American Library Association

Efficiency of the Library Staff and Scientific Management

Author(s): ADAM STROHM
Source: Bulletin of the American Library Association, Vol. 6, No. 4, PAPERS AND
PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRTY-FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY
ASSOCIATION (July, 1912), pp. 142-146
Published by: American Library Association
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 142 OTTAWA CONFERENCE

formation rather than advice." This nat service, but they must also have a clear
urally would come through the ability of understanding of the public.
the employee to eliminate his own opinion It has been said many times that a few
and to put forward instead the opinions of books in the hands of an intelligent and
those who are qualified to know. Here discriminating employee are of greater
again the employee may, by much reading, value than a large collection poorly han
become more efficient. There is nothing dled. The employees constitute the medium
so offensive to patrons of a free institution by which the books reach the public and
as to have unsolicited opinions and advice it rests with the buyer, the cataloger, the
offered by employees. And yet this is a desk assistant, the reference librarian, and
characteristic of the new employee and is the children's librarian to see that these
prompted not by conceit but by a desire to get into the hands of the right people at
be helpful and to please. The best way to the right time. It is here that the careful
be helpful in a library, as elsewhere, is to discrimination of the librarian and assist
help people to help themselves. In this as ants is necessary.
in all of the work of the library the stand The average library is much too large to
ard must be that established by those be well used by the public and the em
highest in authority, and ways and ployees of the library. In most libraries of
methods must be put forward whereby the 100,000 volumes there are possibly not
assistant may know what plan she is to more than 10,000 which are of real value.
follow. If the employees could know the authors,
The ability to be helpful comes by much titles, and something of the contents of
experience, both personal experience and most of these it is quite as much as may
the experience of others. To quote, "ex be expected. If the assistant comes to the
perience is the force which makes life pos library with a reasonably good education
sible . . . and books alone give per and something of a desire to add to what
manence to the facts of experience." she has, and will read regularly of books
Therefore to busy people in need of the which are of general interest there is no
experiences of others, the greatest help reason why she should not learn to dis
comes by much reading. criminate quite as carefully in the selec
We may attempt in every way possible tion of books for the individual borrower
to make general rules governing the ef as the assistant who has made a special
ficiency of the library staff, and attempt study of the criticism of literature.
to maintain certain definite standards, No mention has been made of require
both for the sake of the public and in ments for special positions in a library.
order to keep down the expense of main This can only be settled after the em
tenance, but with all this we shall never ployee has shown some fitness for spe
be able to reach a perfect system, partly cial work. As the library is what the li
because many employees give promise of brarian and assistants make, it, it rests
much, but soon reach the limit of their with the librarian and those in the highest
capacity and cease to grow, and also be positions in the library to decide definitely
cause of the frequent unavoidable changes. on a policy, the result of which shall be
There is some variance in the minds of prompt and efficient service from the time
librarians regarding the place of the li of the purchase of the books to their final

brary in a city, but without discussion we distribution into the hands of the people.
must all agree that first of all the free The CHAIRMAN: Next upon the pro
public library is a collection of books gram occurs the paper, "The efficiency
maintained for the use of the public. In of the library staff and scientific manage
order that these books may be available ment," by ADAM STROHM, assistant li
the employees must not only give efficient brarian Detroit public library.

