In Search of Excellence in Libraries. The Management Writings of Tom Peters and Their Implications for Library and Information Services
| Date | 01 December 1994 |
| Published date | 01 December 1994 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435129410071354 |
| Pages | 4-15 |
| Author | Richard F. Barter |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Introduction
David Clutterbuck et al. write, “In 1982, Tom
Peters and Robert Waterman’s book In Search of
Excellence transformed the management book
market virtually overnight. It has now sold over
five million copies worldwide and has spawned
the money-spinning excellence movement”[1].
Did the book actually change the theory and
practice of management? Probably not. What
happened, however, was that there was a much
broader awareness that management is not a
specialized field of endeavour, one that needs to
be studied only by “managers”. Peter Drucker,
cited in[1], has written that “The great virtue of
the Peters and Waterman book is its extreme
simplicity, maybe oversimplification. But when
Aunt Mary has to give that nephew of hers a
graduation present and she gives him In Search of
Excellence, you know that management has
become part of the general culture”[1].
Even a cursory glance at the major indexes and
databases will show that library management, as
something distinct from the traditional concerns
of librarianship, is becoming an important area of
study, one that has important implications for the
future provision of library services in our society.
It is interesting to note, however, that there is
almost no published work looking for library and
information service implications in the writings of
Tom Peters. This article will try to remedy that
situation, in a preliminary way. It is not the aim of
this article to be definitive, but rather to point the
way down avenues of study that are largely
unexplored. For the purposes of this exercise, we
will restrict our attention to the four books
published thus far by Tom Peters. To restrict
ourselves to the two “excellence” books, In
Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s
Best-Run Companies[2] and A Passion for
Excellence: The Leadership Difference[3] would
be to overlook the continuing development of the
major themes and ideas in his later works,
Thriving on Chaos: Handbook for the
Management Revolution[4] and Liberation
Management: Necessary Disorganization for the
Nanosecond Nineties[5]. To include reference to
the whole range of his other published works (in
periodicals, journals, etc.) and activities (Peters is
a popular public speaker and management
consultant, and has even produced a series of
television films based on the “excellence” theme)
would be beyond the scope of such a short article.
The importance of service to customers; the
effects of changes in information technology; an
empowered and innovative workforce; the critical
difference of dynamic leadership; all these
themes, so important in Tom Peters’ works, are
powerfully relevant to libraries and librarianship
as our society enters into the Information Age.
The cumulative thrust of Peters’ arguments is that
the old theories and practices of business and
management are no longer workable. The world
has changed, and continues to change, at too rapid
a pace. It is important to note, as well, that his is
not a voice alone in the wilderness. His major
themes are echoed in the writings of Rosabeth
LIBRARY MANAGEMENT
4
In Search of Excellence in
Libraries
The Management Writings of Tom Peters and
Their Implications for Library and Information
Services
Richard F. Barter Jr
Library Management, Vol. 15 No. 8, 1994, pp. 4-15
© MCB University Press, 0143-5124
This article is based on work done for the Master’s in
Librarianship course (Distance Learning) at D.I.L.S.,
University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
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