Leadership in disruptive times

Abstract

These are times of economic disruption globally, nationally, regionally, and locally. This ongoing turbulence will inevitably have an impact on your library regardless of the type of organization you support. The consequences of ongoing economic instability are exacerbated by what seems to be an extraordinary turnover in library leadership. This turnover requires a steady supply of new leaders to fill the shoes of those who retire or for other reasons leave their positions. Today our profession is confronted with the question of whether or not we will have enough new leaders or existing managers stepping up to leadership roles to drive the sustainability of information services? This question will be addressed through examination of four domains where the need for existing and aspiring leaders in the information profession is critical, regardless of the type of library: finance, fundraising, organizational politics, and evaluation. Equally important is understanding the role of the leader (as opposed to that of the manager) as the strategic thinker, visionary, and motivator, who inspires their team to excellence in these four areas and through demonstrating contribution to the organization’s success, achieves sustainability. Using case studies as well as insights from past research and from colleagues around the world in different kinds of libraries, we will be looking at why these four domains are important to sustainability and what you as a leader needs to do in thinking through how to adapt them to the specific needs of your organization.

Collaboration, Empathy & Change: Perspectives on Leadership in Libraries and Archives in 2020

“…Becoming a Manager Dr. Toby Pearlstein did not start her career wanting to be a manager. Yet as she grew in her career handling day-to-day tasks and operations, as well becoming a leader in her field, being able to articulate the vision of the organizations in which she worked and supporting that organization's success, became the foundation on which she stood (Matarazzo & Pearlstein, 2016). Dr. Pearlstein started her career like many librarians, attempting to do something else.…”

“…Throughout her tenure at the State Transportation Library, the staff grew to include a professional cataloger, a law librarian, a handful of uncredentialled (no MLIS degree or equivalent) people with focused research skills, i.e., transit history. In turn, Dr. Pearlstein began to master managing a team with diverse capabilities and learned how to utilize their skills to get the best work out of them (Matarazzo & Pearlstein, 2016). This concept was a hard one to fully embrace but turned out to be one of the most useful dynamics in successfully managing her team.…”

How the Botswana International University of Science and Technology Library Engages its Stakeholders in Connecting Information Resources, Services, and Space

“…The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 4(3/4), 2020ISSN 2574 relate to educational development, research management, and empowering societies with the needed information and literacy skills. In particular, Matarazzo and Pearlstein (2016) call for a collaboration of complementary engagement of professions that can support libraries to navigate financial hurdles and environmental politics. Such stakeholders also have to positively stir the services towards the broader organisational goals.…”

“…In advocating for transformational leadership, their case study presents a distinction between library management as having skills to direct adequate service performance, while leadership is about "setting, motivating and aligning people with a new direction"(p. 57). Seemingly in agreement with this distinction between leadership and management,Matarazzo and Pearlstein (2016) call for a , jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/index DOI: 10.33137/ijidi.v4i3/4.33568 complementary application of managerial skills to direct the services, while sustaining the library staff's motivation towards the institutional goals. This inevitably calls for continued capacity building and team building activities.…”

Open-book management in libraries: A case study of Bibliotheca Alexandrina

“…Human resources management (HRM) is currently an important and necessary field since it revolves around human capital that is responsible for the success and failure of organizations. Leadership practices and communication styles within libraries continue to evolve and are seen as critical to the continued growth and development of libraries as they encounter new organizational and societal challenges (Matarazzo and Pearlstein, 2016). Open-book management (OBM) is a contemporary management methodology, simple in its requirements yet profound in its effects (Schuster and Carpenter, 1996); it supports elements such as self-confidence and creativity, promotes independent thinking and an initiative-taking spirit, and creates a democratic working environment, all of which are vital to the rapidly changing conditions that we are currently living in.…”