will need to get a hosting service for your blog which also may cost a few dollars a month. Blogger (one of the most popular blogging platforms) offers free hosting for domains and is a favorite choice of many blog authors for this reason.

Finally, be sure to allow comments at your blog. Many readers will be excited by your posts and will want to contribute their thoughts. This allows your blog to grow into a community. However, be sure to moderate your comments. This extra step will require you to approve all comments before they are published. This slows down your readers’ a bit, but if you are diligent it will not slow the process down very much. Moderating comments will allow you to delete the frequent comment spam attacks all successful bloggers receive. Many webmasters, in an attempt to get links from your blog, will spam your comments. They may even disguise the submissions to look like they relate to your posts. However, the intent is to trick Google and other search engines into thinking you gave their site a link from your blog.

Conclusion

Writing a personal blog allows you to share your ideas with the library profession at large. Be sure to carefully consider your writing options and the technological options you choose for your blog. These simple actions will help make your blog successful.

Academic Library Development Officers in Fund Raising: How They Perceive Their Work

2009-09-15T06:32:00.000-07:00

The mongraph version of my dissertation is out and available via Amazon. It is titled Academic Library Development Officers in Fund Raising: How They Perceive Their Work (ISBN 3639193733). Buy it for your academic library please if it is involved in fund raising.

Description:

Although not extensively documented, academic libraries in the United States of America have been involved in fund raising for centuries. This study expands knowledge regarding library development efforts so that scholars and library administrators can better understand library fund raising and become more successful in raising funds. This research highlights strategies academic library development officers believe work in cultivating donors from a limited target population and how they believe this differs or is similar from the work of other development officers in higher education. This research sought to understand how organizational placement of the library development officer in the university has an impact on successful fund raising. Findings include the importance of relationships that the library development officer has with the library director, central development, library staff, and donors. Library development officers also rely more on events to identify and cultivate donors. However, the reporting structure of the library development position seems to have little impact on the success of the position.

Librarians in the Hall: Instructional Outreach in Campus Residences

2009-08-06T06:06:00.000-07:00

I read this article and found it useful. It pays to get librarians out of the library sometimes!

Riehle, CF. & Witt, M. (2009) Librarians in the Hall: Instructional Outreach in Campus Residences. College & Undergraduate Libraries, 16(2-3). DOI: 10.1080/10691310902958616

Link to original published article:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10691310902958616

Abstract:

There is an old proverb, “If the mountain will not come to Mohammed, then Mohammed must go to the mountain.” It can be a challenge to reach out to incoming undergraduate students who are often overwhelmed by the high expectations of scholarship at the college level and the complexities of the modern information environment. Unconventional and creative approaches are needed to reach millennial learners where they are, both physically, in terms of where they reside on campus, and pedagogically, by employing innovative and engaging teaching methods that they can appreciate and understand. In the fall of 2007, two librarians with rather unique positions at Purdue University coordinated, developed, and implemented an instructional pilot program to reach out to and engage undergraduate students. Strategic partnerships among librarians, residence hall staff, faculty fellows, and the students themselves led to effective and well-attended educational sessions that were conducted in the study lounges of campus residence halls and addressed major concepts pertaining to research, information literacy, and critical thinking. This peer-reviewed article is based on the poster and report archived at http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/lib_research/88/.

An Empirical Study on Follow-up Library Instruction Sessions in the Classroom

2009-05-20T08:42:00.000-07:00

Xiaomei Gong and Mary Kay Loomis of Western Connecticut State University have written a nice article titled An Empirical Study on Follow-up Library Instruction Sessions in the Classroom. It was published in the Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship.

From the abstract:

This study with undergraduate students in the Ancell School of Business, Western Connecticut State University, evaluated the knowledge of students using library resources before and after one session of library instruction in the library, and after follow-up instruction in the classroom. Survey method was used before and after the initial session of library instruction in the library, and after follow-up instruction session in the classroom. Significant differences were found in the students’ knowledge of library resources between the pre- and post- surveys in the library session and in the library usage experience after the follow-up instruction session in the classroom. The study also enhanced librarians’ techniques for teaching the millennial generation to effectively use library resources.

Not Enough Time in the Library

2009-05-18T07:57:00.000-07:00

Todd Gilman (librarian for literature in English at Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library) has written a good essay which speaks to higher education faculty about the need for library instruction. It is up at the Chronicle of Higher Education site and should be widely read as a result. The article is titled Not Enough Time in the Library.

From the article:

Academic librarians are eager to offer sessions for students on what we call "research education." But the mistaken assumption that students don't need it means that many professors don't ask us to meet with their students, or even respond to our enthusiastic offers to lead such sessions. Students don't need to be taught anything about working online, because they were practically born digital, right?

Research education is not tools education. Research education involves getting students to understand how information is organized physically in libraries, as well as electronically in library catalogs and in powerful, sometimes highly specialized commercial databases. It means teaching students to search effectively online to identify the most relevant and highest-quality books, articles, microform sets, databases, even free Web resources.

Students do not come to college armed with those skills, nor are they likely to be acquired without guidance. Yet students desperately need such skills if they hope to function effectively in our information-driven economy. As Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams opine in The Craft of Research: The "vast majority of students will have careers in which, if they do not do their own research, they will have to evaluate and depend on the research of others. We know of no way to prepare for that responsibility better than to do research of one's own."

Moving Content Here

2009-05-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

Looking for an article from michaellorenzen.com? Try these links:

Examining the American Bill of Rights Using the Ethic of Justice

Education Schools and Library Schools: A Comparison of Their Perceptions by Academia

Battlestar Galactica and Mormonism

Marcus Aurelius: The Philosopher-Emperor of Rome

Management by Wandering Around: Reference Rovering and Quality Reference Service

Deconstructing the Philanthropic Library: The Sociological Reasons Behind Andrew Carnegie's Millions to Libraries

The Heart of Change: Julius Caesar and the End of the Roman Republic

Player Alignment in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook as Examined through the Frame of the Ethic of Justice

The Ideal Academic Library as Envisioned through Nietzsche’s Vision of the Eternal Return

Applying Machiavellian Ideas on Leadership to Libraries

Vandals, Administrators, and Sockpuppets, Oh My! An Ethnographic Study of Wikipedia’s Handling of Problem Behavior

Collegiality and the Academic Library

CENTENNIAL CRISIS: THE DISPUTED ELECTION OF 1876 BY WILLIAM H. REHNQUIST

I have decided to take down michaellorenzen.com. I really don't need to pay to have that site hosted. I have moved the articles here to this blog. The old domain name will be kept registered and will redirect here to the appropriate posts so that links will not be broken.

Many of these articles are not library related (Roman history, Battlestar Galactica, etc.) so I hope their appearance here is not too jarring. I plan on continuing to post on library topics primarily here in the future.

Examining the American Bill of Rights Using the Ethic of Justice

2009-05-11T06:09:00.000-07:00

Examining the American Bill of Rights Using the Ethic of Justice

Michael Lorenzen

The law can be a two edged sword. While it protects society as a whole, it can also be used to coerce and erode the rights of the individual. Sometimes, the only way for individual rights to be assured is to make changes to the law. This can be difficult and it may require a struggle. This is true of the American people in the 18th Century and an examination of the Bill of Rights can reveal what was believed about justice.

The American Revolution had many causes. Probably the biggest reason for the war was the desire of many British subjects in North America to be free of British law. In addition to taxation, many rights that the Americans felt they were entitled too were taken from them by British law. When the United States finally won independence and wrote a constitution, there was quick movement to enshrine certain rights into the document. The result was the Bill of Rights. Examining these rights helps to understand how Americans viewed the law.

This is also worth looking at by using the Ethic of Justice that was described by Starratt (1991). He wrote that community teaches individuals how to think about their own behavior in terms of the larger common good of the community. One of the ways that this can be expressed is through the law. In most of western culture, the law is a source of justice and social cohesion that helps to protect both the community and the individual.

This was true in America before the Revolutionary War as well. British law made efforts to protect the rights of the Crown as well as the rights of individual citizens. Following the law could be seen as an ethical choice that was just. However, as time went by, many of the colonists began to see the laws as unjust. The law appeared to be repressive and this led them to fight for independence. However, the end result of the rebellion was not an elimination of law. Instead, it was an effort to replace the laws with new laws that were seen as more just.

Looking at the ten amendments that make up the Bill of Rights, it is easy to see what the Americans valued enough to enshrine as central principles in the law of the land. Each demonstrates what the founders of the American nation believed each citizen was due under the law. Each of the ten will be examined below. All of these are expressing ethical concerns by expressing what is just.

Amendment One: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Freedom of religion and freedom of speech were so important to the founders that rights to both are placed first in the Bill of Rights. This is a direct result of religious persecution which resulted from having a state sponsored church in the British Empire. It also is a response to censorship that was used to silence dissent in during colonial times. These freedoms have remained to the present and even non-mainstream religions (like the Wiccans) and fringe political groups (like the communists) are protected under the law.

Amendment Two: A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Although controversial today, the founders firmly believed that everyone was entitled to own a gun. Not only was this important for hunting and defense against
hostile natives, it assured that the people would have a means of offering resistance to the government if it became unjust. This is not surprising considering that the new nation had just used guns to overthrow British rule. The very idea that resistance to unjust laws is morally correct is demonstrated by the inclusion of gun ownership as a basic right.

Amendment Three: No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

The British had often required that colonists house soldiers. This reduced costs for the British army but placed a burden on locals who had to give up space and food to the soldiers. This was seen as unfair and wrong and this amendment was included to make sure this would never happen again.

Amendment Four: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

In colonial times, the government did not always respect the privacy rights of the citizens. Soldiers often would throw people in jail and search private property without legal warrants. This amendment grants the government the right to imprison people and search their belongings but only if the due process of law is followed. This is an important legal point that requires the process of law to be followed ethically so that it is just and not oppressive.

Amendment Five: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Many important restraints on the law are embedded in this amendment. It assures citizens that they must be indicted before they are arrested. It protects them from being tried twice for the same offense. It also prevents a person from having to testify against themselves in court. It also means that a citizen can not be punished without proper legal authorization. This amendment is full of directions to the government on how the laws must be operated to maintain a just legal system.

Amendment Six: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

This amendment is similar to the fifth one in that it further places constrains on the government. It requires public trials with fair defense and the right to call in witnesses to help in defending a case. This was a direct response to the British practice of secretly arresting people and trying them in private with the defendant having no right to a fair defense. Even though this was legal, it seemed unethical to the Americans and this amendment addresses this.

Amendment Seven: In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

This gives people the right to have a jury decide their legal cases. This includes both civil and criminal cases. This was done to assure that citizens would have an impartial panel hearing their cases. This would prevent biased or corrupt judges from arbitrarily damaging a party in court.

Amendment Eight: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Since the law can imprison you, it would be easy for this to be abused. Under the British, people often were arrested for minor offenses and kept in jail until an inordinately large amount of money was paid. People were also given draconian penalties (like long prison sentences or huge fines) for these same minor offenses. If the government has the right to imprison you and punish you, it must do so justly.

Amendment Nine: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

This is an important amendment that says that citizens have other rights too. Just because they are not listed in the Bill of Rights does not mean they do not exist. As a government could use this list to curtail other rights unjustly, this amendment keeps other rights as possibilities under the law.

Amendment Ten: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

This amendment gives states powers which are not given to the federal government by the Constitution. This in essence protects the rights of citizens to have local meaningful governments separate from the national one. It was seen as just that people could rule themselves at all levels of government.

The law was important to the new American government in the late 18th Century. Yet, the experience of the Americans under British rule had shown them that the law could be unjust. As such, they wrote very detailed ethically driven rights into the Constitution via the Bill of Rights. As such, it is an excellent example of the Ethic of Justice being used.

References

Starratt, R. J. (1991). Building an ethical school: A Theory for practice in educational leadership. Educational administration quarterly, 27(2), 185-202.

Education Schools and Library Schools: A Comparison of Their Perceptions by Academia

2009-05-10T05:38:00.000-07:00

Education Schools and Library Schools: A Comparison of Their Perceptions by Academia

Michael Lorenzen

(This article originally appeared in Illinois Libraries 82(3), (2000), 154-159.)

Introduction

The library profession has long been concerned by the lack of esteem that higher education has regarded library education. The closing of more than a dozen graduate programs in library science from the late 70s to the early 90s raised this concern to an even higher level. Many librarians assumed that higher education as a whole had no respect for librarianship when the most prestigious and well-regarded library schools at Columbia and Chicago were closed. Librarians are not alone in being taken lightly by the academy. Teacher educators also have had to struggle with the low opinions of their fellow faculty on campus. Examining education schools and library schools reveals many similarities between them in regards to status in higher education and may shed new light on the issue for interested members of each profession.

The issues involved in low status on campus for education and library schools are many and varied. No paper can hope to embrace the full scale of this problem. The issues include such matters as gender and class bias, low pay, the nature of the knowledge studied, and factors inherent to schools and libraries such as their public nature and the easy look of the professions. This paper is not an attempt to thoroughly examine all angles and suggest solutions. This paper is an attempt to compare the similarities of education and library schools in regards to status. To the knowledge of this author, this has not been attempted before.

The Image Problem of Education and Library Schools

The bulk of this article will deal with exploring why education and library schools are so poorly received on campus and what has been written in response to this problem. However, a brief review of the problem is in order before starting on the whys. Both education and library educators are viewed poorly on most higher education campuses. This has led to faculty in these schools being looked down on by other faculty on campus, being paid far less than comparable faculty in other fields, and it has led to in the case of library schools closings.

It is easiest to discuss the low esteem is in the case of library schools. Universities are making a real effort to eliminate library schools. If universities valued library schools, they would not close them. Wrote White, "A serious threat to library education comes from our academic colleagues, who do not know us, do not appreciate us, and do not understand us."¹ This statement seems hard to dispute as library schools continue to close.

The lack of academic prestige has hurt library schools in a major way. There have never been an abundance of library schools in the United States. Now there are less than sixty. Library schools have closed at Alabama A&M, Ball State, California State at Fullerton, Case Western Reserve, Columbia, Chicago, the University of Denver, Emory University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Mississippi, the State University of New York at Geneseo, Oregon, Southern California, Vanderbilt, and Western Michigan in the last twenty years. The programs at Chicago and Columbia were considered the best in the field. Their closure meant that the quality of the programs was not the problem. The problem was that they were library schools and the university did not want them.

Many library writers believe that library schools have been closed because administrators needed to show that they were financially responsible to trustees and state legislators. White and Paris both take this view.² Library schools were small, lacked prestige, and had few allies in the state legislature to defend them. Closing the schools saved little money. Yet, it allowed the administration to show that they were belt tightening. The administrators could not close other programs that perhaps could have saved money. These programs were too prestigious and too powerful. The library school thus became the sacrificial victim. The fact that this has happened repeatedly across higher education is a pretty clear indication that library schools (and by extension librarians) are not valued highly by the academy.

The case for the low status of education schools is harder to make. Few education schools have been closed. It is unlikely that many education schools will be closed in the future. Yet, education school faculties are constantly under attack not only on campus but also by society as a whole. No other discipline on campus draws the criticism that education schools do. Something (or multiple something’s as the bulk of this paper will cover) makes society and academia dislike education schools.

The Gourman Report on Graduate Programs (1996) is a book that evaluates and ranks programs in every academic discipline.³ The report has been criticized heavily by librarians because it refuses to reveal how it evaluates programs. Of interest is that education is one of only two fields (the other is criminal justice) that the report writes is worthless. The book goes on in great detail to describe all programs of education as being without any redeeming academic value. It concludes that all education programs at all institutions of higher education should be abolished. It then lists every program of education in the United States and page by page gives each one a 0 evaluation. (It is interesting to note that library science is considered "Real" by Mr. Gourman. However, his book lists the Columbia University program as being number 1 in the United States even though the program closed several years before the latest edition of his book was published.) This book is popular and used by many in higher education to compare programs. It is particularly popular with students. Yet, every edition of the book completely trashes all education schools. It is hard to imagine medicine, philosophy, law, biology, or most other fields getting this kind of treatment from a well-known reference book. There is something different about the general view of education schools that is being reflected here.

On campus, even associating with education schools can get a faculty member in trouble. Wrote Lanier and Little, "It is common knowledge that professors in the arts and sciences risk a loss of academic respect, including promotion and tenure, if they assume clear interest in or responsibility for teacher education."⁴ It is hard to imagine faculty getting in serious trouble for associating with other fields. Cross-disciplinary collaborations are usually welcome on most campuses. Again, the question arises, why is education getting such different treatment?

