Haycock, Ken

McCallum, L.

English

SJSU ScholarWorks

San Jose State UniversitySJSU ScholarWorksFaculty Publications School of Information1-1-1997Urban public library directors: Who are they?Where did they come from?Ken HaycockSan Jose State University, ken.haycock@sjsu.eduL. McCallumFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/slis_pubPart of the Library and Information Science CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Information at SJSU ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in FacultyPublications by an authorized administrator of SJSU ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact scholarworks@sjsu.edu.Recommended CitationKen Haycock and L. McCallum. "Urban public library directors: Who are they? Where did they come from?" Feliciter (1997): 34-37.URBRN PUBUC UBRRRY DIREOORS: WHO RRE THEY? WHERE 010 THEY £0Mf fROM? DY KEN HRYCO[K & lARRY M~CHLlHM uffeted by the pressures and turmoil of a downsizing corporate world, Canadian businesses and industries have seized on leadership as their Holy Grail. Consultants have emerged to cater to this 'leadership crisis', the underlying assumption being that leadership is one of the greatest challenges in imple­menting the change processes needed as corporations restructure. Add to that a familiar old saw: good leaders a re hard to find. Given the nature and scope of the pressures confronting libraries in the 1990s -pressures wrough t by technological and fiscal changes, a mong others- library leadership, too, is arguably at a greater premi­um than at any time in the history of the profession. If libraries are to craft bold mission statements, reconceptualize services and em­brace marketing, then the profession needs visionaries, entrepreneur s and leaders as never before. But what makes a Rtrong leader? In an ideal world, every librarian would possess leadership qualities and the profession would ensure that its most promising proteges rose through the ranks in order to maximize their contributions. Indeed, if libraries as a whole need more leaders and entrepreneurs than in the past, then schools of library and information studies may need to re-evaluate whether they're a t tracting students with attributes and traits essential for leading libraries to the centre of the information marketplace. Nearly a decade has passed since Jean Tague and Roma Harris, of the University of Western Ontario, studied the careers of 26 Cana dian directors of academic, public and governmental libraries. Tague and Harris found th at direc­tors fall generally into two cate­gories: 'evolutionaries', who tend to remain at single institutions and implement change gradually, sensitively and through consensus, and 'revolutionaries', who tend to move between institutions and favour rapid change, new ideas, a nd challenges to the system. In order to shed more light on the state of library leadership in the field, the present study emerged out of a September 1995 presentation to CALUPL (Council ofAdmini­strators of Large Urban Public Libraries) , whose director members agreed to pm·ticipate in the survey. The potential number of partici­pants was 39, and 28 r esponded to the questionnaire. The present investigation collected information on various aspects of the directors' backgrounds, personalities, activities and view in hopes of arriving at a profile that sheds light on how these leaders typically were promoted, where they came from, what values they hold, and whether they share a common vision as to the core roles of the public library and its director. The relationship of public library directors and library roles has received scant attention in U.S. and Canadian studies, perhaps because studies thus far have tended to include directors of both public and academic libraries, whose mandates differ. For its part, the present study found no clear consensus on the primary role of the public library, with the CALUPL directors expressing quite specific, individual visions. Overall, three functions emerged as top priorities: a general information centre for community residents, a learning centre for adult indepen­dent learner s, and a recreational reading centre of popular materials . The next most-favow·ed public library roles included educational support centre for students of all ages, and discovery and learning centre for preschool children. Bottom of the list was 'research centre for scholars and r esearchers', with 'community activities centre' the second lowest priority. The directors were also quite divided as to how they spend their working hours. When asked to prioritize their various roles in terms of time spent, the roles of 'disseminator' (that is, sharing and distributing information within the library through staff meetings and personal contacts) and 'entrepre­neur' (introducing change within the library by developing and implementing new systems and programs) emerged on top, with 'liaison' close behind. Then came a range of roles more or less tied for fourth place: figurehead, monitor, 34 feJicitcr FEBRUARY 1997 -------------spokesperson, negotiator, leader and disturbance handler. The role of resource allocator was deemed least time-consuming. However, a clearer consensus emerged when the directors were asked to rank these roles in terms of personal job satisfaction. 