So you want to be an academic library director

Whether you're a new academic library director or a goal-minded manager, you can take concrete steps to gain and strengthen the leadership skills necessary for the job. That's the empowering message of this new collection which offers critical reflection to illuminate the path ahead. Featuring contributions from seasoned veterans sharing several careers' worth of lessons learned, this book

explores key facets of beginning leadership such as surviving the first year, the art of asking, and becoming a supervisor; deals with strategic planning, team-building, shared governance, forming and maintaining important relationships, community outreach, and other crucial skills; discusses safety, personnel-related legal issues, building a new library, managing change, and other potentially stressful situations; and includes a chapter on cultural diversity programming.

This work offers a starting point from which academic library directors and aspirants can learn about various leadership skills and then plan their own professional development accordingly.

• Preface p. vii
• 1 Navigating Institutional Culture Building Bridges and Not Burning Them p. 1 Peg Seiden and Eleanor Mitchell
• 2 The Art of Asking: Communicating Expectations within Your Library p. 15 Samantha Schmehl Hines
• 3 Collaboration in Connecticut Public Higher Education Libraries p. 23 Patricia S. Banach
• 4 The Sum of Its Parts: Building Teamwork in the Modern Academic Library Environment p. 31 Emy Nelson Decker
• 5 Iterative Strategic Planning: Lessons Learned in the Trenches p. 39 Bradford Lee Eden
• 6 So, You Find Yourself Supervising Faculty Librarians What Now? p. 45 Jonathan Miller
• 7 It's Always Personal: Developing an Awareness of Employment Law p. 55 Kim Clarke
• 8 Facilities for the Director: Communication and Process p. 63 Theresa Liedtka and Virginia Cairns
• 9 Library Safety and Security p. 73 Lisa Beinhoff
• 10 Why Shared Governance Is Both the Worst and Best Model for Decision-Making in Academic Libraries p. 81 Gary Fitsimmons
• 11 Relationships with Stakeholders p. 89 Patricia Tully
• 12 Reframing Community Relations: Four Perspectives on a Children's Book Event p. 97 Adam Murray
• 13 Cultural Diversity Programming at Academic Libraries: Skills for Success p. 105 Christopher Shaffer
• About the Authors p. 113
• Index p. 117