Library Leadership & Management (LL&M) (E-Journal)
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Welcome Aboard: A Program for Improving the New Hire Experience for Academic Librarians
No full textNew hire orientation often consists of a checklist of tasks but does little to integrate a new employee to the organization. Previous research indicates that organizational socialization is key to successful onboarding, but few models exist for libraries to support this aspect of a new hire’s experience. This article shares an onboarding program adopted by one academic library and discusses the results of an assessment of the new program for newly hired librarians. Findings indicate that a structured onboarding program can improve organizational socialization during a librarian’s first months on the job
Narrative Budgets: Telling the Story of Your Library’s Value and Values
No full textA library’s budget should be a reflection of its values and goals, but budget formats do not always lend themselves to telling the library’s story. Your budget message needs to be aligned with your library’s broader communication plan so that user experience is consistent with messaging from other library venues. Ideally, your budget, along with all library communication points, include language from your library’s values, mission, and vision statements and strategic plan. This article outlines traditional budget formats, introduces a format called Narrative Budgeting, and provides an example and outline for creating a narrative budget for your library using language from your library’s strategic plan and mission, vision, and values statements. Once set up, your Narrative Budget can be adapted and used to communicate with a variety of constituents to present an understandable and justifiable use of the library’s allocated resources
Innovation and Growth: Applying Clayton M. Christensen’s Theories to Academic Libraries
No full textAcademic libraries are facing many challenges as documents become digital objects on the network and services that were once their sole province are now provided by others at network-scale. Academic libraries will need to identify and develop new services if they are to remain vital. Using two theories from Clayton M. Christensen’s work, the first on different kinds of innovation and their impact on growth, and the second on the “jobs to be done” framework, can guide librarians in this task. Understanding the different types of innovation and the results they bring should shape budget and resource allocation strategies. Understanding the “jobs of be done” framework should provide the means of identifying new products and services that will be valued by students and faculty. The two theories, taken together, can provide academic libraries the means to assure their continuing relevance
Meetings: A Framework to Improve Effectiveness and Employee Satisfaction
No full textMeetings are a necessary, but often unexamined part of organizational life. Meetings are used to make decisions, distribute information, brainstorm solutions, and report on progress. Meetings take up a massive part of a librarians or managers day, but we seldom talk about how effective meetings are, or how to properly run a meeting. This paper describes the role of meetings on employee satisfaction, employee attitude, and on meeting effectiveness. Drawing upon research and literature in the fields of business and LIS, the paper concludes with a framework and strategies to run more engaging and effective meetings
Communicating Library Values, Mission, Vision, and Strategic Plans through Social Media
No full textSocial media communication needs to be aligned with your library’s broader communication plan so that user experience is consistent with messaging from other library venues. Ideally, social media along with all library communication points include language from your library’s values, mission, and vision statements and strategic plan. This article will outline two critical pieces to forming your social media communication strategy: Making a social media plan and applying social media optimization (SMO) to your library’s Web pages. Once set up, your plan and SMO can easily become part of your library’s routine when posting to social networks and creating and editing Web pages
Educational Background of ARL Directors
No full textStrong leadership is needed to provide vision and focus in academic libraries during this rapidly changing environment. While leadership skills can be acquired in many ways, this study examines formal education. Graduate degrees of Association of Research Library (ARL) directors were identified to determine whether they have earned library and information science degrees as well as other graduate degrees. Results indicate that 90% of the ARL directors have library degrees but the remaining 10% have graduate degrees in a variety of disciplines though not solely in management or leadership. Additionally, the percentage of ARL directors with doctorates has increased slightly in the past 20 years, while the percentage of those with MLIS degrees has decreased
Learning from Crucible Moments: Lessons in Crisis Leadership
No full textAccess to formal and informal leadership education and mentoring all contribute to the development of library leaders. Though crisis leadership may be discussed in leadership training, it is often the case that experiencing and leading through crises is the primary way in which most library leaders gain skill in managing these challenging situations. If we learn through our mistakes, then crisis leadership is surely a shining example of this principle for leaders are most apt to falter when finding themselves in the crucible. This article presents the crisis situation in which leaders are subjected to the changes forged in the crucible, as an opportunity for leaders to learn, gain wisdom and grow professionally, even when their performance may falter. It also presents the dark times crisis as a newer type of situation leaders will increasingly confront and for which they will find it difficult to adequately prepare. Different crisis scenarios are presented along with recommendations for how leaders can best manage and learn from them
New and Noteworthy: Dealing with Dysfunction
No full textIt is the rare library that does not experience some level of dysfunctional behavior among staff. Problems arise when weak leadership, poor communication, and lack of goals result in toxic behaviors including gossiping and bullying. Several recent publications offer tips on identifying and dealing with dysfunctional library workplaces
