A Starter's Guide for Academic Library Leaders: Advice in Conversation

The path towards leadership starts with you. But you don’t have to go it alone. For this book, the authors sat down with many of the library leaders they most admire for a series of conversations about the aspects of the job that they find the most fascinating (and challenging). Much like the chats you might have over coffee at a conference or with a mentor, these frank discussions will nourish you with nuts-and-bolts wisdom on a diverse range of academic library management issues. Among the topics and situations broached are balancing personal values against the common refrain “you don’t get to be who you want to be in positions like ours”; five questions to ask that reveal much about organizational culture and climate; creating a culture of change, including why a newly promoted director chose to make the most drastic changes in the first 100 days; forming a “dean team” to help frame responses with consideration to institutional culture; the value of demystifying the budget for the entire library staff; using tools such as a personal “learning journal” to fuel professional development; cultivating a personal network by setting up meetings at local libraries during conferences; the risks that result from jumping into a situation too fast and boxing yourself into a corner; lessons learned from failed initiatives; examples of navigating controversies, such as a director’s response to a WPA mural with a racist message; and managing facilities, with an example of how injecting a previously ignored library voice into a building project led to a tripling of the space. Between these covers you’ll find guidance, ideas, and inspiration as you continue your leadership journey.

Table of Contents:
Foreword, by Jon Cawthorne Introduction, by Amanda Clay Powers, Martin Garnar, and Dustin Fife Chapter 1 — Making the Leap, by Amanda Clay Powers and Elaine Westbrooks Chapter 2 — Building Effective Teams, by Martin Garnar and Lorelei Tanji Chapter 3 — Learning to Lead and Manage, by Dustin Fife and Amy Kelly Chapter 4 — Maintaining Personal Values, by Amanda Clay Powers and Faye A. Chadwell Chapter 5 — Institutional Advocacy, by Dustin Fife and Annie Bélanger Chapter 6 — Recruiting and Retention: Building a Diverse Team, by Amanda Clay Powers, Martin Garnar, and Dustin Fife Chapter 7 — Making Hard Decisions, Having Difficult Conversations, and Setting Expectations, by Dustin Fife and Lesli Baker Chapter 8 — Managing Mistakes and Building on Failure, by Martin Garnar and Melissa De Santis Chapter 9 — Creating a Culture of Change, by Martin Garnar and Trevor A. Dawes Chapter 10 — Professional Development, by Dustin Fife and Alexia Hudson-Ward Chapter 11 — Building, Renovations, and Facilities, by Amanda Clay Powers and Krisellen Maloney Chapter 12 — Crisis Management, by Martin Garnar and Adriene Lim Chapter 13 — Finding Your Role in the University, by Dustin Fife and Carol Smith Chapter 14 — Fundraising and Development, by Amanda Clay Powers and Yolanda Cooper Chapter 15 — Developing and Managing Budgets, by Martin Garnar and Maggie Farrell About the Authors and Contributors Index

About the Author :
Amanda Clay Powers is Professor and Dean of Library Services at Mississippi University for Women (MUW). Prior to joining MUW, she spent eleven years at Mississippi State University as a reference librarian and then as head of Research Services. After graduating with a BA from Wellesley College and an MLIS from Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science, she cut her “librarian teeth” working as a processing assistant at MIT’s Dewey Library. Her current research focuses on academic library leadership and applications of social media in academia. Martin Garnar is Dean of the Kraemer Family Library at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Prior to becoming an administrator, he spent fifteen years as a reference and instruction librarian. His research interests include intellectual freedom, professional ethics, and equity, diversity, and inclusion in libraries; his professional activities reflect a profound inability to say no. A New Yorker by birth, Martin now lives at the base of Pikes Peak with his husband Mark and their adorable miniature dachshunds. Dustin Fife is Director of Library Services at Western Colorado University. Prior to coming to Western, Dustin was Outreach Librarian at Utah Valley University. He also spent six years as Public Library Director for San Juan County, Utah. Dustin has served as President of the Learning Round Table of the American Library Association and President of the Utah Library Association. In 2016, Dustin was recognized as a Library Journal Mover & Shaker. He is currently working on an EdD at the University of Colorado Denver that focuses on access and equity in education.