Digital Commons Network^™

Servant Leadership In The Periodical Literature Of Librarianship, Simone Clunie, Darlene Parrish

Library Scholarship

Leadership is one of the most critical factors in the success or failure of an organization and can greatly impact the health and well-being of all participants, especially lower participants. (Kendrick, Kaetrena Davis, 2020). In Robert Greenleaf’s 1970 book, The Servant as Leader, he posits that a leader should be a servant first, seeking the health and development of all participants in an organization. This research project investigates the number of articles published in the periodical literature of librarianship about servant leadership, the nature of the coverage, and if servant leadership is being implemented in libraries as it was …

Portraits Of Hispanic And/Or Latino Leadership Development In The Military, Michael Lugo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The study presented denotes a continuous transition among the Hispanic and/or Latino demographics in the military and the cadet accounts of military inequality incidents while in the military (Cabrera et al., 2017; Eckel & King, 2004). To assist Hispanic and/or Latino needs based on demographics and environment (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019). Military leaders contribute to growing a diverse, inclusive, and equitable military force for all ethnic groups. The Department of Defense (DoD) is the most racially and ethnically diverse workplace in the United States (Daniel et al., 2022). Nevertheless, racial/ethnic harassment and discrimination in the military continue …

Place Matters: The Role Of Public Libraries As Change Agents In Central Appalachia, Jasmyne R. Lewis

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The role of public libraries is changing in response to a multitude of influences and trends. The exponential growth of technology as the primary method of information access, funding challenges, changing demographics, and other mitigating factors have forced public libraries to become more than book repositories. Community library leaders and governing board members are faced with challenges such as decreased funding, community division regarding library services, and soaring costs for library materials and services, as they develop and adopt policies and practices to navigate this ever-changing environment.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to collect data from the public …

Review Of Leading Dynamic Information Literacy Programs: Best Practices And Stories From Instruction Coordinators, Edited By Anne C. Behler, Amanda Dinscore

Communications in Information Literacy

Review of Behler, A. C. (Ed.). (2023). Leading dynamic information literacy programs: Best practices and stories from instruction coordinators. Routledge.

Promoting Library Cultures: The Roles Of Libraries In Human Resources Development In Bangladesh, Md. Aktarul Islam, Md. Habibur Rahman

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Since the library is the paramount destination for obtaining knowledge and information, it has been a matter of great regret that the culture of pursuing lifelong learning programs through libraries remains unstressed and unfamiliar in Bangladesh. People from all walks of life have not felt the necessity of going to libraries to seek information and obtain knowledge to solve their day-to-day affairs and resolve other problematic issues. The tradition of reading, learning, and researching is still in a deplorable state, and to this end, the development and expansion of “Library Culture” is too slow to fulfill the information needs of …

What Works? What Doesn't Work? What Action Can We Take?, Jennifer Hughes, Michelle Lewis

South Carolina Libraries

This session demonstrated an effective and engaging exercise that empowers library staff to take action! Participants learned how to lead library strategic planning processes, change implementation, and assessment activities in a welcoming, non-intimidating manner that fosters an environment of ongoing collaboration, solutions-based results, reflection, and improvement.

Acrl Inclusive Leadership Annotated Bibliography, Annie Bélanger, Jennifer A. Devito, John Meier, Bruna Ngassa, Christina Prucha, Morgan Taulbee

Library Reports and Communication

The Inclusive Leadership Subcommittee has drafted the following Inclusive Library Leadership Definition:

Inclusive library leaders are individuals who are aware of their own biases, actively seek out and consider different perspectives to inform their decision-making, collaborate more effectively with others through cultural competency, and center empathy and compassion in their approach to leadership. ~Inspired by the CCL definition of Inclusive Leadership In doing its research and in support of knowledge sharing, the Subcommittee created an annotated bibliography on inclusive leadership. The annotated bibliography collates resources to articulate the qualities and traits of inclusive leadership, many of which are from outside …

Defining Archival Debt: Building New Futures For Archives, Jillian Cuellar, Audra Eagle Yun, Jennifer Meehan, Jessica Tai

