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These articles were originally part of May/June 2010's "Perspective's" column, but due to space restrictions could not be included in the print edition. Please take the time to gather some great leadership ideas with this web-only content!

PALS: A Friendly Leadership Experience

NOTE:  this article was first published in the Pennsylvania Library Association Bulletin and is reprinted by permission.

The inaugural class of the Pennsylvania Library Association Academy of Leadership Studies (PALS) took place June 7-10, 2009 in Camp Hill, PA. I was one of 25 new librarians privileged to come together with library mentors for four days of leadership training and development. Librarians gathered from across the state to share tips and strategies and to support each other’s development as future Pennsylvania library leaders. The innovative PALS program sought to cultivate our leadership potential while preparing us to take on more active roles within PaLA.

The experience began with a tour of the Fredricksen Library in Camp Hill. The library was built in 2001 and is full of light. We saw the various sections of the library, including the spacious children’s area and the lobby featuring displays local artwork. We heard about how the library funded their capital campaign and how they manage to accomplish so many programs by utilizing part-time professional staff. After the tour, we gathered in the library meeting room to get to know our fellow PALS participants.

Over the next three days, David Bendekovic of Polaris Library Systems led us in an exploration of leadership in a library environment. Examples of winning library programs were interspersed throughout the course.  Mentors offered real-world input to augment the program. Each participant assessed his or her social style (I’m an Amiable Analytical -- bring me the details!). We also discovered our leadership styles (I’m Structural primarily, but then I tend to have a Human Relations focus). With this information, we became better equipped to deal with colleagues with differing social styles as we could anticipate how we would act and how staff could respond to us.

We analyzed our leadership roles within our respective libraries. We learned about the importance of library mission statements, vision, and core values for staff to identify with and make their own. Mission statements should be short and powerful enough to fit on a t-shirt. In this way, the whole staff can recognize and consistently work toward the mission. We also explored how to go about marketing the library, focusing on how to use the mission statement and core values to represent our organizations to our communities.

Throughout PALS, each new librarian worked within a small group that shared an interest in one of PaLA’s six goal areas as defined by the Futures Committee Report of Strategic Initiatives. All participants took a survey before arriving at PALS to determine which goal area was of interest to each librarian. We were then paired into groups accordingly, with one mentor. I ended up in the Professional Advancement group, which focused on advocating for library workers, especially support staff; improving access to continuing education opportunities; and improving the public’s perception of library workers. The groups brainstormed throughout PALS to develop suggestions for the Futures Committee as to how PaLA could go about meeting the strategic objectives for each of the six goals. The groups presented their initial findings on the last day of PALS; each group will continue to work together virtually on the creation of more refined executive summaries to present to the Futures Committee.

The last day of PALS also included individual presentations of each participant’s action plan. As new librarians, we each chose a leadership objective and kept that in mind throughout PALS, using the content we learned to formulate action steps to help us reach our objectives. PALS was created with the intent that the experience not end after a mere four days: all of the librarians were able to develop their action plans in a document that we will retain, keeping ourselves on task to continue growing our leadership skills.

The southeastern chapter of PaLA generously sponsored my PALS participation. SEPLA has already provided me with opportunities to become involved at the chapter level, thus fulfilling one of PALS’ objectives that participants play active roles in PaLA. I therefore do not consider the PALS experience to be over: I will still communicate with my group to make recommendations to the PaLA Futures Committee. I will also continue to see these now familiar faces as I become more active at the chapter and state level of PaLA. As a participant, I gained a good deal of inspiration and motivation from PALS; I am sure that I haven’t yet realized the full gains that I brought back from this innovative leadership academy.