Well, I had problems with both the content and the style of this book. The content is just, well, banal. So much of what is said seems trite. As for the style, I found it bland, arid, and jargony. There isn't a witty or well-crafted sentence in the book. Ideas are seldom stated plainly. Pleonasms abound. Take this sentence: "the more successful the performance in relation to the goals, the greater the degree of satisfaction experienced". The phrase "in relation to the goals" adds nothing. Nor do "degree" or "experienced". Why not just say, "the more successful the performance, the greater the satisfaction"? Perhaps that just doesn't sound clever enough.

Anyway, this book could have been written in half as many pages. Think of the waste of trees and ink, not to mention the time of the poor students who have to read it for class.

One out of five.

I could go on and on about what a useless snoozefest this book was, but another reader has already done a far better job. Please see the review entitled "Boring, pedandic...more useful for MBA than MLS"-- it hits the nail right on the head.

I'm almost tempted to turn in my LIS professor to the Hague tribuinal for "Crimes against Humanity" for assigning us this textbook. This has got to be the most boring, pedandic,
jargon-ridden, vacuous text...page after page of blather with less true intellectual content than the average soundbite and conclusions so plain and commonsensical you wonder why you bothered reading most of these chapters at all. I'd pick Will Manley's amusing ramblings & observations any day over this

worthless tome. This textbook feels like it was designed for MBA students originally, then an editor threw in obligatory references to "library & information centers" and viola, instant "Library Science" textbook. Yet one more sign/symbol of librarianship fawing a bit to much on corporate models and methods instead of staying true to their own roots, unique missions and objectives as public service agencies. Read Michael Gorman's _Our Enduring Values: Librarianship in the 21st Century_ if you want a real orientation on what being a librarian (and thus a library director) are all about.
Heck, I bet most thoughtful LIS professors could put together
reading lists of enough LJ articles discussing "library & information center management" that would be far more rewarding and informative to new LIS students seeking their MLS than this textbook ever could hope to be. Avoid this book!