January 26, 2012

Changes in Our Librarian Education for the 21st Century – Revisited

In my original Post Changes in Our Librarian Education for the 21st Century in May, 2010, I wrote the following.

Unfortunately, much of the MLS theory gets lost in the face of reality dealing with customers and daily issues. The standing joke of “What they don’t teach you in library school.” has grown legs for a reason. An MLS program is not intended to be a skills program. Advanced degree programs are inherently theory based and not training and practicum based. However, information with immediate application in addition to contemporary theory is highly useful. One example is the University of Michigan Library: The Future of Libraries (YouTube) with an excellent perspective on what libraries and librarians should become.

If SLIS are to stay relevant, like we all want libraries to do, they need to become more – more nimble at including current professional demands and requirements, not just “tried & true” library theory. Schools of library and information science MUST get more relevant and cutting-edge curriculum NOW to address these 21st Century librarianship issues. Tomorrow is too late.

It’s always nice to find out that what one wrote 19 months ago is still their opinion today, and still relevant. Schools of library and information science (SLIS) should seriously consider a bachelor’s degree program to provide “skilled” librarians for the workplace.

In a very recent New York Times, Education Life, article, What You (Really) Need to Know, former Harvard President Lawrence Summers posed some very interesting ideas about higher education. I believe many of these concepts could find application in our schools of library and information science (SLIS) – especially in a bachelor’s degree program.

Summers wrote about the rapidly changing world as compared to the stability of the university curriculum as “Part of universities’ function … to keep alive man’s greatest creations, passing them from generation to generation.” He also acknowledged that the structure of higher education has remained static.

With few exceptions, just as in the middle of the 20th century, students take four courses a term, each meeting for about three hours a week, usually with a teacher standing in front of the room. Students are evaluated on the basis of examination essays handwritten in blue books and relatively short research papers. Instructors are organized into departments, most of which bear the same names they did when the grandparents of today’s students were undergraduates. A vast majority of students still major in one or two disciplines centered on a particular department.

But the most interesting part of his article was his speculation that “Suppose the educational system is drastically altered to reflect the structure of society and what we now understand about how people learn. How will what universities teach be different?

Here are some guesses and hopes.”

1. Education will be more about how to process and use information and less about imparting it. This is a consequence of both the proliferation of knowledge — and how much of it any student can truly absorb — and changes in technology.

In SLIS master’s program curriculum the emphasis is on theory. This does not mesh well with the idea that librarians need to learn skills and to operate in a collaborative environment. They should be prepared to enter the professional workplace where mastery of facts is less important than being able to think creatively and innovate new technology and ideas.

2. An inevitable consequence of the knowledge explosion is that tasks will be carried out with far more collaboration. … More significant, collaboration is a much greater part of what workers do, what businesses do and what governments do. Yet the great preponderance of work a student does is done alone at every level in the educational system. … As greater value is placed on collaboration, surely it should be practiced more in our nation’s classrooms.

Views on ‘collaboration equates to cheating’ are changing in the face of the reality Summers points out. Strategic Partnerships is one of the new 21st Century librarianship skills that must be developed. Library science majors collaborating with business majors, marketing majors, and computer science majors is a good thing!

3. New technologies will profoundly alter the way knowledge is conveyed. Electronic readers allow textbooks to be constantly revised, and to incorporate audio and visual effects. … In a 2008 survey of first- and second-year medical students at Harvard, those who used accelerated video lectures reported being more focused and learning more material faster than when they attended lectures in person.

This is not news to any librarian, whether they are in the stacks or in the classroom. Learning this new technology is best accomplished by using this new technology, and where better to learn than in the classroom as an integral part of the curriculum.

4. As articulated by the Nobel Prize-winner Daniel Kahneman in “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” we understand the processes of human thought much better than we once did. … Not everyone learns most effectively in the same way. And yet in the face of all evidence, we rely almost entirely on passive learning. …

“Active learning classrooms” — which cluster students at tables, with furniture that can be rearranged and integrated technology — help professors interact with their students through the use of media and collaborative experiences.

If current SLIS have one strength, this is probably it. Even when I went through the MLS at ESU in 1995-6, it used this methodology, and it was very effective. It incorporates many other tenets of what librarians need to learn.

5. The world is much more open, and events abroad affect the lives of Americans more than ever before. This makes it essential that the educational experience breed cosmopolitanism — that students have international experiences,

At the risk of sounding like I’m bragging, the 2011 in Review of this 21st Century Library Blog showed many viewers from every continent. I gain much information from librarians in other countries. Collaboration is international today, not just local. Exposure to this reality should begin in SLIS.

6. Courses of study will place much more emphasis on the analysis of data. … As the “Moneyball” story aptly displays in the world of baseball, the marshalling [sic] of data to test presumptions and locate paths to success is transforming almost every aspect of human life. … [C]ertainly the financial crisis speaks to the consequences of the failure to appreciate “black swan events” and their significance. In an earlier era, when many people were involved in surveying land, it made sense to require that almost every student entering a top college know something of trigonometry. Today, a basic grounding in probability statistics and decision analysis makes far more sense.