Perhaps the best way that education schools are viewed on campus is summed up by David Labaree. He wrote, "The university views colleges of education as nothing but trade schools, which provides vocational training but no academic curriculum."⁵ The university wants the money that the education school brings in. Yet, it does not respect the expertise that the education school has. It is tolerated because it is necessary but few respect it. And, like library schools, they are constantly under attack. Why does the academy have such low esteem for education and library schools?

Reasons for Low Esteem in Higher Education

It is difficult if not impossible to give a single reason as to why faculty in education and library schools are not viewed as the equals of other faculty on campus. This is due to the fact that many different factors are influencing this belief. No one may consciously recognize any of the factors when considering education and library faculty but these factors have almost certainly shaped the beliefs and views of those in higher education. Gender bias towards women appears to be a factor as both education and library science are fields dominated by women. The low to moderate pay that most teachers and librarians receive is also a factor as education and library school alumni have less incomes to donate to the higher education institutions that they graduated from. Social bias may play a part as many teacher and library educators come from working class backgrounds in contrast to more privileged backgrounds for many other faculty. The tendency for education and librarianship to focus on practical rather than theoretical matters also does not sit well with faculty in more theoretical disciplines. Finally, the public nature of schools and libraries leads many to believe that education and library faculties have no special knowledge that any one could not learn independently.

Unfortunately, society does not regard work done by women as important as work done by men. This gender bias has lead to wage gap between men and women that has women making considerably less than men in the United States. Those professional fields dominated by women (librarianship, teaching, and nursing for example) make less money than those professional fields dominated by men. Because education and library school faculties teach primarily women, they are subject to this bias. Perhaps unwittingly, other faculty do not value those who labor to teach women about subject matter which is seen as feminine. Attacks on teacher education and the closings of library schools could well be manifestations of continued gender bias in higher education.

Related to gender bias, the low pay of teachers and librarians hurts education and library schools. Most beginning teachers and librarians make less than thirty thousand dollars a year. Few librarians or teachers ever make more than fifty thousand dollars a year unless they move into administration. Even teacher and librarian administrators make less than administrators do in other fields. This has a very real effect on education and library schools. Alumni of these programs have less income that they can devote to donating to their alma mater. This then gives education and library schools less political power on campus in relation to other academic departments who have graduates making more money and donating more of it to the higher education institution. Of course, teachers and librarians make less because each is a field dominated by women, so this skewing of academic power in favor of departments with higher income graduates is yet another manifestation of gender bias in higher education.

The role of social bias can not be overlooked either. Wrote Prichard et al, "A much larger number of incumbents enter the field of college teaching of education from homes of skilled and unskilled laborers than have been found for incumbents in other areas of academic work."⁶ While this study is over 25 years old, the conclusions still are true today. Teaching and librarianship are much easier for the children of the working class to break into than most other professional fields. Becoming a teacher or librarians takes less time and costs less than becoming a doctor or lawyer for example. Most education and library school faculty started as teachers and librarians before moving into higher education faculty roles. They share this blue-collar background in most cases. Faculty in other fields tend to come from more privileged backgrounds. This sets faculty in education and librarianship apart from their peers.

Education schools and library schools are also scorned by other higher education faculty for their focus on practical rather than theoretical knowledge. Education and library literature are full of examples of "how I teach good" and "how I run my library good" articles. Even more research-oriented articles tend to have a practical component to them as well they should. Yet, these types of articles do not garner respect from the vast majority of faculty who focus on theoretical knowledge and let others draw the practicality from this knowledge. Wrote Labaree, "In the commodified setting of U.S. education, usable knowledge is low-status knowledge. The more knowledge is removed from ordinary concerns and the more closely associated it is with high culture, the more prestige it carries."⁷ Yet, education and library knowledge needs to be usable. No one wants teachers and librarians who are unprepared to do their jobs. This has not helped the image of education and library school faculty despite this need.

There is also some resistance to doing research in education school faculty and it is probably safe to write in library school faculty as well. Ducharme and Agne wrote that education faculty "have difficulty in adjusting to and accepting the norms and expectations of academe."⁸ This usually takes the form of resistance to doing research and publishing in peer-reviewed journals. The two researchers traced this back to the working class origin of education school faculty. Failing to emulate the academic lifestyle properly is a hindrance to education and library school faculty. Of course, it begs the larger question of how much these faculty should emulate the academic model.

All of the previous reasons are part of why librarianship and education have image problems in higher education. However, the root of the problem may come down to two reasons. The public ultimately controls both schools and libraries and most everyone feels entitled to venture their opinion on how to run them. Faculty in the majority of other disciplines are considered the authorities in their fields and the public does not expect to question them. In addition, most faculty in higher education learned to teach by teaching. They never went through a formal education on how to teach. These faculty can then imagine that education is a simple field if they could master it without having attended an education school. Although the average faculty member does not acquire considerable library experience, it is easy to imagine that most higher education faculty believe they are qualified to run a library.

The accessibility and public ownership of education is one of its biggest assets and perhaps largest liability in higher education. Wrote Cusick, "Individual freedom runs all the way through the system. Parents may or may not support the school board; superintendents may support or oppose the state department, state department staff may alter the intent of federal policy makers. People make and exercise personal decisions, enter and take part on their own terms, and regards those as their rights. Students mix their classes, cultures, and friendships with school requirements; teachers adjust their curriculums to their predilections, create their student relations, and support or oppose principals as they choose. Reformers decide schools need accountability, or principals decide their teachers have too much or too little power. Teachers decide students need more freedom. Each member of the system is free to make his or her own decision and set a course of action."⁹

It is precisely for this reason that education schools and library schools are not considered intellectually rigorous. Everyone in society including the student, the politician, and the local businessman are allowed to have opinions on how schools and libraries ought to be ran and expect to voice these opinions whenever they feel like it. Since everyone is allowed to be involved in running schools and libraries, the process of running them appears to be simple to other university faculty. This is in contrast to their own fields in most instances. Most individuals do not feel that they can give opinions to the math or physics professor on how to function in their disciplines. The faculty member can rightly feel they are the authority. But, like other members of society, these same authorities in math and physics feel fully qualified to lecture teacher and library educators on their subjects. This creates a definite inferiority view in higher education for library and education schools.

Adding to this problem is that most faculty in higher education learned to teach on their own. They never attended a college of education. They may have never read a book on teaching. Yet, most faculty believe they are good and effective teachers. Hence, they believe that the process of teaching must be easy. After all, even their international teaching assistants with poor English can teach. The knowledge that teacher educators have must not be that important if this reasoning is followed fully. Labaree wrote, "Compounding this resistance to the notion that teachers have special pedagogical skills is the student’s general experience that learning is not that hard—and therefore, by extension, that teaching is not hard either."¹⁰

Librarianship is slightly different. Most faculty have had to use a library. Most have not had to function in library roles. Yet, the perception in higher education is that librarianship is easy academic work. Wrote White, "What faculty members see, or at least what they think they see, does not require a graduate degree in librarianship, although a graduate degree in a ‘discipline’ might help make the librarians more collegial."¹¹ Most faculty probably imagine they could be librarians if they wanted to be and that their PHD’s ought to qualify them for these roles if they wanted them.

Responses to Academia’s Scorn

Not surprisingly, even if attempts at gaining equal recognition on college campuses is futile, teacher and library school faculty have responded to the low status they have on campus. In many cases, this response has manifested itself as an attack on higher education itself. In other instances, it has led library schools to disguise what they do by dropping the word library from their titles. Regardless, few faculty in education or librarianship have acknowledged the validity of the prevailing view in higher education.

There have been some suggestions to respond to this criticism by strengthening the scholarly output of both education and librarianship. There is merit in these arguments. However, even an attempt to increase the amount of high quality theoretical research will not convince most that education or librarianship are valuable academic fields due to other considerations already detailed in this paper. No one in education or librarianship is seriously suggesting that either field should limit the number of women who become practitioners in their field to deal with gender bias in academia. Many do call for better pay in each field but few expect that this will result in either field being drawn even with other professional fields with better pay. No one can expect that the public will lose its control on schooling or libraries either. Finally, there is no way that higher education faculty can conceivably be made to achieve teacher certification. Hence, the main responses to the low status of education and librarianship in higher education have been reluctant acceptance, an attack on the values of higher education itself, and in the case of library schools an attempt to "disguise" the nature of the programs by dropping the word "library" from their department names.

Wrote Berry, "Maybe it is time to remind the state that it has a responsibility to educate people for public service, and that libraries are a fundamental public service. If the university administrators won’t hear that message, maybe it is time to take it to the legislatures and governments that support them. By fighting these pernicious academic values we might save our library schools. We might even return our universities to teaching, service, and real research."¹² Berry and many library educators see it, the problem is not that librarianship is a low paying profession dominated by women that is engaged in practical matters serving the community. The problem is that higher education does not value public service in low paying, less "prestigious" fields. The solution is to alter the values of higher education and realign the university to its original public service mission.

Stieg shared a similar sentiment. She wrote, "Signs of dissatisfaction with the priorities of the research universities are beginning to appear…If the concept of social responsibilities of universities can be extended to the educational realm, disciplines and programs less advantaged than law, medicine, and business will be helped."¹³ This approach by Berry and Stieg not only rebuffs the university for not valuing librarianship (and by extension education) but also holds that the values that these schools hold actually should be emulated by everyone else in the university. This is a bold approach. Recognizing that the values of academia are hopelessly out of line with education and library schools, Berry and Stieg have suggested changing these higher education values because they do not really benefit higher education or the communities that higher education serves.

The Holmes Group, an organization comprising the deans of education of many top ranked education schools, responded to this issue by attacking higher education and those in education schools that emphasized research to the detriment of training new teachers in an attempt to emulate corrupt higher education values. The Holmes Group wrote that "the generally negative attitude in higher education towards matters relating to elementary and secondary education" was corrosive to faculty in education schools.¹⁴ The Holmes Group wants education schools to abandon what it sees as the bad values of higher education such as an emphasis on research. Instead, the Holmes Group wants education schools to dedicate themselves entirely to preparing teachers. In this way, the education school can still function as it was meant to as a professional school without losing itself to what is wrong in higher education.

While Labaree does not agree with much of the Holmes Group report of 1995, he like others echoes the attack on higher education values. Wrote Labaree, "In some ways, ed schools have been doing things right. They have wrestled vigorously with the problems of public education, an area that is of deep concern to most citizens. This has meant tackling social problems of great complexity and practical importance, even though the university does not place much value on the production of this kind of messy, indeterminate, and applied knowledge. Oddly enough, the rest of the university could learn a lot from the example of the ed school."¹⁵ Many in education and librarianship agree, the problem is not in education and library schools. The problem is a higher education that does not properly value public service. It is higher education that should change. In reality, faced with scorn and budget/program cuts, this may be a hard sell in academia. But it may ultimately prove to be the correct response.

Some library schools have tried to fit into the current values of higher education better. They have done this by attempting to hide what they do. Surprisingly, may library schools are dropping the word "library" from their titles. Several schools, including the University of California/Berkley and the University of Michigan have done this. They have replaced their titles with phrases like the School of Information Sciences or the School of Information Science and Technology. The word library does not confer status on campus. However, "information" and "technology" do. Obviously, library schools are schools of information and technology as well. Some library schools hope that by eliminating the word library and replacing it with something more respectable, they will garner more prestige on campus.

This strategy has problems. To begin with, most practicing librarians have responded in anger to the perceived shame that these non-library "library" programs seem to have in educating librarians. It is not a good idea for a professional school to alienate the members of the profession it serves. And the academy is not fooled by the word change either. Wrote Crowley, "Unfortunately, the march of information loyalists to drive the word ‘library’ from graduate education will continue. Equally likely, historians and physicists -- if they care, and they may not-- will note which department still produces people who work in libraries. The existing views of status will remain, and those trying to seize new prestige will be ignored."¹⁶

However, as bad as the idea may sound, there may be some benefit in changing the names of library schools. Information and technology are part of the library curriculum. Librarians are information managers and web page masters. Asserting the right of the library school to teach these subjects is important. It is time academia realized librarians and libraries are not just about books. Changing the name clearly asserts this. Information management is powerful in higher education now. Therefore, other academic departments such as business and computer science do not want library schools into what they see as their turf. However, why do the library schools feel they have to abandon library from their department name and degree titles? It does not benefit the image of the library profession and it does not really enhance academic status. Everyone still knows that the school is a library school.

Conclusions

Education and library schools have a perception problem on college campuses. The reasons for this are many and varied as has been shown in this paper. No paper can hope to embrace the full scale of this problem. As has been demonstrated, the issues include such matters as gender and class bias, low pay, the nature of the knowledge studied, and factors inherent to schools and libraries such as their public nature and that the professions look easy. This paper could not hope to attempt to thoroughly examine all angles and suggest solutions. This paper instead was an attempt to compare the similarities of education and library schools in regards to status. To the knowledge of this author, this has not been attempted before. Hopefully, this comparison may prove useful to others and some solutions to what seems an unsolvable problem may begin to emerge.

Endnotes

1 White, H. (1991). "Politics, the World We Live In." Library Quarterly 61(3), pp. 264.

2 Paris, M. (1990). "Why Library Schools Fail." Library Journal 115(4), pp. 38-42.

3 Gourman, J. (1996). The Gourman Report. Los Angeles: National Education Standards.

4 Lanier, J. E. and Little, J. W. (1986). "Research on Teacher Education." In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Teaching (3^rd ed., pp. 527-569). New York: Macmillan, pp. 530.

5 Labaree, D. F. (1999). "Too Easy a Target: The Trouble with Ed Schools and the Implications for the University." Academe 85(1), pp. 39.

6 Prichard, K. W., Fen, S. W., and Buxton, T. H. (1971). "Social Class Origins of College Teachers of Education." Journal of Teacher Education 22(2), pp. 227.

7 Labaree, D. F. (1997). "The Lowly Status of Education Schools." In How to Succeed in School Without Really Learning: The Credentials Race in American Education (pp. 223-249). New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 240.

8 Ducharme, E. R. and Agne, R. M. (1982). "The Educational Professorate: A Research-based Perspective. Journal of Teacher Education 33(6), pp. 33.

9 Cusick, P. (1992). The Educational System: Its Nature and Logic. New York: Addison-Wesley, pp. iv.

10 Labaree, "Too Easy a Target: The Trouble with Ed Schools and the Implications for the University." pp. 38.

11 White, "Politics, the World We Live In." pp. 264.

12 Berry, J. N. (1991). "Fighting Academe’s Corrupted Values." Library Journal 116(4), pp. 108.

13 Stieg, M. F. (1991). "The Closing of Library Schools: Darwinism at the University. Library Quarterly 61(3), pp. 271..

14 Holmes Group. (1995). Tomorrow’s schools of education. Racine, Wisconsin : The Johnson Foundation, pp. 169.

15 Labaree, D. F. (1995). "A Disabling Vision: Rhetoric and Reality in Tomorrow’s Schools of Education. Teacher’s College Record 97(2), pp. 39.

16 Crowley, B. (1998). "Dumping the ‘Library’." Library Journal 123(12), pp. 49.

Battlestar Galactica and Mormonism

2009-05-09T05:54:00.000-07:00

Michael Lorenzen

(This paper was written in the late 90s and is only based on the original BSG series.)

Religion and television directly influence one another. This often is made obvious when television programs openly talk about or are based on religious themes. The same is true when religious figures decry the influence of television on American culture from the pulpit. However, sometimes this connection is not always so obvious. This is made clear by the influence of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints (popularly known as the Mormon Church) on the 1970s science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. The show was heavily based on similarities in plot with the Mormon Church and several of the church's doctrines were incorporated into the series.

The topic of Mormonism and Battlestar Galactica has been previously written about (Ford 83-87). This paper will explore some of the issues raised in that article more closely and examine some other issues that were not written about. Ford's examination of the Battlestar Galactica series appears to have been based solely on the key episode "War of the Gods." His lack of knowledge of the series is evidenced by his misspellings of Galactica (as Gallactica) and the character Baltar (as Boltar). Ford also mistakenly places the events in the series in the far future when the series clearly places the story as being contemporary. (See episodes "The Hand of God" and "Galactica Discovers the Earth.") However, Ford's article is worth reading, in particular for his plot synopsis of the episode "War of the Gods." Ford's article also appears to be the only published scholarship on the Battlestar Galactica series.

Battlestar Galactica aired on ABC beginning on Sept. 17, 1978 and it ran for eight months until it was cancelled after seventeen episodes. The show was revived briefly as Galactica 1980 in January 1980 but it was again cancelled this time after only six episodes. The series had been popular (according to The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1980 it ranked 20th out of 100 series in the Nielsen ratings) but its expensive production costs dictated a higher rating than it received and ABC cancelled it.

