A 360 Degree View: The Ideal Qualities of Library Leaders and Employees

The rapidly changing demands of library customers across different fields of librarianship mirrors that of general society. Are the qualities deemed important for these jobs five or ten years ago still deemed important today? Are these administrators and employees satisfied working in a field that requires such constant change and growth? Our study seeks to address these questions by providing further insight into what qualities library leaders look for in today’s library employees while also providing insight into what qualities library employees look for in today’s library leaders for a 360 degree view. Using a research study crosswalk, interview and survey questions were developed to ensure internal and construct validity and close alignment. The study’s total sample was 289 participants, which included interviews and an online survey completed by public, academic, school, and special libraries in North Carolina and a large public library system in Arizona. The authors found the following: 1) leaders are associated with creating vision, motivating staff, and driving an organization forward, 2) managers are associated with following operational procedures, being task-focused, and being approachable to staff, and 3) excellent library employees show initiative, are self-motivated, are passionate about the work, and demonstrate a willingness to learn new skills

Mentoring Experience of Academic Librarians: A Pilot Study of Mentorship in Academic Libraries

Librarians have embraced the critical role mentoring can play in the professional growth, socialization and leadership development for academic libraries. The author sought to understand mentoring experiences in career and professional development and psychosocial functions as well as barriers to entering mentoring relationships in New England academic libraries. Surveys sent to academic librarians at Association of College and Research Libraries/New England Chapter News Group invited them to share their experiences with mentoring relationships and its benefits. The study suggests that few structured formal mentoring programs from their own libraries exist for librarians outside of professional associations’ mentoring programs. Additionally, results suggest that the mentoring program antecedents of library organizational culture, prior positive mentoring experience are the main influencing factors for successful implementation of mentoring programs

Where Does the Money Go? Creating Transparency in Libraries Operational Budgeting

Operating and personnel budgets encompass the majority of spending in academic libraries, but are often decided with little process or participation. Transparent budget processes for assigning this funding provide the opportunity for widespread clarity and understanding of how budgets are used, and how to acquire funding. The budget model described offers one way to help ensure that every voice in the library has the opportunity to share their ideas for improvements, programs, personnel, and events

Library Security: Perceptions of Preparedness

This article details the results of two parallel surveys sent to the heads of campus security and the libraries at 54 schools within the SUNY system. We undertook this study to determine the extent of collaboration between these groups and to learn where library and security staff perceptions of safety and preparedness differ. The findings indicated that most campuses have emergency response plans in place for the possibility of a high-impact violent event or a human-caused emergency. However, libraries are less likely to have dedicated emergency plans and report an inconsistent mix of physical security measures and staff safety trainings. Overall, both campus security respondents and library staff members feel safe at work and reasonably prepared for a human-caused emergency. Additionally, campus security consistently rated the libraries as safer and more prepared than the librarians rated themselves, and a gap exists in perceptions of the frequency and usefulness of collaborations between the two. Security consistently answered that they are closely involved with library trainings and safety measures, while the librarians’ responses ranged from no contact with security to praise for existing collaborations and a desire for more

Libraries Taking a Lead

At the April 22nd, 2021, ALA Monthly Webinar meeting led by President Julius Jefferson, we heard several incredible stories about how many US libraries had connected with their local communities to offset the effects of the pandemic. Then, in his Making a Difference article in the May 2021 American Libraries edition, he highlighted the $7.2 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund recently passed by Congress that includes funding for library services related to devices and broadband internet for library patrons. The combination of both underscores what can be accomplished by community libraries, as well as what can potentially be achieved by community library leaders and their teams with this incredible new funding. It’s a once in a generation opportunity not to be wasted

Academic Library Leadership Lessons from COVID-19

Leadership played a critical role during the COVID-19 crisis. During the first ten months of the crisis, the library leadership at the Norman Girvan Documentation Centre at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, had to make some serious decisions that impacted all stakeholders. This article outlines some of the key library leadership lessons drawn from the experiences of the library leader that other librarians can reflect on, especially as another wave of the virus looms in the near distance

Revisiting Strategy in a Time of Crisis

The season of upheaval brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic is a critical occasion for libraries to revisit their organizational strategies. Strategy includes two complementary dimensions: alignment with the environment and the pursuit of competitive advantage. Rapid changes in the environment call for practicing strategic thinking iteratively rather than engaging in a fixed rhythm of multi-year planning. An effective library strategy displays four key attributes: (1) It responds to the concerns of diverse stakeholders. (2) It is flexible enough to adapt to emerging conditions. (3) It enacts organizational mission but can also help to reshape it. (4) It integrates with organization development to achieve success with and through people

Write Now! Managing Change and Increasing Research in an Academic Library

New and innovative technologies have expanded librarian roles and expertise to include virtual learning, chat reference, online research guides, maker spaces, virtual reality, and more. Change is a consistent part of working in any library, and effectively managing change often has a learning curve for library administrators. Change Management theory is popular amongst business leaders, but could these theories work in libraries as well? In 2017, Library Administration at Marriott Library designed a Change Management program based on the theories of Todd Jick, a nationally-recognized expert in organizational change management. Their goal was to increase the overall amount of scholarly research publications and creative products librarian faculty completed each year. The authors conducted a multi-year research project, hypothesizing that by implementing Jick’s framework, librarian faculty would create more scholarly work. Data was collected from faculty’s self-reported research profiles, survey feedback from research retreats and workshops, and web traffic from staff intranet pages. An analysis of the results indicated a steady increase in research and scholarly output, and an overall positive response to the research change program

Research Participation and Employment of Persons with Autism Spectrum in Library and Information Science: A Review of the Literature

Persons with autism spectrum disorder are a growing population and important to library and information science research and employment in libraries. Including them in all stages of research about the neurodivergent experience is valuable, and their input and participation is increasingly used in technology research, particularly usability studies. Neurodiverse persons also have unique abilities that align with a wide array of information professions and accommodations can be made that allow them to thrive in the workplace. It is critical that meaningful involvement of autistic individuals is a component of making policy at all levels

Redesigning staff recruitment for the 21st century: a case study from the University of Chicago Library

The University of Chicago Library acquisitions department experienced a significant amount of clerical and supervisory staff turnover between 2016 and 2019. Viewing this period of change as an opportunity to recruit a highly skilled and diverse staff poised to sustain the department for the future. We knew that we had to think differently about what skills we needed and what skills would be transferable from industries outside the library or academe into the library. This paper provides an outline of the potential benefits of non-library industry hiring by looking at current departmental needs and anticipating future industry developments and changes through hiring, and why considering applicants new to the Library may address each of those challenges, why and how to reframe job descriptions and interviews to focus on transferable and soft skills, in the absence of relevant library experience, and looks at needed training and development to acclimate new hires into library work