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

As archivists surface and reckon with harmful theory and practice, how can we awaken to transcend past legacies? This article introduces and reflects on the concept of “archival debt,” defined as resources owed to address problematic legacy issues in an archival repository resulting from past practices, policies, and strategies that prioritized the protection and validation of institutions over democratic access and responsible stewardship. As a concept, archival debt amalgamates the myriad issues we now grapple with as a profession, including harmful or inadequate description, performative or competitive collecting, languishing backlogs, failure to recognize staff potential, shortsighted fund management, neglected constituencies, …

Chinese Canadian Librarians: Leadership Roles And Career Barriers, Yanli Li

Library Publications

Based on the data from the Visible Minority Librarians of Canada Network (ViMLoC) 2021 Survey, this research examined the leadership roles held by Chinese Canadian librarians and their perceptions of inclusivity of work climate, job satisfaction, and race as a career barrier. Their encounters with racial microaggressions and mentorship experience were also explored. Of the 38 respondents, 79% (n=30) were in non-management positions. 82% (n=31) felt very satisfied or satisfied with their jobs; however, their work climate was not found to be inclusive to all respondents. 87% (n=33) indicated that race was a barrier to their career. Fisher’s exact tests …

Planting The Seeds Of Leadership: Growing Your Skills At Any Level, Jenni Burke

Scholarship and Professional Work

No abstract provided.

Leadership And Job Performance Of Library Personnel In University Of Abuja, Nigeria, Oluwatola Kolawole, Solomon Oluwatise Abomoge, Odion Evans Kakulu

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper examined the level of leadership and job performance of library personnel in University of Abuja, Nigeria. Survey research methodology was used with a total sample size of 202 library personnel in University of Abuja library using simple random sampling techniques. Data was collected mainly through questionnaire and analyzed using frequency distribution and descriptive statistics. The result revealed that the leadership of the University of Abuja library consulted his staff in taking decision at the same time a team player, friendly and provided mentorship to his subordinate. It was also revealed that respondents were of the opinion that leadership …

Ko Te Tāngata: For The People, Michelle Blake, Kim Tairi, Sue Roberts

IATUL 2023 Slides

The Council of Aotearoa New Zealand university libraries (CONZUL) launched a new strategy in 2022. One of the key strands is He Tāngata Rawe (our people). We are committed to focusing on creating and fostering environments that are culturally safe, inclusive and encourage diversity. We also lead people and culture related projects that enable our staff to develop and thrive. A number of our university libraries are on their own journey but this presentation will focus on the mahi (work) taking place at Te Whare Wānaga o Waikato in Aotearoa, NZ.

Care And Accountability In Library Leadership, Annie Bélanger, Kat Bell, Maisha Carey, Jon Jeffryes, Meghan Musolff

Presentations

Leaders and managers have an outsized impact on workers’ wellbeing. In facing the reality of constant and unpredictable change, leaders and managers need to consider the humanity of their employees as part of their commitment to equity. We suggest that library leaders and managers need to consider human-centered approaches as part of their leadership toolkit. Human-centered leaders have a strong focus on people and the organizational culture. They layer compassion and empathy in taking actions to fulfill the organization's mission.

We acknowledge that there are situations when taking a human-centered approach to the needs of library employees can feel in …

Big Data: What Is It And How Can Academic Libraries Use It?, Rachel Hooper

Alabama Libraries

No abstract provided.

Taking Advantage Of Opportunities For Informal Leadership, Linda Miles, Susanne Markgren

Publications and Research

We contend that informal leadership (IL)—the type that does not come from an official title or decree—not only helps our organizations function, it can be vital in helping mid-career academic librarians grow and succeed, and such pursuits should be encouraged and supported no matter where they emerge within an organizational structure. We aim to define and explore IL and provide strategies for mid-career librarians who may want to identify, seek out, and step into IL opportunities. We begin our discussion by considering concepts emerging from the literature on leaders and leadership in general and what it means to lead when …

"We Collect Tons Of Data... We Report What We Think Our Community Cares The Most About... We Learn So Much From It:" School Librarians' Evidence Collection And Sharing Practices, Jennifer Moore, Maria Cahill, Jeffrey Discala, Wanyi Wang