For many years now people have been predicting change in the world, in the way it does business, they way it accesses information, but SLIS curricula have not kept pace with ANY CHANGES. University curriculum committees are notoriously slow to make changes, yet universities are supposed to be the incubators of ideas and innovation. Why aren’t we seeing any of that in SLIS curriculum?

Summers ended his article with the following.

A good rule of thumb for many things in life holds that things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then happen faster than you thought they could. Think, for example, of the widespread use of the e-book, or the coming home to roost of debt problems around the industrialized world. Here is a bet and a hope that the next quarter century will see more change in higher education than the last three combined.

It took many years for the e-reader to become a reality, but now Kindle is the fastest selling item in Amazon history. It also took many years before the tablet computer became a reality, but iPad launched an avalanche of mobile computing, as did the iPhone before it. Now mobile communication devices are everywhere doing virtually everything.

Technology is advancing exponentially, society is advancing exponentially, but education is barely advancing. WHY? Librarians can and are making changes in the way their libraries do business! We’re seeing excellent examples of that in practice in local libraries. SLIS are a collection of librarians, so why are we not changing librarian education? WHY DO SLIS WAIT UNTIL THERE IS A CRISIS TO MAKE CHANGES?

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , ,

January 23, 2012

Librarian or Radical Social Activist?

Last weekend began ALA’s Midwinter conference. Obviously, librarians (and others associated with the profession) got together to discuss the old and new topics of the profession – mostly old. But LIBRARYJOURNAL Online posted this on Saturday – ALA Midwinter 2012: Occupy Wall St. Librarians Wonder, When Did Sharing Become a Revolutionary Act? – about the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) librarian activists.

The article reports on a panel discussion that was sponsored by the ALA Masters Series and “included the first OWS librarian”. Another of the panelists and OWS librarians, a very recent MSIS graduate, was cited in the article that “he characterized the librarians as continuing the fight for their beliefs” even though the library had basically been destroyed when the protest was broken up by New York City authorities.

What concerns me are the apparent radical activist beliefs, motivations and perceptions of these librarians that inserted themselves into this “Occupy” movement, and affiliated a social protest movement with a “library” by using totally warped reasoning.

My first questions are: Who assessed the need for (we’ll be generous and refer to their book collection and reading area as) a “library” for the protestors? Who decided that their OWS library was a “People’s Library”? What is a People’s Library? Is that a new category like Public, Academic, School, Special, etc.?

Who decided this was a “library” in any sense of the term? If that was a “library”, let me show you my library that I carry in my brief case.

That same panelist was also quoted as saying that; “I joined [the People’s Library] because building a library, any library, in times like these is an act of resistance, and protest, and hope, and love,”. ?????? SERIOUSLY? Resistance and protest against whom? Your local library Board? Your local town council for cutting the library’s budget so it can still provide police and fire protection, and teachers salaries? Protesting against the Library of Congress? Society in general because libraries are not more valued? PROTESTING AGAINST WHOM? And, since when did the mission of a library become social protest?

In my opinion, these librarians are on the wrong track as far as what librarianship is all about, as well as the role of a library, and are simply acting out their frustrations toward society under the guise of librarianship.

Another panelist “spoke movingly on the topic of libraries’ importance. “Librarianship has a long history as a liberating force in society,” she said.” SERIOUSLY? Libraries have long been about liberating society? Read my Post from September 16, 2011, 21st Century Librarianship vs. The 1876 Special Report in which I quote the authors – librarians – who professed;

So that in fact it is only just now that we are coming to the social state where we are ready to produce a trained literary class. Thus far we have not done it, whatever may have been the case with a few individuals, and we have had no business to do it. Ax, plow, steam engine, not pen and palette, have been thus far our proper implements; and we have done a noble “spot of work” with them. Exactly now, at the end of our first national century, it is good to sum and value just this total of attainments. And exactly such a scientific instruction in books and reading as is here discussed is one of the influences which will do most to correct our views, to raise our ambition, to bring us up to the present limits of attainment in knowledge and in thought, and to prepare us for extending those limits. [page 235]

“… we are ready to produce a trained literary class” can only be interpreted as elitist librarians and their more elitist scholarly colleagues making the decision and plan as to how, what and who should be educated with books. We know that from the history of education in the US. Saying that “Librarianship has a long history as a liberating force in society,” is just not true.

Librarians had a very elitist self perception not that many years ago, and it seems as though that pendulum is swinging back in that direction.

As recently as 2007, George Needham is quoted as saying; “The librarian as information priest is as dead as Elvis.” The whole “gestalt” of the academic library has been set up like a church, Needham said, with various parts of a reading room acting like “the stations of the cross,” all leading up to the “altar of the reference desk,” where “you make supplication and if you are found worthy, you will be helped.” (When ‘Digital Natives’ Go to the Library, Inside Higher Ed., June 25, 2007.) If that is not a historical example of professional elitism, I’ve never heard one.

