Home Jan 1997 Vol 58 No 1 book review

College and Research Libraries
January 1997, Vol. 58, No. 1

Book Review

Baldwin, David A. The Academic Librarian's Human Resources Handbook. Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, Inc., 1996. 167p. $28.50. (ISBN 1-56308-345-0.) LC 96-19888.

With this book, David Baldwin joins the ranks of numerous authors who have offered personnel management guidance to members of the library profession. In this somewhat crowded field, his work emerges as a thorough, authoritative, and easy-to-use manual which will be of value to fledgling and experienced library managers alike, and particularly to anyone whose institution has not developed an adequate human resources handbook of its own.

Baldwin is Director of Administrative Services at the University of New Mexico General Library. The purpose of his book, as he states in his introduction, is "to provide the busy library manager basic information and background on employee rights and legal parameters of managing library personnel."

The book begins with an overview of the functions of human resources managers, after which it focuses on the legal aspects of human resources management in chapters 2 through 10. The author is particularly concerned with assisting those of us, whether novice or experienced managers, who have a difficult time keeping up with changes in the legal rights and responsibilities of employers and employees. However, because he is aware that a great many librarians have no formal management training, he uses his final chapter to advise us on good management practice by analyzing examples of real human resource management dilemmas that illustrate the issues raised in the preceding chapters.

Although some of Baldwin's advice may strike a few readers as being obvious and plain common sense, it is wisdom that is often neglected when managers and employees become involved in sticky personnel matters.

Baldwin examines nearly every category of important human resource management issues, as may be seen from some of his chapter titles: "Recruitment and Selection of Personnel"; "The Employment Relationship"; "Wage and Hour Laws"; "Employee Benefits"; "Discrimination Laws"; "Health, Safety, and Privacy"; "Discipline and Discharge"; "Income Replacement"; "What to Do before You Phone the Attorney." The only omission that concerns me involves dual employment or "moonlighting." Is the lack of discussion of moonlighting an oversight, or is it no longer an issue that leads some supervisors to impose restrictions that potentially violate employee rights?

The author has taken care to make it easy for readers to find where to look in this handbook for needed information. It is well indexed, has a thorough table of contents, and is divided into chapters that group personnel issues appropriately. Further, the level of detail Baldwin provides about personnel management issues and laws is well suited to a handbook: the information is just deep and lengthy enough that in only a few minutes the reader can glean the essentials and understand the relevant laws and principles without getting bogged down in unfamiliar jargon or confusing legal technicalities. For those who wish to investigate the issues further, he includes lengthy bibliographies at the end of each chapter.

Baldwin writes lucidly and provides clear, concise explanations of human resource management terms and concepts, both within the text and in the fine appended glossary. His overview of "disparate treatment" on pages 60 and 61 is an excellent example of the skill with which he summarizes laws and principles governing personnel matters.

As part of his discussion, Baldwin offers a number of useful lists containing important precepts, tendencies to avoid, warning signs of potential problems, steps to be taken under certain circumstances, and so on. Particularly noteworthy lists are "Steps to Take before Terminating an Employee," the summary of traits that employees like least about their managers and the attitudes necessary to be a good manager.

In short, this is an exemplary work with which I can find few faults. Of course, a handbook dealing with legal matters will inevitably include some information that becomes outdated quickly. For example, Baldwin tells us the minimum wage is $4.25 per hour, but subsequent to his book's publication, Congress has passed a minimum wage increase. Nevertheless, in my view the important management and legal principles and guidance the author dispenses will never be obsolete.—W. Bede Mitchell, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina.