Managing in the Middle

Robert Farrell
Kenneth Schlesinger
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$51.30
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$57.00
Item Number
978-0-8389-1161-7
Published
2013
Publisher
ALA Editions
Pages
192
Width
8 1⁄2"
Height
11"
Format
Softcover
AP Categories
A
C
I

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  • Description
  • Table of Contents
  • About the authors

Foreword by Maureen Sullivan, American Library Association President, 2012-13

Fully a third of all library supervisors are "managing in the middle:" reporting to top-level managers while managing teams of peers or paraprofessional staff in some capacity. This practical handbook is here to assist middle managers navigate their way through the challenges of multitasking and continual gear-shifting. The broad range of contributors from academic and public libraries in this volume help librarians face personal and professional challenges by

 

  • Linking theoretical ideas about mid-level management to real-world situations
  • Presenting ways to sharpen crucial skills such as communication, productivity, delegation, and performance management
  • Offering specific advice on everything from supervision to surviving layoffs

Being a middle manager can be a difficult job, but the range of perspectives in this book offer strategies and tips to make it easier.

 

 

Foreword, by Maureen SullivanIntroduction

 Part I. Middle Management 101 

Starting Out 

1. It's a Job, Not a Reward!Gayle Hornaday2. Stepping Right into the Middle of . . .Anne C. Barnhart3. Testing the Waters: Creative Role Playing for Management SuccessAmanda Lea Folk4. Learning the Ropes: LIS and Professional Training Are Not EnoughAmanda Lea Folk5. Is an MBA a Good Choice for Middle Management Librarians?Elizabeth O'Brien6. Expertise, Influence, and Magical Thinking: Interviews with Middle ManagersMelissa Laning and Neal Nixon7. Business Books for the Library Middle Manager: An Annotated BibliographyJoe C. Clark 

Communication 

8. Rethinking Interpersonal Communication for ManagersMarie L. Radford9. The Middle in the Middle: Maintaining Your Sanity while Mediating ConflictAmanda Lea Folk10. Horizontal Communication: Social Networking in the MiddleNancy J. Kress11. Feeling Good in the Middle: Emotional Intelligence at WorkRobert Farrell12. Top Communication Rules for Effective Library ManagementLouis Howley, Kathryn Bock Plunkett, and Nicole Sump-Crethar Part II. The Middle Ground 

Advanced Skills 

13. Formal and Informal Communication in MeetingsRobin L. Ewing14. The Power of UnMaureen Diana Sasso15. Checklist for ProductivitySamantha Schmehl Hines16. Procrastination and WillpowerSamantha Schmehl Hines17. The Critical Path for Middle Managers: A Project Management Technique for LibrariansDorothy A. Mays 

Performance Management 

18. SupervisionDebbie Schachter19. Firm but Fair: Dealing with Problem EmployeesCees-Jan de Jong20. Performance Management: Making Difficult Conversations Easy and Managing Soft SkillsRobert Barr21. Performance Improvement: An Overview for Middle ManagersBarbara Petersohn 

Professional Challenges 

22. Consult Me First: Building Consultative Relationships between Top-Level and Mid-Level Library ManagersJeffrey A. Franks23. Managing PerceptionsLiza Weisbrod24. Surviving LayoffsCurt Friehs25. The Poor Administrator and You: Survival Tips for the Mid-Level ManagerJeffrey A. Franks26. Coping with Reorganization: An Interview with Sally Decker Smith Part III. Empowerment 

Leadership 

27. The Self-Determined Middle ManagerKristine Condic28. Developing LeadersDebbie Schachter29. Being an Entrepreneurial LeaderJennifer Rowley30. Managing Change: A Reading Guide for Today's Middle ManagerKeith Phelan Gorman and Joe M. Williams 

Career Development 

31. The Need for Middle Managers: Turning Today's New Librarians into Tomorrow's LeadersBernadine Goldman32. Building Strong Middle Manager/Paralibrarian Relationships: Middle Managers as MentorsAllison Sloan33. Moving Up the Ranks and Back Again: Lessons Learned as an Interim Library DirectorElisabeth Tappeiner34. Working with the Plateaued EmployeeJanet Butler Munch35. Taking Risks and Letting Go, Creating and Coaching Teams: An Interview with John Lubans 

ContributorsIndex

Robert Farrell

Robert Farrell has served as coordinator of information literacy and assessment at Lehman College, City University of New York, since 2008. He received his BA in philosophy from Columbia University in 1999, an MLS from SUNY Buffalo in 2002, and an additional MA from the CUNY Graduate Center in 2010. Over the past decade, Professor Farrell has worked in libraries at Columbia and CUNY, managing at various levels. His research interests include library management, the phenomenology of professional skill acquisition, and information-seeking behaviors as well as a variety of topics in philosophy.

Kenneth Schlesinger

Kenneth Schlesinger has served as chief librarian at Lehman College since 2007. Previously he was director of media services at LaGuardia Community College and worked in the archival collections of Thirteen/WNET public television and Time Inc. He was board president of Independent Media Arts Preservation and served as president of the Theatre Library Association. In 2018, the Theatre Library Association honored him with the Louis Rachow Performing Arts Librarianship Distinguished Service Award. He received two Fulbright Senior Specialist Grants to contribute to international library projects: international copyright and strategic planning in Vietnam in 2005, and designing a library and archival strategic plan for the Steve Biko Centre in South Africa in 2011. Mr. Schlesinger has an MLS from Pratt Institute’s School of Information, an MFA in dramaturgy and dramatic criticism from Yale School of Drama, and a BA in dramatic art from University of California, Berkeley.