One of the panelists is quoted as saying; “How have we come to a place where the sharing of books, and the gathering and disseminating of knowledge has come to be such a revolutionary act – one that brought the full force of the militarized New York police department down upon it?” she asked. “I think the reason is that today we see an all-out assault on what libraries stand for and what they do.”

If we concede that building a library – “any library” – would be great and a necessary act, it would only be revolutionary if there wasn’t one already! Last time I heard the NYC Public Library, and its 70 something branches, is still up and running stronger than ever. How far away was the closest NYCPL branch – 2 or 3 blocks? Who knows whether the books that were retrieved from the NYPD after the protestors were cleared out were even usable before the OWS protestors were cleared out? Does anyone really believe the NYPD wants 3,000 paperback books?

Talk about self-centered! Does this person seriously expect anyone to believe that the New York police department was targeting the “library”? These librarians want to bizarrely take up a mantel of persecution upon themselves and their cause – whatever that may be but which is totally separate from the OWS cause – simply by affiliating their “library” with an illegal protest movement. An “all-out assault on what libraries stand for and what they do” – SERIOUSLY? I can’t help but wonder if this person even knows what libraries stand for and do.

I’m very concerned about this radical activist role that new librarianship seems to be taking upon itself. It is not the role of the librarian. It does a disservice to our profession to have radical activist librarians making hysterical vague and patently untrue claims about societal assaults on libraries.

Librarian or Radical Social Activist – which one did you get into the profession to be?

13 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , ,

January 19, 2012

2011 Blog in Review

The WordPress.com stats folks prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 57,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 21 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

The Complete Report.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

January 19, 2012

Two Years of Blogging

Today marks the beginning of year three of my blogging adventure. The past two years have been an adventurous, bewildering, challenging, discouraging, encouraging, enlightening, exciting, exasperating, frustrating, and satisfying experience (don’t worry I wasn’t planning an alphabetical listing of emotions). What began as one of those Library2.0 23 Things “things” turned into much more. I had no idea where it was going beyond exploring the 21st Century Library, or if it would even survive, but two years later and almost 73,000 views – who knew!

I now understand that it is virtually impossible to separate Library from Librarianship without taking both topics out of context. So, this coming year my emphasis will be directed toward exploring Librarianship, but I have no idea what direction that may take. I’m anxious to find out.

In these two years I have learned a lot about librarianship – more about what it can be, as compared to what it is. My only regret is that I wasn’t able to reach more librarians, and that more librarians that I did reach didn’t share their librarian experiences and perspectives. Maybe you all can help me change that in the coming year.

I have gone from a viewership low (notice I didn’t claim “readership” since I can only hope viewers actually read the posts) of 4 daily average to a high of 286 last month. I have gone from two followers (my wife and daughter, bless them) to 145 followers. I wrote 210 posts in 102 weeks (thanks to many smart folks’ ideas), and have total views of almost 73,000 – from all over the world.

My most viewed posts were the following, not counting the Home Page that has been viewed 12,100+ times, with the approximate number of views.
21st Century Library Strategic Plan – Goals and Objectives – 3,100
21st Century Library Strategic Plan – Vision Statement – 3,050
Five Challenges Every Librarian Must Face – 2,500
21st Century Library Strategic Plan – Mission Statement – 2,050
Customer Is The Purpose – 1,950
Library Science Ranks #4 in Highest Unemployment – 1,750
Changes in Our Librarian Education for the 21st Century – 1,700
Are You a 21st Century Librarian? – 1,700
21st Century Library Strategic Plan – Forecast – 1,500
Apple Slams the Door on eBook Apps – 1,225
21st Century Skills, Libraries and Librarians – 1,025

Oh, ya, 1,250 of you checked me out on the About page. :)

My most views in one day was 766 on December 1, 2011, after Are You a 21st Century Librarian? was picked up by American Libraries magazine (which obviously generated the high number of views on the Blog). Customer Is The Purpose from January 26, 2011, and Five Challenges Every Librarian Must Face November 28, as well as Library Science Ranks #4 in Highest Unemployment December 2, and Why Don’t Librarians Collaborate More? December 14 were also picked up by american libraries DIRECT online newsletter, in the Actions & Answers section (near the bottom).

Frankly, I still can not explain why the Strategic Planning series of posts has been overall the most popular. Combined, the series equals almost 15% of all views. – ???

I sincerely appreciate each one of you who have viewed my posts, and especially those readers who shared your thoughts by commenting. I greatly appreciate those who have subscribed to follow my posts, especially your vote of confidence that you think I may have worthwhile ideas to write in the future.

I look forward to a new year of writing about 21st Century Librarianship, and sincerely hope you readers will help us all in this endeavor to transform librarianship into what it needs to be to thrive (not just survive) in this uncertain 21st Century future.

Thank You All!

7 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , ,

January 15, 2012

The Excellent Library Leader…

… charges, she doesn’t just walk. She leans in to talk to people to show she really wants to hear them, and she listens with her whole body when someone is talking to her. Her face is always open and she looks excited most of the time, but will be quiet and serious when appropriate. She speaks of inspiring concepts and actions. She relates to her subordinates, as well as peers. LEADERS – they are made of different stuff than others.

