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Elsevier

Mid-Career Library and Information Professionals

A Leadership Primer

  • 1st Edition - December 14, 2010
  • Latest edition
  • Editors: Dawn Lowe-Wincentsen, Linda Crook
  • Language: English

As librarians move into the middle of their careers, they are more ready than ever to take on new leadership opportunities. Literature on leadership is expanding in the field of… Read more

Description

As librarians move into the middle of their careers, they are more ready than ever to take on new leadership opportunities. Literature on leadership is expanding in the field of library and information sciences, and more and more seminars and workshops are being offered for new and seasoned leaders. This book asks the questions: ‘What about us?’ and, ‘Where is the leadership advice and training for those who are no longer new librarians, but are also not yet seasoned leaders?’ The title illustrates how to work the middle, from being in the sophomore slump progressing to the next leaders in the field, to look for perspectives from others who are in the middle of their career, and how they have developed into leaders, ways to develop one’s own style of leadership and grow one’s career and future as a librarian and information professional.

Key features

  • Perspectives on leadership from mid-career information professionals
  • Tips and tools on how to become a leader from the middle of your career
  • A how-to guide on making changes from the middle

Readership

Practitioners of Library and Information Science

Table of contents

Saying yes, again: An introduction to leadership for mid-career librarians; What to do when you can’t do it all; Empowering the reluctant new library manager; Stuck in the middle and loving it! Why middle managers have the ability to lead from the heart and the power to persuade; Making it work: Leading without a pedestal; Leading without authority: Maintaining balance and relationships; Career progression: Mentoring to the rescue; When life and leadership collide; Avoiding the Peter Principle: ‘Every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence’; Work envy, workhorses and the mid-career librarian; Don’t get stuck in a rut!; Out of bounds: Developing a library outreach program using the ‘Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership’ model; Technologically indispensable: Leading when you’re technically competent but seen merely as a useful tool to get other folks’ ideas implemented; Same song, different verse: critical followership as an act of resilience for second-career librarians; New in town: Leadership betwixt and between; Making your mark: Scholarship, ‘niche-building,’ and other ways of defining and marketing your expertise; Exercise your leadership potential.

Review quotes

"…a very current, topical and easy-to-read book that is perfect for the busy librarian. …a valuable addition to a professional library for a librarian seeking career advancement or looking for new work challenges."—Australian Library Journal

"One of the book's strengths is that it is written by librarians with a wide breadth of experiences. They provide useful references for further reading, and many of them make effective use of tables to convey key points. The book's format, length and price are reasonable."—Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association

Product details

  • Edition: 1
  • Latest edition
  • Published: December 14, 2010
  • Language: English

About the editors

DL

Dawn Lowe-Wincentsen

Dawn Lowe-Wincentsen is the Portland Operations librarian at the Oregon Institute of Technology. She graduated with her MLIS from Louisiana State University in 2003, though she has been in libraries in various forms since her first job as a student assistant in the library at Linfield College in 1996. Dawn has written other various works including co-authoring A Leadership Primer for New Librarians: Tools for Helping Today's Early Career Librarians Become Tomorrow's Library Leaders (2009).
Affiliations and expertise
Wilsonville Campus Librarian, Oregon Institute of Technology, Portland, OR, USA

LC

Linda Crook

Linda Crook is Science Librarian and Assistant Professor at Washington State University, where she is the liaison to the College of Pharmacy. She received her MLIS from the University of Washington iSchool in 2000. She has been working in libraries since 1991, including time as student assistant, paraprofessional, and librarian; in a public library, a special library, and academic libraries; as lead, supervisor, division head, and branch library head. Linda is active in the American Library Association where she participated in the 2008 Emerging Leaders program. Her other works include a contribution to A Leadership Primer for New Librarians: Tools for Helping Today's Early Career Librarians Become Tomorrow's Library Leaders (2009).
Affiliations and expertise
Washington State University, USA

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