At Battlestar Galactica's peak in 1979, the show had generated a comic book series and a line of novels. Battlestar Galactica continues to have fans and it remains a mainstay at science fiction conventions. Battlestar Galactica continues to air in primetime in the form of reruns on the cable Sci-Fi Channel and most of the episodes of the series are still available for purchase on videocassette. Maximum Press began issuing new stories in a Battlestar Galactica comic book series in 1995. Richard Hatch, the actor who played Apollo in the series, released a novel in 1997 continuing the storyline of the show. The SCI-FI Channel remade the show as a TV mini-series in 2003.

The plot of Battlestar Galactica centers around the search for the lost colony of Earth by the survivors of the original twelve colonies of man. The original twelve colonies had been destroyed by the mechanical Cylon Empire which had waged a thousand year genocidal war against all humanity. The Cylons had won the war by resorting to treachery and destroying the war fleet of the colonies during peace talks. Only the Battlestar Galactica, a huge spaceship that functioned much as an aircraft carrier does, survived the attack and it led what was left of humanity in a desperate race to find Earth before pursuing Cylon fleets destroyed them.

The creator of Battlestar Galactica is television writer and producer Glen Larson. According to the 42nd edition of Who's Who in America, Larson has an impressive array of credits as a writer, editor, or producer of a long list of television shows including McCloud, The Virginian, Six Million Dollar Man, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and Magnum P.I. Also according to Who's Who in America, Glen Larson is a member of the Mormon Church. This makes the appearance of Mormon theology in Battlestar Galactica as a coincidence highly unlikely.

Similarities in the Plot of Battlestar Galactica and Mormonism

There are many parallels between the story of Battlestar Galactica and Mormon teachings. The Book of Mormon tells the story of how the Prophet Lehi took the remnant of the Tribe of Joseph to ancient America around the year 600 BC. In Battlestar Galactica, mankind founded twelve different colonies. In addition, mankind also founded a thirteenth colony on Earth that was lost from the other twelve. In the same way that The Book of Mormon has a Tribe of Israel lost on another continent beyond the knowledge of the other tribes, Battlestar Galactica has a lost colony of man separate from the main body of humanity. The lost Tribe of Israel is central to The Book of Mormon in the same way that the lost colony of Earth is central to Battlestar Galactica.

In the Battlestar Galactica episode originally aired on the 24th of September and 1st of October 1978 titled "Lost Planet of the Gods", the home world of all humanity is revealed to be the planet Kobol. This name is strikingly similar to the star Kolob which is discussed in Mormon theology. In The Pearl of Great Price, The Book of Abraham Chapter Three, Kolob is described as the star "nearest onto the Throne of God." Interestingly, the ship on which armistice talks between the colonies and the Cylons took place was the "Star Kobol" as revealed in the premier episode which aired on 17th September 1978.

Another similarity between Mormonism and Battlestar Galactica is in the political structure of the ruling bodies of each. The Mormon Church is run by a Quorum of the Twelve which is headed by a president. In Battlestar Galactica, the colonies are ruled by a Council of Twelve which is also headed by a president (Ford 84).

Similarities in Mormon Doctrine and Battlestar Galactica

One of the central tenants of Mormonism is the doctrine of free agency. Basically, this doctrine holds that the existence of evil is necessary for righteous choices to have meaning. The Encyclopedia of Mormonism defines free agency:

Agency refers both to the capacity of beings "to act for themselves" and their accountability for those actions. Exercising agency is a spiritual matter; it consists in either receiving the enlightment and commandments that come from God or resisting and ejecting them by yielding to the devil's temptations. Without awareness of alternatives an individual could not choose, and that is why being tempted by evil is as essential to agency as being enticed by the Spirit of God. Furthermore, no one is forced either to act virtuously or to sin. (Warner 26)

Free agency is a theme that is played out in the ongoing Battlestar Galactica plot. The crew is forced to choose between a charismatic newcomer named Count Iblis and the leader of the Battlestar Galactica Commander Adama in the episode "War of the Gods" which aired on 14th of January and 21st of January 1979. Count Iblis promised to complete several tasks including plotting the course to Earth in exchange for the leadership of humanity. Count Iblis is revealed in the course of the episode to be Mephistopheles, the devil.

The crew is forced to make a fundamental decision between deliverance from the Cylons by Count Iblis or to follow their righteous leader, Commander Adama. The choice is between accepting the temptation of evil and giving the devil dominion over the Battlestar Galactica and humanity or remaining true to Adama and goodness but facing an uncertain and possibly deadly future. The crew chooses to reject Count Iblis and remains loyal to Commander Adama. This is Mormon free agency in action. The choice to follow righteousness is meaningless to the crew of the Battlestar Galactica until they have the choice to follow evil. Only after the crew has had the opportunity to be tempted by evil is the crew following a righteous path.

The revelation that Count Iblis is the devil follows Mormon teachings on free agency as well. Mormon theology teaches that Satan never wanted mankind to have free agency in the first place. It was because Satan sought to destroy the agency of man that the war was fought in the heavens before life on Earth and this is why Satan was cast out of the heavens (Warner 26). Count Iblis allowed the crew of the Battlestar Galactica the choice that allowed for free agency. However, if he had been accepted as leader by the crew the choice of free agency would have been lost as the devil would never have voluntary given up his hold on humanity. The right to choose would have been difficult if not impossible for the crew to exercise again. "Satan can control only those who give themselves to his power" (Ford 85).

The "War of the Gods" episode of Battlestar Galactica also introduced the key Mormon teaching of eternal progression. The Encyclopedia of Mormonism defines eternal progression:

Eternal progression refers to anything that people learn and experience by their choices as they progress from premortal life, to mortality, to postmortal spirit life, and to a resurrected state in the presence of God...Progression apparently occurred in the premortal life, for most spirits there chose to follow Christ...while others chose to follow Lucifer. Entering mortality affords opportunities for further progression. (Adams 465-66)

After choices are made in the premortal life and bodies are assigned, further choices are made that result in the fate of the person when he is returned to the spirit world. Ultimately,those who are righteous will become gods and have the opportunity to have their own spirit children who also will become mortals and make their own choices and follow their own eternal progression (Martin 178-79).

This doctrine of eternal progression is introduced through angels in ships of light who also make their appearance in the "War of the Gods" episode. The angelic beings appear to warn the Battlestar Galactica crew about Count Iblis although they refuse to interfere in the crew's exercise of free agency. The angels also make it clear that they are simply an advanced form of humanity that all humans can aspire to. One of the angels said, "As you are now, we once were; as we are now, you may become." This is a rewording of a quote from former Mormon President Lorenzo Snow who said, "As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become" (Martin 178).

Another Mormon doctrine introduced in the Battlestar Galactica series is the concept of marriage for eternity. The Encyclopedia of Mormonism defines marriage for eternity:

Latter-day Saints believe that life is more secure and more joyous when it is experienced in the sacred relationships of the eternal family. Those who maintain such worthy relationships on earth will live as families in the celestial kingdom following the resurrection. Thus, a person who lives a righteous life in mortality and who has entered into an eternal marriage may look forward to an association in the postmortal world with a worthy spouse, and with those who were earthly children, fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. (Duke 858)

Mormons believe that a marriage should be for eternity. Those who live righteous lives and are married in a temple for eternity will always be married to their spouses and can look forward to having the right to beget children after the resurrection (Ricks 465).

The eternal marriage is introduced as an aspect of colonial culture in the premier episode of Battlestar Galactica. Captain Apollo and Serina are married by Commander Adama with the words, "A union between this man and this woman not only for now but for all eternities." As eternal marriage is a prerequisite for spiritual children after the resurrection and eternal progression towards godhood (Rick 465), this also fits into the eternal progression concept that was introduced in Battlestar Galactica.

Finally, a phrase from Doctrine and Covenants (which is considered an inspired text by the Mormon Church equal to The Book of Mormon and The Bible), is referred to twice in the Battlestar Galactica series. Doctrine and Covenants #93 has the phrase, "the glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth" in it. This is paraphrased in the Galactica 1980 episode "The Super Scouts" which aired on the 16th and 23rd of March 1980 by a character as "the glory of the universe is intelligence." This phrase is also referred to in a conversation between the character Apollo and an angelic being in the "War of the Gods" episode. The angel tells Apollo that he has no physical body but that the body that Apollo perceives is "a reflection of intelligence. My spirit, if you will."

Ford wrote about the Mormon influences on Battlestar Galactica that, "these doctrines are generalized and 'philosophied' enough to lose any direct identification with Mormon theology" (Ford 87). However, this does not appear to be the case. No other Christian denomination teaches the doctrines of eternal progression or marriage for eternity. The Mormon belief in man having the potential to advance to godhood in the afterlife is a polytheistic belief that no other mainstream Christian denomination teaches. The elements of Mormonism in Battlestar Galactica are directly identifiable as Mormon.

Conclusion

Religion and television do influence each other. The influence of the Mormon Church on the plot of Battlestar Galactica is a clear example. Mormon themes and doctrines can be found in the plot of the series. Several of these doctrines are key elements in the resolution of at least one episode and are recurring themes throughout the series. Battlestar Galactica was a pivotal series in the development of science fiction and further studies on it would certainly be beneficial in understanding future developments in science fiction.

Works Cited

Adams, Lisa Ramsey. "Eternal Progression." Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Ludlow, Daniel, ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992. 465,66.

Delury, George, ed. The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1980. New York: Newspapers Enterprise Association, 1979.

Duke, James. "Eternal Marriage." Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Ludlow, Daniel, ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992. 857-59.

Ford, James E. "Battlestar Gallactica and Mormon Theology." Journal of Popular Culture 17 (1983):83-87.

Martin, Walter R. The Kingdom of the Cults. Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, Inc., Publishers, 1965.

Ricks, Shirley S. "Eternal Lives, Eternal Increase." Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Ludlow, Daniel, ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992. 465.

Smith, Joseph. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981.

Smith, Joseph and Orson Pratt. Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Containing the Revelations Given to Joseph Smith, Jun., the Prophet, for the Building Up of the Kingdom of God in the Last Days. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1971.

Smith, Joseph. The Pearl of Great Price: Being a Choice Selection from the Revelations, Translations and Narrations. Salt Lake City, Deseret News Company, 1888.

Warner, C. Terry. "Agency." Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Ludlow, Daniel, ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992. 26,27.

Who's Who in America, 42nd Edition, 1982-1983. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1982.

Marcus Aurelius: The Philosopher-Emperor of Rome

2009-05-08T06:04:00.000-07:00

Marcus Aurelius: The Philosopher-Emperor of Rome

Michael Lorenzen

Abstract

Marcus Aurelius was the Emperor of the Roman Empire from 161 AD to 180 AD. He was also a noted philosopher. Historians generally consider him to have been one of the greatest Roman Emperors. It is easy to see why. There are many aspects of his leadership which demonstrate his management skills. These include his ability to navigate ethics, his understanding of the culture of the Roman Empire, his ability to manage the organization of the Roman bureaucracies, his success in introducing change, his capability to set policy, and his cleverness in problem solving. This paper will look at examples from all of these areas as well as provide an overview of his life and his philosophical beliefs. The book Marcus Aurelius: A Biography (2000) by Anthony R. Birley will be used to illustrate some points.

Marcus Aurelius: The Philosopher-Emperor of Rome

Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (April 26, 121 – March 17, 180) was Roman Emperor in the second century AD. He is considered to be the last of the so called Five Good Emperors who ruled Rome at the height of Roman power. He was also a major Stoic philosopher who wrote Meditations in the last decade of his life.

The Emperor Antoninus Pius adopted Marcus Aurelius as his heir when Marcus was only 17. Under the long and generally peaceful reign of Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius held a variety of titles in the Roman bureaucracy including the title of Consul. He also studied philosophy extensively. When Antonius Pius died in 161, Marcus Aurelius became the Roman Emperor at the age of 40. There was no opposition to his succession.

Marcus Aurelius immediately chose his brother Verus as co-emperor. This was a new idea as the Roman Empire had never had two Emperors before. However, it would become more common as the Roman Empire began a long decline.

The legendary Pax Romana (Peace of the Romans) ended early in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. No sooner had he assumed the throne, the Picts commenced to threaten in Britannia and German tribes attempted to cross the Rhine and the upper reaches of the Danube. These attacks were repelled. In Asia, the Parthian Empire attacked and destroyed an entire Roman legion. The resulting war lasted five years. The Romans were led to victory by Marcus Aurelius’s co-Emperor Verus.

The victory over the Parthians was costly. The drain on resources weakened Roman power along the German frontier. Emboldened, the Marcomanni and Quadi
crossed the Danube in 169, marched across several provinces, and invaded Italy. The end result of their onslaught was the siege of Aquileia. This was the first invasion of Italy since the late second century B.C. Compounding problems further, the victorious Roman legions returning from Asia had brought back the plague. This devastated the Roman population and made it difficult to field an army. Marcus Aurelius had to conscript slaves to have a sufficient fighting force.

The German Wars would dominate the rest of Marcus Aurelius’s reign. He was almost constantly engaged in campaigning against the northern tribes. The first campaigns were notable by the death of Verus in 169, leaving Marcus as sole emperor. Marcus Aurelius was successful in driving the tribes out of Roman territory but he was not able to end their threat. The German tribes would remain a threat for centuries to come and they ultimately brought about the end of the Western Roman Empire.

Aurelius wedded Faustina the Younger in 145. During their thirty year marriage, Faustina bore thirteen children. This included his son Commodus who would become Emperor, and his daughter Lucilla, who was married to Verus to solidify his alliance with Marcus Aurelius.

In early 180, while Marcus and his son Commodus were fighting in the north, Marcus became ill. Which disease killed him is unknown but it very well could have been the plague. Commodus succeeded his father as Emperor. Commodus was a psychotic individual with delusions of grandeur. He was an unsuccessful ruler who was eventually murdered by his own guards. His rule is considered by many historians as the beginning of decline of the Roman Empire. The biggest complaint that many historians have with Marcus Aurelius is that he had the poor judgment of allowing Commodus to follow him on the throne.

The Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius

While on campaign between 170 and 180, Marcus Aurelius wrote his Meditations. He wrote this for his own reflection and there is no evidence that he ever intended for his writing to be published. The work takes the form of quotations varying in length from one sentence to long paragraphs. It was written in Greek and not widely distributed until it was first published in 1558 in Zurich.

His stoic philosophy revolves around the denial of emotion. He believed that freedom from emotion would free a man from the pain of the material world. He thought that the only way a man can be harmed by others is to allow his reaction to overpower him. Marcus Aurelius was a pagan. This was reflected in his writing as he believed that some sort of logical good force organized the universe and that even bad events happened for the greater good.

Marcus Aurelius believed that the good force that organized the universe was present in every living thing. He believed that individuals did not survive death but were reabsorbed by the universe. As all people were a reflection of the universal spirit, he believed that rulers had an obligation to be just and to treat all (including slaves) fairly.

Ethics

Understanding the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius is important to understanding how he used ethics in his leadership. He really believed that he was morally obligated to look out for the welfare of all the people in the Roman Empire including slaves. This can be best demonstrated by examining how he reformed the laws to provide for the more ethical treatment of certain classes of people in Roman society.

Birley (2000) wrote of Marcus Aurelius, “His attention to the theory and practice of legislation and the administration of justice were intensive, and it is notable that he was described by professional lawyers as ‘an emperor most skilled in the law,’ and by the great Papinian as a ‘most prudent and conscientiously just emperor.’ The badly-informed and muddled chronicler Aurelius Victor, writing in the fourth century, expressed the opinion that under Marcus the ambiguities of the law were wonderfully clarified” (p. 133).

Marcus Aurelius focused his legislation in three areas. This included the liberation of slaves, the protection of minors and orphans, and the selection of councilors to run and administer local communities all over the Roman Empire. Marcus Aurelius made it easier for slaves to win their freedom and to be able to prove this later if questioned. He endeavored to have guardians appointed for orphans so that the minors would be protected and that their property rights would be looked after. The appointment of local councilors also helped to assure that Roman laws were being applied fairly all over the empire.

Another area that Marcus Aurelius acted ethically was in the area of sex Birley (2000) noted that Marcus Aurelius claimed in his Meditations, “I preserved the flower of my manhood and did not make proof of my virility before the right time, but even deferred the time” (p. 53). He married at 24 and then remained married to the same women for 30 years and had 13 children with her. Although it is impossible to know if he ever cheated on his wife or had pre-martial sex, it is probable due to his philosophical beliefs that he exercised a great deal of ethical action with his sexuality. At a time when Roman men had access to slaves and adultery was socially tolerated, this would appear to be remarkable and an indicator of his high ethical character.

