What leadership qualities are necessary for productive librarianship? Explore coaxial traits of academic librarians in the twin cities of Pakistan

Academic libraries are experiencing significant changes, and leadership plays an essential role in successfully implementing those changes. The study analyzed the leadership practices in academic libraries in Pakistan's twin cities (Islamabad and Rawalpindi). Another important purpose of the study was to shed light on the adopted practices in decision-making and motivating staff. The qualitative research approach was used to achieve the objectives. A structured interview method was employed to collect data from twenty chief librarians or directors of university libraries in Rawalpindi and Islamabad (twin cities). A purposive sampling technique was used. Open-ended questions were used to collect the data by considering the research objectives. The consent was taken from the selected LIS professionals as prior permission for the interview. NVivo was used to analyze the data, which was then presented using thematic content analysis. The findings revealed that most university library leaders were practising and following the participatory leadership style, also known as democratic leadership.The study will create awareness among academic professionals about the adopted leadership styles and practices and the benefits that can be obtained by implementing them. It will also attract the attention of associated bodies towards this dilemma and result in a positive initiative to build leadership skills in LIS professionals. To our knowledge, no prior study has been conducted to analyze the leadership practices in academic libraries in the Twin Cities, Pakistan. This study will fill that niche.     

An online nursing leadership literature centre at the University of Manitoba Health Sciences Libraries

Background: Decades of hospital restructuring in Canada resulted in significant reductions of nursing leadership positions and altered a nursing infrastructure important for guiding patient care. The importance of acquiring nursing leadership skills to address the negative effects of restructuring is advocated by Canadian nursing bodies. Objectives: To describe a service innovation for a nursing community. The librarians of the University of Manitoba Health Sciences Libraries (UMHSL) created an online nursing leadership literature centre to support a leadership programme launched by the Nursing Leadership Council (NLC) of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. The article will contribute to the body of literature about health library services for nurses. Methods: The creation of the service is described. A literature search was undertaken to determine what services have been implemented by librarians for nursing leadership programmes, as well as to review the literature with regard to contributions made by librarians for nursing communities. Results: The literature service, comprised of 19 webliographies based on the NLC's leadership topics, is available on the UMHSL website. A webliography, by definition, is a list of electronic works relating to a particular topic. The NLC created its own website that provides nurses with a means to identify, enhance and evaluate leadership competencies, and which is linked to the UMHSL website. Conclusion: The contributions of the UMHSL librarians to this project support the goals of instilling leadership skills in nurses, encouraging evidence‐based nursing practice, and transforming a practice environment to meet the ultimate goal of effective patient care.     

Millennials among the Professional Workforce in Academic Libraries: Their Perspective on Leadership

This study explores possible leadership perceptions of Millennials working in academic libraries, specifically their definition, the attributes they associate with leadership, whether they want to assume formal leadership roles, whether they perceive themselves as leaders, and whether they perceive leadership opportunities within their organizations and LIS professional associations. An online survey was utilized to gather the responses and the study participants comprised of Millennials (born 1982 or after) currently working full-time in libraries that were a member of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), a consortium of the Big Ten universities and the University of Chicago in 2011–12.     

Perceptions of Transformational Leadership in Academic Libraries

ABSTRACT

Transformational leadership is highly correlated with effective organizations and successful change, yet few studies of this leadership style exist in the library literature. This study examined perceptions of transformational traits in academic library leaders. The study asked academic librarians at 4 year institutions to rate their library's leadership using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. While the librarians perceived their library leaders to be more transformational than transactional, the mean score for transformational leadership was middling, as were the scores for each of the transformational components. This could indicate a lack of change readiness in these libraries.     

