Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

What makes a good director? How does a librarian know she has the competencies needed to be an effective manager-leader? How does the library board or community know what to look for in a director? What should the library profession look for in their rising managers? There are not clear answers to these questions right now. But development of a set of research-based competencies will give answers to these questions, and will give a foundation for other research-based ideas to be developed to assist manager-leaders in the library. The research objective for this study is to refine a set of competencies, identified from the literature, through the opinions of current public library directors. The development of manager/leaders in the library world is too important to be left to chance. Using a research-based set of competencies as a foundation should help in the development of training opportunities for librarians who wish to be successful in their positions as directors.

Keywords

leadership competencies public libraries library directors library managers library leaders leadership training

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Brill

Bishop

Walker

(2006) The competencies and characteristics required of an effective project manager: A web-based Delphi study. Educational Technology Research and Development, 54 (2): 115–140.

Dole

Hurych

Liebst

(2005) Assessment: A core competency for library leaders. Library Administration and Management 19(3): 125–132.

Gordon

(1994) The Delphi Method. Futures Research Methodology. Retrieved April 15, 2008, from http://www.futurovenezuela.org/_curso/5-delphi.pdf.

Helmick

Swigger

(2006) Core competencies of library practitioners. Public Libraries 45(2): 54–69.

Lester

Van Fleet

(2008) Use of professional competencies and standards documents for curriculum planning in schools of library and information studies education. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 49: 43–69.

Mackenzie

Smith

(2009) Management education for library directors: Are graduate library programs providing future library directors with the skills and knowledge they will need? Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 50(3): 129–142.

Osa

(2003) Managing the 21st century reference department: Competencies. The Reference Librarian 81: 35–50.

Suwannarat

(1994) Library leadership in research university libraries. (Doctoral dissertation, Peabody College for Teachers of Vanderbilt University).

Van Wert

(2004) How do we know what we don’t know? Competencies and staff development in special libraries. Colorado Libraries 30(2): 10–14.

Developing leadership competencies in librarians

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References