Organizational Theory

Marcus Aurelius was responsible for many organizations in his lifetime. This included the different priestly orders he belonged to as a younger man, the bureaucracy of the Roman Empire, and armies in the field when he lead them into battle. At various times, he invariably exhibited leadership skills that would fit all of the eras of organizational theory. However, I think the two he demonstrated the most were classical theory (scientific management) and systems theory.

The Roman Empire was normally governed in a classical theory style. It operated as a large machine. It was managed top down with a clear line of authority going down from the Emperor in Rome to the various legions and provinces. There was a great deal of emphasis on the rights and responsibilities of the members of different social classes. Although the Roman Senate maintained an important symbol with some powers granted by the Emperor, the Emperor had absolute power. Due to the size of the Roman Empire, it was dominated by a large impersonal bureaucracy.

As such, it was very common for Marcus Aurelius to rule in a classical theory style. When he gave orders to his legions, he expected them to be carried out immediately. The chain of command was important and soldiers who disobeyed an order could face execution. His firmness in running the legions was shown over and over again as he fought the German Wars. For example, after he won his first victory in the German Wars, he refused his soldiers additional pay. Birley (2000) wrote, “After the first victory he had won in person, although he accepted the salutation of Imperator, he refused the troops’ request for a donative, saying that whatever they got from him over and above their regular pay would be wrung from the blood of their parents and families…So temperately and firmly did he rule that even when engaged in so many and so great wars, he never did anything unworthy by way of flattery or as a result of fear” (p. 169).

It is also apt to look at Marcus Aurelius’s management from the perspective of systems theory. The Roman Empire was a large state that functioned in many ways like a large organism. Crop failures and war in one province could cause famine in other provinces. Plague, death and a loss of tax revenue in the eastern provinces directly impacted the western provinces and the Imperial treasury. As systems theory focuses on organization and the interdependence of relationships, and the Roman Empire acted like one large interconnected system, it is not surprising that Marcus Aurelius managed it accordingly.

As such, systems theory is one way to understand why Marcus Aurelius agreed to allow some German tribes to settle in the Roman Empire in peace. Some historians criticize this move as it lead to the later “barbarization” of the Roman Empire. However, due to plague, the Roman Empire had become severely depopulated. There were few to grow crops and to provide soldiers for future legions. Birley (2000) wrote, “It could even be argued that depopulation of the countryside, especially Italy, had been beginning before the plague, to an alarming extent. Beside this, if the settlers were from peoples which Marcus intended to incorporate within the empire, the criticism has less points in any case. They were to be romanized sooner or later, by one means or another” (p. 170).

Culture

The Roman Empire was vast ruling the entire Mediterranean world including most of Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. It was made of the peoples of hundreds of nations, cities, and tribes. Hence, Roman culture was diverse by nature. However, the Romans were tradition bound and much of their accepted high culture originated in Italy and Greece. As such, Marcus Aurelius was expected as ruler to understand culture as practiced by the aristocracy of Rome but at the same time have some understanding of other cultural norms in the Roman Empire.

Marcus Aurelius was inducted into the culture of the ruling class of the Roman Empire early. The Emperor Hadrian bestowed on him the honor of the equestrian order when he was only six years old and then made him a member of the Salian priesthood at eight. He was entrusted to the best professors of literature, rhetoric and philosophy of the time and in his early twenties began to study Stoicism as his primary interest. He was raised to the consularship in 140, and in 147 received the tribunician power. All of these actions would have thoroughly engrained the culture of Rome into the future ruler.

Peterson and Deal (1999) classified organizational culture four main parts. These included 1. vision, purpose and values, 2. ritual and ceremony, 3. history and stories, and 4. architecture and artifacts. A look at Marcus Aurelius’s rule shows that he understand all four of these parts of culture as it related to Roman culture. He knew the values of the ruling class. He understood and actively participated in the rituals and ceremonies of Rome including both religious and secular, he knew Roman history well, and he lived comfortably in probably the greatest architecturally rich city of the ancient world.

One way Marcus Aurelius demonstrated and used his knowledge of Roman culture in governing was to have his predecessor as Emperor (Antoninus Pius) deified. It was traditional to have all but the worst or transitory Emperors declared gods by the Roman Senate. Birley (2000) wrote, “The next public act was to arrange for the funeral and deification of Antoninus Pius…A flamen was appointed to minister to the new deity, and a college of priests was chosen from among the closest friends of the Imperial family, whose duty it would be to meet on appointed days to sacrifice and feats in honor of Antoninus” (p. 118).

Marcus Aurelius also paid homage to the culture of the Roman military. He and his co-emperor Verus gave the soldiers a huge bonus to mark their joint ascension. Birley (2000) wrote, “They promised a bounty, or donative, to the troops of 20,000 sesterces (5,000 denarii) per man, more to officers. This expensive ceremony was now a necessary opening to every reign, as it had been since the stormy and opposed accession of Claudius in 41” (p. 117).

Change Management

Before examining some of the changes that Marcus Aurelius introduced to the Roman Empire, it is important to understand the mindset of the Roman people. They did not like change. In fact, they were quite resistant to the idea. Wrote Holland (2003), “Novelty, to the Citizen’s of the Republic, had sinister connotations. Pragmatics as they were, they might accept innovation if it was dressed up as the will of the gods or an ancient costume, but never for its own sake” (p. 4).

Probably the largest change that Marcus Aurelius introduced to the Roman Empire was the idea of having two Emperors when he had his brother Verus made co-Emperor. This was done frequently later in Roman history but this was the first time it was actually done. Marcus Aurelius believed that the burden of running the Roman Empire was so great that it needed at least two men to do it properly.

Birley (2000) wrote, “Two emperors thus ruled Roman world for the first time, an innovation, but like most Roman innovations one for which there was ample precedent. It set an example which followed with increasing frequency. The continuing existence of the ancient twin magistracy of the consulate was one precedent” (p. 117).

Policy

A policy analysis of the Roman Empire would require several volumes of a book to compile. Even limiting to the reign of Marcus Aurelius would provide a vast amount of material. With multiple frontiers, client states, social classes, and government
functions, there is a lot to analyze. In the case of Marcus Aurelius, one well known policy was his treatment of Christians in the Roman Empire. Christianity had been spreading throughout the Roman Empire in the second century. Earlier Emperors had decided to leave the Christians alone. A “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was instituted and Christians who did not openly claim to be Christians had no need to fear the lions. Marcus Aurelius continued this policy but was more willing to aggressively prosecute Christians if he felt that was for the greater good.

The 1911 Catholic Encyclopedia noted, “In his dealings with the Christians Marcus Aurelius went a step farther than any of his predecessors. Throughout the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius, the procedure followed by Roman authorities in their treatment of the Christians has that outlined in Trajan's rescript to Pliny, by which it was ordered that the Christians should not be sought out; if brought before the courts, legal proof of their guilt should be forthcoming. It is clear that during the reign of Aurelius the comparative leniency of the legislation of Trajan gave way to a more severe temper.”

Some historians believe that the extent of any Christian persecution under Marcus Aurelius was overstated. He was a pagan and he was tolerant of different religious faiths. He believed that Christianity was immoral but basically harmless. However, he also would not intervene and stop a Christian persecution unless the Christian recanted. As the Roman Empire was a pagan entity at this time of history, it is not an unreasonable policy for Marcus Aurelius to have pursued.

Problem Solving

In his nineteen year reign, Marcus Aurelius had to solve problems a great deal. Dealing with the plague and multiple wars, on top of the normal affairs of state, presented him with many opportunities to make tough decisions. Of those, two are of particular note. In the first, Marcus Aurelius made the decision to conscript slaves to serve in the military. In the second, he auctioned off Imperial property to raise funds for the cash strapped Roman Empire.

Several German tribes invaded Italy in 169. This is the first actual invasion of Italy by foreign forces in several centuries. It shocked the Romans into action. However, the plague that was brought back by victorious Roman legions from the Parthian War caused serious problems. There were not enough Roman freedmen to fill out the legions. Faced with this recruitment problem, Marcus Aurelius conscripted gladiators, bandits, slaves, and Germanic tribesmen. This was an unorthodox move by Marcus Aurelius but it probably was a necessity. It certainly was an instance of decisive problem solving.

Another problem solving event was Marcus Aurelius’s decision to auction off Imperial property to raise funds. The Germanic invasion of Italy coupled with the plague put a strain on the revenue that the Roman Empire had as funds needed spent for war at the same time large number of taxpayers perished. Birley (2000) wrote, “Marcus must have realized that new taxation would be extremely unpopular and not very productive. A gesture like the palace auction had more than a practical benefit – it demonstrated that the emperor was willing to make sacrifices” (p. 160).

Conclusion

Marcus Aurelius may have made some mistake (like allowing Commodus to follow him on the throne) but his good decisions appear to far out weigh this. There are many aspects of his leadership which demonstrate his management skills. These include his ability to navigate ethics, his understanding of the culture of the Roman Empire, his ability to manage the organization of the Roman bureaucracies, his success in introducing change, his capability to set policy, and his cleverness in problem solving. He clearly was a good Emperor and a decent role model for modern leaders and managers to study.

References

Birley, A. R. (2000). Marcus Aurelius: A biography. New York: Routledge.

Holland, T. (2003). Rubicon: The last years of the Roman Republic. Chicago: IL, Doubleday.

Deal, T. E. & Peterson, K. D. (1999). Shaping school culture: The school leader's role. San Francisco: CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Management by Wandering Around: Reference Rovering and Quality Reference Service

2009-05-07T05:49:00.000-07:00

Management by Wandering Around: Reference Rovering and Quality Reference Service

Michael Lorenzen

(This article originally appeared in The Reference Librarian,1997 (no. 59), 51-57.)

Abstract: Reference rovering is a method for eliminating the barrier of the reference desk which is between the librarian and the patron. This concept very closely parallels the business concept of Management By Wandering Around (MBWA). This paper looks at the literature examining the history and techniques of both MBWA and reference rovering. The techniques for how to conduct reference rovering are explored. Both the advantages and disadvantages of reference rovering are examined.

Introduction

The reference desk is a location that allows for the librarian to interact with patrons in ways that help the patron locate information. Despite the usefulness of the reference desk, it can also become a barrier. Not all patrons who need help locating information will ask for it. Some patrons will be afraid to ask for help. Others will not realize that they need to ask for help. The librarian working behind a reference desk may not always notice when a patron who has not approached the desk needs help.

The business world has similar problems. Managers can have difficulty becoming aware of problems in their areas of responsibility unless other employees or customers point out problems to them. In the last several decades, a business solution to this has emerged. The concept of Management by Wandering Around has gotten managers out of the office and onto the floor making contact with employees and customers. Some librarians have responded similarly by leaving the reference desk behind to interact proactively with patrons by acting as reference rovers. Management by Wandering Around and reference rovering are very similar and an examination of both can prove useful to librarians engaged in reference work.

Literature Review

Management by Wandering Around was developed by executives at Hewlett-Packard in the 1970s (Trueman, 1991). It became popularized by a book written by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman in the early 1980s. The two discovered that companies that had top managers engaged in interacting with employees and customers were more successful than those with isolated management. The two believed that this success was due to leadership that "wandered" outside the executive suite. Rather than micro-manage employees, Management by Wandering Around allowed for informal communication and a decrease in bureaucratic lines of communication. It also allowed for managers to communicate organizational values and management philosophy at a personal level (Peters and Waters, 1982).

The key to Management by Wandering Around is communication between managers and employees. The concept allows a manager to be "walking around with (his or her) eyes open asking questions like crazy and trying to understand what the employees are doing" (Lavenson, 1976). A Vice-President of Hewlett-Packard described Management by Wandering Around as "the business of staying in touch with the territory all the time." This is done by "being accessible and approachable" (McPherson, 1991). In short, a Management by Wandering Around program "gets the manager out of his or her office and onto the floor making contact with employees" (Amsbary and Staples, 1991).

Amsbary and Staples did a case study of a Management by Wandering Around at a hospital. They found that a Management by Wandering Around program was providing for improved communication between nurses and administrators. They also found that despite the program's success many administrators did not know how to behave while "wandering" due to the ambiguous nature of Management by Wandering Around. Other fields that have explored Management by Wandering Around include the ministry (Bilmer, 1984) and education (Matula, 1984).

Reference rovering probably has been around in some form or another since the beginning of reference service. However, as a separate philosophy of reference, it has received little attention in library literature. Jennii Ramirez wrote an article on it based on her experiences at Diablo Valley College. She listed six benefits to reference rovering including letting patrons know that it is OK not to know how to use the library, getting patrons help at the point of instruction so they will not lose their places at computers, eliminating the reference desk separating patrons from the librarian, instructing patrons so they learn from a hands-on approach, teaching one-on-one which is superior to group bibliographic instruction, and letting other patrons benefit from public conversations between a librarian and another patron. Ramirez summed up her article by writing, "Reference rovering, in fact, is better than working from a reference desk in some respects. The amount of contact with patrons is greater when rovering. Not only does the rover's offer of assistance in itself provide an opportunity to become more comfortable in interpersonal communication with patrons, but the offer is often appreciated and accepted" (Ramirez, 1994).

Techniques of Reference Rovering

Reference rovering needs to follow a modified version of Management by Wandering Around if it is to have maximum effectiveness. To be successful, the librarian must get out from behind the reference desk and onto the floor making contact with patrons. The librarian must walk around with eyes open asking questions in an attempt to stay in touch with patrons.

Each reference unit must decide if reference rovering will be done as part of regular reference desk coverage or whether it will be a separate scheduled activity of librarians. If the decision is made to include rovering as part of regular reference coverage, several other questions must be addressed. How much time will each librarian spend rovering while at the reference desk? Will there always be at least one librarian at the reference desk despite rovering activity? If the decision is to schedule separate rovering time, the times when reference rovering will be the most beneficial must be identified.

One problem that has been identified with Management by Wandering Around is that managers do not know how to "wander" (Amsbary and Staples, 1991). It is thus reasonable to assume that many librarians do not know how to "rove." The easiest way to rove is to wander around the reference areas paying particular attention to patrons who appear confused or who the librarian knows from prior interactions needs extra help or are working on a tough research question. Another thing to notice is if patrons are not doing research in the most efficient manner. A patron who is at record 13 of 2013 on a research database certainly needs some rover intervention.

After identifying patrons in need of help, the librarian must strike up a conversation with the patron. The choice of the initial question is particularly important. Asking "How is your research going?" is a good way to enter into the reference interview. Another good opening line is, "Wow, that sure is an interesting topic!" if the librarian can see a topic on a computer screen, although the librarian should be careful not to do this if the patron is researching a potentially embarrassing topic. A good follow-up rover question is, "How is your progress?" on whatever topic the librarian previously helped the patron research.

Patrons can be sensitive about appearing dumb. This is why many of them do not go to the reference desk in the first place. It is important not to phrase questions as if the patron needs help. Many patrons will immediately get defensive. Another point to remember is that some patrons do not want to be approached. If the librarian feels the patron is uneasy with being disturbed, the librarian needs to end politely the rover encounter. Librarians should try to make it appear as though they are not violating the privacy or personal space of the patron.

Librarians engaged in rovering should always wear badges that identify the rover as a librarian. Patrons may not always know that the stranger coming up to them asking questions about their research is a librarian. Patrons may grow suspicious and worry about the intent of the rover. It is not good for patrons to think that rovers are trying to "pick them up."

The reference desk itself may need to be changed. If rovering is a part of the duties of librarians scheduled to the reference desk, the design of the desk will need to reflect this. Sit-down reference desks inhibit the rovering activities of librarians. A reference desk with high stools designed more as an open counter area allows for better rovering interaction. The reference area itself may need some redesign to facilitate rovering. Objects such as shelving, tables, and computers should be in a line of sight from the reference desk. Further, the reference area should be as open as possible to allow librarians who are rovering the best view of patron activity.

Finally, it is very important that librarians who are rovering are relaxed and friendly. Patrons approached by disinterested or untactful librarians are not going to feel comfortable. Rovering by uninterested or unfriendly librarians will damage the reputation of a library.

Benefits of Reference Rovering

There are many benefits to reference rovering. Several of these were first identified by Ramirez. The biggest benefit of reference rovering is that it eliminates the barrier of the desk. The librarian is free to go to the patrons and help them as it is needed. The librarian is more alert to patron needs and the patron sees the librarian as being friendly and helpful because the librarian sought out the patron.

Since the librarian is out on the floor, problems are discovered faster. Inevitably, new reference tools such as computers can cause unforeseen problems for patrons that may take weeks or longer for the library staff to discover. A rover will pick up on these problems much faster. Additionally, other problems, such as a leaky roof in the far corner of the reference area, may be discovered faster as well.