'Entrepreneur' emerged clearly on top, with 'negotiator' a distant second. Evidently, CALUPL directors favour the one (entrepre­neurial) role strongly, yet find themselves having to fulfill a spectrum of duties. One could surmise that the di1·ectors would give even more time and attention to developing new service if they could, but that they're caught up in the processes of managing their existing operations. As one director remarked, "care and feeding of the library board" would rank at or near the top in terms of time spent. Yet, this is not to suggest that CALUPL directors are typically frustrated or disillusioned. Overall, those surveyed 'strongly agreed' they were both 'satisfied' and 'pro­fessionally fulfilled' in their present positions, and 'agreed' they were 'personally fulfilled'. Three, how­ever - all females - strongly disagreed they were fulfilled or satisfied in their roles as directors. The pattern by which they rose into their positions seems to indi­cate a more single-minded sense of career direction than in the past. Previous studies -including Tague and Harris - have shown that directors, like other librarians, have tended to migrate into librarian­ship from other occupations (most often teaching) and that they typically never considered librarian­ship as a career option as students. Among those surveyed in the present study, however, librarian­ship typically was a first career choice. Seven had no experience working in libraries prior to profes­sional experience. But most worked in libraries before becoming a pro­fessional, and their greatest influ-FEBRUARY 1997 fcli(~itcr ,r PRDFIUNii THE DIRECTORI 	 I OF THE LARiiE URBAN PUBLIC LIBRARYI 	 I Personal BackgroundI 	 IFemale CaucasianI 	 IBorn in Ontario in 1946 Canadian citizenI 	 I EducationI 	 BA in History (Toronto, 1969) I MLS (Toronto, 1973) I 	 I Family StatusI 	 IMarried No childrenI 	 I Career ChoiceI 	 Librarianship first professional career choice I Decided in universityI 	 Influenced by another person I Worked as a library assistant for two yearsI 	 Emphasized public libraries and management in library school I I 	 ICareer Made five changes of positionI 	 Made three geographic moves I Assisted in career through mentor and continuing educationI courses in management I Belongs to Ontario and Canadian library associationsI 	 Was previously a deputy director I Became director after 15 years as a professional librarianI Has been director for six years I Current Position as DirectorI 	 I Most time-consuming roles are as disseminator of information within the library, and as entrepreneur, that is, introducingI 	 Ichange and new systems and programs Greatest satisfaction is as entrepreneurI 	 IVery satisfied professionally Satisfied personallyI 	 IIncome of $95,000I 	 IPriorities for Public Library Roles General information centre for residentsI Learning centre for adult independent learners I Recreational reading centre of popular materialsI 	 I I 	-Haycock and McCallum, 1996 I _____________ .JL 35 ·--------.... -- ·-­ence in pursuing library studies was a friend or other person ~ no particular type of person predomi­nated, although seven mentioned public librarians, two mentioned their wives, and two mentioned "using public libraries" as their greatest influence. Once they were in the profession, mentorship played a role ~ some 60 per cent of those surveyed reported having had a mentor who helped signifi­cantly in career advancement, which is consistent with findings in previous surveys that mentor­ship helps upward mobility. The CALUPL directors were evenly divided on whether having articles published in journals had helped their careers, although on the whole they hadn't published very extensively; only seven of the 28 had published in both provincial and national journals, while another four had published in either provincial or national journals. Continuing education, on the other hand, drew a stronger response. Although eight directors had pursued no continuing educa­tion at all, of the 20 who had taken some courses, 16 felt it had helped their careers. And they showed a clear emphasis in subject matter: 15 of them mentioned administra­tive or management courses. Indeed, two had completed MBAs and four had completed diplomas or degrees in public administration. As to their immediately previ­ous positions, 12 had been deputy directors (five of them in the same library), while nine had been direc­tors in other libraries. But their prior professional experience is varied. Seven (one-quarter of the sample) had no reference desk experience at all, spending their formative years in technical services, collection development or children's services. Mobility ranges from a variety ofmanagement experience, both in and out of libraries, to no career or geographic moves since graduation. Tague and Harris found slightly more BLS than MLS degrees among their 26 academic, public and special librarians, no doubt reflecting the earlier date of their study. In the present study, 18 had an MLS, four had a BLS, five held both, and one held a professional certificate from overseas. When asked which studies they'd focused on during library school, only eight mentioned some aspect specific to public libraries; seven said manage­ment, while four stipulated special libraries, and one said technical services. Their undergraduate studies, meanwhile, showed remarkable consistency. None of the directors had a science background, and nearly all had completed Bachelor ofArts degrees. Fully 16 of them ~ 57 per cent of the sample ~ had majored in English or History. As well, nearly one-third did their undergraduate studies at either the University ofToronto of the University of Western Ontario. The same two universities figured even more prominently when it came to the directors' library degrees. Sixty-four per cent of the directors completed their library studies at one of two uni­versities: 43 per cent at the University of Toronto, 21 per cent at the University of Western Ontario. Of the rest, four completed their library studies at UBC, two at the University ofAlberta, and one each at McGill, Dalhousie, Universite de Montreal and the University of Sydney (Australia). Most of the 82 per cent who had MLS degrees completed them during the 1970s, while a majority of those with BLS degrees completed them during the 1960s. Demographically, the directors showed some clear characteristics: Caucasian, with nearly SO per cent both within Canada. Of those, more than half were