Category Archives: Uncategorized

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

I don’t know if I’ve had a lot of great insights over the course of my career. There are things I’ve figured out, and things that other people have figured out and explained to me, but there haven’t been many … Continue reading →

I have a number of pet peeves with the current culture of news reporting. I’m not going to get into all of them here, because this isn’t the venue, but one of my peeves in particular actually does dovetail nicely … Continue reading →

One of the most frustrating things for a leader is when it’s clear (to the leader) that some kind of organizational change is necessary, but people in the organization resist accepting and implementing it. Such resistance can take many forms … Continue reading →

One of the biggest challenges for a library leader is trying to figure out when to be transparent, and how transparent to be.  Sometimes, of course, it’s an easy call. Confidential personnel issues, preliminary information about upcoming university changes, non-public … Continue reading →