leadership in the 21 st century libraries

Leadership in the 21st Century Libraries

What is leadership?

“Leadership is influence”

(John C. Maxwell)

What is Leadership?

“Leadership is the capacity to translate

vision to reality”

(Warren C. Bennis)

What is Leadership?

“Leadership is not wielding authority—it’s

empowering people.”

(Becky Brodin)

What is Leadership?

“Leadership is one component of the functions of management…[;it] is the process of facilitating and influencing

(interacting with) others to attain group, organizational and societal goals. The central attribute is social influence.”

(A.J. Anderson, 2002)

Why is Leadership Important?

“The single most important factor in determining the climate of an organization

is the top executive.” (Charles Galloway)

Characteristics of Good Leaders

“You Manage things, You lead people. We went overboard on

management and forgot about leadership”

(Grace Murray Hopper, Admiral, US Navy (Retired)

To Enhance Leadership Skills in Your Library

• Remember– Leaders do not manage. They lead with

vision, commitment and passion–Discern who are potential leaders in you

staff and commit to developing them– For new hires, recruit those with the

right attitude, character and potential

Good Leaders• Have Integrity/proper ethical behavior • Have Good communication skills• Be able to work well with a team • Have customer service focus• Be innovative/creative• Be able to adapt to change• Observe work life balance• Strive for excellence• Have a good sense of humour • Have excellent physical and emotional health

(Webster, Keith, 2006)

Good Leaders

• Believe that potential leaders help carry the load and provide a sounding board for decisions. Followers do not carry the load.

• Believe that an organization’s growth potential is directly related to its personnel potential

Good Leaders• Acquire good people who are

potential leaders. They recruit the best underdeveloped people who can be coached and developed.

• Believe that the important factors in recruitment are good character and attitude

• Believe that there is no success without successors

Good Leaders

• Create a good climate for potential leaders. – They generate activity that is

productive– They encourage, create, command

changes in the organization.

Good Leaders

• Do big things. Big things attract big men. Little things attract little men. Little men usually cause trouble.

• Maximize the value of opportunity and momentum by immediately recognizing them and pouring resources into them.

Good Leaders

• Depend on the “maximum utilization of the abilities of those under him.”– They appreciate people for who they are– They believe that these people will do

their very best– They praise their accomplishments– They accept personal responsibility to

them as their leader

Competencies and Responsibilities of Top Management Teams in Public Libraries

• Leadership abilities and attitudes: Taking initiative, making things happen, through the efficient action of others.– Vision-Future– Refers to developing a shared vision that

builds on the past and present of public library service and looks to the future

– Developing staff—Ensures that activities are provided to prepare staff for management functions using appropriate techniques such as coaching, counseling, and shared responsibility teams.

Mahmoodi and King

Qualities to Look for in Potential Leaders

1. Positiveness—the ability to work with and see people and situations in a positive way

2. Servanthood—the willingness to submit, play team ball, and follow the leader


3. Growth potential—a hunger for personal growth and development; the ability to keep growing as the job expands

4. Follow-through— the determination to get the job done completely and with consistency


5. Loyalty—the willingness to always put the leader and the organization above personal desires.

6. Resiliency—the ability to bounce back when problems arise


7. Integrity—trustworthiness and solid character; consistent words and walk

8. “Big picture” mind-set—the ability to see the whole organization and all of its needs


9. Discipline—the willingness to do what is required regardless of personal mood

10. Gratitude—an attitude of thankfulness that becomes a way of life.

Ideas for Leadership Development

• Provide a secure environment where the potential leader is free to take risks and –Believe in them– Encourage them– Share with them– Trust them


• Expose the potential leader to successful librarians and leaders.

• Provide the potential leader with an experienced mentor

• Provide the potential leader with the tools and resources he needs


• Establish a support system–Emotional–Skills training–Money–Equipment–Personnel–Time


• Share your dream (vision)• Show transparency• Exhibit consistency• Hold hope high• Add significance• Provide security• Reward production

Role of the Leader in Training Potential Leaders

1. Model2. Mentor3. Monitor4. Motivate5. While at the same time turning them loose

by giving them responsibility, authority and accountability

Leadership Abilities and Attitudes

• Taking initiative, making things happen, through the efficient action of others.– Vision-Future– Refers to developing a shared vision

that builds on the past and present of public library service and looks to the future

– Developing staff—Ensures that activities are provided to prepare staff for management functions using appropriate techniques such as coaching, counseling, and shared responsibility teams. (Mahmoodi and King, 1991-1992)

Formula five of exceptional leadership

• Honesty and integrity—Employees must believe that their leader is operating in their best interest

• Intellectual firepower—Smart and with good memories and store of information and data for use in decision making

• Energy and passion—Loving what they do• Leadership—strong decision making skills, and the ability to

take a group of diverse people with diverse talents and abilities and transform them into a corporate culture

• Humility—They know what they do not know and are not afraid to admit it. They are always learning

• (Christian)

Why Do We Need to Develop Leaders?

• The total number of licensed librarians in the country is 7,169.

• Of this number only 1015 first time takers and 415 repeaters passed the licensure examination from 2009 to 2013. This means that only 286 new librarians are added to the workforce per year and of this number only 203 are new graduates.

