From Economic to Political Analysis of Library Decision Making

IN 1969 THE M.I.T. PREss published a new volume, Systematic Analysis of University Libraries: An Application of Cost-Benefi.t Analysis to the M.I.T. Libraries, which might have signaled the entrance of economic analysis into the area of library decision making. As coauthor of the book, I anxiously awaited the reviews I hoped would follow. 1 To date all reviews missed what I regard as the major point of the book: Although helpful, an economic analysis of a university (or public) library is insufficient because libraries operate as political systems and thus improving libraries requires political analysis. The purpose of this paper is not only to argue that political analysis of university and public libraries should be undertaken in conjunction with economic analyses but also to apply a specific theoretical framework and concept to university and public libraries. The improvement of libraries requires an expansion of analysis beyond technical discussions of procedural changes and per item costs to the broader utilization of social science theory and research. In the past two decades both econo-