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 STROHM 143

THE EFFICIENCY OF THE LIBRARY considerations of statistics and output, in

STAFF AND SCIENTIFIC asmuch as library work is a service for
MANAGEMENT humanity and its welfare. Those entrusted
In
conversing one day with the super with the management of libraries may
intendent of one of our local industries well remember the maxim that "as we do
where the library is maintaining a station, we teach/' which, applied to library condi
I learned something of the many provi tions, may lead us to conclude that what
sions devised by the welfare department soever is done to promote the happiness
of the organization as conducted by the and best instincts of the rank and file
social secretaries of the company. From in a library organization, will result di
my tour of inspection I have a vivid recol rectly in instilling in the public service,
lection of attractive
dining rooms, an in rendered by them, a spirit of sympathy,
door gymnasium with an up-to-date swim ready regard of the rights and needs of
ming pool, office or laboratory for a med the public and an eagerness to serve loy
ical attendant to administer first aid and ally. Any library management conceived
attend to accidents of more or less seri and executed in this spirit may be de
ous nature, architectural plans, free of pended upon for achievements in what
charge, for prospective home builders, a is really economy.
library
well selected book collection of popular Til endeavor to formulate some sug
and technical
character, presided over by gestions toward effecting such results and
a representative of the public library, I can harbor but feelings of satisfaction,
which institution also arranges for bi should I be advised later that they have
weekly noon lectures on popular and in already been practically realized in some
structive topics. On my commending the institutions.
humanitarian spirit animating the man The question of how to maintain and
agement of the company the prompt re increase the efficiency of the staff might
sponse came: "That element enters only well be approached from two angles, the
as incidental in our policy. It is all a physical and the mental conservation of
matter of business. We must hold our forces.
organization intact. It is important to Dr. Luther H. Gulick makes the state
retain our skilled workmen and we must ment, that "there are conditions for each
make it worth their while to remain with individual under which he can do the
us." most and the best work. It is the busi
If it has been found to be good policy ness of those in charge of others to ascer
to provide for the contentment and wel tain these conditions and to comply with
fare of the human units in an organiza them."
tion where, after all, a large part of the We hear so much in our day about scien
day's work is rather mechanical and of tific management that we may be led to
fixed standards, how vastly more impor begin inquiring skeptically if its value is
tant it must be to give a close, generous not exaggerated in the interests of pro
consideration to the happiness and com fessional organizers, systematizers, etc.
fort of the personnel in a library system No working chart for computing the
where the personal service is of par energy of a mental effort or for the in
amount importance, where the physical crease of its productiveness has as yet
and mental vitality is under constant pres been devised but none of us will deny
sure, where improvement in the day's the need of a working plan for the day's
work is always exacted and where the re work. Else we drift.
sult yielded to the individual effort is un According to the new doctrine as laid
certain and often undemonstrable. down by Mr. H. N. Casson, "there is no
In the case of library service, humani such thing as unskilled labor, there is an
tarian regard should weigh equally with intelligent method for every accomplish

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 144 OTTAWA CONFERENCE

ment. Scientific management does not sistants to voice the conclusions their ex
mean frenzied production. On the con perience and service bring home to them,
trary, it individualizes the workman, it listen with sympathy to suggestions
means the better ordering of the work prompted by loyalty and daily pondering.
for the best interests of both individual There are times when we may well forget
and the service. Consequently, it provides our official gradings, when it will prove
for recreation as well as for work. It in profitable to learn from the members of
sists that the individual shall not sag so the crew how our theories stand the test.
far down at the end of the day's work The question of hours, salaries and va
that he will not recuperate." This con cations can be only in a general
answered
cerns not only expended energy but mis way. The gauge by which we examine the
directed energy. running of the human machinery entrusted
The day's schedule should be so arranged to us should be read with sympathy, and
that work requiring the highest mental we should set a pace that we can hold
effort be assigned to the most fruitful the entire day or the working period of
hours of the individual, the work so dis a normal life.
Speaking for our own in
tributed that each individual performs the stitution, we adhere to the 42-hour weekly
task he can best do and is most worthy schedule with provision for a weekly half
of his highest skill. holiday. Evening work should certainly
Pride in the work under your hand, the never exceed the number three in any one
sense of doing something worth while, gen week and personally leaning toward I'm
erates the spirit of loyalty and happiness the more desirable
evenings a week. two
which reckons, not so much with the writ Where a special evening force is employed
ten library regulations, as with the un the recommendation of course, does not
written law of the service by to stand apply.
cheerfully as
long as needed. The restroom and the kitchenette are

