Author Archives: Rick Anderson

Every healthy library organization has a clear workflow for producing, re-examining, and revising policies. No library can function well unless its employees (and its patrons) are able to easily find and clearly understand its organizational policies, nor can it function well if there isn’t … Continue reading →

As a library leader, one of your most important jobs is to make space in your organization for the expression of minority perspectives. Of course, one complicating factor is that the term “minority perspectives” can mean so many different things. … Continue reading →

Some years ago, I was on a campus search committee that was chaired by one of the university deans. As search committees are, we were tasked with winnowing down a large group of applicants to a small group of finalists. … Continue reading →

In recent years, as social and political issues have become increasingly fraught and there has been more and more division and conflict both in our society and on the campuses that academic libraries serve, there has been increasing controversy over … Continue reading →

In an earlier post, I wrote about what I called the “value-neutrality” of innovation – basically making the point that an initiative isn’t necessarily either more or less valuable simply because it can reasonably be called “innovative.” What matters is … Continue reading →

In mission-driven organizations, we tend to feel a particular irritation when those to whom we answer require us to account for our work with statistics. “Not everything that matters can be quantified!,” we insist – and we’re right. In fact, … Continue reading →

If you’ve spent any time in library leadership, you’ve probably encountered a situation like this: One of the people you supervise – let’s say it’s a librarian named Gary – wants a library policy to change. But the policy – … Continue reading →

One of the most frequent and potentially vexing questions a library leader faces is “When do we make exceptions to rules?” It’s a tough question in any organization, but maybe especially so in an organization that is constitutionally designed for … Continue reading →

With today’s post, I’m introducing an occasional series with the theme “Two and a Half Cheers.” Let me explain, briefly, what it’s about. Usually we use the phrase “Two cheers for…” to preface discussion of something that is commonly underappreciated … Continue reading →

Tuesday’s post was about managing the library agenda in a macro, high-level way, by being careful to avoid the mistake of allowing your organizational agenda to be driven by the person who happens to be making his case in your … Continue reading →