• Some of the new graduates might also have MLIS degrees.


• Those who passed the LLE from 2009 to 2013 are new graduates and are mostly 21-25 years old. They will be incoming librarians.

• Those who passed from 2004 to 2008 will mostly be aged 26-30. They will be preparing to be supervisors.

• Those who passed from 1999 to 2003 will mostly be aged 31-35. They will be supervisors.

• Those who passed from 1994 to 1998 will mostly be 36-40. They are candidates for chief/head/directors of libraries.


• The AEC 2015 is just around the corner. • Our entry level training is not enough to enable

us to compete with our Asian counterparts.• We need to be at least at par with them if not

ahead of them.• The road to becoming a leader will provide us

with the generic competencies required by industry.

Generic Competencies Required by Industry

• Collecting, analyzing and organizing information

• Communicating ideas and information• Planning and organizing• Working with others and in teams• Using mathematical ideas and • Solving problems and making decisions• Using technology

Competencies Desired for Continuing Professional Development

• Foundational Knowledge• Collections Development• Analysis and Organization of Information• Reference and User Services• Communicating Ideas and Information• Leadership and Management• Interpersonal Skills• Solving Problems and Making Decisions• Research• Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning• Using Technology

What You Did Not Learn in BLIS/MLIS

• Politics: Communicating with administrators• Attitude towards the job and colleagues• Flexibility for change • Networking with other librarians and libraries • Working with others and in teams • Project management• Personality development: Dressing for the part• Professionalism• Personal integrity

Consequence of not Developing Leaders

• There will be a gap in library leadership in the country. • Our leaders are our mentors, paper presenters,

models, listeners, problem solvers, etc.• We might not be able to compete in the regional and

global arena.• “If we continue to be passive, inert, and drift along

without proper attention to…[leadership in the profession], the crisis will certainly occur.” (Donald E. Riggs, 2001)

You will Know that You are Successful in Developing Leaders if

• You have a Team with members who – care for one another– know what is important– communicate with one another– grow together– trust one another

You will Know that You are Successful Developing Leaders if

• You have a Team with members who –have special roles to play but work as

partners –place their individual rights beneath the

interest of the team– are willing to pay the price – are training new leaders

Concluding Words

•“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.” (Andrew Carnegie) http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/andrewcarn130735.html

•The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective. (Warren G. Bennis) http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/warrengbe384579.html

More Quotes: Andrew Carnegie

• A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.” Carnegie Andrew http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/23387.Andrew_Carnegie

More Quotes: Germaine Greer

• “A library is a place where you can lose your innocence without losing your virginity.”

• Libraries are reservoirs of strength, grace and wit, reminders of order, calm and continuity, lakes of mental energy, neither warm nor cold, light nor dark.... In any library in the world, I am at home, unselfconscious, still and absorbed. http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/56667.Germaine_Greer

References• Albritton, Rosie L. and Thomas W. Shaughnessy (1990). Developing leadership skills:

a source book for librarians. Englewood, Colo: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.• Anderson, A.J. (2002). Unpublished memorandum, Simmons College, Graduate

Schools of Library and Information Science, Boston (In Hernon, Power and Young, 2003)

• Bennis, Warren C. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/warren_g_bennis.html

• Brodin, Becky. www.maswcd.org/Leadership.../maswcd_leadership_development.htm

• Byke, Susan, and Dawn Lowe Wincentsen (2008). A leadership primer for new librarians: Tools for helping today's early-career librarians become tomorrow's library leaders, Woodhead Pub. Incorporating Chandos Publishing Online file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/A%20Leadership%20Primer%20for%20New%20Librarians.htm

• Carnegie, Andrew http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/andrewcarn130735.html

• Christian, Jeffry E. (2002) The Headhunter’s Edge. New York: Random House• Galloway, Charles ( In Maxwell, 2001)

References• Hernon, Peter, Ronald R. Power, Arthur P. Young (2003) The next library leadership.

Westport Conn: Libraries Unlimited• Hopper, Grace Murray http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper• Mahmoodi, Suzanne H., Geraldine King (1991-1992) “Identifying Competencies and

Responsibilities of Top Management Teams n Public Libraries.” Minnesota Libraries 30: 26-32

• Maxwell, John C. (1995). Developing the leaders around you. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Pub.

• Maxwell, John C. (2001). The power of leadership. Manila: Lighthouse Inspirational Books and Gifts

• Mosley, Pixey Anne (2004). Transitioning from librarian to middle manager. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.

• Riggs, Donald E. (2001) “The crisis and opportunties in library leadership, “ Journal of Library administration, 32 no 3-4: 5-17

• Tichy, Noel M. (2002). With Nancy Cardwell. The cycle of leadership: How great leaders teach their companies to win. NY: Harper Business.

• Webster, Keith (2008) Future of Libraries: International Trends. (Presented at the Kong Kong University Library Leadership Institute: Virtual and Physical Libraries in the 21st Century, Challenges for Library Leaders) Shantou, China.

leadership in the 21 st century libraries

Documents

leadership important

good character

good climate

leadership skills

good leadersbelieve

good leadersdepend

potential leaders

century libraries leadership