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LLN
Commons May/June 2006 Articles
Performance Improvement: Shifting from Evaluation of Past Performance to Planning for Future Performance
by Maureen Sullivan
published: June 29, 2006
As part of a continuing series on organization development
issues, Maureen Sullivan suggests a new way of dealing with the dreaded annual
performance evaluation. We think you will find her suggestions for improving
performance in your library very valuable…and a refreshing change!
June,
2006 LLN
Peer Panel
This month's questions:
- What
has worked best in attaining and maintaining the funding levels needed
to offer your users first class service on an ongoing basis?
- What
new mechanisms have you employed (or heard about) that have enabled you
(or others) to tap new sources of income for new or existing programs?
- What
is being done in the LIS arena to help prepare tomorrow’s
leaders for this aspect of their jobs? What programs are
available to current leaders?
Managing Number One 
by Frank Hermes
published: June 22, 2006
This is the first
in a series of articles from Library Leadership Network about libraries
that employ solid management practices to achieve consistently
exemplary results. These articles will explore how their leaders
manage, their ability to understand the community they serve, the
culture of the library, and those aspects that make the organization
unique and value-creating.
For the first in this series, we start
at the top: The Columbus Metropolitan Library, which is currently
ranked #1 in the country by Hennen's American Public Library Rating
Index. To learn about the library, we visited with Pat Losinski,
Executive Director; Chris Taylor, Director of Strategic Projects; and
Kerry Bierman, Director of Community Relations and Development.
In our discussions, we covered everything from Strategic Planning to
technical services backlogs, stopping along the way to talk about
staffing and organization, culture, and return on equity.
May,
2006 LLN
Peer Panel
This month's questions:
- Is
the boomer librarian exit creating a huge personnel gap, or, as has
been alleged in some quarters, is it a long-overdue weeding out of
deadwood?
- What has been or will be the impact of distance education on the availability of librarians with appropriate skill
- As we seek to fill openings in library management ranks, how important is the MLS degree? Please explain.
Holt
Perspectives:
June 10, 2006: Is DC Public Ready For Its Renaissance?
The late banker Walter Wriston would often (off the record)
refer to Washington D.C. as
“Disney World North.” Indeed, everything that happens
“inside the beltway” is magnified beyond proportion--often
grotesquely--by a combination of politicians, power, money and a media on
steroids. And the effort to bring about a “renaissance” of
the D.C. Public Library System is not immune from this phenomenon. In
this first of a series, Glen Holt
explores
the background of this renaissance: the people and the politics
involved with
this most visible institution. Subsequent installments will deal
with the
varying views concerning the desired outcomes of this renaissance and
explore
the critical question: “Will the residents of DC get the great
library
system they need and deserve?" While Washington D.C. is certainly
a "special" environment, we think you will find a number of parallels
with the issues faced by all library leaders, regardless of library
type and size.
May 11, 2006: Envisioning a Smart Library?
Glen
Holt returns from a brief furlough full of thoughts about so-called
"smart" libraries. Enjoy and please feel free to comment!
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