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LLN People & Organization ArticlesDecember Peer Panel In November, we talked about “Hiring the Right People” to help us run our libraries. This month we shift to a related topic: “Having the Right Organization.” Four senior level job postings at the Public Library of Charlotte Mecklenburg County recently caught our eye: • Director of Community Engagement and Development • Director of Library Experience • Director of Organizational Resources • Director of Research, Strategy, and Innovation Not exactly Technical Services and Public Services, eh? Truly these are new jobs, not just new titles for old jobs. So this month we asked the Peer Panel for their reactions to this and similar changes taking place in how we structure organizations to help meet the changes in the environment in which we operate. We asked the panel to consider these questions: • What exactly is driving organizational changes of this sort? • How do you think the level reporting to the director should be organized? • What changes have you made in recent years—and how have they worked? • Is it possible to change the organization without changing the people? November Peer Panel The topic this month is “Hiring the Right People.” To get their views, we asked the LLN Peer Panel the following questions:
Addendum to November Peer Panel For fortunate folks, Thanksgiving is a time of plenty. And for readers of the LLN Peer Panel, November yielded a bumper crop of ideas and experiences from our panel, so much so that we decided to publish separately this comprehensive discussion of "Hiring the Right People" by panelist Michele Reid. Holt Perspectives November 6, 2007: Hiring the Right Associates As a prequel to the November Peer Panel, I asked Glen Holt to set the stage with a few of his thoughts on hiring. I think you will enjoy his comments, as we look forward to the further thinking of the panel. May, 2007 LLN Peer Panel Now that the 2008 Presidential campaign is underway (ugh!), we thought it high time for the LLN Peer Panel to discuss Politics and the Library. Where there are people, there are politics, and as we well know, the internal and external politics of an organization become more and more visible (and unavoidable) as we climb the career ladder. So, we asked the following questions or our established library leaders:
April, 2007 LLN Peer Panel The topic for April is Reengineering. As you know, the concept of reengineering has been with us for ages, and it appears to be having a renaissance of late, especially in library circles. Not unlike a lot of terminology that emanates from the McKinseys and Booz-Allens of the world, reengineering is often used to identify a very broad spectrum of activities, so for Peer Panel purposes, we used this definition: “Reengineering involves changing an organization’s structure and job responsibilities to improve service levels and/or increase an organization’s efficiency.” Armed with this definition, we asked the panel to: Share your experiences (direct or indirect) with library reengineering projects Offer your advice on reengineering to those who are considering it in their libraries:
November, 2006 LLN Peer Panel Over the course of the last many months, and most recently in last week’s “screed” from George Needham, we have heard mention of Mentoring. So this month, I asked the Peer Panel for their views on this topic, with special attention to the following questions:
Forget the Opac, Why Does Library Management Suck? George Needham has been a keen observer of libraries and their management for years. In this measured--but very direct—essay (a “screed,” according to George), he discusses the shortcomings of many managers and suggests the “hard questions” we should be asking ourselves. Finally he makes a most compelling case for mentoring as a key in encouraging and developing our future library leaders. (November 1, 2006) How Do We Educate our Future Library Leaders and Managers? In recent Library Leadership Network Peer Panels and other discussions, much has been said about the need for our library schools to address the non-traditional educational needs of future library leaders. The University of Washington's Mike Crandall, a member of the LLN Advisory Board, has both been monitoring and involved in these discussions. In collaboration with Nancy Gershenfeld (also of UW), he here offers one institution’s innovative response to these needs. (September 12, 2006) September, 2006 LLN Peer Panel As everyone knows, a number of library leaders will be headed for retirement in the next five to ten years. And although the LLN Peer Panel is, of course, irreplaceable, we decided to ask them to discuss the characteristics of their ideal replacement. In doing so, we asked for an informal look at the qualifications required by the job, not the boilerplate that will be in the employment advertisement. Finally, we asked them to comment on whether an MLS should or should not be required. Their answers were varied and quite interesting. Summer, 2006 LLN Peer Panel The topic of discussion this month is Change Management. Change is, of course, inevitable, and in recent years we have witnessed a tremendous amount of environmental (especially technological) change that has put pressure on “public” institutions like libraries to either quickly adapt or become increasingly marginalized. And as much as we would like it to be the case, organizational change doesn’t automatically follow environmental change. The result of this is that change management has become a big topic and has attracted a great deal of energy in the form of research, new consultancies, and tons of literature (some of it helpful!). We asked our panel to comment on change management, citing their personal experiences and observations. May, 2006 LLN Peer Panel This month's questions:
Performance Improvement: Shifting from Evaluation of Past Performance to Planning for Future Performance 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 29, 2006) June, 2006 LLN Peer Panel This month's questions:
There is much discussion concerning the graying of the current library leadership and the leadership gap that retirements will create in the next five to ten years. We asked our panel to comment on:
My New Year's Resolution A search in the catalog of most libraries will discover a large number of books and articles on the topic of stress management. Unfortunately, those who need it most don't -- or -- won't take the time to read about stress reduction. We at LLN suspect that a few of our readers might fall into this category, and so we offer this helpful and humorous personal vignette from Tom McNally. (January 25, 2006) Libraries and Organization Development  Regardless of the size and type of their libraries, today’s leaders understand the need for continual change to make their organizations more dynamic, flexible, relevant, and customer-focused. Such transformation typically requires significant changes in the structure, systems, culture and staff. The discipline of Organization Development can be very instrumental in bringing about these changes, whether applied through informal programs or as part of more formal strategic planning. In this first of a series, Maureen Sullivan introduces the concepts of Organization Development, laying the groundwork for subsequent articles dealing with specific OD applications in libraries. (June 2005) |
