A Starter's Guide for Academic Library Leaders: Advice in Conversation—eEditions PDF e-book
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- Description
- Table of Contents
- About the authors
- Reviews
Listen to a podcast with the authors now!
The path towards leadership starts with you. But you don’t have to go it alone. For this book, the authors sat down with many of the library leaders they most admire for a series of conversations about the aspects of the job that they find the most fascinating (and challenging). Much like the chats you might have over coffee at a conference or with a mentor, these frank discussions will nourish you with nuts-and-bolts wisdom on a diverse range of academic library management issues. Among the topics and situations broached are
- balancing personal values against the common refrain “you don’t get to be who you want to be in positions like ours”;
- five questions to ask that reveal much about organizational culture and climate;
- creating a culture of change, including why a newly promoted director chose to make the most drastic changes in the first 100 days;
- forming a “dean team” to help frame responses with consideration to institutional culture;
- the value of demystifying the budget for the entire library staff;
- using tools such as a personal “learning journal” to fuel professional development;
- cultivating a personal network by setting up meetings at local libraries during conferences;
- the risks that result from jumping into a situation too fast and boxing yourself into a corner;
- lessons learned from failed initiatives;
- examples of navigating controversies, such as a director’s response to a WPA mural with a racist message; and
- managing facilities, with an example of how injecting a previously ignored library voice into a building project led to a tripling of the space.
Between these covers you’ll find guidance, ideas, and inspiration as you continue your leadership journey.
Foreword, by Jon Cawthorne
Introduction, by Amanda Clay Powers, Martin Garnar, and Dustin Fife
Chapter 1
Making the Leap, by Amanda Clay Powers and Elaine Westbrooks
Chapter 2
Building Effective Teams, by Martin Garnar and Lorelei Tanji
Chapter 3
Learning to Lead and Manage, by Dustin Fife and Amy Kelly
Chapter 4
Maintaining Personal Values, by Amanda Clay Powers and Faye A. Chadwell
Chapter 5
Institutional Advocacy, by Dustin Fife and Annie Bélanger
Chapter 6
Recruiting and Retention: Building a Diverse Team, by Amanda Clay Powers, Martin Garnar, and Dustin Fife
Chapter 7
Making Hard Decisions, Having Difficult Conversations, and Setting Expectations, by Dustin Fife and Lesli Baker
Chapter 8
Managing Mistakes and Building on Failure, by Martin Garnar and Melissa De Santis
Chapter 9
Creating a Culture of Change, by Martin Garnar and Trevor A. Dawes
Chapter 10
Professional Development, by Dustin Fife and Alexia Hudson-Ward
Chapter 11
Building, Renovations, and Facilities, by Amanda Clay Powers and Krisellen Maloney
Chapter 12
Crisis Management, by Martin Garnar and Adriene Lim
Chapter 13
Finding Your Role in the University, by Dustin Fife and Carol Smith
Chapter 14
Fundraising and Development, by Amanda Clay Powers and Yolanda Cooper
Chapter 15
Developing and Managing Budgets, by Martin Garnar and Maggie Farrell
About the Authors and Contributors
Index
"Our profession often mentions that we need to do more storytelling, more instances of actual impact on the lives of ourselves and others that we touch in our day-to-day operations and services. This book is full of stories: stories about failure, stories about growth, stories about successes, stories about change and adaptation. ... I enjoyed reading the many stories which my colleagues and mentors have shared in this volume, and think that many other current and future academic library leaders will feel the same way."
— Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship
"Given the many very personal stories and lessons learned (often the hard way) related here, this volume offers material for all leaders to consider, even those who have many years’ experience ... Anyone with a desire to continue to grow will benefit from this book, which is recommended to all academic libraries."
— Catholic Library World
"Powers, Garnar and Fife are themselves library directors and weave in their own observations and lessons learned into the chapters using an informal yet clear and concise interview format ... Centered on personal and organizational leadership themes this book would be well suited for professionals of any field."
— Technical Services Quarterly