The discussion that follows is about what makes excellent libraries – EXCELLENT LEADERS – the primary factor in all excellent libraries. The world is filled with people who believe that their position on the organizational chart has provided them with a group of followers. Actually, it has only given them a group of subordinates. Whether the subordinates become followers depends on whether the person in charge acts like a leader.

There are a multitude of characteristics that make a person an excellent leader. However, space necessitates limiting this discussion to those that have been found to be the most prominent in excellent leaders. Excellent leadership requires an appropriate balance of all characteristics and the exclusion of none. YES, you have to do it all! People in leadership positions can develop these characteristics with some effort and commitment. “Each person must develop his own leadership. Leadership cannot be bought. It cannot be conferred. It cannot be inherited. It knows no divine right. It cannot be passed on by any process of succession. It is acquired only by the personal mastery of each individual aspirant.” Sterling W. Sill, 1977: “Leadership” Salt Lake City, Bookcraft

1. Lead by Example:
There is no substitute for leading by example. As adolescents one of the first things we learned was that often times adults would tell us to do one thing, but do something else themselves. We could not understand why we were told to do something that they would not do themselves. As adults, we are still bothered by leaders who tell us to do one thing and yet do something else. People will naturally follow someone whom they feel is able and willing to share the work load and the hardships. A director who does not work the circulation desk, shelve materials, conduct story time, and interact with difficult customers will never be able to inspire loyalty or commitment to her or her vision of an excellent library. A director, who is known for making decisions based on favoritism, rather than merit, will destroy any confidence subordinates have in being treated fairly for their hard work.

2. Involved/ Visible/ Accessible:
Followers have to know their leader in order to be inclined to follow her. Only through being involved with her workers (i.e., talking to them, being visible when things are going well, as well as when things are not going well, being accessible to people who need her leadership, etc.) can a leader hope to be known by her subordinates and influence them to become followers. People have no reason to follow some one they don’t know when the going gets tough. During the Battle of the Bulge, GEN Dwight D. Eisenhower visited with his troops and is reported to have said; “A commander needs to talk with his men to inspire them; with me it’s the other way around. I get inspired by you – the men who are going to win this war.” Being involved professionally with subordinates work provides a two-way benefit.

3. Quiet Confidence:
In a survey of senior Army commanders, quiet confidence was one of the characteristics they felt was important in an excellent leader. They thought more highly of officers who did not engage in a lot of fanfare, chest beating and personal horn blowing. Excellent leaders are recognized by their accomplishments and those of their followers, not by their talk. It is reported that on one occasion in the face of great obstacles, Joan of Arc said to her generals; “I will lead the men over the wall.” A general said, “Not a man will follow you.” Joan replied, “I will not look back to see whether anyone is following or not!”


4. Delegation:
Creating a system of leadership depends on the proper delegation of duties and authority to subordinates. An excellent leader knows how and when to delegate authority because she knows the abilities of her subordinates and how much authority they can handle. She also knows how to delegate in order to maximize the utilization of her resources to accomplish the library mission. Delegation is an essential and critical element in developing the abilities of subordinates. What better way is there to communicate trust and confidence and also develop responsibility in subordinates than to delegate meaningful tasks to them? One of GEN George S. Patton’s most quoted remarks is, “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”

5. Risk Taking:
Striving for excellence has the associated risk of failure. Stifling that practical risk taking attitude also stifles achievement. Success has to be oriented on achievement, not failure. Practical risks are inherent in all productive endeavors. If leaders expect their followers to be motivated to excel then they have to be challenged. If a person is not challenged then she is stagnating. Stagnation leads to dissatisfaction and boredom. Honest mistakes are a consequence of striving for excellence and must be used as a learning experience.

6. Competence:
Competence, in strategic and technical skills, provides the leader with the prerequisite knowledge upon which to base sound and timely decisions. It also allows her the ability to conduct first hand assessment of her library’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as be a mentor to subordinates. Competence is the foundation upon which the excellent leader establishes her credibility as a capable leader.

There are too many examples and descriptions of leaders and leadership to all be included here, but I wanted to end with these words of wisdom from two well known and highly respected business leaders. In 1985 Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus published Leaders, from which I borrowed the observation that “Managers are people who do things right, and leaders are people who do the right things.” Here are three more quotes on which one can begin to develop their own leadership.

Leaders are the most results-oriented individuals in the world, and results get attention. Their visions or intentions are compelling and pull people toward them. Intensity coupled with commitment is magnetic. And these intense personalities do not have to coerce people to pay attention; they are so intent on what they are doing that, …they draw others in. (pg. 28)

The actions and symbols of leadership frame and mobilize meaning. Leaders articulate and define what has previously remained implicit or unsaid; then they invent images, metaphors, and models that provide a focus for new attention. …an essential factor in leadership is the capacity to influence and organize meaning for the members of the organization. (pg. 39)

Leaders acquire and wear their visions like clothes. Accordingly, they seem to enroll themselves…in the belief of their ideals as attainable, and their behavior exemplifies the ideas in action. (pg. 46)

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as

January 11, 2012

Why Not a Bachelor in Library Science? – Revisited

“Why isn’t that a good idea? Seems as though it is a very good idea in some librarians’ minds – at least those in Connecticut, Kentucky and Maine.” – and NORTH CAROLINA.

