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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!

Reflections on Library Leadership

When you have been out of a field for a while it's only natural to think that it might require something as drastic as boot camp to get back into the swing of things.  I had been involved in libraries since I was a teenager, working my way up to library assistant when a poor economy intervened and sent me off in another career direction. I worked as a graphic designer, art director, printer and teacher. But eventually it all came back to libraries and a secret desire  to work where I could read on the job. So I went to library school. Back in the 1980's Library science was a field with an identity crisis. The field that couldn't decide whether it was an art or a science. Competition from private information brokers threatened to make it obsolete, or so it seemed at the time. Then computers hit the desks--providing a rejuvenating shot in the arm for library science. The field embraced them as a new tool for information gathering and dissemination, and so did I.

I had always been involved with the Massachusetts State Board of Library Commissioners. I had served on the committee that reviewed LSTA grants--my expertise in disability issues as an assistive technology consultant was useful--as was my propensity for speaking at conferences, evangelizing accessibility, and trying to help libraries find ways to make their buildings and services accessible to all their patrons. So although I had contacts I was still on the fringe.

Then 20 years, Directorship of three academic computer centers, and a federal grant later, I found myself hired to assemble a special library focused on Universal Design. I had lots of experience in many things but was least experienced (in my opinion) in the actual running of a library. When the call for participation in a Library Leadership event crossed my desk it seemed like the solution to my misgivings. I applied to attend the institute as a mentee. A colleague at the Board of Library Commissioners wrote me a letter of recommendation and--I was turned down. The reason was that I was already considered to be a leader in the state from my work in accessibility--and would I consider coming as a mentor? Heck yeah!

At the appointed time and date I arrived. Still feeling far more like a mentee than a mentor I embraced the experience of "beginners mind". It's always a good place to start. The workshops at the Institute were conducted by Maureen Sullivan and Jack Siggins, experienced and very talented facilitators. Focusing on library issues, their sessions were designed to help the participants identify  personal strengths and interests and build awareness of what the issues were in the field. One of the tools they used allowed participants to identify their leadership styles. It was enlightening for me. While I had taken personality tests before this particular exercise gave me some tools that I use to this day, self-knowledge being one of the most valuable. Just as valuable were the in-between times where the attendees, both mentee and mentor, got to know each other,  forming  bonds that continued far beyond the event. It was in these informal "get togethers" that the mentees and mentors got to create relationships with some of the key people in libraries and library organizations across the state. Those networking relationships may be the key to the survival of the field in this time of economic turmoil. While working for many years in a field will inevitably bring people together as colleagues, having the opportunity to form those relationships in a weekend is invaluable.

Part of the agreement for attending the conference was to commit to a number of advocacy activities in the year following the event. These activities ranged from presenting at a conference to writing a paper to submit for publication. For attendees new to the field this comittment pushes them into a set of activities that will serve them well in their careers. It also ensures that enthusiasm and innovative ideas will be shared and that personal networks will continue to grow and enrich the field of librarianship.

Did I use my expertise? Yes, although I know, that depending on the current trends in the world, some mentors experiences will be more relevant than others at the time. In my case my expertise was quite specific. Individuals who were in a library contemplating construction or who had identified specific service gaps in their programs benefited most. Others had either done the work or didn't know that they needed to. That informed me that it was time to go back to speaking at conferences about accessibility and universal design. I had stopped some years before because it felt like preaching to the choir. There was a new generation now who had not been part of the original push fueled by the passage of the ADA. I was able to arrange two sessions at the next state library conference. And presented there with another one of the mentors who had complimentary expertise in the year that followed the Institute.That was one of the ways we fulfilled our obligation to be advocates in the state.

On a more personal note, when the economy went south,  I joined the millions of other unemployed people. My search led me to a library where, ironically, the Director had also attended the same Leadership Institute. Job mentoring has taken on far more importance as cuts have eliminated jobs. It works in the favor of both the job seeker and the employer seeking to have a more personal way to explore potential employment fit.

I now work in a place where I can share vision and enthusiasm with a colleague of like mind. Where advocacy and systems change are daily concepts and we brainstorm ways to change the field for the better. It is, in effect another kind of boot camp where we get to test out our theories on excellent public service and shape a model for sustainable libraries that will persist into the future. With this kind of momentum can world domination be far away?