Ontario-born, while the rest were born in Manitoba, British Columbia, and Quebec (in that order of prevalence). Of the 20 per cent who weren't Canadian-born, three were born in Germany and one each in Ireland, Australia and the United States. All the directors are Canadian citizens, with three holding dual citizenship. Twenty-two of the 28 directors (nearly 79 per cent of the respon­dents) were in the 45 to 54 age bracket, with three above and three below that bracket. While most are married without children, the male directors were more likely to have children than the female directors. Several U.S. studies of library directors have made the link between career success on the one hand, and geographic and profes­sional mobility and professional activity on the other. The present survey is far less conclusive: nearly half the directors had changed communities only once or not at all during their careers. In fact, their geographic mobility varied greatly: anywhere from none to eight changes of community, with more than 80 per cent changing com­munities three times or fewer during their library careers. Climbing the career ladder, neal'ly 60 per cent of the directors made between five or more position­to-position moves prior to their current jobs, while 18 per cent made seven or more such moves. The female directors, who changed communities an average of 2.1 timeR, were more geographi­cally mobile than the men, who moved an average 1. 7 times. There was a wide range of salaries for directors, with 25 per cent earning from $60,000 to $79,999, and 21 per cent earning more than $100,000. The average was $95,000. As for their professional activity, more than 80 per cent belonged to provincial library associations, and nearly ROper cent belonged to the Canadian Library Association, with feliciter FEBRCARY 1997 36 the length of memhcl'ship varying widely, from four to 30 years. And 46.5 per cent h ave been members of the American Library Association for anywhere from on e w 20 years. On the question of gender, the s urvey documen ted a significant shifL Previous surveys, consis tently have revealed a preponderance of men. Yet, in the present survey, 57 per cent of the dir ectors were women (among CALUPL directors as a whole, the proportion is actually 55 per cent). While this r atio slightly ext:eeds the overall Canadian population, however, it still lags far behind the overall public librarian population. Thus, while indicating what might be considered pl'ogress on t he gender front, the present survey a lso confirms that men have continued to enjoy favoura ble career advance­me nt compa red with women . Moreover, t he m en required significantly fewer year s to become library directors : 10.45 years on a verage, compared wit h 16.55 for women. This roughly corresponds to the Tague-H anis study, which found men se rved a n aver age 11.29 years b efor e being appointed directors, compar ed with 18.64 years for women . Education may account for some of the disparity. While Tague and Harris found gende r was not a factor in the number of degrees held, among the cun·ent crop of director s it was : the men, on the whole, have m ore education . Four men bad additional master's degrees, compared with two women; t hree men had undertake n no continuing education, compared with five women ; and three of the four directors wit h BLS degrees were women. And, whi le t he women exhibited more geographic mobility, as noted above, it's worth bearing in mind th an women more often chan ge communities in deference to t heir husbands' careers than vice versa, thus compromising their own careers. The directors in this study de monstrate similarities a nd difhwences from previous studies. They a re better educated , e ngage in continuing education and enjoy a n e ntrep1·eneurial approach to library leadership. Directors generally recognize the need to improve the image of t he library and make it more responsive to the community, but tend to t:oncentrate on roles within the library. They are active in their professional associations, though don't see this as essential for career advancement. Gender still plays a role, regret­tably, particularly in the number of year s to the directorship. Libraries currently need creativit y, innovation and strategic pla nning, and the directm·s' tenden cy in this study toward indepe ndent thinking and problem­solving wou ld seem not misplaced. Nor would their genera lly populist , community-oriented stmse of t heir libr aries' mission , a nd their e nt reprene urial sense of their own roles. + Ken Haycock is direc:tur ufthe School of Librar-y, A rchival and Information Studies (S LAJS) at the University ofBritish Colum bia. He was president of the Canadian Library Association in 1977 I 78. Larry McCallum is a journalist and graduate student at S LAIS. Sometimes One Word Is Worth A Thousand Pictures Library 4 was ranked in 1996 as the t op Macintosh/Power Macintosh Native based library automation prog ram in a review conducted fo r the American Library Association (Library Technology Reports Jan/Feb 1996). We have since introduced Library 4 Universal - our new platform independent library automation program which runs on both Macintosh and Windows compatible computers. Our customers consider it an even better program . If you're thinking of automatin g or are dissati sfied with your current library automation program, turn to Library 4 Universal.... Library Automation - Made Easy. Call Today 1-800-667-3634 Kelowna Software Ltd. #2()(}2000 Spall Road, Kelowna, BC V1 Y9P6 Tel:250-8604123 • Fax: 25().860-4240 e-mail: sales@L4U.com 37 

Urban public library directors: Who are they? Where did they come from?

https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&amp;context=slis_pub

Urban public library directors: Who are they? Where did they come from?

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

SJSU ScholarWorks