The University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill’s renowned School of Information and Library Science has recently announced –

Dual Bachelor’s – Master’s Program
The Dual Bachelor’s – Master’s Program is a unique offering in higher education. Of the 24 iSchools in North America, only 4 offer an accelerated Bachelor’s – Master’s program of any sort; and other than these 4 iSchools, only 1 of the 58 programs accredited by the American Library Association offer an accelerated Bachelor’s – Master’s program.

The dual Bachelor’s – Master’s program is intended to enable Information Science (IS) majors to obtain both their BS and MS degree by early planning of an undergraduate program that integrates well with the graduate degree requirements for either a Master’s in Information Science (MSIS) or a Master’s in Library Science (MSLS). While the BSIS provides sound preparation for entry into the information professions, the Master’s degree provides a distinct advantage to those who aim to advance to managerial or leadership positions.

The BSIS and Master’s programs prepare students for careers in public, private, and governmental institutions of all kinds as information system analysts, designers and developers, data managers, web designers, librarians, archivists, and similar areas. The SILS curricula offer students a sound foundation of coursework, augmented by projects, internships (field experience), and research opportunities that contribute to making SILS graduates highly sought after by employers.

With this kind of horsepower behind a BS in library science, maybe we’ll see some movement in this direction – eventually.

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , ,

January 9, 2012

Leader Development

OK, let’s agree that the librarianship profession does not attract lots of leader type people. What should we do about that? DUH! We should develop leaders from among those librarians who have an aptitude for it, express an interest in being a leader, and are willing to work to become one. AND, I am not referring to individuals who simply want to get the highest salary or be top dog in their local library, or library association. I am referring to REAL LEADERS – those librarians who “by force of example, talents, and/or qualities of character” will play a directing role and wield commanding influence to inspire others to follow them in creating a 21st Century Library.

How do we, either individually or collectively, develop real leaders within the librarian community? Obviously, by educating, training, mentoring and nurturing those who would seek to become leaders.

In my December 19 Post Why Not a Bachelor’s in Library Science?, I explored the idea of establishing the BS degree as entry level for the librarianship profession, not the MLS. Teaching management and leadership at this level creates a foundation of knowledge and skills upon which the entering librarian can build through experience, mentoring and nurturing. That’s how it’s done in every other profession! Librarianship is missing the boat.

I cited responses from BLS programs that included this.

2. We believe that librarians, especially public librarians, are called upon to do much more than their earlier counterparts. Skills in technology, management, marketing, and finance are needed for the 21st Century Librarian. Can all this be learned in the 36 credit hours of most Master’s programs? The Library Informatics program compliments graduate level studies in Library Science and provides a pathway for library science students.

Pointed and succinct! “Skills in … management … are needed for the 21st Century Librarian. The [BS] program compliments graduate level studies in Library Science and provides a pathway for library science students.” WE ARE NOT CURRENTLY PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE PATHWAY FOR LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT WITHIN OUR PROFESSION. It is totally unrealistic to expect a MLS graduate to spontaneously develop the management or leadership skills necessary to lead a library. That should begin at the undergraduate level!

What about local or national programs for developing leader librarians? Well, they’re better than nothing, but how many people have time and resources to invest in attending this type of continuing education away from their librarian job? And, who are the people teaching these “leadership” courses or programs? What is their background in leadership education, experience or talent? Any really useful or effective programs are few.

A quick review of ALA’s roster of Library Leadership Training Resources reveals significant inadequacies – both in the quantity and the goals.

Leadership Training: ACRL/Harvard Advanced Leadership Institute for Senior Academic Librarians
The Advanced Leadership Institute for Senior Academic Librarians enables senior library leaders to better understand and respond to a complicated set of leadership challenges facing academic libraries.

For a handful of ‘senior’ academic librarians.

.

Leadership Training: Emerging Leaders
The ALA Emerging Leaders (EL) program is a leadership development program which enables newer library workers from across the country to participate in problem-solving work groups, network with peers, gain an inside look into ALA structure, and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity. It puts participants on the fast track to ALA committee volunteerism as well as other professional library-related organizations. [Emphasis added.]

I love this one. Let ALA train you to be an ALA committee member – NOT A “LEADER” – a volunteer to help perpetuate the organization.

.

Leadership Training: Leadership Development
Association of Research Libraries ARL’s Leadership Development initiatives assist research libraries to meet the instructional and research needs of higher education.

Another limited, although very important, segment of the librarianship profession.

.

California State Library, in partnership with Infopeople
Leadership Training: Eureka! Leadership Program: Discover the Leader Within
The California State Library, in partnership with Infopeople, is pleased to offer an exciting professional development initiative – the Eureka! Leadership Program: Discover the Leader Within. The Program has been designed for professional librarians with between three and ten years of professional library experience, but is also open to those in library management positions who do not have an MLS. The Program is looking for California library staff who exhibit leadership potential and are willing to share with others their enthusiasm, optimism, and vision for future library services.

