leadership – OPEN SHELF

Put your oxygen mask on first: 13 strategies to support your teams and yourself

Branch managers can feel pulled in all directions, have a need to work at all hours, and yet seem removed from their staff. How can they support staff when not physically working side-by-side and when they have the need to "put their own masks on first?"

Features

Three pieces of advice for new managers

I have worked in the library world for 25 years, with all sorts of managers, and have a perhaps unique perspective on leadership styles. Here are my three best pieces of advice for new managers.

Features

Public Library Leaders program: Making connections, creating future leaders

Now in its fourth year, the Public Library Leaders program is gaining a reputation for preparing library managers to successfully advance to higher levels of leadership within their institutions.

Features

Good to Great

"Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don’t…

Keeping Current

A Found Balance, and Lessons Learned: OCULA President’s Message

For many past presidents, the opportunity to serve on the OCULA council executive is an opportunity to develop or refine leadership skills, work with…

InsideOCULA

What Makes a Library Leader?

Leadership does not mean power, and the ultimate challenge is developing leadership skills in a position of little to no power, a situation that…

Trees and Forests

Lifting others up through leadership: OCULA President’s Message

I’m not going to lie: when I applied for library school in early 2011 I had no idea what I was getting into. I…

InsideOCULA

Public Library Leaders Fellowship Program

As part of the Public Library Leaders Fellowship (PLLF) program, my colleagues and I recently had the opportunity to visit Cuyahoga County Public Library…

Features

Librarian to Life Coach

What is so important that if you don’t have it, your whole life feels off? What’s stopping you from having that important thing in…

InsideOCULA

Leadership and the Development of Library Accessibility Policies

This year I have had the pleasure to be a part of a hiring committee for a new librarian position and, rolling up my…

Features

You’re Not the Boss of Me

Have you seen the "Ban Bossy" campaign geared to girls? My first reaction was “hey, bossiness has its place’ (growing up, my friends called me…

Bird's Eye

Brainwashed – In a Good Way

I recently had the opportunity to meet with Valoree McKay, the new Executive Director for the Canadian Library Association. Associations usually go one of…

Bird's Eye