(Jean McNiff, Pamela Lomax and Jack Whitehead; You and Your Action Research Project; London and New York: Hyde Publications; 1999)

McnNiff et. al. provide important structure for action research as well as lay out specifics for productive and effective processes. This book has become an invaluable guide for me as a novice in the realm of action research. The practical applications, strategies for research, as well as the useful advice provide good guidance as I engage in this new process of learning and developing strategies for the improvement of my work, my role in my institution as well as in the field of student services at large.

(David Coghlan and Teresa Brannick; Doing Action Research in Your Own Organization; Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications; 2002)

This is a wonderful "partner" to the McNiff book on action research. Coghlan and Brannick's attention to the "politics" of doing action research within our own organizations provides helpful guidance through "dangerous territories" that could make the research process less effective than what it could be. Like McNiff, Coghlan and Brannick provides practical advice and examples that are useful for the novice as well as expert action researchers.

(Smith, Frank; The Book of Learning and Forgetting; New York: Teachers College Press; 1998)

Frank Smith's presentation of the contrast between the classic view and the official view of learning provided key insights into the development of the policies and practices of the functional areas within the field of student services. Smith's critical analysis of learning provides powerful language for me to use in the tranformative process that we are currently undergoing. This text also provides important framework for the professional development that is necessary for the changes to take place.

(Gershenfeld, Neil; When Things Start to Think; New York: Henry Holt & Co.; 2000)

Gershenfeld's view of technology translates well into our view of our delivery of our services to our students. Our services, like technology, should tend to the needs of our students not the other way around...

(David Tyack and Larry Cuban; Tinkering Toward Utopia; Cambridge: Harvard University Press; 2000)

Educational reforms in the classroom instructions provide good metaphors and language for educational reforms outside of the classroom. Tyack and Cuban provides some poignant insights into the nature of change and how the process itself impacts those involved.

(Joan Wink and LeAnn Putney; A Vision of Vygotsky; Boston: Allyn & Bacon; 2002)

The discussion of ZPD will be a critical element in the examination of how changes from individual institutions can be effected in other institutions as well.

(Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, William M. Snyder; A Guide to Managing Knowledge: Cultivating Communities of Practice; Boston: Harvard Business School Press; 2002)

This text is invaluable in the development of a new culture that is resulting through the transformation of student services. It has served as an effective tool in empowering professional student services staff to develop working groups or communities of practice that are outside the established boundaries of institutionalized committees and departments. At the same time, Wenger et. al. calls us to find a balance between intra-functional as well as inter-functional communities of practice.

(Isaacs, William; Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together; New York: Doubleday; 1999)

Dialoguing is truly an art. In order for transformation to effectively take place, we must think and dialogue together. Isaacs provides some practical guides to effective communication that is honest and continuing. Much of the resistance to the transforming process have been rooted in poor and ineffective communication, presented as directives or threats. Isaacs invites us to open up the channels of communication and to dialogue, to find the language of meaning, of feelings and of power...

(Martha Beede and Darlene Burnett; Planning for Student Services: Best Practices for the 21st Century; Ann Arbor: Society for College and University Planning; 1999)

This has become the bible for student services professionals who embark on the journey to tranforming the delivery of student services. Real life stories are interwoven with philosophical as well as practical applications in the cases for change.

(Bridges, William; Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change; Cambridge: Perseus Books; 1991)

Bridges stated that it is not the change that people resist; rather it is the transitions that people struggle with. In this book, William Bridges gives practical guidelines for effective management of the myriad of issues and concerns that come with any change, that are natural occurences in the transitions that inevitably come with any effort to move us from one place to another.

(Jean Lave & Etienne Wenger; Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1999)

Lave and Wenger's theory of legitimate peripheral participation gives credence to the need for student services professionals to learn, and thus develop, outside of the confines of their functional silos. The authors "situtated learning in the trajectories of participation in which it takes on meaning. These trajectories must be situated in the social world." The integrative nature of this theory provides a fresh look at the new learning that must take place in order to not only change our practice but to transform our philosophy of that practice as well.

(Brown, John Seely & Paul Duguid; The Social Life of Information; Boston: Harvard Business School Press; 2000)

This book has been a godsend for me in my work as well as in my research. Brown and Duguid's distinctions between information and knowledge have provided important language in our discussion of the importance of professionals as knowers rather than mere carriers of static information. These discussions have empowered student services professionals at our institution to grasp the importance of their contribution to the process, and have alleviate some of the fears that have come as a result of the demands for change. The authors' analysis of the pitfalls of faddish change process with fancy names (i.e. reengineering) warns us of the temptations to keep up with the pop culture and helps to guide us to think of true transforming acts that will truly have a positive impact on our organization.

(Buechner, Frederick; Whistling in the Dark: A Doubter's Dictionary; San Francisco: Harper; 1993)

Buechner's essay on work in this book provides some key insights to our roles as professionals. How we view our work has a direct impact on how we serve our students.

Streamlining Student Services, Belmont University/Nashville, TN, Belmont University Press, 1998.

This article summarized the development and organization of Belmont Central, a one stop center, which has become a guiding point for many institutions of higher learning desiring to improve their student services.

Hollowell, David E.; "An Innovative Approach to Student Services", (University of Delaware, July 1993).

This white paper, by the senior vice president of the University of Delaware, presented a concept of student services that was innovative and fairly radical at the time. The process called for putting the student at the center of the process, using technology to meet their needs, and lessening the inward focus of the delivery of student services.

Margaret J. Wheatley & Myron Kellner-Rogers; A Simpler Way; San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 1996

Wheatley and Kellner-Rogers makes a powerful case for the wholeness of life, calling us to "view life more as symbiotic relationships, that we all have the desire to survive... that life naturally produces life rather than destroy it. The survival of life depends on life organizing and sustaining itself." The authors call us to a different way of thinking, of approaching a problem... It is a reference for the shift to the integrative approach.