Although CSL has a sterling reputation, this reads a bit tentative to me. Not to mention that the program wants librarians who have between 3 – 10 years experience, so I guess all the rest of you are out of luck for developing your leadership skills. You either don’t know enough to get leadership training, or you’re over the hill – career wise.

.

Wyoming State Library
Leadership Training: Wyoming Library Leadership Institute
The Wyoming Library Leadership Institute operates two institutes. During the even-year summer we will hold the library leadership institute for new attendees. During the odd years we will hold an advanced leadership institute opened to anyone who has attended in the past. The Library Leadership Institute exists to provide opportunities for learning, mentoring and developing leadership skills to promote the personal and professional growth of the Wyoming library community. The institute is a tool for nurturing both degreed and non-degreed individuals in leadership roles. It is not a workshop on becoming a library director or a workshop on library administration.

Although several states have leadership programs of some form, this one above from Wyoming caught my attention as addressing real leadership issues, and just leadership. “… to provide opportunities for learning, mentoring and developing leadership skills to promote the personal and professional growth of the Wyoming library community.”

It doesn’t get off track with developing “cohort groups”, “identifying the local, state and global environment”, “leadership roles within [state library association]“, “advance up the career ladder in library management”, or some other non-leadership topics. Iowa and North Carolina also have interesting sounding programs, but the total list of resources for leadership development is woefully short. Every state should have a leadership institute or program, focused strictly on “leadership”.

Most of the significant accomplishments within the profession regarding leadership development need to be achieved through entry level education that creates a solid foundation, followed by mentoring and nurturing on the job, with regular exposure to leadership programs at the state and/or local level. Again, we are not currently providing an “effective” pathway for leadership development within our profession. It is ludicrously unrealistic to expect a MLS graduate to spontaneously develop the management or leadership skills necessary to lead a library.

If the librarianship profession expects its leaders to “by force of example, talents, and/or qualities of character play a directing role, wield commanding influence or have a following” in reestablishing the relevance of the library in the 21st Century community, it had better get started by developing real leaders among new librarians – and hope and pray it’s not too late.

3 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , ,

January 6, 2012

Leaders! ?

What do you think of when you read the word leaders? Odds are librarians is not the first image that comes to mind. The stereotypical image of librarian is still most often the somewhat graying woman saying “shush”, as much as it pains us all to admit it. That image is pretty much antithetical to the image of leader. The leader image is strong, decisive, charismatic, knowledgeable, etc., etc.

So why don’t even librarians think of themselves when it comes to thinking about a leader? There are probably many reasons including the historically clerical and scholarly nature of the profession. Add to that the majority of people who gravitate to librarianship are self-professed introverts who prefer books over people, have a passion for reading more than doing, and like working around others who share their enjoyment of books and reading. All very noble traits, but not generally associated with leadership.

A definition of leader that I have used for many years is;

A person, who by force of example, talents, and/or qualities of character plays a directing role, wields commanding influence or has a following in any sphere of activity or thought.

By contrast, to put leader in better perspective, a definition of a manager is;

A person who conducts, directs or supervises activities, especially the executive functions of planning, organizing, coordinating, directing, controlling and supervising of any business type project or activity with responsibility for results.

In short, a leader “does the right things”, while a manager “does things right” is a rough characterization. That is not to say the two roles are separate or mutually exclusive, because they are very much compatible, and each role generally requires some elements of the other, which is why so many people have a hard time distinguishing real leaders from good managers.

The distinction is in the “person, who by force of example, talents, and/or qualities of character plays a directing role, wields commanding influence or has a following”. Leaders have followers!

I don’t want to get bogged down here in all the nuances of leadership or followership, but the distinction is very important. Having authority over your subordinates makes it easy for you to tell them what to do and how and when to do it, because there are consequences if they fail to accomplish what you direct them to do. You are their Boss! Unless you’re a terrible person, employees will follow the boss.

Genuine leaders make followers among others over whom they have no authority. By “force of example, talents, and/or qualities of character” they play a directing role and wield commanding influence, and have a following. True leaders not only do the right things, they influence others to lend their support to whatever activity the leader pursues.

A real leader of a library makes the organization the best it can possibly be, while influencing the employees, board members, supporters and customers to help the leader’s efforts. It will require real leaders in the librarianship profession to recapture the library’s relevance, and guide it into the uncharted 21st Century future.

4 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , ,

January 4, 2012

Strategy for 21st Century Library Excellence

Since all libraries and leaders are different, there is no formula for creating an excellent library. However, developing a strategy and plan for achieving excellence is the most important plan you’ll ever create. The six steps discussed below will help you outline an effective strategy for achieving excellence in your leadership and in your library.

