One aspect of self-realization is to work on constructive intimate relationships in which another person adds to the richness of our existence and expands our horizons. The other person is not a substitute for our self-development nor someone who can make up for our developmental deficits. (Or if this is the case, at least one should become aware of it, since such a relationship is most likely not completely free of some contamination from the past.) When we are in touch with our active, striving, self-realizing self, we have the freedom and choice to "love." Loving implies that we can accept the person for what and who he is, apart from our compulsive needs from him. Certain needs are real and if not met, the relationship is not gratifying. Sharing warmth, caring, affection, and mutual growth as individuals as well as a couple are aspects of a constructive relationship. Hopefully, we will also expand our horizons to include friendships (outside marriage), relationships between equals, whether of the same sex or not, which include intimacy, loyalty, sharing that is unconditional and unselfish. Though it has been said that friendship, in the true sense of the word, is the most singularly uncultivated capacity in American social relations, when we do achieve it, it can add tremendously to our existence.

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Women have made significant inroads into Australian library management over the last decade [1]. It was this awareness, along with the results of my research (both quantitative and qualitative) into the status of women librarians in Queensland, which led me to pursue comments which suggested the existence of a "double-glazed glass ceiling" in libraries and an organizational culture inhospitable to women as managers [2]. I chose to interview 20 women currently employed in senior management positions within metropolitan and regional libraries in Queensland for this research.These women represent the successful ones who have managed to break through the so-called "glass ceiling"[3] in libraries: they are the library leaders of the 1990s. Yet, how leadership has been conceptualized in the management literature is in stark contrast to the words women use when describing their own particular management/leadership style. As the meaning of the term "successful" comes under closer scrutiny it becomes clear that its currency in organizational discourse is problematic for women. It is not a genderneutral term because it is often associated with the image of a male manager[4] and is defined in "accountancy-based terms"[5]. Yet, success for the women managers in my study is not only measured in terms of salary and status, but in their ability to lead balanced and fulfilling lives, both in the public and private spheres. This poses a dilemma for the woman library manager who must conform to a workplace which is still largely organized around employment patterns designed earlier this century, when the paid worker was predominantly male [6]. How these women fit into this structure and how they reconcile their work roles with their family/domestic responsibilities are some of the issues discussed in this paper. Other areas of interest, include whether or not women as managers are changing organizational cultures and if equal employment opportunity (EEO) legislation has been effective in increasing women's promotional prospects in libraries. Research design and rationaleAs feminist oral history is now well acknowledged as a methodology, I chose this form of data collection for my study of "successful" 12

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