This paper represents an attempt to apply current organizational theory to the understanding of a large juvenile library system's selection goals and guidelines. Writings on goal conflict within organizations suggest that the two groups characteristically involved in a large library's book selection process, the coordinators and branch librarians, would display differing orientations toward the process which would result in conflicting objectives and organizational tensions. A case study using nonparticipant observation, interviews, and a questionnaire survey was carried out to examine this hypothesis. The findings challenge the traditional view of forces guiding book selection in a children's library