[ILL-L] New Library Director Do's and Don'ts

[Leslie Starasta]

New Library Director Do's and Don'ts

 

           Thank you to everyone who contributed to the following list of
director do's and don'ts from various library listservs.  Many asked for a

           compilation so here it is.  Enjoy!

 

Do:

l        Smile lots, even if you don't know what is going on..... :)

 

l        Do take each one of your staff to lunch, individually, every so
often.  They love the attention and affirmation.

 

l        Catch your staff doing things right and let them know they've been
caught.

 

l        Remember that mistakes are only a method of learning and should be
considered part of training.

 

l        Keep in mind that the employees work for the institution, not you
as a person. Also that they work WITH you, not FOR you

 

l        Remember that FUN is an attitude not an activity and bring fun to
work.

 

l        Most of all, care about what you do and the people that work with
you and enjoy the challenge.

 

l        DO share information with faculty and staff.  We like having a
glimpse of the bigger picture (and are usually more willing to adapt to
changes if we understand why its being done)

 

l        Keep your hands off of the staff and students particularly the
females.

 

l        Review procedures for emergencies, censorship challenges, and
subpoenas.

 

l        Look at 5 year budget trends. 

 

l        Check for gum under the study tables.

 

l        Wait to find out why things are being done the way they are before
making changes.

 

l        Do what is ethically right no matter what the staff and/or the
provost wants.

 

l        Attend ALA at least annually.

 

l        Tour many libraries. The time you cannot find anything to improve
or an idea to use, retire.

 

l        DO schedule yourself for one desk shift per day.  You'll learn so
much about the student and staff issues at your library!

 

l        Do remember Administrative Professionals' Day. Your administrative
assistant is worth far more than she makes.

 

l        I recommend he make every effort to spend a few quality minutes
with every employee as soon as possible, and frequently throughout the year.

 

l        KEEP your sense of humor!

 

l        Do maintain calm in the center of the storm (or, fake it until you
make it). Things will eventually settle down to a dull roar so you can get
your bearings.

 

l        Know that there are no boundaries to the job, especially if part of
your job description includes any projects the College Administration deems
important

 

l        Make sure you understand the labor contracts that your institution
has negotiated.

 

l        Be grateful for everything.

 

l        If the library is truly "small," like mine -- Do realize you will
be in charge of getting the toilet fixed or the light bulb changed, as well
as presenting the budget to the board or tripping the light fantastic at the
next fundraiser. And that you will dearly miss having the staff to cover
jobs you never needed to do in a past life.

 

l        Variety -- or, "I do that job, too" -- is now your middle name.

 

l        Do enjoy the ride because it is a blast!

 

l        Library staffs are comprised of folks with one or more Master's
degrees, or at least Bachelor's degrees. What we need is leadership, not
authoritarianism. We all think we are qualified to be chiefs. Part of your
job is to allow your chiefs as much creativity and innovation as possible.
Another part is, when we conflict among ourselves, knowing how to "herd
chiefs."

 

l        One thing I can tell you from my director days is that I eventually
gave myself a great gift: I learned that my staff understood how to do their
jobs and do them well, even if they did their work in a manner that seemed
counter to how I would have approached and completed things. Once I was able
to comprehend this important point, I was able to better understand and
appreciate the good work they did and see the fruition of this work. And,
most importantly, I was able to let go of my need to try and "correct" their
behavior. After all, my staff knew how to do good work--they didn't need me
getting in their way. :)

 

l        Do occasionally check to be sure your socks match. Folks will
notice.

 

l        Food!!!

 

l        DO - buy doughnuts for your workers, during your first week and
regularly thereafter!

 

l        Also, keep candy on your desk for staff. Chocolate's always a good
choice. 

 

l        Keep looking for a new job.

 

Don't:

l        Don't throw anything away for the first year.  Stuff hidden in
closets/corners may have been kept for a reason.  You may need to be there a
while before you really understand the reasons..

 

l        The first thing that came to my mind is to not change anything
straight off. Take a bit to understand how things operate before suggesting
changes.

 

l        DON'T try to change everything at once.  As tempting as it is, slow
and steady will win you much more staff support.

 

l        Don't make any drastic changes for at least 3 months.

 

l        It is very painful for a new person to come in and change the way a
department does a procedure without discussing it with the supervisor of
that area. Even if the new idea turns out to be a great improvement, the way
the process takes place in the beginning leads to permanent damage of the
relationship between those involved.

 

l        Do not play favorites, for example: appreciate the older librarians
along with the newer, sometimes more tech savvy librarians.

 

l        Don't invite everyone to your house for an informal events (One of
my pet peeves, supervisors that assume I don't already have a life), Do have
informal social gatherings on work time.

 

l        --Don't preface everything you say with "This probably won't affect
you, but..." or "I know some of you may worry, but..."

 

l        Do not refer to your IT department folks as "codemonkeys." You will
find yourself battling a constant Blue Screen of Death.