During the recent years I spent in the now so generally established as to be

East, it was my privilege to become in past the stage of argument. These rest

timately acquainted with one of the most rooms should be well equipped and no

distinguished engineers our country pro niggardly considerations should stand in

duced during the last half-century. One the way of making them neat, airy and
day when I had occasion to call upon this inviting in order to afford comfort and
gentleman, I was directed to proceed relaxation. The appearance and atmos
from his office to one of the noisiest de phere of the restroom should banish the
partments of his extensive mills. There dull sense of drudgery and evoke the gent
I finally located him seated on an anvil, ler side of life.
watching taciturnly the moving throng of The half-holiday and vacation should be
busy mechanics. I learned afterwards that provided, not so much because a faithful
the lifelong habit of this philosophic en servant has earned rest, but a because
gineer was to emerge from his secluded without it life means living at a low level,
office and enter the quarters where the with the certain result of deadening one's
"wheels turn around." There he would faculties, ambition and alertness, whereas
in his quiet manner ask shrewd questions these should all
grow with one's experi
and enter into conversation with any one ence and work. Certainly a month's vaca
whose task or skill attracted him. It is tion in the course of a year is a minimum
on behalf of the rank and file in the li respite in any professional activity of con
brary world that I draw upon this recol fined nature and mental concentration.
lection of an industrial organization noted We must consider the weight of the state
for its resources and efficiency. Invite ment made by Luther H. Gulick that,
the confidence of every member of the "growth is predominantly a function of
staff, welcome suggestions, allow your as rest and that the best work that most of

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 STROHM 145

us do is not in our offices or at our desks, discussing the salaries the school
paid
but when we are wandering in the teachers in the city of Washington re
woods, or sitting quietly with undirected marked with blunt sympathy that "the
thoughts." Those who are entrusted with policemen were paid more to crash the
the responsibility of supervising the daily skulls of the children inWashington than
toil of others should so govern that each the teachers were paid for putting some
individual remains "master of his own thing into them.,,
work and not its slave." To maintain the of the library
efficiency
Just a few words as to the rate of com staff it is necessary not only to consider
pensation prevailing in the library profes the welfare of the individual his
during
sion today. In so far as the city of De working hours but to provide such material
troit is concerned, the scale of wages now regard for his day's toil that his vitality
in operation and adopted some three years and enjoyment of life may be conserved
ago, was based on the salaries paid in by having the means to afford the neces
the public schools which seems a fitting sary comfort and social status consistent
arrangement inasmuch as our
public li with our profession.
brary is an outgrowth of, and, as to ap To consider the importance of personal
pointment of trustees, still under the con appearance, neatness in dress in our serv
trol of the Municipal Board of Education. ice with the public is simply to recognize
The professional training and executive the point of view of the library patron
skill required in a librarian of today make whose opinion is worth and how
while,
it seem reasonable that his or her com are we to exact this of "fine front"
showing
pensation should be fairly at par with the ifwe do not defray the cost thereof?
salaries paid in other city departments It is difficult, if not physiologically un
where professional training is among the sound, to speak about the mental con
requisites, as Department
such of City servation of the library staff apart from
Engineer, City
Attorney, Municipal Mus its physical maintenance, but in consider
eum, Superintendent of Public Instruction, ing the former I would invite" your atten
Principal of a High School, etc. Our sal tion to what Mr. P. W. so aptly
Goldsbury
ary schedule based upon the schedule ap calls "the recreation the senses."
through
plying to principals and teachers in our Mr. Goldsbury "the
remarks, importance
local public schools operates in parts as of our understanding* the wide of
range
follows: the functions of our senses, the influence
Heads of departments to receive the of our and the manner in
surroundings
same pay as principals of eight which they re-act on our minds." He il
room schools. lustrates his point the saying
by quoting
Branch librarians to receive the same that "for horses the hardest road out of
pay as principals of seven room London is the most level one. are
There
schools. no hills to climb and and the
descend,
First assistants to heads of depart tired horse has no chance to rest one set
ments to receive a salary corre of muscles while another works. Monot
sponding with that of assistants to ony produces fatigue; and because this
principals of schools. In the same particular road is one monotonous
dead,
manner the schedule applies to the level, more horses give out on it than on
rank and file, promotions being any other road out of London."
leading
given semi-annually, based on sen Irresistibly the moral of the canvas be
iority and service record. fore us breaks in upon our individual
That this regulation would apply satis sense of and our
self-preservation respon
factorily in other municipalities is ques sibility for the welfare of others. For
tionable, as may be deduced from a state economic as well as for humanitarian
ment made by one congressman, who, in reasons it behooves us to so apportion the