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Evidence-based practice (EBP) offers school librarians a systematic process for developing, assessing, and revising their school library programs. Two of the seven steps in this process involve collecting and sharing meaningful evidence with appropriate stakeholders, often for advocacy purposes, strategically selecting communication channels and methods aligned with target audiences. Through a survey collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, 161 school librarians in Kentucky, Virginia, and Texas shared their experiences with evidence-based practice. The study reported here focuses on school librarians’ evidence collection and sharing practices. Findings indicate school librarians collect easily obtainable data and share evidence of practice widely; however, …

Gratitude At Work, Ginger H. Williams

Forsyth Library Faculty Publications

Guest columnist Ginger H. Williams is a new dean at Fort Hays State University, a regional comprehensive university in western Kansas. Ginger reflects on aspects of her work she is grateful for, such as a challenging renovation project and other new-to-her duties that help expand her skills. She also considers the many people whose support she relies upon. Readers are encouraged to consider what they are grateful for in their own professional lives and to find ways to express gratitude in a professional setting.

F Is For Feminism: Mainstreaming Feminist Leadership In Academic Libraries, Shana Higgins

Library Faculty Publications & Presentations

Gender and whiteness structure library work in ways that continue to lack sustained critical attention, particularly in the research literature on library leadership and management. In 2020 just over 83% of librarians identified as women and as white, non-Hispanic. And 78.6% of library technicians and assistants identified as white, non-Hispanic. These demographics make librarians a slightly less diverse workforce than other professionals in educational jobs. Despite being a female-intensive and overwhelmingly white profession, the scholarship on leadership and management published in mainstream library and information science journals (LIS) rarely employs explicitly feminist frameworks or perspectives. By using critical feminist analyses …

The Heart Of A Library: Getting To Know Each Other, Grace Allbaugh, Susan Franzen, Angela Yon

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

Starting a new job is overwhelming! New employees can feel isolated and disconnected without concerted effort by library colleagues, limiting their ability to create meaningful partnerships.  Milner Library grappled with these challenges when a cohort of new employees arrived in summer 2020. Milner’s new mentoring program began to organize a series of virtual information sessions to increase awareness of different library departments. In the Getting to Know Milner series, presenters highlighted partnerships and the interconnectedness of library activities. Collaborators in the audience were able to see the value of their work reflected in their colleagues' presentations. These sessions illustrated the …

Centering Our Collective Humanity Through Inclusive Leadership Practices, Annie Bélanger

Presentations

What if we brought the same compassion that we reserve for our users to our colleagues? This session will explore what inclusive leadership is and the traits and practices it encompasses. It will consider how leaders, whether formal and informal, can center empathy and compassion in their practice to increase equity-minded practices and fostering an inclusive organization. Attendees will be provided with approaches, frameworks, and tools to explore for their continued growth.

The Impact Of The Interim Leadership Experience On Library Middle Managers, Ashley T. Hoffman, Amy E. G. Barker

Faculty and Research Publications

Serving in an interim leadership role can be a great way to gain experience, but can also be stressful, negative, or traumatic for interim library leaders at the middle management level. In this exploratory mixed-methods study, researchers conducted a national survey and semistructured interviews of interim middle managers from public and academic libraries to explore the personal and professional impact of their interim role and recommend ways to improve the interim experience. The study revealed effects on individual well-being such as increased stress, but also increased confidence and positive career outcomes, particularly for librarians with a prior interest in leadership.

Mentoring Technique: A Reflective Warnings On Dysfunctional Mentoring On Developing Leaders In Library And Information Science Profession, Samson Akinola

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The review of literature shows that one of the finest methods to groom the latent leadership quality in new librarians and other information science professionals is by mentoring. Mentors take significant share in the development and moulding of new entrants into any profession as tutors and role models. However good, the use of mentoring looks in the leadership development of new librarians and other information professionals, there exist combinations of putative crucial aspects in mentoring, which have adverse consequence on the neophyte. These antithetical aspects include mentors diminution of the mentees, usurping the duties of mentees, personality brawl, illicit relationship, …

Impact Of Organizational Climate On Job Performance In Nigerian University Libraries: Perceptions Of Academic Librarians, Chinwendu C. Akpom Dr, Emmanuel Chukwudi Ihekwoaba Dr, Harriet Uche Igbo Dr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The paper examined academic librarians' perceptions of the characteristics that contribute to a favorable organizational climate and those that negatively affect it in Nigerian university libraries. The study concentrated on Nigeria's Southeast and South-South geopolitical zones. The researchers adopted a descriptive survey design for the research. A structured questionnaire was employed to collect the data from the respondents and analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The study population consists of 143 academic librarians in university libraries in the study area. The entire population was used as a sample because it was a manageable number. The result demonstrates that respondents have …

Pa/Pnh 390: Leadership Dynamics Oer Curation, Chealsye Bowley

Curated OER Collections

This OER curation is an annotated bibliography of prospective OER for the GVSU course PA/PNH 390: Leadership Dynamics, assembled by request from the instructor.

