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The Library & Information Science Professional's Career Development Center |
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Lessons in
Leadership: Practical Ideas for Growing Your Library Career |
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Where has all the time
gone? I find it hard to believe that I am well into my tenth year
in the library profession since graduating from the University of
Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science in August of
1991. There has been a lot
of growth and experience gained during that period, and my hope is that
that growth will only continue, and that new experiences will continue
to come my way. What about you?
Where are you at in your career path as a librarian?
It doesn’t matter whether you are just beginning your studies
in a graduate program in library and information science, or you are a
lifetimer librarian (LL for short).
Without growth and new experiences, we tend to stagnate and
become brittle. Who wants
to be a same-old, been-there-done-that librarian?
I sure don’t. With that in mind, I
would like to share with you a few lessons I’ve learned along the way
in my career thus far. My
hope is that for the newbies, these common sense points will encourage
and stimulate you, and for the LL’s, that these will resonate with
you. I hope you will be
nodding your head and saying to yourself, “UmmmmHmmmmm…” Lesson #1:
Seek a Mentor, Be a Mentor Nothing has been as
important to my success as mentors.
I have been incredibly fortunate to have people in my life who
have willingly given of themselves in order to provide me with
encouragement, advice, and a good kick in the seat of the pants once in
a while. This began with
Kathryn Luther Henderson, my advisor and professor at UIUC GSLIS. She is the queen of all mentors and someone whom I am
fortunate enough to call my friend.
My tenure in GSLIS was marked by a lot of personal turmoil, and
there were many times when I was ready to quit, to throw in the towel
and not carry on. Kathie
would not allow that to happen. Her
door was always open to me, at any time.
She would gladly interrupt her busy schedule to allow me the
opportunity to share my thoughts and fears, and to give me advice and
encouragement. I would
never have made it through the program without her.
And her mentoring did not end with my graduation, but has
continued to this day. It
is impossible for me in this short piece to adequately document how much
she has done for me. Another mentor whom I
was incredibly fortunate to encounter was my first boss in my very first
professional position, as a serials cataloger at The University of
Chicago Library. At the time of my interview, it was pointed out to me by an
administrator at Chicago, that I had no prior experience as a librarian,
and no training in serials cataloging, all of which was true.
Yet I was told that I could be working with someone who excelled
at training and coaching, and it was hoped that I would fit in well.
Cameron Campbell, then Head of Serials Cataloging
at Chicago and now Director of Indexing at the American
Theological Library Association, fit the bill.
He took a chance on a real newbie and helped expose me to
the wonderful world of serials librarianship, which is my first
professional love. (Who
would have thought?!) Like
Kathie Henderson, Cameron, also, remains a good friend. There are many others
who have mentored me whom I could highlight here.
But I wish instead to make an important additional point:
It isn’t just about being mentored, but also mentoring others
yourself. Frankly, it’s a
waste if you do not extend the effort others have given to you and share
of yourself with others in a similar way.
Try to seek out mentoring opportunities and give back what you
have been given! If you do, you will be astonished at how much you will learn
and grow. Lesson
#2: Learn to Be a Good
Communicator As you read this point,
perhaps you are thinking “Duh, that’s common sense.”
However, it has been my experience that too much of the time we
take this for granted, believing either that we are already good
communicators, or that we don’t need to make the effort to learn to be
one. Wrong!
There has never been a greater need for communication skills than
now, especially in this wired, electronic information age.
It is also important to clarify that being a good communicator
involves the whole package: written,
verbal, interpersonal, and visual. How does one become a
good communicator? My
approach has been simple: If
at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.
For instance, by nature I am not a very outgoing, party animal
type. I tend to enjoy
one-on-one conversation interspersed with bouts of nice solitude.
Lots of social interaction can leave me exhausted.
However, early in my career I made it a goal to overcome those
personal tendencies and sought out opportunities to interact with
others, especially in terms of public speaking.
A crucial platform for me to achieve this goal was involvement in
the North American Serials Interest Group (NASIG).
Within NASIG, I was quickly able to test and expand both my
verbal and written skills. For
example, I volunteered to write up a workshop presentation that would be
published in Serials Librarian.
I also agreed to write up a proposal for a presentation at the
next year’s conference along with a fellow NASIG member.
To my astonishment, the proposal was accepted and we found
ourselves giving one of the more heavily attended workshop presentations
at that conference. I sweated bullets, believe me, but it was a great learning
experience. In short, recognize
that being a good communicator is essential, and don’t be afraid to
stretch yourself by seeking out opportunities to improve your abilities
in this area. Lesson
#3: Leadership is an
Attitude, not a Position As
librarians, we all tend to poke fun at library administrators from time
to time (ditto for those in leadership positions in professional
organizations). In fact, we
often wonder what on earth they are doing, and why!
During the past ten years, I have found the hard way that first
of all, being a library administrator or leader of a professional
organization is NOT an easy task, and secondly, that leadership is not
necessarily related to a position. I
was very fortunate to have held a management position at Chicago after
three years as a serials cataloger.
My job was to supervise a large copy cataloging unit, and then
later on, to also manage technical services-related involvement in
electronic resources development and administration.
During this same time, I was somehow elected president of NASIG
(yes, that still amazes me). Both
jobs were tough, much more so than I had ever imagined!
However, among many other lessons I learned was that the job or
role in and of itself doesn’t matter, it is how you approach your
dealings with others and the attitude you bring to the role that will
make you a leader. Some of
the people in our profession whom I admire the most do not have any
supervisory responsibility but are clearly leaders who cast a long
shadow. Do
not think that you need to have an administrative position of some kind
in order to be a leader! Conversely,
do not emulate those who pride themselves as being Somebody just because
they are an administrator or work for a prestigious institution or
somehow managed to get elected to a leadership position in a
professional organization. We
all know people like that, and frankly, there are far too many of them
in our profession already. Instead,
strive for excellence, for an understanding of the “big picture” in
addition to the minutiae of your own area of expertise, for a strong
working relationship with everyone with whom you work or are in contact,
and always be willing to explore new professional frontiers. Lesson
#4: Don’t Take
Yourself too Seriously This is basically an
extension of what I already stated above, but put more directly.
You will make mistakes, you will screw up, you will have days in
this profession where you are dying to escape from it or wonder why on
earth you ever chose to become a librarian.
And if you don’t wonder that for yourself, there will be
plenty of people who will wonder about that for you!
It is strange that librarianship has such an image problem among
the general public. After
all this time as a librarian, I still get teased about it once in a
while. But you know what?
Who cares! You many not get all the respect you crave, you may be as poor as a church mouse because no one pays librarians very well, and you may endure frustrations galore in your library work. But realize that you are participating in a most worthwhile profession; keep the bigger picture always in mind. Don’t allow yourself to get a big head, either. Keep yourself humble. Steve Oberg has been a librarian for ten years now. After holding positions of increasing responsibility at the University of Chicago, he left academia to spend two years on the "dark side" as a business analyst at Endeavor Information Systems, Inc. He recently accepted the position of Electronic Resources Librarian at a private, evangelical Christian liberal arts college named Taylor University, and is very happy to be settling into his new role there. Visit his personal website at http://homepage.mac.com/murphymoose/steve. Article submitted Apr 2002 Disclaimer: The
ideas expressed in LIScareer articles are those of their respective
authors
and do not necessarily represent the views of the LIScareer editors. |
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Page last updated
10/03/2005
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