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 146 OTTAWA CONFERENCE

day's work that one's senses are exercised Our stock in trade, our best assets in
one after another and through interchange library work are the joy of the work and
of duties and tasks, not only one's body the happinesB of the individual. The re
but one's mind is given a variety of exer sponse from each one of us to the call for
cise and impressions. The rotation of ever more faithful and efficient service
duties every two hours in departments will come with a hearty good will if our
where direct service with the public is strength be protected?our altruistic vis
given, will, I believe, be found to afford ions given time and leisure to go wool
some relaxation and wholesome change gathering.
to attendants on so, if the The CHAIRMAN:
duty, especially It is well known to
change afford the alternative of station all of us that the Province of Ontario
ary position and moving about. has done notable library work in recent
We all know how one's spirit, aye, mind, years. Under the guidance of a corps of
even nerves are affected by objects within educational and library officials this work
our vision, the feeling of depression that has been stimulated and intensified. A
benumbs us when our eyes rest on dingy great aid too in the work has been the
colors and ugly outlines, when we dwell in Ontario library with a mem
association,
gloomy quarters or poorly ventilated bership, and com
organization, meetings
rooms. Architects and librarians will find mittee work that correspond favorably
that the efficiency of the human machinery with any other library organization any
housed within the library walls will be where. The conference has not up to
maintained at its best if beautiful effects this moment had an opportunity to hear
in color and design of interior decorations in an official way from the Ontario library
are features of the library equipment, if association, which must of course be
daylight is abundant, furnishings tasteful, numbered among the hosts of this meet
atmospheric conditions invigorating?let ing. Dr. C. R. Charteris, its president, is
us sometimes have even the in the room, and the chair is very cer
fragrance
and of flowers. The tain that the conference will not be con
color-play capacity
of our senses for higher is tent without a few words of greeting from
development
nourished the stimulus from the out the president of the Ontario library asso
by
side world which to us, often un ciation.
brings
mental and Dr. Charteris expressed pleasure at
consciously, physical refresh
ment and recreation. The occasional re bringing greetings from the Ontario li
laxation in the day's work contributes to a brary association, saying they were
reasonable mental and backed by about one hundred representa
physical balance,
even the occasional tives from the province. He was sure
conversation during
that all, whether trustees or librarians
working hours may well be tolerated, cer
would return home with renewed energy
tainly any undue restriction thereof will
and endeavor to increase interest in li
do more harm than good.
I trust that in siding with the authority brary work.

just quoted and to you these The CHAIRMAN: As this point, la

submitting
considerations I will not be dies and gentlemen, the program natur
charged with
that "work is to take ally divides, and we are brought to that
implying secondary
place." To the con portion of it prepared by the Professional
contrary:?it is by
sideration of the little training section of the association. The
things, by modu
lating adverse in a gavel will be turned over to the chairman
factors, by dealing
common sense manner of that section, Mr. Matthew S. Dudgeon,
with
the conditions
our physical secretary of the Wisconsin free library
surrounding and mental field
of daily commission.
toil, that we may be able to re
store the energy that we expend and not (Mr. Dudgeon takes the chair.)
only maintain, but increase, our efficiency. The CHAIRMAN: Those of us who

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