Book reviews 531

Additionally, the publisher of this book should be given poor marks for the sloppy editing. There are errors in the summaries at the end of Chapters 4 and 7. There is an item in the index, “zipper clause” with a reference to page 255, but neither the term nor this topic appears on that page. In ci- tation to research done by Arvey and Campion on page 57, the style for headings makes it unclear whether or not the following three lists are compiled from that cited research, from other research, or developed by the author. The first heading is in bold followed by a colon with items listed beneath it. The next head is in bold, no colon, and a new citation to another study included in the first item listed below the heading. The third list header is in bold, no colon, and now the line spacing changes. Do these differences signify anything? The reader should not have to guess.

Also, this reviewer would like to encourage the publisher to reconsider the annoying endnote style. It is very hard to follow citations because they are in citing order and when previously cited just include the author’s name and page number. Thus, in Chapter 6 when coming upon cite 67 to Guy- ton, the reader must follow the citation list all the way back to cite 17 for the full citation. In the lan- guage of computer users, this is extremely unfriendly.

In summary, 1 would recommend this book to the audience for whom it is intended, but am dis- appointed that Rubin missed an opportunity to lay some stereotypes to rest.

REFERENCES

Chusmir, L.H., & Durand, D.E. (1987). Stress and the working woman. Personnel, May, 38-43. Clawson, J.G., SC Kram, K.E. (1984). Managing cross-gender mentoring. Business Horizons, May-June 22-32.

Pratt Institute Brooklyn, NY

TRUDY DOWNS

Automation and Organizational Change in Libraries. P. JOHNSON. G.K. Hall, Boston (1991). xii + 201 pp., $39.95, ISBN O-8161-1919-8.

The heart of this book is yet another survey of the member libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). This group is hardly representative of libraries in general, and the suitability of the sample was further impaired by the relatively low (45%) response rate. Using the responses of 54 heads of technical services of ARL libraries to generalize about the experiences of libraries with automa- tion and organizational change is impossible.

The survey technique employed (self-administered questionnaire) seems inappropriate to the topic under investigation. For example, the majority of respondents indicated that automation produced an increase in the amount of communication between clerical workers and middle managers. This is an interesting finding, but it could be explained by perceptual bias on the part of the managers sur- veyed rather than by real changes in the amount of communication occurring in the workplace. Accepting the perceptions of managers as indicative of reality, particularly in an area so prone to response bias, is a serious flaw.

The chapters reporting survey results are supplemented by overviews of the history of academic libraries and of library automation and relatively superficial introductions to theories of organiza- tions and how they change. Neither the survey data nor the overview chapters support the author’s contention that “profound and significant changes” or a “paradigm shift” (p. 147) are occurring in the organization and management of academic libraries. If anything, the data provide additional ev- idence of the resistance of large bureaucracies to organizational change because most respondents re- ported no change in the number of organizational levels or in the number of library departments following automation projects.

This book could have been considerably improved if a discussion of the human aspects of or- ganizational change had been included. Jones (1984) included a discussion of these aspects in his book on organizational change in libraries, a source that could have provided an excellent theoretical foun- dation for Johnson’s research, but which she does not cite.

In short, this book is a disappointment. The research it reports is seriously flawed, and it makes no real contribution to our understanding of how technological change affects the organization of libraries.

REFERENCE

Jones, K. (1984). Conflict and organizational change in library organizations: People, power and service. Lon- don: Clive Bingley.

Graduate School of Library and Information Science University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL IPM 28:4-G

BRYCE ALLEN