This title is also available for purchase as an e-book or as a print/e-book bundle.
192 pages
8.5" x 11"
Softcover
ISBN-13: 978-0-8389-1161-7
Year Published: 2013
AP Categories: A, B, C, D, I, J, Z
Read a sample of this book now!
Foreword by Maureen Sullivan, American Library Association President, 2012-13
Fully a third of all library supervisors are “managing in the middle:” reporting to top-level managers while managing teams of peers or paraprofessional staff in some capacity. This practical handbook is here to assist middle managers navigate their way through the challenges of multitasking and continual gear-shifting. The broad range of contributors from academic and public libraries in this volume help librarians face personal and professional challenges by
- Linking theoretical ideas about mid-level management to real-world situations
- Presenting ways to sharpen crucial skills such as communication, productivity, delegation, and performance management
- Offering specific advice on everything from supervision to surviving layoffs
Being a middle manager can be a difficult job, but the range of perspectives in this book offer strategies and tips to make it easier.
Table of Contents
Foreword, by Maureen Sullivan
Part I. Middle Management 101
1. It’s a Job, Not a Reward! Gayle Hornaday 2. Stepping Right into the Middle of . . . Anne C. Barnhart 3. Testing the Waters: Creative Role Playing for Management Success Amanda Lea Folk 4. Learning the Ropes: LIS and Professional Training Are Not Enough Amanda Lea Folk 5. Is an MBA a Good Choice for Middle Management Librarians? Elizabeth O’Brien 6. Expertise, Influence, and Magical Thinking: Interviews with Middle Managers Melissa Laning and Neal Nixon 7. Business Books for the Library Middle Manager: An Annotated Bibliography Joe C. Clark
8. Rethinking Interpersonal Communication for Managers Marie L. Radford 9. The Middle in the Middle: Maintaining Your Sanity while Mediating Conflict Amanda Lea Folk 10. Horizontal Communication: Social Networking in the Middle Nancy J. Kress 11. Feeling Good in the Middle: Emotional Intelligence at Work Robert Farrell 12. Top Communication Rules for Effective Library Management Louis Howley, Kathryn Bock Plunkett, and Nicole Sump-Crethar
Part II. The Middle Ground
13. Formal and Informal Communication in Meetings Robin L. Ewing 14. The Power of Un Maureen Diana Sasso 15. Checklist for Productivity Samantha Schmehl Hines 16. Procrastination and Willpower Samantha Schmehl Hines 17. The Critical Path for Middle Managers: A Project Management Technique for Librarians Dorothy A. Mays
18. Supervision Debbie Schachter 19. Firm but Fair: Dealing with Problem Employees Cees-Jan de Jong 20. Performance Management: Making Difficult Conversations Easy and Managing Soft Skills Robert Barr 21. Performance Improvement: An Overview for Middle Managers Barbara Petersohn
22. Consult Me First: Building Consultative Relationships between Top-Level and Mid-Level Library Managers Jeffrey A. Franks 23. Managing Perceptions Liza Weisbrod 24. Surviving Layoffs Curt Friehs 25. The Poor Administrator and You: Survival Tips for the Mid-Level Manager Jeffrey A. Franks 26. Coping with Reorganization: An Interview with Sally Decker Smith
Part III. Empowerment
27. The Self-Determined Middle Manager Kristine Condic 28. Developing Leaders Debbie Schachter 29. Being an Entrepreneurial Leader Jennifer Rowley 30. Managing Change: A Reading Guide for Today’s Middle Manager Keith Phelan Gorman and Joe M. Williams
31. The Need for Middle Managers: Turning Today’s New Librarians into Tomorrow’s Leaders Bernadine Goldman 32. Building Strong Middle Manager/Paralibrarian Relationships: Middle Managers as Mentors Allison Sloan 33. Moving Up the Ranks and Back Again: Lessons Learned as an Interim Library Director Elisabeth Tappeiner 34. Working with the Plateaued Employee Janet Butler Munch 35. Taking Risks and Letting Go, Creating and Coaching Teams: An Interview with John Lubans
About the Editors
Robert Farrell has served as coordinator of information literacy and assessment at
Lehman College, City University of New York, since 2008. He received his BA in philosophy
from Columbia University in 1999, an MLS from SUNY Buffalo in 2002, and an additional
MA from the CUNY Graduate Center in 2010. Over the past decade, Professor Farrell has
worked in libraries at Columbia and CUNY, managing at various levels. His research interests
include library management, the phenomenology of professional skill acquisition, and
information-seeking behaviors as well as a variety of topics in philosophy.
Kenneth Schlesinger has been chief librarian at Lehman College, City University of New
York, since 2007. Previously he was director of media services at LaGuardia Community
College and also worked in the archival collections of Thirteen/WNET and Time Inc. Professor
Schlesinger has an MLS in information and library science from Pratt Institute, MFA in
dramaturgy and dramatic criticism from Yale School of Drama, and BA in dramatic art from
University of California, Berkeley. His research and publication interests include library
management, performing arts collections, digital preservation, and international libraries.
|