Leadership Reflections: It is Not About the Perks

Abstract

Our guest columnist is Karl Bridges who has served in a variety of leadership roles in academic libraries. I have gotten to know Karl over the past few years as he was asked to serve in an interim dean role and then hired into the permanent dean positions. At the time, I was at the University of Wyoming and serving as a leader in sparsely populated state where everyone knows your name. Western leaders have to form a tight bond – there are fewer of us and the distances are great. But regardless of geographical situations, leaders need and depend on peer networks that provide a safe space for frank conversations and sharing ideas that help all libraries achieve their goals. Karl has dealt with changing university leadership, library transformations, and dire budget situations. Well, pretty much what every library leader must face. Despite these challenges, library leaders have an opportunity to make a real difference. Karl draws upon his years of experience to provide a thought piece about library leadership noting the complexity, the importance of leadership, and the real joy of making a difference in someone’s life. I hope you enjoy this raw look at leadership and that it reminds you of the purpose of leadership.     

大学图书馆领导力发展的几个问题

通过战略规划应对挑战,图书馆需要实现领导力发展。中国大学图书馆领导力发展应明确几个问题,包括图书馆领导力发展与图书馆管理的不同;图书馆个体领导力与集体领导力的关系;图书馆、大学图书馆以及中国内地大学图书馆领导力发展的特殊性。     

A study of the characteristics of student raters of public speaking performances

Social psychologists generally have rejected the notion that leadership can be explained by divine inspiration, inherited characteristics, or by a fortuitous combination of personal traits. Some modern theorists have proposed instead a situational theory of leadership, arguing that persons who emerge as leaders do so because their special talents are essential to the group at the moment. The same person, therefore, is unlikely to persist in a position of leadership from one group setting to another unless the conditions are similar.

This study reports an attempt to measure the degree of consistency in leadership status of twenty‐five subjects who were randomly assigned to groups solving problems of a motor, artistic, mathematical, literary, social, and spatial character. At the conclusion of each stage of the experiment, nominations for group leaders were made for a second round of a similar activity. Status scores, based on perceived leadership adequacy, were then compared for the various group tasks, and correlation coefficients determined. On the whole, the results of the study tend to support the view that leadership is dependent upon situational variables, at least two of which seem to be changes in group tasks and membership.     

Money and Leadership: A Study of Theses on Public School Libraries Submitted to the University of the Philippines' Institute of Library and Information Science

The author suggests the importance of knowledgeable leadership as a factor in improving Philippine school libraries. He offers a brief case study of how two different libraries fared with similar levels of funding. One without outstanding leadership did not advance; the other with knowledgeable leadership made large advances. This report is drawn from the author's earlier degree research at the University of the Philippines' Institute of Library and Information Science.     

Face the Books: A Leadership Journey

Leadership, as a topic, has seen a lot of interest in academics as well as with practitioners. The search, however, has not yielded a concrete formula, though there are quite a few theories which have worked well in certain contexts. The context of special libraries is one such area which has a huge potential in discovering what leadership actions have worked well and what can be a framework for success in other special libraries, especially when the utility of special libraries is being questioned in a corporate environment. The dearth of leadership and leadership development literature in special libraries, from a practitioner's point of view, provides a good opportunity for sharing a small journey of success. The column builds upon the application of leadership actions deriving from diverse and merging fields like learning and development, organizational behavior, marketing, and human psychology of reading in making a case for the utility of corporate libraries in the development of employees.     

Frustration and language intensity

This study investigated the functional relationships among orientation behavior, leadership, and consensus. The study posited that orientation, when viewed as a message variable, is significantly related to the emergence of task leadership     

Shared Leadership in a Community Theater Group: Filling the Leadership Role

In contrast to research in which an individual leader is assigned or expected to emerge, musical theater productions provide an opportunity to explore how leadership is shared among the director, assistant director, music director, choreographer, and stage manager in a naturally occurring group. This ethnographic study explores how one community theater group managed the sharing of leadership roles when the primary director assumed a passive or ineffective role. The study explores the communication and affective responses of the secondary leaders and cast members when they perceived that the primary leadership failed to function and then examines how secondary leaders and cast members communicated to share the leadership to produce successful theatrical performances. The results have implications for other groups with shared leadership structures.     