Reference desk traffic should diminish. As librarians are rovering, many of the questions that may have came to the reference desk will never get there because the patron was identified and helped by a rover. Further, rovers will be able to check up on patrons who were helped at the reference desk and cut down on the number of repeat visits.

Rovering allows patrons to feel more comfortable with their lack of knowledge of how to do research. "Since the...only reason for circulating is to offer assistance, this indicates to patrons that they are not expected to know how to use the resources. That signal--that it is okay not to know and therefore it is okay to get help--is reassuring to patrons" (Ramirez, 1994).

Another benefit of rovering is that patrons are taught at the point of use. This is a big benefit to patrons who may be reluctant to leave a heavily-used tool to ask for help at the reference desk. This is particularly true for patrons using computer indexes that have large lines of patrons waiting to use the tool. As a rover will help a patron use a computer more efficiently, this should also allow the tool to become available for other patrons sooner.

Reference rovering allows for hands-on, individualized instruction. As the librarian will see exactly what the patron needs in the way of instruction, the librarian can focus on those areas. This is more efficient for the individual patron than bibliographic instruction, because only the individual's needs are addressed.

Finally, others can benefit from hearing a rover have an instruction session with a patron. "While helping one patron, others may overhear the discussion and learn along with the 'official' trainee...Observing that the rover provides nonjudgemental, friendly assistance may embolden them to ask for help" (Ramirez, 1994). The drawback to this however is that patron privacy may be compromised.

Disadvantages of Reference Rovering

There are several disadvantages to reference rovering as well. The first is staffing. If rovering is a separately scheduled activity for librarians, supervisors will have difficulty finding librarians to cover both the reference desk and rovering except at the best-staffed libraries. If rovering is a part of regular reference desk activity, care will have to be taken to make sure an adequate number of librarians are at the reference desk. It may prove impossible to rove at peak times. After all, who is going to answer the phone if everyone is out in the reference stacks looking for confused patrons?

Reference rovering will lead to a noisier reference area. As rovers and patrons interact, their conversations will be quite noticeable. Patrons who expect the library to be a quiet area will be disturbed by the noise. Further, they may become annoyed at the librarian causing the noise when they feel the librarian should be suppressing it.

Another problem that may develop with reference rovering is a few patrons dominating too much of the rover's time. It will be easy for the rover to lose track of time when engaged with helping a patron to the detriment of other patrons waiting to be "discovered" by the rover. Further, some patrons may begin to monopolize too much of the rover's time. These same patrons may refuse to learn how to do difficult research if they believe the rover will help them do it every time they come in the library.

Summary

Management by Wandering Around and reference rovering are closely related concepts that do the same thing. They both make the practitioner more aware of those they work with and serve. Barriers such as offices and reference desks are eliminated. As a philosophy of reference, reference rovering gets the librarian back to the basic concept of reference service: meeting the needs of the patron. An examination of business literature reveals how effective Management by Wandering Around has proven to be in the last several decades. Rovering has many benefits for librarians and patrons including the elimination of the barrier of the reference desk and more individualized instruction when and where it is needed. There are drawbacks as well including the difficulty in staffing reference desks. However, reference rovering has much to recommend it and libraries would certainly benefit from implementing it in some form.

References

Amsbary, Jonathan H. and Patricia J. Staples (1991), "Improving Administrator/Nurse Communication: A Case Study of Management by Wandering Around," Journal of Business Communication 28 (Spring), 101-12.

Beckman, J. Daniel (1991), "Tools for Staying Ahead in the Nineties," Healthcare Forum 34 (May/June), 84-90.

Bers, Trudy H. (1985), "Planetary Leadership: A Presentation in the Peripatetic Method of Effecting Change in a College--A Case Study in Management by Wandering Around," Planning For Higher Education 13, 4-9.

Bilmer, Richard (1984), "Ministry by Wandering Around!" Lutheran Education 119 (January/February), 160-1.

Lavenson, J.H. (1976), "How to Earn an MBWA Degree," Vital Speeches 42, 410-2.

McPherson, Joseph (1984), "Inspiring Creativity While 'Wandering Around'," 39 (April), 77.

Matula, Jospeh J. (1984), "Learning to Lead by Strolling Around," Executive Educator 6 (July), 20.

Peters, Thomas J. and Robert H. Waterman Jr. (1982), In Search of Excellence: Lessons From America's Best Run Companies. New York: Harper and Row.

Ramirez, Jennii L. (1994), "Reference Rover: The Hesitant Patron's Best Friend," College & Research Libraries News 55 (June), 354-57.

Trueman, Wendy (1991), "CEO Isolation and How to Fight It," Canadian Business 64 (July), 28-32.

Deconstructing the Philanthropic Library: The Sociological Reasons Behind Andrew Carnegie's Millions to Libraries

2009-05-06T05:45:00.000-07:00

Deconstructing the Philanthropic Library: The Sociological Reasons Behind Andrew Carnegie's Millions to Libraries

Michael Lorenzen

(This article originally appeared in Illinois Libraries 81(2), (1999), 75-78.)

Educational institutions are often founded on and influenced by philanthropy. One of the strongest examples of this is the founding of over two thousand Carnegie Libraries in Europe, the United States, and the English speaking world in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Just like other educational institutions, the Carnegie Libraries were influenced heavily by the world around them. The strongest influence came from the source of the money, Andrew Carnegie, who had very strong feelings as to why these libraries were needed including his belief in an America that was a meritocracy and that his libraries would benefit immigrants.

ANDREW CARNEGIE AND THE CARNEGIE LIBRARIES

Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish immigrant to the United States in the mid-19th Century. He was poor and was working full-time at the age of twelve. Despite his poor background and the discrimination he faced as an immigrant, he built an industrial empire based on the manufacturing of steel and when he sold his business empire and retired he was worth almost an estimated 400 million dollars. His rags to riches story led him to believe that America was a meritocractic society where anyone who worked hard and smart with a little luck could be successful.

Andrew Carnegie believed strongly in what he called the "Gospel of Wealth." Macleod (1968) summarized this in his book on Carnegie Libraries in Wisconsin. Basically, Carnegie believed that accumulation of wealth by a few was inevitable in any capitalistic society. Further, this concentration of wealth in the hands of a few was necessary for democracy and freedom to prevail and for the whole of society to be prosperous. Any attempt to circumvent this system would lead to anarchy and tyranny. However, Carnegie believed that those who did make it had a moral obligation to give their fortune away before they died to benefit society. In particular, this money was to be spent in a way that did not encourage laziness (charities that only dealt with symptoms and not the problem) but that created institutions that made opportunities for anyone with the right character to be successful and rich.

This philosophy of Carnegie was translated into a wide variety of areas. He gave away $333 million of his fortune on various activities including an attempt to simplify spelling, helping churches, endowing (and in some cases founding) institutions of higher education, and supporting the arts. However, his largest gifts were reserved for libraries. Carnegie gave money to build 2,509 libraries throughout the English speaking world including the British Isles, Australia, and New Zealand. Of these libraries, 1,679 of them were built in the United States and in American possessions that were later incorporated into America proper (Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). He spent over $55 million on libraries alone and he is often referred to as the "Patron Saint of Libraries." (Bobinski, 1969)

Carnegie had two main reasons for donating money to the founding of libraries. First, he believed that libraries added to the meritocratic nature of America. Anyone with the right inclination and desire could educate himself. Second, Carnegie believed that immigrants like himself needed to acquire cultural knowledge of America which the library allowed immigrants to do.

Carnegie indicated it was the first reason that was the most important to him. As a boy working a hard job with long hours, he had no access to education. However, a Colonel Anderson started a small library of 400 books which he lent on Saturday afternoons to local boys. This is how Carnegie educated himself. Wrote Carnegie (1920) of Colonel Anderson's library, "This is but a slight tribute and gives only a faint idea of the depth of gratitude which I feel for what he did for me and my companions. It was from my own early experience that I decided there was no use to which money could be applied so productive of good to boys and girls who have good within them and ability and ambition to develop it, as the founding of a public library in a community..." (pp. 47) Further, Carnegie is quoted as saying, "In a public library men could at least share cultural opportunities on a basis of equality." (New York Times, Jan. 8, 1903, pp. 1) Through the library, all could educate themselves enough to share in America's richness if they so desired.

The second reason Carnegie invested a large portion of his fortune into libraries was the cultural education of immigrants. He believed immigrants would use the library like he had and the result would be a more homogeneous American people. Carnegie is quoted as saying by Macleod (1968), "Show me the man who speaks English, reads Shakespeare and Bobby Burns and I'll show you a man who has absorbed the American principles. He will most likely read also the Declaration of Independence and Washington's Farewell Address." (pp. 17)

It is only fair to add that many contemporaries of Andrew Carnegie found a third reason why Carnegie gave away his money. In essence, they believed Carnegie was an egotist who liked the attention giving money got him and that he relished having thousands of buildings named after him. According to Wall (1970), Mark Twain always addressed Carnegie as "Saint Andrew" in jest for this reason. Andrew Carnegie always referred to Mark Twain as "Saint Mark" in return. It is only fair to further note that regardless of any egotism on Carnegie's part, he did give away 90% of his fortune in his lifetime. Had he lived another decade, he probably would have given it all away. Carnegie at least had the courage of his convictions and did what he thought was morally right.

THE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES BEHIND THE CARNEGIE LIBRARIES

Although Andrew Carnegie would have never realized it, 20th Century educational and sociological theorists have categorized his rationale for building libraries as educational institutions into modern sociological reasons. Both of his major reasons, the meritocracy that benefited from libraries and the socialization of immigrants that libraries could aid in, have modern sociological theories that they fit within.

Carnegie's belief in an America that was a meritocracy fits solidly within the functional paradigm. Wrote Hurn (1985), "The functional paradigm argues that the reason why schooling is so much more important in modern society than in previous societies is that it performs two crucial functions. First, schooling represents an efficient and rational way of sorting and selecting talented people so that the most able and motivated attain the highest status positions. In other words, schools help create a society where effort and ability rather than family background determine a person's status." (pp. 46,47) Carnegie believed that the public library was an efficient and rational way that allowed those who were most able and motivated to educate themselves and allowed them then to attain high status positions regardless of their background. Institutions like the public library were important to Carnegie because they allowed the meritocractic nature of America to work. In Carnegie's mind, if an individual had access to a library but choose not to use it, then that individual was choosing a lower status position.

Labaree wrote about the meritocracy within the concept of democratic equality. Wrote Labaree (1996), "In addition to citizenship training and equal treatment, the goal of democratic equality has taken a third form, that is the pursuit of equal access...Equal access has come to mean that every American should have an equal opportunity to acquire an education at any educational level." (pp. 10) The Carnegie Libraries assured that those living in communities possessing them, every citizen who desired to educate themselves could indeed do so. Carnegie Libraries are in a very real sense a form of democratic equality.

Hurn (1985) further developed the concept of the meritocratic society in his exploration of the functional paradigm. Wrote Hurn, "In modern societies occupational roles are (and should be) achieved rather than ascribed. Contemporary intellectuals have long regarded the inheritance of occupational roles, and more broadly the inheritance of social status, as anathema. People believe high-status positions should be achieved on the basis of merit rather than passed on from parent to child. The children of the poor should have equal opportunity to achieve high status with more privileged children." (pp. 49) Without overly belaboring the point, this meritocracy was crucial to Carnegie. He had started as a worker and had achieved high status. Hence, he had to believe that his workers had the same opportunities he had had but were not as worthy. If the children of the workers had access to libraries, then Carnegie felt the more worthy of them would use the libraries to educate themselves and attain high status. Carnegie felt his philanthropy was helping to continue the meritocracy he believed already existed.

Carnegie's desire to socialize new immigrants is also addressed by the functional paradigm. Wrote Hurn (1985), "An educated citizenry is an informed citizenry, less likely to be manipulated by demagogues, and more likely to make responsible and informed political decisions and be actively involved in the political process. Education reduces intolerance and prejudice, and increases support for civil liberties; it is, in other words, an essential bulwark of a democratic society dedicated to freedom and justice." (pp. 51) Considering the union politics at the time which Carnegie heavily disliked, it is not hard to imagine how Carnegie saw new immigrants being educated. He believed that the education achieved via the library would make voters less likely to be manipulated by demagogues (union organizers) and make informed decisions at the ballot box. While Carnegie never stated as much, it is easy to infer from Carnegie's other writings and from his life that he believed library educated voters would tend to vote like he did. Regardless, Carnegie believed the process of education through the library would help immigrants adjust to America and become proper Americans.

Parsons wrote of the perceived value of socialization by the commitments education produced in students. He wrote (1964), "Commitments may be broken down into two components: commitments to the broad implementation of the broad values (emphasis in original) of society, and commitment to the performance of a specific type of role within the structure of society." (pp. 130) Immigrants and others learning in public libraries, reading the books Andrew Carnegie provided for them, would be exposed to the values of society. Carnegie felt that the immigrants in particular would take to these values.

This paper is about the sociological basis for why Carnegie founded thousands of libraries. As such, it is not necessary to examine in great depth where Carnegie's motivations are potentially wrong. However, since so much of Carnegie's motivations come from his belief in a meritocracy it is only appropriate to address criticism of the meritocracy.

Does an increase in education result in an increase in social position as Carnegie believed? Modern research tends to show that more universal educational attainment has not led to a more equal society in regards to equity in the distribution of high social class. Boudon (1986) defined this observation as, "Education influences status; hence one is entitled to expect that, when educational level becomes less narrowly related to orientation status, orientation status should influence achieved status to a lesser extent. This expectation does not seem to be confirmed by empirical data, however." (pp. 264) Hurn (1985) came to the same conclusion writing, "But what should happen, according to the functional paradigm, is that we should be able to observe some reduction in the ability of privileged parents to pass on their advantages to their children. The fact that we do not observe this suggests that contemporary U.S. society is not a great deal more meritocratic than several decades ago." (pp.59)

The world of the late 19th Century and early 20th Century was different than the modern time when Hurn and Boudon made their observations. Educational achievement was low throughout America. Having a high education was a greater benefit then than it is today since so few had it. It is reasonable to assume that those educating themselves in Carnegie Libraries at the time they were built would have had huge advantages over others who were less educated. Hence, Carnegie's vision would have worked to some extent at that time. Even in today's society, a well read person is in better shape than the less read person, even if both have the same low social status.

CONCLUSIONS

Andrew Carnegie had two main reasons for founding thousands of libraries around the world in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. First, Andrew Carnegie believed very strongly in the concept of America as a meritocracy due to his life experience. Second, Andrew Carnegie believed that public libraries were a good way to socialize immigrants into decent Americans. Modern sociological theory can be applied to Carnegie's rationales. Most of the cited theorists in this paper wrote about the functional paradigm of education which fits Andrew Carnegie's philanthropy nicely. Regardless of why Carnegie did what he did, his establishment of thousands of public libraries is the most important event in the history of American librarianship. Further, regardless of rationale, these Carnegie Libraries to this day have benefited in the education of millions of people.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anonymous. (1903, Jan. 3). Carnegie does another New York Library. New York Times, pp. 1,2.

Bobinski, George S. (1969). Carnegie libraries: Their history and impact on American public library development. Chicago: American Library Association.

Boudon, Raymond. (1986). Education, social mobility, and sociological theory. In Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education edited by John G. Richardson. New York: Greenwood Press, 261-274.

Carnegie, Andrew. (1915). The public library as social force. Wisconsin library bulletin 11, 182.

Carnegie, Andrew. (1920). The autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, popular edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Hurn, Christopher J. (1985). The limits and possibilities of schooling: An introduction to the sociology of education. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc. Chapter 2 ("Theories of schooling and society: The functional and conflict paradigms") and Chapter 3 ("Explanations of the expansion of schooling").

Labaree, David F. (1996). Public goods, private goods: The American struggle over educational goals. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York.

Macleod, David I. (1968). Carnegie libraries in Wisconsin. New York City: Arno Press, Inc.

Martin, Robert Sidney (Ed.). (1993). Carnegie denied: Communities rejecting Carnegie library construction grants 1898-1925. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Parsons, Talcott. (1959). The school class as a social system: Some of its functions in American society. Harvard educational review 29(4), 297-318.

Swetman, Susan H. (1991). Pro-Carnegie library arguments and contemporary concerns in the intermountain west. Journal of the west 30(3), 63-68.

Thomas, Vivian. (1995). The first Carnegie library. Wilson library bulletin 69(10), 52-54.

Wall, Joseph Frazier. (1970). Andrew Carnegie. New York: Oxford University Press.

