I highly recommend everybody taking a look at an intriguing, impromptu, and important discussion on the future of librarianship being had at Toby Greenwalt’s theanalogdivide by some of the finest minds in the field. It all began when Seth Godin wrote a few paragraphs about what libraries/librarians should be doing to remain viable -which some librarians took exception to it on Twitter and elsewhere. Be sure to check out the comments by Kate Sheehan, Bobbi Newman, and even a response by Seth Godin himself! Mick Jacobsen – TTW Contributor
Categories Leadership
41 posts
By Michael Casey & Michael Stephens Egos can insidiously prevent us from doing what we could do best. Recently, in a late-night conversation, a few trusted librarian colleagues told us how much damage an inflated ego can do to a library’s culture. One in that small circle had clashed with a department member and been called out by the administration for “only thinking of herself” in planning and implementing a new project. Another had been recognized in a national forum as a rising talent, only to have that accolade ignored by employers. A third led a well-regarded project but was […]
By Michael Casey & Michael Stephens Dear MLS grad (and others who may be looking for a new position), We’re glad you are ready for the first (or next) step in your career. We know that the job market can be tight and that most newly minted librarians are happy to get their foot in the door, recognizing that no one library will conform to your workplace ideal. Still, we’d like to offer some pointers for a good fit. First, look at “In Search of an Emotionally Healthy Library,” by Nancy Cunningham (now director of the Learning Resources Center at […]
As part of Dominican GSLIS Emerging Library Leaders series, we had Kathryn Deiss, ACRL Content Strategist, in to present on Leadership. I captured some of her points but it was so interesting I stopped typing to listen. Her slides were beautiful — filled with lovely images of nature and flowers. Some thought provoking statements/questions: Multiple communication channels are available now for social interaction. How do we lead in this environment? How do we innovate? Some libraries are innovating like crazy: Users vist the Delft DOK library get an automatic text: “Welcome to the world’s most modern library!” It’s got to be fun. The […]
Are you a decision maker for your library’s ILS? Make sure you checkout this report (which has received some great notice, I am late to the party) Breeding’s observations are useful and concise: Polaris emerged as the system with the highest positive ratings. Libraries that use Polaris rated their system higher in all categories than any of the competing systems and are the least interested in open source alternatives. Only 1.56% of responding libraries indicated they were considering migrating to a new system. (I keynoted their User Group meeting in 2006 – what a cool bunch!) The Library Corporation scored […]
Excelent piece from John Berry at LJ. He mentions that he teaches at Dominican (!) and sums up very well what I’ve also observed in library school and in our realm here: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6515838.html Like those who came before them, the current cadre of librarians bring new tools for the job ahead, technologies that make access to information much easier but just as corruptible. They bring that vitality and spirit that, in themselves, are enough to force change and even shape its outcome. At first, those in power will hang on, as they did decades ago. Ultimately, if we remember the […]
Great post by Ann Arbor District Library Director Josie Parker on two years in the life of AADL.org. http://www.aadl.org/node/4722 In my Web 2.0 talks, I usually get the question about letting staff publish blog posts directly to the Web. Wait! Shouldn’t they be proofed (well, yes) and shouldn’t a manager sign off on each one — or maybe a committee? 🙂 Not at AADL. Check out Josie’s words on trust: We trust our staff, and we know that when we expect the best of people that is usually what we get. Allowing staff to post in an unmoderated fashion has […]
Dear Director – Is your door actually open? How are you talking with all levels of your staff? Are they involved, included, and interested? What’s your idea of transparency in your organization? Today’s library director can facilitate transparency by building openness within the organization and using the power of communication to reach out to the community. Open organizations, where staff and public feel free (and safe) to contribute new ideas and suggestions and to play a role in their implementation and evaluation, will win more long-term proponents than closed organizations that hide failures and weaknesses. Full Text
By Michael Casey & Michael Stephens The job of library director is difficult and often underappreciated. These days, library directors are more like university presidents, needing to build support in the community, raise money, and make a name for themselves and their library. Obviously, this varies by the size of the community, but all library directors need to garner sufficient political and community capital to get budgets approved and expansions funded and to keep door counts high. It’s no longer enough for the library director simply to keep the place running. Today’s director is politician and lobbyist, fundraiser and spokesperson, […]
Michael Casey and I are writing our next column for LJ’s The Transparent Library and we realized what a perfect place to discuss the recent Wired piece “The Naked CEO” by Clive Thompson. Thompson blogged about the article while writing the piece and asked for input. At his blog, Thompson sums up so much of what we’ve been discussing about the advent of web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the almost-left-the-station Cluetrain: Reputation Is Everything: Google isn’t a search engine. Google is a reputation-managment system. What do we search for, anyway? Mostly people, products, ideas — and what we want to […]