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But I Want To Hold It In My Hand! Print Resources
Brockmeyer, Donna. On Sybil's Shoulders: Seeking Soul in Library Leadership. Scarecrow, 2005. ISBN 0810851202. $35.00. Purchase from Amazon.com.
The real crisis in librarianship today is in leadership. Library schools churn out new graduates with no idea what it means to be a manager or library leader. Library associations are just beginning to address this issue with workshops, courses, and programs. Donna Brockmeyer's On Sybil's Shoulders takes a varied and dynamic look at library leadership, based on the author's own experiences as a library leader and her involvement in the Northern Exposure to Leadership (Canada) and the American Snowbird Leadership Institute. She begins with a discussion of soul in leadership before moving on to examine a variety of leadership theories and models, both ancient and modern. The bulk of the work, however, focuses on the leadership institutes and a follow-up survey. Also included are comments from nine library leaders who have touched the author's life. This is a highly recommended book for all librarians.
Lisa A. Ennis is the Reference Librarian at UAB Lister Hill Library in Birmingham, AL. She received her M.S. in Information Sciences from the University of Tennessee in 1997 and her M.A. in history from Georgia College & State University in 1994.
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Curran, Charles and Lewis Miller. Guide to Library and Information Agency Management. Scarecrow, 2005. ISBN 0-8108-5115-6. $45.00. Purchase from Amazon.com.
Curran and Miller describe this book as a field guide to "information places." Like a natural history guidebook, it provides a descriptive overview of what one is likely to encounter in a particular place - in this case, libraries and information agencies - warning of hazards, and pointing out interesting opportunities.
Broad in scope and written in an easy-to-read style, this guide can most appropriately be used as an introduction to management for library and information science students. Each chapter includes one or more exercises, labeled "Your Turn," that are intended to stimulate thoughts and discussions about issues that arise in the information workplace. These exercises appear to be designed for a classroom or continuing education setting. While experienced managers will find most of this book's content to be familiar, it may still be useful for those in larger organizations who need to conduct in-house management training sessions.
Jan Hutchins is Manager of the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) Library, located at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.