Wiegand, Wayne A. (1996). Wresting money from the canny Scotsman: Melvil Dewey's designs on Carnegie's millions, 1902-1906. Libraries & Culture 31(2), 380-393.

School Librarians: Getting a Piece of the Stimulus Pie

2009-05-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

Can information literacy be used by librarians to get Federal stimulus money? SLJ thinks so in an article titled School Librarians: Getting a Piece of the Stimulus Pie. The author is Debra Lau Whelan.

Whelan wrote, "Keep them informed about the exciting things you’re doing in the school library and how information literacy skills improve student achievement and relate to job readiness."

Information literacy would seem to help students. However, it is hard to prove these claims. Be prepared with good documentation and excellent political connections if you want a shot at the free billions being passed out right now by Uncle Sam.

The Heart of Change: Julius Caesar and the End of the Roman Republic

2009-05-04T06:02:00.000-07:00

The Heart of Change: Julius Caesar and
the End of the Roman Republic

Michael Lorenzen

Organizations change through time. This was certainly true of the historical Roman Republic as it changed into the Roman Empire. It went from being a partially democratic state to rule by one man. This paper will give a brief history of the Roman Republic with an emphasis on the transition from Republican to Imperial roles. It will also examine the 8 step model for organizational change as described by Kotter and Cohen (2002) in their book The Heart of Change and examine how these steps were used by Julius Caesar to make the organizational changes that allowed the Roman Republic to become the Roman Empire.

The Heart of Change: Julius Caesar and the End of the Roman Republic

Change is a fact of history. It has occurred repeatedly throughout time and it will invariably be a constant for the future. Taking this into account, it is reasonable to assume that the change models proposed by various theorists should be applicable to the study of past events. One of the most important events in ancient history was the transformation of the democratic Roman Republic into the Emperor ruled Roman Empire. This event altered human history. As such, analysis of it using a change model should be possible.

Kotter and Cohen wrote the book Heart of Change in 2002. In it, they describe an eight step model for change. A look at this model shows that it is a good one for describing the actions of Julius Caesar as he took charge of the Roman Republic and ended the democratic rule of the Roman Senate and replaced it with a system that would result in the rule of Caesar’s for centuries to come. While it is not a perfect fit, the Kotter and Cohen model is still helpful in understanding how Caesar was able to accomplish what he did and it allows for the analysis of his actions.

Romans and Change

Before examining the historical events that occurred to the Roman Republic, it is important to understand the mindset of the Roman people. They did not like change. In fact, they were quite resistant to the idea. Wrote Holland (2003), “Novelty, to the Citizen’s of the Republic, had sinister connotations. Pragmatics as they were, they might accept innovation if it was dressed up as the will of the gods or an ancient costume, but never for its own sake” (p. 4).

That is not to say the Romans rejected all change. However, they were very conservative about it. Holland (2003) further wrote, “Conservative and flexible in equal measures, the Romans kept what worked, adapted what had failed, and preserved as sacred lumber what had become redundant. The Republic was both a building site and a junkyard” (p. 4). This is a key concept when contemplating the actions of Julius Caesar as he brought about the end of the Republic. The government of the Roman Republic had lasted almost five hundred years (half a millennium!) despite wars, constitutional crisis, and territorial expansion. This is twice the length of time of the history of the United States of America today. During this time, the government of the Roman Republic changed very little. As such, the change process initiated by Caesar has to rank amongst some of the most significant of all change sequences in history.

A Brief History of the Roman Republic

Legend has it that the city of Rome was founded in 753 BC. For the first two centuries of its existence, a total of seven kings ruled. The final King (Lucius Tarquinius Superbus) was overthrown when his son raped a noblewoman. The Romans replaced the monarchy with a Republican government which would exist for the next 500 years.

The Roman Republic was set up in a way that made it difficult for any one man to hold absolute power. The Web encyclopedia Wikipedia (2005) noted that, “The Romans observed two principles for their officials: annuality or the observation of a one-year term and collegiality or the holding of the same office by at least two men at the same time. The supreme office of consul, for instance, was always held by two men together, each of whom exercised a power of mutual veto over any actions by the other consul.” During times of crisis a man would occasionally be given the office of dictator for a limited period of time but they were always held accountable for their actions when the term of office ended.

As the centuries went by, Rome slowly gained control of the entire Italian peninsula. Citizens of conquered or voluntarily allied cities were usually allowed to eventually become citizens of the Roman Republic. As Rome grew stronger, it also began to expand into other parts of the Mediterranean world. This growth brought them into conflict with Carthage.

In a series of three wars, Rome destroyed Carthage. These wars are known as the Punic Wars. The second war (which began in 218 BC) lasted the longest and much of it was fought in Italy as Hannibal was able to inflict huge loses on the Roman military. In the end, Rome would emerge victorious after every war. At the end of the final war (146 BC) the city of Carthage was razed, the population of Carthage was enslaved, and the soil around the city was salted so that it would be unable to support crops in the future.

The removal of Carthage opened up much of the known world to the Romans. They acquired provinces in Africa, Greece, Asia Minor, and the islands of the Mediterranean. These conquests enriched the Roman Republic but created problems. The government of the Republic was not well suited to governing such a large empire and many of the traditions of Rome began to be challenged including the idea that no one man should hold absolute power.

The Fall of the Roman Republic

Most historians trace the beginning of the Republic’s fall to the events which began in 91 BC. Most of the allied Italian cities of Rome rose in a revolt which history has recorded as the Social War. At the same time, Mithridates VI of Pontus overran most of the Roman held territory in Asia and Greece. In addition, he encouraged the slaughter of over 80,000 men, women, and children of Italian descent in the areas he conquered.

The Roman General Sulla rose to prominence at this time. His legions were instrumental in putting down the revolt in Italy. When he was denied the command of the army to prosecute the war against Mithridates, Sulla marched his legions on Rome. No Roman had ever marched an army on Rome before. He forced the Senate to give him what he wanted and he left allies in charge of the government. Sulla was successful in the eastern campaign and Rome regained all the territory it had lost in Greece and Asia.

While Sulla was away campaigning, his enemies were able to regain control of the Republican government. When Sulla returned to Italy, he once again marched on Rome and was able to regain sole power. This time, he began a purge and had his enemies executed and their estates forfeited.

Sulla used his time in power to make reforms he believed would strengthen the Republic, stifle corruption, and make it impossible for any one to ever seize power the way he had done. Then, after only a few years of absolute rule, he retired and lived out his remaining years as a private citizen. Sulla believed he had saved the Republic. But historians believe his example showed later leaders such as Julius Caesar that power in the Republic could be attained via military means.

Within a generation, the Republic would be undone. The Roman Senate looked weak and indecisive as it dealt with the Spartacus slave revolt and wide scale Mediterranean piracy. Continued unrest in the eastern provinces also showed that the government of the Republic was not well suited to running an empire. By 60 BC, three men rose to prominence and gained control of the Republican government. These included Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great, and Crassus. They shared power and formed what is now known as the First Triumvirate.

Julius Caesar used his new position to conquer Gaul (France). For several years he fought and defeated the tribes of Gaul. He even briefly invaded Britain but was forced to withdraw due to local resistance and continued unrest in Gaul. In 52 BC, he ended the Gallic Wars by destroying the army of the Chieftain Vercingetorix at the Battle of Alesia. Caesar had added a large amount of land to the holdings of the Republic and had furthered his own fame and popularity.

While Caesar was in Gaul, the First Triumvirate had slowly disintegrated. Crassus had died campaigning in the east. Pompey had become increasingly distrustful of Caesar and he finally in 49 BC ordered him to give up command of his legions. Caesar refused and instead marched his legions on Rome. In the ensuing Civil War, Pompey was killed and Caesar gained absolute mastery of the Roman world. And unlike Sulla, he had no intention of giving up power or allowing the Republic to be restored.

Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. However, his vision of a new Roman government was not undone. His nephew Octavius (who became the Emperor Augustus) was his legal heir. He used his skills and inheritance rights to win the ensuing civil war and place himself on the throne. The Republic was dead and it would never return. The Roman Empire was born.

The Heart of Change

There are many change models in existence today which could be used to examine the fall of the Roman Republic. Fullan (2001) has a model as does Beer, Eisenstat, and Spector (1990), and Hamel (2000). All of these are worthwhile. However, the author of this essay has decided to use the Kotter and Cohen (2002) model as it is presented in The Heart of Change. The eight steps in this model are easy to discern and then apply to a historical setting.

In addition, this analysis will focus on Julius Caesar as the leader seeking change. Although many individuals had a hand in the destruction of the Republic, history has long fingered Caesar as the man who destroyed it. Wrote Jimenez (2000) in acknowledging this point, “For all of his success on the battlefield and in politics, Caesar failed as a statesman because he had no vision of how Rome should function, except at his bidding, and allowed to govern it but himself. For the next five hundred years his successors would adhere to his example” (p. 241).

However, it can be argued that Caesar did have a vision. It was his intent to destroy the Republic and establish rule by one man. He was spectacularly successful in achieving his vision as a statesman. He did destroy the Republic and that was what he wanted. This paper will examine this motive as the “heart of change” that Caesar intended for the Roman Republic.

Step One: Increase Urgency

Kotter and Cohen (2002) believe that increasing urgency is the beginning of any successful change process. If people do not see the need to change, they probably will not change. The authors argue, “In successful change efforts, the first step is making sure sufficient people act with sufficient urgency” (p. 15.)

Julius Caesar had an easy task on this step when he set upon his path to power in the Roman Republic. It was becoming evident that the Roman Republic lacked many desirable traits needed for the new political world it found itself in. The world had changed due to the success of Rome but Roman tradition was holding back Rome from even greater glory such as the ability to expand and govern even more territory.

Jimenez (2000) noted two deficiencies in particular which were afflicting the Republic. First, Rome had been too successful in conquering new provinces. He wrote, “Its generals used their devastating armies to conquer and then annex territories even further afield, until the collection of provinces and subject kingdoms reached a size that was almost impossible to govern” (Preface xi.) In the ancient world, it took months for messages to travel between Rome and the more distant provinces. Often, quick decisions needed to be made. The mechanisms of the Republic did not cope well with this. Further, political appointments to govern these new provinces were made by the Roman Senate. This often resulted in weak administrators being appointed to rule the new Roman possessions as a result of political maneuvers.

Secondly, Jimenez noted that the Roman Senate did not adequately support the legions that were needed to maintain control of the new conquered lands. This gave new power to the generals as they raised and funded their own troops. He wrote, “The Roman Senate, which had sole responsibility for foreign policy and warmaking, became reluctant to finance the large standing army necessary to police and defend this territory. The result was that control and support of Rome’s armies gradually fell to its generals…” (Preface xi).

Two other points are worth noting here as well. Kotter and Cohen (2002) wrote about several behaviors which could blind some people for the need for change. These included a sense of complacency and a desire for self-protection. Both of these behaviors were evident in the Roman Senate. Why shouldn’t they be complacent? The Roman system of government had worked for centuries and had allowed it to gain a position as the most powerful state in the world. Roman arrogance appeared to be justified. Further, many in the Senate only cared for their own personal power and wealth. This was very evident to the average Roman. Julius Caesar and the other two members of the First Triumvirate exploited these behaviors to undercut the power of the Roman Senate. Julius Caesar was able to use the frustrations many felt with the Senate to show an urgency for change.

Step Two: Build the Guiding Team

Kotter and Cohen (2002) believe that it is important to get the right people involved in guiding change. These people can then show leadership and help get the change imitative accepted and adapted by the people in the organization. This includes modeling behaviors such as trust and teamwork so that that the guiding team members can inspire good responses from others.

Caesar got many people to take leadership positions and push for change that allowed him to achieve his goals. Pompey the Great and Crassus joined Caesar in the First Triumvirate. Neither of these men had the same ultimate goal as Caesar (each wanted power for themselves alone) but they did share the common goal of subverting the government of the Republic and shifting it to themselves. Although Pompey and Caesar eventually parted ways and fought each other, Pompey help was essential in guiding Caesar to the position where he could attempt to seize power on his own.

Another important member of Caesar’s guiding team was Cleopatra. She joined the “team” later in the story but her help was important in getting Caesar accepted by the Roman subjects in the eastern provinces. She embraced Caesar’s desire for absolute power and supported him. In the east, monarchs were often worshiped as gods and treated as being more than human. Cleopatra’s acceptance of Caesar and her subsequent bearing him a son made Caesar appear more divine. This helped him immensely in getting the change of government accepted in the east. Holland (2003) noted, “In the East, they already worshipped Caesar as a god…Just as Cleopatra was both a pharaoh and to the Egyptians and a Macedonian Queen among the Greeks, so Caesar could be at once a living god in Asia and a dictator to the Romans” (p. 333).

It is also important to note the officers who served in the legions Julius Caesar commanded. Caesar gained power through military means. If at any point his officers had refused to support him, he would have been finished. They kept the soldiers in the army in line and supportive of Caesar’s goals. As such, these officers could be considered the most important part of Caesar’s guiding team.

One piece of advice that Kotter and Cohen (2002) recommended was followed by Julius Caesar in regards to building guiding teams. They wrote in regards to what does not work, “Not confronting the situation when momentum and entrenched power centers undermine the creation of the right groups” (p. 60). Caesar did not make this mistake. When tradition or the Roman Senate prevented him from recruiting the people he needed, he would find both subtle and straightforward ways to get the people he needed.

Step Three: Get the Vision Right

Kotter and Cohen (2002) advance the idea that a guiding team has to have a clear vision so that it can have a clear sense of direction. This echoes Proverbs 29:18, “Without a vision, the people will perish.” As Caesar was a well known advocate for the Jews of Rome, this Bible passage seems exceptionally apt.

Unfortunately, getting a sense of Caesar’s vision can only be guessed at today. I have stated previously that Caesar’s vision was absolute power and the overthrow of the Roman Republic. The evidence of history supports this claim. However, there are no surviving documents of Caesar writing this down as a vision statement after having a team building meeting! It is unlikely such a document ever existed.

However, we can still see signs of Julius Caesar’s vision by some of his actions that coincide with Kotter and Cohen’s (2002) advice on the topic. This included having a message that was simple and direct. Caesar hid his goals early in his career but as he grew in power he was quit clear in communicating what he wanted in a simple fashion. He was a general and he was used to having his commands followed. He expected everyone (including members of the Roman Senate) to obey him when he issued orders. When the Senate failed to heed him, he overthrew it. He was direct prior to this as well. His conquest of Gaul added a huge amount of territory to the Roman state but he did so illegally. The Roman Senate did not authorize the conquest. But Caesar wanted Gaul and he took it anyway.

Kotter and Cohen (2002) also recommended, “Strategies that are bold enough to make bold visions a reality” (p. 82). Julius Caesar was always bold. Jimenez (2000) wrote of Caesar’s march into Italy at the start of the Civil War with Pompey, “It was sudden and surprise marches by Caesar’s troops that led to his successes in the Gallic War, and he saw no reason now to change his tactics” (p. 67). Caesar was a decisive leader who moved quickly to make his vision reality.

Caesar was also mindful of how he presented his change vision. Kotter and Cohen wrote that leaders should be “paying careful attention to the strategic question of how quickly to introduce change” (p. 82). Caesar made his changes swiftly. However, he maintained the illusion that nothing had changed. Everyone knew what he had done and that change had occurred. But for political and cultural reasons he pretended that the Republic still existed. He refused an offer to be made King. He went through the motions of pretending to work with the Senate on legislation that he was going to implement anyway. Wrote Holland (2003), “Why offend the sensibilities of his fellow citizens by abolishing the Republic when – as Caesar himself was said to have pointed out – the Republic been reduced to nothingness, a name only, without body or substance?” (p. 333, 334.)

Step Four: Communicating for Buy-In

Kotter and Cohen (2002) wrote that the goal of communicating is to get buy-in from as many people as possible acting to make the vision a reality. If people believe in the vision and strategies being proposed, change is more likely to occur. Julius Caesar was a master at this.

Early in his career, he spent lavishly to provide the citizens of Rome with entertainment. He did this for political reasons as the support of the people helped him advance his political career. Many of the citizens became Caesar supporters in this way. Caesar also got buy-in by seducing the wives of some of his rivals. Caesar would then have the women go back to their husbands and convince them to work with Caesar.

Julius Caesar continually amazed the world by pardoning rivals. After every victory in the Civil War, he would pardon the survivors including prominent enemies. Wrote Holland (2003), “Even his bitterest enemies, if they only submitted, could have the assurance that they would be pardoned and spared. Caesar had no plans for proscription lists to be posted in the Forum” (p. 302). This tactic made allies out of opponents who had been previously trying to block Caesar’s plans. Ultimately, this tactic cost Caesar his life as some of those he pardoned assassinated him. In the meantime, it was a brilliant strategy that got a lot Romans to buy-into Caesar’s message.