 

l        Don't deny a librarian travel funding and then brag about your
European vacation as you slide into your new Lexus. It's considered tacky
*grin*

 

l        Do NOT hire both husband and wife.

 

l        Don't dress better than the boss 

 

l        Try not to cuss in front of customers

 

l        Don't ever, ever, ever read an evaluation that consists of
anonymous comments from your direct reports ;-).  If you do read such an
evaluation, write a response to your staff delineating what was said, and
how you intend to take their comments seriously.

 

l        Do not say anything less-than-positive to anyone about anything
until you learn where political alliances are -- and who spreads (and
possibly embellishes) everything they hear.

 

l        "Don't drool on your shirt."

 

Longer pieces of advice:

 

Something that  impressed me greatly about my first boss was seeing him with
a mop and pail cleaning up a flooded bathroom.  It showed how devoted he was
to protecting "his" library.

 

He was also a great library wanderer-- often walking around the building
deep in thought. He knew the building down to the wear on the tread of the
stairs, the  collection, the furniture the way it was used throughout the
day and the year.

 

Both the directors I have worked with have been advocates for their staff
and have made people a priority.

 

So...

l        Don't be afraid of getting dirty

l        Do be seen in every nook and cranny

l        Do value your staff

 

 

 

 

1.      Over the years I have decided it is wise to learn where the real
power is. The organization may have a diagram that shows lines of authority
but there probably is somebody, who may not even be on the chart, that has
the power.

 

2.      Learn as quickly as you can, does the administrator over you prefer
short, one-page reports, reports with supporting documents, reports with at
least one of the following: statistics, charts, tables, etc.? What reports
are expected?  Remember to keep a copy of all past reports so you can refer
to them if you are asked the same question again.

 

3.      Does the  administrator like to discuss things over a meal?

 

4.      In matters of budgeting, ask each year about how much increase would
be a good, ballpark figure. While you may push it, you probably will not get
things cut if you stay within the suggested percentage of increase.

 

5.      If you spend all of the money, but do not go over the budget, you
will have a stronger talking point when asking for an increase. With that in
mind, have a few cheaper things waiting to be ordered that you believe can
be purchased within the working deadline.

 

6.      As you plan budgeting, try to project ahead three years. A lot of
the time there may not be enough money to get all of something you need.
However, by purchasing a smaller part each year, you will soon have the
whole set.

 

7.      When you have smaller budgets you try to choose things that will be
useful to the maximum number of students.

 

My eclectic list, not in any kind of order, except No. 1 is always No. 1.  I
am sharing this with my staff; we keep no secrets. A good directorship is
like a very good and successful marriage that insists on mutual respect,
love, and care, and the unending indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

1. Trust God to have you and the staff and the library in his hands and his
purposes if you put them there. Put them there, every day, with prayer and
right action.

2. Don't get so bound up with the trivial, the routine, the "always
expected" (some of which you have to do, regardless) that you have no time
or energy for imaginative and creative work. Staff can do the routine well.
Trust them and move on to the bigger fish you have to fry. But always
encourage and reward staff imagination and creativity.

3. Anybody can maintain the status quo; a good director doesn't, but is
always pushing the envelope, keeping himself and the staff a bit on edge.
Always be developing and growing the staff, the services, the library, and
you.

4. Librarians are not risk takers. A good director is.

5. Librarians don't like ambiguity. A good director knows he has to survive
and thrive in ambiguity if his organization is to succeed.

6. Don't waste time with meetings and conferences anymore than you
absolutely have to. They are almost always time and money drains. Besides,
staff love to go to meetings off campus. Send them and pay their meals and
mileage.

7. Don't ever micromanage. Point out the right direction and give your staff
the reins. And then keep pointing out the direction, which, if you are doing
your job will change regularly. Corollary: Trust your staff to help you find
the right direction. All of you together are better than just you alone.
Jesus had 12 apostles. They and their successors Jesus has trusted with the
Church for 2,000 years. Corollary: you delegate authority even as you must
retain responsibility. 

8. Get to know, trust, and rely on the teaching faculty, especially for
collection development. But give them the tools to do the job right.

9. Understand that the most important criteria for a successful library is
successful student learning.  Corollary: No library can ever be more
successful than the best teacher's pedagogy.

10. Money is way down on the list of necessary things for library success,
especially if you focus on student learning rather than building a library
empire.

11. Worth repeating: love and trust your staff. Compliment, thank, be
affectionate toward, smile at, hug, and occasionally do the dishes after a
staff lunch. Corollary: be careful who you add to a staff. Take your staff's
advice and counsel on this. Degrading an organization's culture will quickly
destroy morale and creativity and productivity.

12. Never forget, you are a servant leader. Foot washing comes first and you
do it. Leadership follows and it is granted to you by those whose feet you
wash, if they trust you. Liking you is a bonus, but they will not follow you
if they do not trust you.

 

 

 

Leslie Starasta 
Information Services Librarian 
Jessie C. Eury Library 
Lincoln Christian College & Seminary 
lstarasta at lccs.edu 

P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

 
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