Where are university administrators placed in texts that are centred around universities? There appears to be either a total confusion in terminology about administration or a complete disregard for administrators' work but in most cases administrative staff in universities are largely invisible. This paper explores a range of texts (academic, government reports and novels) and provides a picture of how the work of administrators and the staff themselves are represented. It examines how they are positioned in the organisation as people, as workers and as power brokers and provides a starting point for further research into how these workers see themselves. "There has been remarkably little systematic study of the roles and values of university administrative staff" (McInnis, 1998, p. 161). Maybe it is time that this was remedied.