1. Assessment: In order to get where you want to go you have to know where you are. That seems exceedingly obvious, but many leaders look more toward where they want to go than where they are. Therefore, the best route to get from where they are to where they want to be is never charted. No strategy is planned as to how they should proceed. They end up side tracked because they know what they want but not how to achieve it. Without sign posts, intermediate check points and alternate routes, it is hard for anyone to get where they want to go, especially when you need to take dozens, or hundreds, or even a handful of people (each with their own ideas) along with you. However, it can be just this simple:
a) know precisely what you want your library to achieve,
b) assess where you are now,
c) establish indicators to tell you your progress toward your library excellence goal and,
d) above all else, stay on track.

2. Build on Small Successes: Success is contagious. Everyone wants it. When people see others being successful they will make efforts to be successful themselves, at whatever they can. Build on whatever successes you can find in your library. If it is one department, one campaign, a single program, or even one excellent employee, emphasize their success and give them the “bragging rights” they have earned. Do not let anyone or any part of the library rest on their laurels. Excellence is achieved through constant effort and success.

3. Create Uniqueness: Just being successful does not guarantee achieving excellence. Uniqueness helps create that extra spirit which makes successful libraries excellent ones. A library mascot, common hardships, adversity turned into triumph, a history, or most anything that identifies the library can spark that uniqueness. Anything that members can hold up as a rally symbol to create that desire to belong to this library over any other library promotes the intangible motivation to excellence. Are there any positive stories or “legends” that live on in your library? Any that typifies the highest values of excellence? Or, just the ones that typify the existing values of self-preservation and people really don’t come first?

4. Control Competition: Competition is inherent in almost every human endeavor. Competition is a healthy motivator if used constructively. If one section or department always wins the “BEST WHATEVER AWARD” then competition becomes destructive. Competition should be channeled toward beating the high standards that will achieve excellence. Exceeding “minimum” standards, or just exceeding the libraries own “personal best” at anything is the most constructive competition to pursue, not beating each other. Beating each other creates a WINNER-LOSER situation. Beating the standards creates an EVERYBODY WINS situation. Competition can also be directed externally at a recognized problem. How can we show our relevance to the community? How can we attract more customers? How long can we keep the circulation growing? How can we gain more strategic partners?

5. Teamwork: Teamwork in an excellent library is valued more than individual expression. Library goals are valued more than individual interests. Activities are planned to promote teamwork and recognition is shared by team members. Teamwork is contagious also. Successful teams at the smallest level will lead to success in building teamwork at the library level.

6. Strong Library Identity: Members of excellent libraries know it and want to tell people. Strong library identification is also called “library pride.” Excellent libraries keep and attract excellent people who want to belong because it fulfills their need to be associated with a successful organization.

If all the factors discussed above are exercised by excellent leaders, excellent libraries with strong library pride will result.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , ,

December 19, 2011

Why Not a Bachelor’s in Library Science?

Why isn’t that a good idea? Seems as though it is a very good idea in some librarians’ minds – at least those in Connecticut, Kentucky and Maine.

ALA has a webpage promoted by the Council On Library/Media Technicians (COLT) which lists institutions, by state, that offer training and education programs for ‘librarians’. I found three with BS programs, and contacted each.

One program director deferred to the ALA formal position regarding educational programs by writing back;

The American Library Association accredited only the Master of Library and Information Studies level programs. The MLS/MLIS is for the entry level professional librarian and information specialist qualification in the US. Please check the American Library Association’s website, under education and training, or under ALA accreditation.

The B.S. ILS program is for the paraprofessional, such as library technical assistant position in libraries. There is also a minor requirement. You could find more information about the undergraduate programs from our Southern Connecticut State University.

The second response was much more informative, and described the necessity for a BS program in library informatics.

Why create an undergraduate program in Library Science?
1. In Kentucky there is a gap in education for library staff and future MLS librarians. A state law requires all public library employees to be certified. … There was a gap in education between the Associate degree and the Master of Library Science offered at the University of Kentucky.

2. We believe that librarians, especially public librarians, are called upon to do much more than their earlier counterparts. Skills in technology, management, marketing, and finance are needed for the 21st Century Librarian. Can all this be learned in the 36 credit hours of most Master’s programs? The Library Informatics program compliments graduate level studies in Library Science and provides a pathway for library science students.

3. Rural librarianship! In Kentucky, almost one-third of our rural library directors do not have an undergraduate degree. Salaries are low and it is almost impossible to recruit a MLS librarian to these areas. Fortunately, the Institute for Museum and Library Services has agreed with us and funded two major grant proposals. The first project was Bridging the Gap: Supplying the Next Generation of Librarians to the Underserved Counties of Rural Kentucky. With a budget of over $1.3 million, we have given out over 50 scholarships, technology stipends, and provided mentors for students.

These are very good reasons for instituting a BS program to meet the needs of the profession in that state. I’m certain many more states have similar circumstances that warrant similar programs.

I recently spoke with the third respondent Dr. Jodi Williams, Information and Library Service Program Director, University of Maine at Augusta. She runs the Bachelor of Science in Information and Library Service program, and has since 2004 when she joined UMA coming from a faculty position at an institution that offered an undergraduate program in LIS, as well as a MLIS program. UMA offers a certificate, associate and bachelor’s degrees in Information and Library Service, and has since the 1990s. As she said; “Our program found a niche.”

