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Mid-Career Library and Information Professionals: A Leadership Primer
Mid-Career Library and Information Professionals: A Leadership Primer
Mid-Career Library and Information Professionals: A Leadership Primer
Ebook331 pages

Mid-Career Library and Information Professionals: A Leadership Primer

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As librarians move into the middle of their careers, they are more ready than ever to take on new leadership opportunities. Literature on leadership is expanding in the field of library and information sciences, and more and more seminars and workshops are being offered for new and seasoned leaders. This book asks the questions: ‘What about us?’ and, ‘Where is the leadership advice and training for those who are no longer new librarians, but are also not yet seasoned leaders?’ The title illustrates how to work the middle, from being in the sophomore slump progressing to the next leaders in the field, to look for perspectives from others who are in the middle of their career, and how they have developed into leaders, ways to develop one’s own style of leadership and grow one’s career and future as a librarian and information professional.
  • Perspectives on leadership from mid-career information professionals
  • Tips and tools on how to become a leader from the middle of your career
  • A how-to guide on making changes from the middle
LanguageEnglish
Release dateDec 14, 2010
ISBN9781780630533
Mid-Career Library and Information Professionals: A Leadership Primer

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    Book preview

    Mid-Career Library and Information Professionals - Dawn Lowe-Wincentsen

    publishers.

    1

    Saying yes, again: an introduction to leadership for mid-career librarians

    Linda Crook

    I started thinking about leadership for mid-career librarians during 2009, when the American Library Association (ALA) began a recruitment effort aimed specifically at librarians under 35. I had been delighted to take advantage of the ALA Emerging Leaders program when I was 34, and I’d felt like a real up-and-comer. But suddenly it seemed that I was too old to be of interest. What could I do to maintain the momentum I’d gotten as an emerging leader? If the profession was encouraging young and new librarians to become leaders, what about the rest of us? What about the unique challenges faced by ‘mid-career’ librarians – not new anymore, not necessarily ready to move up the management ladder, but ready to have a real say in the direction of the profession. There’s a lot of talk about ‘leading from the middle’ (even in this book!), but what about leading from the middle of your career? Dawn and I decided to make our own opportunity.

    I had hit my mid-career slump a few years ago. After fifteen years in libraries, including five years as a professional librarian, I ended up in a position that was a bad fit for me. I tried very hard to be a leader in the organization and to help change the working environment, but there were roadblocks every way I turned. The job ad had asked for someone who could ‘think outside the box,’ but I seemed to have a different box than my colleagues. As I struggled to make sense of what was going wrong, I began to ask myself, am I really a librarian? Is this really what I want to do? It was a crisis of faith and identity. If I wasn’t a librarian, then what, or who, was I?

    Fortunately, I realized that I ‘am’ a librarian. I’m just better off in a different environment than the one I found myself in. I had to separate the ‘job’ from the ‘profession.’ The profession certainly isn’t what I imagined it would be, convalescing in the elementary school library with a broken leg at age 8, reading everything I could get my hands on, but I’ve found myself well suited to the realities of information and public service. It’s a wonderful profession, full of exciting opportunities. I realized I wanted to be a real part of things, to be a leader in the profession, to help create a great future for librarianship.

    After my bad fit experience, I was lucky to snag a temporary job at the local university, and five years later I’m still there, and loving it. Sure, I’d rather be in a tenure-track position, but I’ve learned over the past few years that the position you hold is only a small indicator of your success in the profession. I’m in a nominally entry-level position, but I’m certainly not doing entry-level work, and my career – regardless of my employment – is going great. As this book goes to press, I am Vice-President/President-Elect of the ALA New Members Round Table. I’m delighted to have earned a position like this, where I can really help shape the profession, through welcoming new librarians to the organization and helping them connect with the mid-career librarians who can help show them the way. But how did I get here? I said ‘yes.’

    In A Leadership Primer for New Librarians, I wrote that saying ‘yes’ to opportunities can help you succeed in your career, and that continues to pay off for me in unexpected ways.

    My academic library’s ‘Research Services’ Department is currently in the process of reorganization. Instead of units based on subject area, we are now organized into interdisciplinary teams: Reference, Liaison and Outreach, Assessment, Scholarly Communication, and Instruction. Public services librarians have the option to focus on a couple areas of practice, or can belong to multiple teams. The intent is to break down ‘silos’ and at the same time allow librarians more flexibility to focus on their interests.

    Each team is coordinated by a steering committee and a leader. The team leaders have no personnel management responsibilities, and there is no increase in salary. Most of the middle-management positions were eliminated – no more unit heads or branch managers. In this system there is a greater opportunity for mid-career librarians to get leadership experience and to ‘advance’ without becoming managers. And isn’t that something we’ve been desperate for in librarianship?

    All public service librarians filled out a survey regarding their interests. Not just which teams they wanted to belong to, but also whether they were interested in serving on a steering committee or as leader. I expected there to be a lot of competition for the leadership positions. Here was an opportunity to break new ground and explore new directions. So, of course, I said, ‘yes!’ I indicated in my survey that I’d be interested in leading the Reference Team. I was the only volunteer. Almost out of the blue, the leadership pixie waved her magic wand, and I was Reference Team Leader. I’d reached the next step on my career ladder just by saying ‘yes.’ It felt as though when they asked for volunteers I stepped forward when everyone else stepped

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