Caesar was also well known for giving speeches which clearly communicated his intent. Before crossing the Rubicon into Italy at the start of the Civil War, he gave a speech to his soldiers to keep their support. Wrote Jimenez (2000), “Caesar does not say what decision he made, only that he addressed his troops, complaining of the wrongs done him by his enemies, and of the illegal suppression of the vetoes of the tribunes. When he exhorted them to defend the reputation and dignity of the general…their response was to shout their enthusiastic assent” (p. 66).

Step Five: Empowering Action

Kotter and Cohen (2002) wrote that individuals who were taking part in the change process had to have the ability to take action. If individuals do not have the power to make changes, it is likely nothing will get done. As such, the leader has to be able to empower people to take action.

Caesar would have been familiar with this idea. As a military leader, he was required constantly to delegate authority to his officers. Ancient warfare isolated leaders from units they were not directly in command of as it took messengers time to travel between positions. In the case of the Gallic War, Caesar would have to wait days sometimes to get reports backs from legions in other parts of Gaul. Before he began his assault on the Republic, Julius Caesar was already empowering his followers to take action. In the context of the Civil War that ensued when he fought Pompey, this was an important skill to already have in place as the conflict would engulf much of the Mediterranean World. Caesar was forced to rely on the actions of his followers on other fronts.

One suggestion that Kotter and Cohen (2002) made was to find individuals with change experience who can bolster the self-confidence of followers that victory is possible. Caesar did this on many occasions. For example, he placed Mark Anthony in charge of Italy when he pursued Pompey to Macedonia. Holland (2003) wrote of Anthony, “He was an officer worthy of the men he commanded” (p. 309). When Anthony engaged his legions, people on both sides of the battle took notice of his courage and skill. Mark Anthony inspired confidence in people that Caesar’s cause was the correct one and his deeds helped Caesar achieve his goals.

Kotter and Cohen (2002) also thought that recognition and rewards would help in empowering action as these things bolster self-confidence and optimism. Caesar often gave rewards to solidify his support among other people and to reward them for their successes. In one case, Caesar gave his daughter Julia to Pompey as a reward for his participation in the First Triumvirate. Pompey was happy with that arrangement and had Julia not died several years later there may have never been a rift between Caesar and Pompey. Another example is his treatment of Cleopatra. When she sided with him and took up his cause, Caesar placed her on the throne of Egypt and deposed her brother Ptolemy XIII.

Julius Caesar also continued to look to the Roman people for their support. He lavished them with games and they were happy that the Civil War had ended. Even during the Republic, most Romans had no say in the government. The power was concentrated in the hands of a few wealthy aristocrats. To the masses, it made no difference if the Senate was in power or if Caesar was. If Caesar gave them goods and kept the peace, they were happy to support him. And Caesar had more reward planned for the future before he died. Holland (2003) wrote, “A library was to be founded; a new theater to Rival Pompey’s cut out from the rock of the Capitol; the largest temple in the world built on the Campus. Even the Tiber, Caesar had decided, would have to be diverted, because its course obstructed his building plans” (p. 331).

Step Six: Create Short-Term Wins

Kotter and Cohen (2002) wrote, “Without sufficient wins that are visible, timely, unambiguous, and meaningful to others, change efforts inevitably run into serious problems” (p. 125). People need to see that the change can happen. It takes a long time sometimes to get to the point were the change has successfully been implemented. Small victories assure people that the larger change can come. Short-term wins help to build momentum.

The entire career of Caesar is one of multiple short-terms wins that lead to bigger and better results. He was continually successful at war and his legions pacified Gaul and won control of the entire Roman Republic. His army rarely lost a battle. As a politician, Caesar had the knack for making the right alliances which allowed him to reach the height of political power in the Republic. Caesar’s continued battle success then allowed him to personally assume the power of the Roman state. All of this entailed repeated short-term victories which gave Caesar tons of momentum to achieve what he wanted.

One early short-term Julius Caesar accomplished in the Civil War was capturing Rome. After he crossed the Rubicon to start the war, he had control of Rome within a few weeks. Pompey chose to flee with his legions to Macedonia instead of fighting it out with Caesar in Italy. This was a huge win for Caesar both militarily and psychologically. This emboldened Caesar’s supporters and it hurt Pompey. Wrote Jimenez (2000), “It is true that Caesar had a reputation of an invincible general, but Pompey had the same reputation, had it twice as long, and had never been beaten on the battlefield. Among the many who thought Pompey should have stayed and defended Italy, the retreat was a serious psychological letdown” (p. 73).

Another good example of Caesar playing for short-term wins is the case of Spain. After he took Rome in the Civil War against Pompey, he chose to attack legions loyal to Pompey in Spain rather than immediately pursuing Pompey to Macedonia. Attacking Pompey first would have been more direct and perhaps ended the war sooner. But going for a win in Spain gave Caesar the chance to remind Romans how brilliant he was as a leader. In a six week campaign, he out-maneuvered his opponents and got them to capitulate to him with little lose of life on either side. Jimenez (2000) called this “Caesar’s finest hour” (p. 98). Again, this reinforced to Caesar’s followers that they were on the right side just as it demoralized those loyal to Pompey.

Step Seven: Don’t Let Up

Kotter and Cohen (2002) argued that a leader needs to be relentless near the end of the change process to make sure the victory does not slip away. If not, the followers may lose their urgency. The two wrote, “The most common problem at this stage in change efforts is sagging urgency. Success becomes an albatross. ‘We won’, people say, and you have problems reminiscent of those in step 1” (p. 144).

Julius Caesar rarely let up in his entire career. He kept going after what he wanted whether that was a consulship, the annexation of Gaul, or victory over the Republican government and absolute power. This is probably best demonstrated by his prosecution of the war against Pompey’s followers even after he had defeated Pompey and secured victory.

In 48 BC, Julius Caesar defeated Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus. Pompey was forced to flee and his legions were destroyed. The victory was total. Wrote Holland (2003), “ That evening it was Caesar who sat down in Pompey’s tent and ate the victor meal prepared by Pompey’s chef, off Pompey’s silver plate” (p. 311). But it did not end there. Caesar continued to pursue the war until all those loyal to Pompey and the Senate were destroyed.

Immediately, Caesar took off in pursuit of Pompey. He followed him to Egypt but Pompey was assassinated before Caesar arrived. Caesar then made his alliance with Cleopatra and secured Egypt. He returned to Rome and solidified the legal basis of his new government. Holland (2003) wrote, “The Senate, stupefied by the scale of Caesar’s achievements, overawed by the magnitude of his power, had scrabbled to legitimize his victory and somehow reconcile it to the cherished traditions of the past” (p. 326).

Finally, Caesar refused to let up on his enemies. Even after his conquest of the Senate, he was quick to respond to new rebellions. When Pompey’s two sons raised a new revolt in Spain, Caesar promptly left Rome and crushed it. Julius Caesar did not stop fighting until all of his enemies who were resisting him on the battlefield were removed from their ability to wage war against him.

Step Eight: Make Changes Stick

The final step in Kotter and Cohen’s (2002) was making sure that the changes made actually survive. They noted that tradition is a powerful force and that an organization can relapse into old behaviors particularly if there is a change in management. They wrote, “Making it stick can be difficult in any sphere of life. If this challenge is not well met at the end of a large-scale change process, enormous effort can be wasted” (p. 162).

The judgment of history is clear. The changes Caesar made stuck even after his sudden death shortly after he concluded the Civil War that made him the government of the Roman Empire. The Roman Republic never returned in any form other than as a symbol invoked by subsequent men who held absolute power as Roman Emperors.

Caesar’s death did lead to short-term turmoil. There was another Civil War as Caesar’s assassins were hunted down and killed. There was then the collapse of the Second Triumvirate which held power and in the ensuing fighting Augustus Caesar (the first Roman Emperor) gained power he would keep for the next four decades.

Although much of the credit for Augustus Caesar’s continuation of Julius Caesar’s policies belongs to Augustus, much credit must also be given to Julius Caesar. His actions and utter victory over the Senate made it impossible for the Senate ever to regain its former power. Henceforth, power would be concentrated into the hands of one man. Further, Julius Caesar had adopted Augustus and left him as his legal heir. Julius Caesar fully intended that Augustus would replace him as ruler. He recognized that Augustus had the personality and skills to continue to rule Rome and its empire as Julius Caesar thought was best.

Kotter and Cohen (2002) noted two ideas for making changes stick. They wrote, “Using the promotions process to place people who act according to the new norms into visible and influential positions” (p. 177). Clearly, the promotion of Augustus into a role where he could inherit the empire follows this advice. This then lead to what Kotter and Cohen (2002) wrote, “Making absolutely sure you have the continuity of behavior and results that help a new culture grow” (p. 177).

Conclusion

The fall of the Roman Republic and its transformation into the Roman Republic was mourned by classicists and is even still lamented today by some modern historians. Yet, the Republic was corrupt and was having difficulty governing the new empire Rome had acquired. It needed change and the coming of single man rule as an emperor may have allowed the Roman state to survive for several centuries to come.

Julius Caesar was an intelligent man who was also an effective leader. He saw the problems that the Republic was facing and he did something about it by ruthlessly seizing power for himself. His example (and to an extent that of Sulla even earlier) demonstrated too many that the ideals of the Republic were gone forever.

An examination of Kotter and Cohen (2002) reveals that Julius Caesar followed all of the steps in their change model to one degree or another. Understanding change from ancient history and examining it using a modern change theory is valuable in that it allows us to see that successful approaches to change have remained consist through time and that modern change theories are ground in solid historical observations.

References

Beer, M., Eisenstat, R., and Spector, B. (1990). The critical path to corporate renewal. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Hamel, G. (2000). Leading the revolution. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Holland, T. (2003). Rubicon: The last years of the Roman Republic. Chicago: IL, Doubleday.

Jimenez, R. L. (2000). Caesar against Rome: The great Roman civil war. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Kotter, J. P. & Cohen, D. S. (2002). The heart of change: Real-life stories of how people change their organizations. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Roman Republic (2005, June). Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia. Retrieved June 15, 2005, from <>.

Player Alignment in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook as Examined through the Frame of the Ethic of Justice

2009-05-03T06:07:00.000-07:00

Player Alignment in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook as Examined through the Frame of the Ethic of Justice

Michael Lorenzen

There are many ways of looking at ethics in the world. Most people are first exposed to ethical thinking by their parents at an early age. Most of us take this for granted until we are challenged to think about these issues later in life in ways that we are not used to thinking. For many adolescent boys (and some girls), this first exposure to a different ethical perspective comes for the fantasy role playing game Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Playing the game forces many players to rethink their own ethical viewpoints.

The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game is now over 30 years old. It has generated a vast library of hundreds of books and several spin off games. One of the keys to its success is probably due to the complex game play that allows for players to assume the identities of characters in a medieval fantasy setting. This includes the options to play wizards, fighters, and pagan priests. The game rules are complex but once they are mastered it allows for a very elaborate and time consuming game the draws a player into the fantasy world.

One of the most important aspects of the game is use of alignment. Players are required to have their characters follow an ethical code based on the moral outlook of the character. This alignment may be radically different from the one that the player may have in real life. However, to be successful in the game, the player must do his best to play his character to fit the appropriate ethical and moral view of the character.

Surprisingly, the ethical framework that the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook presents can best be understood through the ethical theme of justice as described by Starratt (1991). It is heavily dependent on the interpretation of law. It requires the player to examine how individual actions impact the common good (or common bad) of the whole community. A complex system of alignment possibilities helps the player interpret and consider his actions during the game. There are a total of nine different alignments that a character can have. These are based on the intersections of three outlooks on law and three outlooks on morality.

For law, a character can be lawful, neutral, or chaotic. A lawful character holds the law to be paramount. No matter what, the law must be upheld regardless of justice. A neutral character sees value in the law but believes that it must be interpreted (or critiqued) as the situation warrants. A chaotic individual is contemptuous of the law and will only abide it when it fits his goals and will discard it when it does not.

For morality, a character can be good, neutral, or evil. A good character attempts to look out for the common welfare and openly seeks to defeat evil. A neutral character believes that free will is the most important consideration and that society should allow people to choose their own path in life be it good, evil, or neither. (This is a tough alignment to play!) Evil characters do what is best for themselves or their patron god or nation without regard for the best interest of all.

What complicates this all (and brings into play the ethic of justice) is how law and morality interact. An evil character can be lawful. A good character can be chaotic. Any combination of law and morality is possible to explain all possible ethical viewpoints. This creates situations were evil characters are upholding the law and bringing criminals to justice. It also puts good characters in situations were they are outlaws resisting and fighting against the lawfully constituted authorities of an area.

This can be a mental challenge for many players. Most of the players would have grown up thinking that authority (such as the government and law enforcement) is good and that those who opposed them are evil. The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game challenges this assumption. It becomes clear from game play that evil can thrive under the aspect of law and that sometimes the only recourse for those who are righteous is rebellion and chaos.

It also brings into question areas dealing with genocide and religion. Is it alright to kill and exterminate a race which is perceived as evil? For example, Orcs and Goblins are portrayed as evil races in the game. Is it OK to exterminate these races when they are found including children and other noncombatants? Is killing those who are evil or who are likely to be evil in the future acceptable? Is there a possibility that the option of redemption should stay the hand of the good? Is it also possible that the very view of good and evil is racially based? Do Orcs see justice differently than humans and elves? This also impacts the view of religion. Does opposing the followers of an evil religion equate to goodness? Normally we are taught to respect religion even if the viewpoints differ from our own. But what if a religion is thoroughly evil? How does reverence fit in this case?

Although it may surprise those unfamiliar with the game, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons is based on ethics and requiring players to interpret and role play their characters accordingly. As such, the chapter on alignment in the Player's Handbook is worth looking at and reviewing in the light of the Ethic of Justice.

References

Cook, D. (1989). Advanced dungeons & dragons 2nd edition player's handbook. Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR, Inc.

Starratt, R. J. (1991). Building an ethical school: A Theory for practice in educational leadership. Educational administration quarterly, 27 (2), 185-202.

Academic Integrity & Plagiarism

2009-04-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

Academic Integrity & Plagiarism - This brief tutorial discusses academic integrity and plagiarism as defined at CMU, and provides tips for avoiding plagiarism. In order to view this tutorial, you must have JavaScript enabled and a copy of the Flash Player installed on your computer. A text-only version of the tutorial is also available. As noted on the title slide, I am the author and voice of this tutorial.

The 14th Off-Campus Library Services Conference Call for Participants

2009-04-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

The 14th Off-Campus Library Services Conference will begin accepting proposals May 1, 2009
for the upcoming conference in 2010.

The Off-Campus Library Services Conference is extending a formal invitation to librarians, administrators, and educators to present their research and share their knowledge with their peers. Individuals who provide library resources and services to students and faculty participating in instruction either away from a main campus or in the online environment are invited to submit a proposal. Through formal proceedings and the publication of Conference papers in the Journal of Library Administration, this information is made available to all who have an interest in this field.

For more information, please visit the conference website or contact us at ocls2010@cmich.edu

Guidelines for Presenters

Please use the guidelines below when preparing a proposal for presentation to the 14th Off-Campus Library Service Conference. If you have any additional questions or need assistance, please contact us.

SUBJECT TRACKS

The following subject tracks are appropriate for this conference. It is understood that a presentation may fall into more than one track.

Research - Surveys, assessment, statistics, theories, overviews
Teaching and learning - Methods, strategies, models, one-on-one, classroom
Electronic information and delivery - E-books, databases, online tutorials, streaming video, virtual reference
Collaboration - Librarian, faculty, consortia, or other
Administration and support services - Program development, ILL, document delivery, reference management systems, collection development, budgets, staffing

FORMATS

Presentations - Presentation sessions should be 55 minutes in total length, with 10 minutes included for questions. Presenters are encouraged to use technological aids to augment their presentations. Online access and a laptop will be available in all rooms; please see our audio-visual request form if you need additional support. Presenters are encouraged to supply handouts or other materials as appropriate. Session evaluation forms may be provided at the discretion and expense of the presenters. A written paper that will be included in the official conference proceedings is required of all presentations. Please refer to the manuscript guidelines for proper formatting and other details.

Workshops - Workshops will be scheduled for two-hour sessions and should offer hands-on learning for the attendees. An abstract for the workshop must be presented for inclusion in the proceedings but no written paper is required.

Panel Discussions - Panel discussions should include several speakers and run a total of 55 minutes, with 10 minutes included for questions. A written paper is not required for the proceedings.