Maine’s library community is like many other states in that it is appreciably rural and geographically dispersed. Many states can identify with that, as well as the pressing need to offer training and education in the librarianship profession. Decades ago the Maine State Librarian went to UMA (which is not a graduate-degree granting institution), and asked about offering librarianship programs for their diverse library community, partly because UMA was exploring distance education. The rest of the evolutionary and revolutionary story is history.

Years ago the program was about 70% Maine residents, but today the LIS program has 250 students, with about 30% Maine residents. The other 70% are from other states and foreign countries. Dr. Williams has traveled to the Pacific Islands to discuss articulation agreements, and plans to work with Salt Lake Community College, UT, next year about a similar associate degree articulation agreement. She also mentioned that she and the UMA BILS program have name recognition in Colorado – a noteworthy achievement by any standard.

One of the most striking features of the BS program is the requirement for each student to complete a practicum, supervised by an MLS “Librarian”. Not only is it an AH-HA experience for the students, even for those who have worked in the library for years and are reticent to do a practicum, but more importantly for the MLS librarians who supervise the BILS students. During our conversation, Dr. Williams told me that she is a change agent by “emissaries”, not activism, and has found repeatedly that this practicum experience for the seasoned MLS librarians has changed their opinion of the value of a BS degree to the individual, their library organization, and the profession.

Dr. Williams has noted an evolving recognition of a “career ladder” within the segments of the librarian profession with which she deals that supports a BS as entry level and MILS for advancement. The BS program is very much oriented toward the practical application of librarianship, compared to the theoretical perspective of an MLS program. It sounds to me like graduates leave the UMA BILS program actually knowing how to do things in their first librarian job, as opposed to MLS graduates who leave that program maybe understanding what needs to be done. How refreshing!

She said her students graduate with a confidence in their ability to be immediately effective in their first library position, which to me seems much more worthwhile than an MLS graduate who has never worked in a library and complains about “What they don’t teach you in library school.” That also sounds to me like the BILS librarian can DO the job, whereas the MLS librarian can TALK about the job! Why isn’t that a good thing for the graduate and the library?

Two examples of UMA BILS students making a difference are below (one a practicum, the other a student being active in the Occupy movement) located at these websites; Revitalization of Maine Media’s Library, and Occupy Movement and the Library.

Again, my question is – “Why not a bachelor in library science?” Can any program that achieves the following goals be a bad thing – for individuals, the library organization, or the profession? UMA’s ILS program website contains the following.

Trained library personnel must respond to the rapid national surge in information technology, and the Information and Library Services program provides relevant courses to assist students in acquiring this evolving knowledge and the skills necessary to become effective and well-informed members of a library team. Associate of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in Information and Library Services are available at UMA.
…
This program prepares individuals for immediate entry into positions which support library and information service professionals; to upgrade skills of staff who are presently working in school, public, academic, and special libraries and in other information intensive positions and organizations. The program will prepare students for a career as a library and information services assistant. Students will examine policies and issues related to libraries, library careers, and the library profession.

Dr. Williams clarified the advantages of the UMA BILS program even further by stating in an email that;

Our degree very much promotes that there is a place for everyone at the table, but that we need a stronger understanding of those places and how people can move through the channels with both experience and different levels of education. This is about learning across a spectrum and understanding that some want the Masters while other students who come through our program are happily situated in their current jobs and glad to have the practical skills to better serve their patrons.

Based on that astute summary of a BS in ILS program, what can be so wrong with a profession that has the normal hierarchy of educational requirements for advancement – associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate? Nothing! That old argument about library technicians do a more technical and specific job, while “Librarians” (meaning MLS degreed) are generalists and management candidates that can do everything DOES NOT HOLD WATER! It’s simply RHETORIC to justify the arbitrary distinctions between “professional” and “para-professional”! We all know that there are virtually no authorities (i.e., governments, librarian unions, etc.) that dictate who can and cannot do certain librarianship tasks within a library organization.

“OK, since you don’t have an MLS, you can only do these limited tasks within the library organization, and since you do have an MLS, you can do all the rest of the tasks that “Librarians” do.” IT DOESN’T HAPPEN! All “librarians” do everything!

Most states don’t even require school librarians to have an MLS, just a library media specialist certificate, and these people are actually in a position that really teaches their customers. Most have degrees in education! Public libraries don’t really have a mission to educate – inform – not educate – big difference. So, is the current system claiming that a master’s degree is more important for public librarians than for public school librarians? If that’s the case, maybe all any public “Librarian” needs is just a bachelor degree with a library media specialist certificate.

There is something drastically wrong with this picture! Why is the MLS entry level for this profession? Just read the over 40 comments to Annoyed Librarian at LibraryJournal.com, and you’ll see – IT SHOULD NOT BE!

All three of the states cited above recognized a need within their states for bachelor’s degree in library science programs. The program found a demand, which is always the first indicator of a need for more wide scale change.

I would sincerely like for any one to give me good reasons for this situation, if there is more to it than just a holdover from 19th Century elitist thinking.

23 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , ,