Monthly Archives: November 2024

Happy Thanksgiving to Those Who Celebrate!

And, for that matter, to those who don’t. Today is a holiday in the US, so there’s no new Vision & Balance content today. But I hope all of you have a joyful weekend.

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You Have an Unlimited Fund of Something Highly Valuable. Want to Know What It Is?

I’ve spent the last 20 years or so in library administration, and it’s taken me almost that long to figure out something essential. It’s simple, and it’s probably obvious to most people, but for me it took quite a while … Continue reading

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Five Awesome Things about Being a Library Leader

Following on from Tuesday’s discussion of “Five Sucky Things about Being a Library Leader,” I’m going to address what I think are five of the best things about being a library director (though I think they translate well into other … Continue reading

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Five Sucky Things about Being a Library Leader

This is Part 1 of a two-part essay, the first on downsides of leadership and the second on upsides. I debated with myself about whether the one that comes first (and is free to the public) should be the positive … Continue reading

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Being an Introverted Leader

One of the stereotypes of librarians is that we’re all introverts. The assumption is that we were attracted to this profession because we’re quiet, bookish types for whom social interaction requires an unusual expenditure of energy, energy that is replenished … Continue reading

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Innovation, Part 2: Innovative Leadership Is Overrated. Innovative Middle Management Is Underrated.

In Part 1 of this two-part series, I argued that we need to think about innovation more critically, not pursuing it as an end in itself but rather making sure that we always explicitly harness innovation to the idea of improvement.  Today I’m … Continue reading

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For Library Directors: Leading the Library After an Election

I’m pushing the second installment in my two-part series on innovation to next week, and bringing this week’s Thursday post forward by a day (and making it free to the public), because I think the time is right to address … Continue reading

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Innovation, Part 1: Innovation is Value-Neutral

Sometimes I get a little worried when I listen to the professional discourse in the library world around the concept of innovation. My worry is that we may be starting to see it as something that is inherently good and … Continue reading

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