Poster Sessions - Posters sessions provide an informal forum to report innovative projects, introduce new services and resources, or test research ideas of interest to the off-campus library community. Posters may include narratives, tables, graphs, and handouts. They may be in print or electronic format or a combination of the two. Presenters must provide their own laptop if needed. Internet access will be available. Presenters are required to set-up and host their display for one hour and 10 minutes and to provide an abstract for the program. No written paper is required.

SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL

To submit a proposal, complete the online proposal form available from the link below. The deadline for submission is September 15, 2009.

EVALUATION AND ACCEPTANCE

After September 15, 2009, the OCLS Conference Program Advisory Board members will be provided with blind copies of the proposal abstracts. Proposals will be evaluated based on their potential interest to conference attendees, contribution to the body of knowledge associated with the field of off-campus library services, and their clarity of organization and expression. Program balance and room space will also be a factor in proposal selection. All presenters will be notified regarding their status of their proposals by October 15, 2009.

Form to Submit a Proposal

Getting Published: An Overview for Off-Campus Librarians

2009-03-12T06:58:00.000-07:00

Last April, I presented a paper at the Off-Campus Library Services Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was titled Getting Published: An Overview for Off-Campus Librarians. It was published in the conference proceedings and eventually The Journal of Library Administration.

The article is now also available from the Central Michigan University Digital Repository (CONDOR). It can be accessed now at Getting Published: An Overview for Off-Campus Librarians. A PowerPoint of my lecture notes from the presentation is available as well at http://condor.cmich.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/p1610-01coll1&CISOPTR=915&REC=2.

Anyway, I hope someone finds this article interesting. And I also hope by linking to CONDOR, Google will start spidering pages in CONDOR and making them findable on the first page of Google search results.

Project Information Literacy

2009-03-11T06:54:00.000-07:00

While surfing the other day, I stumbled upon an information literacy site I had not seen before. It is Project Information Literacy.

Here are some details taken from the site:

Project Information Literacy is national research project, based in the University of Washington's Information School. We are currently collecting data from early adults enrolled in community colleges, pubic colleges and universities, and private colleges and universities in the U.S.

Our goal is to understand how early adults conceptualize and operationalize research activities for course work and "everyday use" and especially how they resolve issues of credibility, authority, relevance, and currency in the digital age.

I wish the researcher luck and hope they help to produce a better understanding of information literacy issues.

British to Study Research Habits of Generation Y

2009-03-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

Last year, the British Library and Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) published a study that showed that students of the Google Generation were not as web-literate or search-expert as they were usually made out to be.

As a result, the British Library and JISC have commissioned a £90,000, three-year study into the research behaviour of Generation Y scholars (doctoral students). It will examine how these students search for and use information both online and offline and technologies they use to do so.

The article Educators study research habits of Generation Y by Archana Venkatraman, Information World Review has more details. The author notes:

According to Hutchings, the study’s findings could send a strong message to academics about how to adapt to the digital mindset: “The research will be useful for the academic community, libraries and committees such as JISC itself. By tracking the online research behaviour of this demographic, information providers will be better placed to adapt and cater to the digital natives of the Google generation.”

Obviously, librarians, educators, businesses, etc. are going to have to adapt to how members of this generation use information. We have all been doing it for years. However, I am not sure if catering is the best word to describe this. Information can be delivered to Gen Y in ways they like to access it and still require the person to think critically.

The article by Venkatraman ends ominously. University of Strathclyde professor Derek Law said,"We all more or less know the outcome: unless information providers can sum up their information in 140 characters on Twitter, they have lost this audience.”

OK, but what if important information can not be summed up in 140 characters? Must we give up and compress the message anyway? Is this the end of teaching critical thinking? Even though many students may only have a 140 character capacity, I think most only prefer this. They are capable are taking in larger amounts of information and critically analyzing when they need to. I look forward to seeing the eventual result of this British study.

Are Kids Surfing the Internet Without a Learner's Permit?

2009-02-25T06:16:00.000-08:00

Dr. Gwenn of Pediatrics Now has an interesting opinion piece up that touches on information literacy. It can be found at Kids Are Surfing the Internet Without a Learner's Permit. The context of the Gwenn's opinion relates to a new Microsoft education program titled "Elevate America".

These two paragraphs hit the information literacy theme:

The other major issue that the program doesn't seem to cover well is online literacy - namely, media and health literacy. Microsoft does list "information literacy" under computer basics which is described as "Using the Internet and World Wide Web. Covers exploring the Web using search engines, working with e-mail, and creating Web pages." As described, people will get online but the program doesn't delve into helping people interpret the websites they find and sort out whether a site is reliable or loaded with commercial backing. This is the core of media literacy training. And, since most people search for health information online, it's equally important to cover health literacy so people understand that not everything health-related online is accurate or even worth reading.

Think about it like this: would you ever give a teen the keys to a car without making sure he or she had a learner's permit, driver's ed, a defensive driving course, understood rules of the road and knew how to use the car itself? 2 million people are about to be given the keys to driving the internet superhighway through Microsoft's training programs nationwide. If the internet were a real highway, we'd have traffic jams, traffic congestion and major accidents as those folks explored cyberspace without their learner's permits in place.

I am not really sure how much we can expect Microsoft to teach information literacy. Obviously, Microsoft cares about the idea or it would not have been included in the curriculum of this program. However, no amount of corporate responsibility is really going to replace the key people in children's lives (parents, teachers, and librarians) who are going to have to do most of the teaching about information literacy.

Credible Information and Trudi Jacobson

2009-02-23T06:25:00.000-08:00

Trudi Jacobson has gotten some nice publicity. Her employer (University of Albany - SUNY) has issued a press release noting how important she is for the campus. It can be found at Credible Information: UA Libraries' Trudi Jacobson Teaches Proper Research Methods.

Here is an excerpt:

In that same course today, Jacobson teaches students how to effectively find and evaluate information sources. This is important in an era in which faculty have concerns about students relying too heavily on the Web and on Google searches for information. The ease of these searches may lull users into forgetting that you can't always believe what you find on the Internet. Jacobson and other User Education librarians focus heavily on distinguishing between what is and is not a credible source.

"I have a variety of exercises I can use that help students differentiate between results found when searching the Web vs. searching scholarly databases and Minerva, our online catalog. I have developed a guide to this effect," Jacobson said.

This has been a good year for Trudi Jacobson. She also is the winner of the Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award. Congratulations Trudi!

Getting Wired for Life

2008-11-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

From British Columbia comes the news article Getting 'wired' for life. It deals with the increasing shift of job skills to the Web. Include in this is a need for information literacy. This article details a K-12 curriculum for it.

From the article:

Even in the home, technological literacy is becoming increasingly important as the information we need -- even for everyday tasks -- is shifted to the Internet.

Knowing how to gather, process and manipulate data is as essential in today's quickly changing landscape as traditional numeracy and literacy skills.

The provincial Information Technology program suggests a curriculum that begins with an introduction to technology in Kindergarten to Grade 3; demonstrating an awareness of it and using it for problem solving in Grades 4 to 7; applying information technology, considering careers, and discussing cultural, ethical and legal implications in Grades 8 to 10; and in Grades 11 and 12, using sophisticated information technology tools to solve complex and varied problems.

Still, each school and classroom offers a different approach.

The challenge for students and teachers is to develop an understanding of the fundamentals of information literacy and the tools required to prepare for, and participate in, an evolving information-based society.

Training-the-Trainers in Information Literacy: UNESCO

2008-11-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

UNESCO continued the series of information literacy workshops it has been offering worldwide. The last stop was in Wuhan, China. It was held from October 21st to the 23rd.

UNESCO Assistant Director-General Abdul Waheed Khan is quoted as follows:

"21st century’s skills and abilities to learn how to learn and constantly update and challenge the own knowledge. The concept of information literacy becomes clearly a central element for building knowledge societies as it enables people to search for, retrieve, organize, analyze, evaluate information and then use it for specific decision-making and problem-solving ends."

More details can be found at Training-the-Trainers in Information Literacy: UNESCO continues its series of workshops.

Irked by Information Literacy!

2008-10-31T00:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! Here is a news story to give librarians a horror fright. Students at Mills College in California are cheating to get out of a non-credit information literacy course. This is according to an article by Darcy Caba titled College 005 irks students.

Some Mills College students have paid their classmates to complete the required online course, College 005, violating the College Honor Code.

College 005 has fulfilled the Information Literacy/ Information Technology Skill requirements since fall 2004.

A current sophomore student said she had enough to deal with without worrying about completing College 005. Fed up, she did what she heard a number of other students had already done: she paid $25 for someone else to complete the class for her.

"At lunch one day, we were all just talking about it," she said. "One of [the girls] made a proposition to do it for me; she and a friend had been doing this for a while. I checked the next day and it was done, and I didn't have a hold on my account."

That day was the deadline to complete the course for students enrolled that year; those who didn't finish also had a hold placed on their account.

Well, I had to complete a non-credit course in remedial math skills when I got to college. I didn't cheat because it "complicated" my schedule and I got no academic credit for it. Who said college was easy? If it was, everyone would have a college degree and they would not be as valuable. If you don't like the requirements, drop out or transfer to another school.

Mills College needs to either make College 005 a credit course so students take it seriously or require a monitor when students log-in to complete the requirement. For the reputation and integrity of the school, this needs to be addressed quickly.

The Survey of Academic In-Library Expenditure and Use of Instructional Technology

2008-10-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

Some interesting statistics from the The Survey of Academic In-Library Expenditure and Use of Instructional Technology:

-- Mean spending in the past year for computers designed especially for library information literacy training or training computer centers was $15,773.

-- 21.62% of the libraries in the sample have purchased classroom response system technology. A third of doctoral & research universities have purchased this technology, as have a third of colleges with more than 15,000 students.

-- Close to 38% of the libraries in the sample use wikis in their library patron education efforts.

-- More than 27% of the libraries in the sample use social networking applications in their patron education efforts; private college libraries were more than twice as likely as public college libraries to do so.

Meeting Mr. McFeely

2008-10-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I went to "Make a Difference Day" with my wife and two sons on the Central Michigan University campus. It was a literacy event with free books, free foods, and activities. Also in attendence was Mr. McFeely from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

We collected our free books and also stood in life so that the clowns could make us animals from balloons. However, I was most intertested in meeting Mr. McFeely. I grew up watching Mr. Rogers' and I was eager to meet the Speedy Deliveryman.

We stood in line a long time. It became apparent why in no time. Mr. McFeely spent a lot of time talking with each young fan (and parent!) who came up to him. After about thrity minutes, we finally made it to the front.

My two boys (10 and 5) had not seen much Mr. Rogers'. The show has had no new episodes in many years since Mr. Rogers died. PBS still runs it but not as frequently. Both boys were vaguely familiar with the show and Mr. McFeely and were polite as he signed a picture for each of them.

Then Julie and I got to speak with him. I thanked him for coming to CMU and for the years of work he had done on the show. I told him he had made a difference. He lighted right up and offered to sign a picture for Julie and I as well. The picture is above!

Mr. McFeely also shared with us that he has a movie coming out. It is Speedy Delivery: The Movie. In real life, Mr. McFeely is David Newell. He is now the Director of PR for Family Communications. He is a nice guy and I am glad I got to meet him.

Know what the doctor ordered with library's health literacy fair

2008-10-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

Tulsa City-County Library has a good idea in helping to promote health literacy. They are holding a health literacy fair. According to an article in Tulsa World:

Health literacy is the ability to read, understand and act on health information. Literacy skills are a stronger predictor of a person's health than age, income, employment status, educational level, race or ethnicity. The community health fair will provide an opportunity for information gathering, free health screenings, and better advocacy for health literacy. Participating organizations include the Community Health Connection, Hospice of Green Country, Hope Testing Clinic and Life Senior Services. At 1 p.m., the fair will feature a class in Spanish on using the MedlinePlus Web site. The class is open to the first 16 people.

I think this is a great idea. I think many public and academic libraries could benefit from holding a fair like this.

Demanding Literacy in the White House?

2008-10-12T03:06:00.000-07:00

Should Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates be tested for information literacy skills? It is not in the Constitution. However, Michelle Dover in Demanding Literacy in the White House is suggesting such a test. The article was published in Steamboat Local in Colorado.

Dover wrote:

I strongly suggest, as a nation, we stipulate that anyone who is going to hold a public office should take a literacy test appropriate to his or her responsibility level. Closer to my point, vice presidential candidates and presidential candidates must read from a broad range of sources in order to be informed about the world. We must hold them responsible to achieve this expectation! Some refer to this specific literacy skill as Information Literacy. Thus, public officials should be tested in order to make sure American Intellectual and Informational standards are at the highest level among our elected officials.

ACRL (Association of College & Research Libraries) defines information literacy as "the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information."

I obviously believe that everyone (including political candidates) should be information literate. However, I also realize that many equate information literacy with personal beliefs. People think "I am well read, I know how to use and evaluate sources, this is what I believe about X, those who do not believe this must be information illiterate as if they were better information literacy educated they would think like I do."

The ability to recognize the need to seek out valid information, to be able to evaluate it and use it is separate from personal beliefs. You can be a liberal, conservative, moderate, libertarian, communist, vegetarian, omnivore, religious believer, atheist, etc. and be information literate. People often reach different conclusions after rational thought and careful evaluation of the same sources. The information literate often do that.

Of course, all people (including political candidates) should be information literate. How do we test it? There are several tests being piloted and used out there including project SAILS and the Research Readiness Self-Assessment from Central Michigan University. Neither of these test intentionally for personal beliefs. Instead, they look at how the person seeks out, evaluates, and uses information.

Even these tests are open to interpretation. Are they biased in some ways to western cultural norms? Could the selection of questions in some way unintentionally grade people higher or lower based on what the test authors believed were universal truths that not all informationally literate people agree with?

I agree with Dover that political candidates should be fluent with information literacy skills. However, I am not sure if any test can detect this for certain. I do know that I reject any argument that individuals are not informationally literate based on their personal beliefs. The information literate represent all spectrum's of political debate. Unfortunately, so do the information literacy impaired.

Salman Rushdie on Censorship and Critical Thinking

2008-10-10T20:12:00.001-07:00

I had the opportunity to hear Salman Rushdie speak twice on Monday at Central Michigan University. I even got to meet and speak with him briefly. It was amazing how what he talked about overlapped with many of the issues that librarians deal with on a regular basis.

Rushdie has had his books protested against and censored. He was even sentenced to death by the Ayatollah Khomeini (who issued a fatwa against him) in 1989 for his book The Satanic Verses. Some perceived his book as an attack on Islam.

As can be imagined, Rushdie is an outspoken critic of censorship. He noted that "being sentenced to death by a fanatical leader who sent people out to kill him" was "bad for his self-esteem." However, he also said he would write this book again and would not back down in the face of censors.

He also talked a great deal about using critical thinking skills when faced with information found online. When a student asked him about reports online that the United States (and not Al-Qaeda) was responsible for the 9/11 attacks he retorted, "This is just horse shit. Use your critical thinking skills, does that make sense? I saw the planes hit the buildings. Al-Qaeda has accepted responsibility for the attack. Did the United States attack Pearl Harbor to declare war on Japan? There are conspiracy theories about that too."

He also spoke against the US government and the responses made (including the Patriot Act) to 9/11.

His talks were very relevant for librarians. If you have a chance, I would encourage you to listen to Salman Rushdie speak.

Faculty Affairs puts together avoiding plagiarism module

2008-10-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

Like most institutions of higher education, Lewis-Clark State College is having problems with plagiarism. However, they are doing something about. An article titled Faculty Affairs puts together avoiding plagiarism module has details.

The article notes:

The Lewis-Clark State College Faculty Affairs Committee continues to make a difference in striving for academic integrity in education.

Last year, the committee worked closely with Library Services, particularly Barbara Barnes and Lynne Bidwell, with the goal of providing academic integrity resources and a heightened level of plagiarism education to the LCSC learning community in partnership with Dean Andy Hanson and Kristy Roberts from Distance Learning.

Brian L. Christenson, an assistant professor in Social Work and Faculty Senate Chair, says the hard work of the group has paid off. The committe has put together an information literacy module, “Avoiding Plagiarism,” that has been incorporated into the Student Development Orientation Courses as a standard of practice. Each student is required to complete the module and pass a blackboard quiz designed by Barbara Barnes. Furthermore, the literacy module has been published as a “best practice” example in the book, "The Plagiarism Plaque."

The information literacy module can be previewed at: http://www.lcsc.edu/library/ILI/Module_2A/Welcome.htm

A bibliography of resources on the topic can be viewed at:
http://www.lcsc.edu/faculty/plagiarism_bibliography.htm