As our library's currently set up, the user looks at the list of,
say, authors -- clicks on the bookshelf icon next to the author's
name to see a listing of titles by that particular person -- at which
point the rest of the authors disappear until the bookshelf icon is
clicked again. At which point the titles of that author collapse and
the user again sees just the list of authors.

Is it possibly to set it up so that the list can be expanded on a
given author while keeping the others (unexpanded) visible?

Regards,
Rich R.