Developing Library Leaders: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Coaching, Team Building, and Mentoring Library Staff

Abstract

Developing Library Leaders : A How-to-do-it Manual for Coaching, Team Building, and Mentoring Library Staff Robert D. Stueart Maureen Sullivan £70.50 Paperback, 250 pp Publication date: 15 Jun 2010 Publisher: Neal-Schuman Publishers Inc EAN: 9781555707255 How can you successfully lead your library through the changes taking place in today's transitional information environment? What skills must you develop or hone in order to build a confident, comfortable, and capable staff in your institution? In their highly practical new "How-To-Do-It Manual", authors Robert D. Stuart, the former Dean Emeritus of Simmons College's Graduate School of Library and Information Science and Maureen Sullivan, a leadership expert with over thirty years experience delivering consulting and training services to libraries and other information services, will help you identify the essential concepts and goals behind great leadership, and effectively implement each one into your library's organizational structure. "Developing Library Leaders" covers key strategies and processes for coaching, team building, and mentoring library staff. Following a foreword from James G. Neal, the authors clearly define the major roles and responsibilities of a library leader and offer valuable techniques for persuading and influencing others, building and leading teams and groups, and managing projects. There is step-by-step guidance for developing crucial coaching and mentoring skills, as well as tips for succession planning and facilitating long-term development. Throughout the book, Stueart and Sullivan provide ample models, outlines, examples, and charts for further guidance and to reinforce the practical use of key strategies. The generations-old adage that 'leaders are born not bred' is a myth; it is now commonly accepted that leadership is a skill that can be developed. Stueart and Sullivan show current and future library directors and managers how to develop their institutions' most valuable asset - their staff - and better prepare them to lead. --- Ressenya Book review Robert D. Stueart and Maureen Sullivan, Developing Library Leaders: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Coaching, Team Building, and Mentoring Library Staff , Neal-Sc human Publishers, Inc., New York, NY (2010) ISBN 978-1-55570-725-5 105 p. $75.00. Kerry M. Creelmana, a English Librarian, M.D. Anderson Library, 114 University Libraries, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-2000, USA Available online 10 January 2011. Developing Library Leaders is a practical guide to developing leadership skills and competencies for librarians and information professionals in any setting. Robert D. Stueart and Maureen Sullivan assert repeatedly that leadership competencies can be both learned and taught. Their text is as much a tool to help today's libraries and information organizations “prepare the next generation of information services leaders” by implementing carefully planned “developmental processes” (p. xi), as it is a practical guide for self-directed study and professional development. The book is divided into eight chapters and is written in an accessible style, making it a good resource for both new and experienced librarians and information professionals. The early chapters provide necessary background on key management and leadership theories and models, drawn from seminal literature in the field; identify the skills and competencies that define successful leaders in team and organizational settings; and discuss the successful leader's role in these same settings. The later chapters discuss how a variety of models and processes can foster the development of leadership skills and competencies using coaching and mentoring and how the development of the next generation of library leaders is essential to succession planning. Each chapter describes specific leadership theories or models, identifies requisite leadership skills or competencies, and provides actionable directions designed to help readers achieve desired outcomes. One of the primary strengths of this manual is the content layout. The book features a wide margin that facilitates note-taking and also includes, in each chapter, a content checklist, at the outset, for easy navigation and text-boxes, throughout, containing: recommended, supplemental resources; discussion or reflection prompts; practical exercises; relevant research, facts, and quotations; and implementation tips. The chapters also include detailed exercises, assessment tools, and lists of skills, competencies, and implementation guidelines. These features encourage readers to reflect upon, and engage with, the content in personal and practical ways, facilitating active learning for independent readers and providing ready-to-use discussion prompts and activities for group training sessions. The authors devote considerable attention to defining the skills and competencies that make successful leaders. Leadership is a complex concept that has been defined by various theorists and is represented by a number of leadership models. Stueart and Sullivan expertly situate core management and leadership concepts in the context of library and information services. Their focus on the practical application of best practices in library leadership establishes this manual as a solid resource for information professionals. This book, written by two prominent experts on management and leadership in the field of Library and Information Science (Stueart co-authored the seminal textbook Library and Information Center Management that is heavily taught in library school programs world-wide; while Sullivan is a renowned leadership and management consultant), would be a welcome addition to personal and professional collections on library leadership. Directed towards information professionals and organizations concerned with succession planning and creating tomorrow's leaders, this text is equally relevant and practically applicable to library school students training to enter the workforce and to information professionals looking to improve their leadership qualities independently. The Journal of Academic Librarianship Volume 37, Issue 1, January 2011, Pages 83-84