Critical Evaluation Of Blake And Mouton’S Managerial Grid And Its Application To Baze University Library, Angelyna Kimu Mindapa

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The importance of concern for people-orientation is explained. A background history including the educational background of both Robert Blake and Jane Mouton is given, how they met, and their work background before they left their work to continue on the work they started together on the managerial grid. The essence of the managerial grid is given. Also, the two behavioral dimensions are included, which are the concern for people and the concern for tasks. The Blake and Mouton Leadership Grid identifies five leadership styles on the managerial grid. These leadership styles are as follows: - Country Club, Produce or perish, …

Holding Space For Voice: Using Powerful Questions And Appreciative Inquiry Conversations To Understand Values And Needs, Annie Bélanger, Preethi Gorecki

Presentations

Change management is often process-centered instead of people-centered. People are centered when we focus on what is good. Appreciative Inquiry’s strengths-based, positive approach to organizational change allows leaders and facilitators to re-center individuals’ voices.

Appreciative Inquiry helps people move toward a shared vision for the future by engaging others in considering what is good, what could be, what should be, and how to co-create the future. It can foster equitable processes that decenter whiteness and deficit-mindset. Powerful conversations connect thoughts and feelings, result in new ideas, develop new perspectives and understandings, and have an increased potential for action. Developing conversations …

Combating Burnout: Positive/Transformational Leadership And Organizational Culture, Linda Miles, Susanne Markgren

Publications and Research

This chapter provides an overview of different styles of leadership as these relate to burnout among academic librarians, illustrating some of the contexts where these problems manifest. The authors discuss recent research related to leadership practices, both negative and positive/transformational, and discuss how these may impact academic librarians’ experiences of fatigue/exhaustion, hopelessness, frustration, and a lack of work-life balance. They present specific case studies of leadership behavior in burnout situations, representing positive/transformational management practices in different academic library contexts, and examine specific challenges faced; the varied leadership behaviors in play; the ways organizational cultures and structures can be built, influenced, …

The Lived Experiences Of Middle Management Leadership Development Succession Planning In Public Sector Organizations, Linda Pounds-Adams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Senior directors in the public sector often lack viable succession plans for middle managers. Four conceptual elements from Burns’ transformational leadership theory provided a framework to investigate the practices directors in the public sector use to prepare middle managers for leadership positions. Succession planning is essential to retain highly skilled employees and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage in today’s competitive environment. The conceptual elements directly relate to succession planning and its components of career development and preparing future leaders. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the succession planning practices public sector directors use to prepare middle …

Thriving Through Human Centered Approaches To Change, Annie Bélanger, Megan Musolff

Presentations

Can you think of a time when you have thrived through change? What made that possible? How did the change effort center on organizational values and engage those impacted? Most traditional change management practices focus on process and implementation over listening, compassion, and healing. By using human-centered change leadership approaches, we will explore ways to align change efforts with organizational values. We will identify factors that can lead to a change that harness the strengths of the team, while also make space for voices to be heard. Together, participants will consider how the Bridges’ Transition Model enables effective and compassionate …

Managing Without Capitalism: Transforming Library Leadership In Service Of Anti-Racism, Inclusion, And Equity, Heather Slania

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

Library leaders at all levels are grappling with addressing institutional racism. Despite years of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) interventions and a recognition of the overwhelming whiteness of libraries, the profession is not a better or safer place for library workers of color, people from other marginalized communities, or anyone who has had to endure the normalized toxic library work environment.

Leaders are stuck and previous interventions have failed primarily due to two factors:

• Modern libraries (and the institutions that hold them) were constructed as tools of white supremacy.

• Library leadership and management concepts/practices are rooted in capitalism.

Numerous …