Shared Leadership in a Community Theater Group: Filling the Leadership Role

In contrast to research in which an individual leader is assigned or expected to emerge, musical theater productions provide an opportunity to explore how leadership is shared among the director, assistant director, music director, choreographer, and stage manager in a naturally occurring group. This ethnographic study explores how one community theater group managed the sharing of leadership roles when the primary director assumed a passive or ineffective role. The study explores the communication and affective responses of the secondary leaders and cast members when they perceived that the primary leadership failed to function and then examines how secondary leaders and cast members communicated to share the leadership to produce successful theatrical performances. The results have implications for other groups with shared leadership structures.     

Effective Leadership in Academic Health Sciences Libraries: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study

The purpose of this study was to better understand how academic health sciences library directors construct their understanding of effective leadership. After transcribing and performing thematic analysis on the interviews of eight academic health sciences library directors, five main themes emerged from the data: understanding leadership, building a vision, relationships are key, advocating and credibility, and measuring success. The findings suggest there are internal and external leadership responsibilities for library directors, both of which are important, however, the internal responsibilities are easier to delegate. Also, academic health sciences library directors need better evaluation methods for determining their effectiveness as leaders.     

A perspective on academic library middle management in the COVID era

Middle managers in academic libraries are often the first point of contact for employees within their departments. Middle managers work as colleagues, advocates, and project managers. While the responsibilities may vary between institutions, it is essential that middle managers develop leadership skills to function effectively in their positions. In the era of COVID-19, middle managers must reconcile their own expectations of their role with the changing needs and responsibilities of those they manage. COVID-19 is a complex phenomenon that has brought many issues such as health and social inequity to the forefront. These issues should be considered in leadership techniques that are utilized by middle managers in academic libraries. When leading a department, the manager must consider the whole person. This column will discuss several leadership styles that consider the whole person and can be effective for academic library middle managers as they navigate the complexities of their positions in the COVID-19 Era.     

Leadership Reflections: Extrovert and Introvert Leaders

Leadership calls for the ability to work well with people, communicate with stakeholders, participate in and lead meetings, and often public speaking. As a leader advances within an organization, expectations increase for the individual to engage with others as leaders spend more time working with colleagues and stakeholders to advance the organization. These expectations tend to favor extroverts in leadership roles but organizations may overlook the strengths of introverts as leaders losing out on the potential for effective management. An understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of personality types will help individuals as well as organizations in developing leadership in order to achieve organizational goals.     

A New Leadership Paradigm:

The critical steps to improved performance in organizations are the empowerment of staff and the meaningful involvement of staff at all levels of the organization. This calls for a new paradigm of leadership, the "acknowledge-create-empower" paradigm as developed by Evered and Selman. The author describes this model and its application to library organizations. The core values and leadership philosophy for empowering staff are explained. Sullivan suggests a number of strategies for library managers to consider as they increase the role of staff in library problem-solving and decision-making.     

数字时代图书馆管理危机

在数字环境下,现代信息技术与网络技术的发展对我国各类图书馆的管理和发展带来新的要求和挑战。目前,我国图书馆管理中还存在着许多危机因素,尤其体现在图书馆领导者、组织结构、战略规划、制度建设等方面。因此,图书馆机构及其领导者需要提高管理能力、准确制定并实施发展战略、培育自身文化,并采取积极措施应对竞争,才能更好地适应数字化环境下图书馆的发展。     

The impact of leadership and stakeholders on the success/failure of e-government service: Using the case study of e-stamping service in Hong Kong

Using e-stamping service in Hong Kong as a case study, this paper examines the impact of leadership and stakeholders on the success or failure of e-government service in Hong Kong. Multiple methods are used for data collection: documents and archival record research, direct observation, and interviews. Results show that both leadership and stakeholders have an impact on the success of e-stamping service.