Susan Carol Curzon - What Every Library Director Should Know

What Every Library Director
Should Know

Susan Carol Curzon

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

Lanham Boulder New York Toronto Plymouth, UK

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Curzon, Susan Carol.

What every library director should know / Susan Carol Curzon.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-8108-9310-8 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8108-9187-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8108-9188-3 (ebook)

1. Library administration. I. Title.

Z678.C888 2014

025.1dc23

2013047163

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated with love to

Sophia Noor Dillabaugh and

Braeden Alexander Dillabaugh

I want to thank my husband, Dr. M. B. Taher Ayati, for reviewing many drafts of this book and for providing me with important suggestions and changes. I also thank him, as always, for his support for all of my projects and goals.

I would like to express my thanks to my long time friend and colleague, Dr. Kathleen Dunn, who read the first draft of this book and provided very valuable insight and advice. I also wish to thank my brother, Peter J. Curzon, Chief of Police in Astoria, for providing expert knowledge related to police and emergency matters.

Thanks as always to Charles Harmon, executive editor for Rowman & Littlefield, for his continued encouragement. Charles has been the editor for each one of my books and I have always appreciated his knowledge and experience. My thanks as well to Lara Graham, assistant editor at R&L, Ayleen Stellhorn, and Sylvia Cannizzaro for their work on this book.

I appreciate so much the many excellent colleagues with whom I worked throughout my career especially in the County of Los Angeles Public Library; the City of Glendale (CA) Public Library; the California State University, Northridge, Oviatt Library; and the California State University system. Their continued dedication and commitment made work a pleasure. I now have the privilege of enjoying their friendship in retirement.

I want to thank the following library directors, deans, administrators, and faculty who graciously provided quotes in response to my question What is the one piece of management wisdom that you would give to anyone who wishes to become, or who is, a library director? Their quotes are dispersed throughout the book and provide true pearls of wisdom that every library director should know.

Dr. Camila A. Alire

Dean Emerita, University of New Mexico

ALA President, 20092010

Steve Brogden

Director

Thousand Oaks Library

Thousand Oaks, CA

Jon E. Cawthorne, Ph.D.

Associate Dean for Public Service and Assessment

Florida State University Libraries

Connie Vinita Dowell

Dean of Libraries

Vanderbilt University

G. Edward Evans

University Librarian (Retired)

Loyola Marymount University

Rod Hersberger

Library Dean Emeritus

California State University, Bakersfield

ALA Treasurer 20072010

Marsha Gelman Kmec, B.S., M.L.I.S.

Director of Library Services (19922012)

Olive View/UCLA Medical Center

Health Sciences Library

Peter Hepburn

Head Librarian

College of the Canyons

Santa Clarita, CA

Luis Herrera

City Librarian

San Francisco Public Library

Penny S. Markey, M.S.L.S.

Library Administrator, Youth Services, Cultural Programming

& Productivity (Retired)

County of Los Angeles Public Library

Elizabeth Martinez

Library and Community Services Director

Salinas, CA

Former Executive Director of the American Library Association

Sue McKnight, Ph.D.

Director

Sue McKnight Consulting

Melbourne, Australia

Eleanor Mitchell

Director of Library Services

Dickinson College

Carlisle, PA

James L. Mullins

Dean of Libraries and Esther Ellis Norton Professor

Purdue University

Laurel Patric

Director of Libraries (Retired)

Glendale (CA) Public Library

Brian E. C. Schottlaender

The Audrey Geisel University Librarian

University of California, San Diego

Margaret Donnellan Todd

County Librarian

County of Los Angeles Public Library

Phil Turner, Ed.D.

Professor Emeritus

University of North Texas

College of Information

Scott Walter, M.L.S., Ph.D.

University Librarian

DePaul University

Editor-in-Chief, College and Research Libraries

Virginia A. Walter, Ph.D.

Professor Emerita

University of California, Los Angeles

Information Studies Department

Sandra G. Yee

Dean, Wayne State University Libraries and Wayne State

University School of Library and Information Science

What Every Library Director Should Know

Most LIS graduate programs offer a course in the management of a library. In such courses, we learn important management concepts and practices in budgeting, supervising, marketing, customer services, decision making, and other necessary functions. Such courses are critical in giving beginning librarians grounding in the study of management. After all, many librarians will go on in their career to various kinds of supervision and management work. These starter courses introduce us to the complex study of management thought, theory, and practice.

However, anyone who has ever held any kind of management position, such as managing a program, directing a grant, or running the entire library, can tell you that understanding the basics of management is not enough to be successful on the job. Not only do we need to continue our study of management, but we also need to understand the unwritten rules, the unwritten strategies, and the unwritten wisdom which are gained on the job, learned by observing others, or, if the librarian is very fortunate, taught by a mentor. Sometimes this knowledge, finally gained, comes at too high a price or is learned too late. A career inexplicably stalled, a desired position not gained, the failure to thrive in a current position can leave us puzzled, confused, and hurt. After all, we worked hard every day. Every day, we concentrated on the job, often sacrificing time with family and friends. What went wrong?

These are the issues answered in this book. This is not a conventional management text. You will not get, for example, the history of management, the basics of budgeting, or personnel and labor laws. Instead my focus is on nuances of behavior, political strategies, common wisdom, mentor-like advice, and the subtle codes, which, when paired with other management skills, will bring increased chances of success on the job and throughout your career.

It does not matter what type of library you are inmanagement is management, wisdom is wisdom.