Library Leadership Podcast

Have you ever found yourself wishing there was one easy place to go with all of your questions about how to be a public library director? Many people come to positions of leadership in libraries with no formal training or a library degree.

So, where do you start? Whether you’re a current, new, or aspiring director there is a practical guide. On this show, I speak with Kate Hall, a library director since 2010, and Kathy Parker, with 16 years serving as a public library director. Together, they have given us the answers in their book, The Public Library Director’s Toolkit. This valuable resource provides one-stop-shopping for all of our questions about running a public library – from human resources to working with boards to overseeing a budget – it’s all here.

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How often in libraries do we ask ourselves how we can ensure that our services stay essential and sustainable in the communities we serve? These days, it may be more often than we like.

On today’s show, I speak with Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, Executive Director at the Mid-Hudson Library System in New York and author of the book, Sustainable Thinking: Ensuring Your Library’s Future in an Uncertain World. 

She presents globally on topics related to library sustainability and gives us essential guidance that helps us answer the question of how libraries can maintain our important roles in society.

In fact, the American Library Association finds this so essential that it has just adopted sustainability as a core value of librarianship.

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Have you ever wanted to be an advocate for your library but weren’t sure where to start? Chances are you’re already doing it in ways you might not have realized.

On today’s show we talk with Lance Werner, Executive Director for Kent District Library, about the difference between formal and informal advocacy and how we all probably already do some this on a daily basis.

With the information on this episode we can all get better at building relationships, maintaining those, and finding ways to intersect our interests with those of decision-makers, and others, who can help us sustain and grow our libraries.

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Have you ever wondered how you can handle the many disruptors in libraries that threaten our relevancy?

Today’s guest Ranny Lacanienta, Director of Product Management with SirsiDynix, walks us through the many changes that have taken place in libraries over the past decades.

He shares the importance of creating experiences in libraries as a way to engage patrons for lasting impact. Memorable experiences create ownership, encourage pride, and develop a sense of community. As people meet, convene, and share ideas in spaces that positively engage their senses—librarians develop a ‘product’ that will never become obsolete.

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Have you ever experienced in your library parts of the community that are struggling with literacy or perhaps even kids who arrive too hungry to engage? These are just a couple examples of the kinds of things that we all know, as librarians, we can’t solve by ourselves.

It’s best if we work with communities to build coalitions to meet unique needs. On today’s show we talk with two guests who have a program that can help. It’s called Communities + Libraries and begins with the premise that each community has the potential to thrive and that libraries are ideal for helping communities come together to reach their full potential.

You’ll learn about this model that any of us can use to design programs with partners that work for a community’s particular needs. Tune in as we hear from Erica Freudenberger, Outreach Consultant with the Southern Adirondack Library System, and Margo Gustina, Trustee Development Consultant with the Southern Tier Library system, both in New York, about their work, developed by a team, called Communities + Libraries: A Community-First Process. Enjoy the show!  

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How can we increase staff engagement and commitment to positive patron outcomes? Learn about a management model that holds that our employees are our first, and most important, customers.

If everyone understands our organizational brand, mission, and objectives we can improve service and reduce organizational dysfunction. Marketing to staff may seem like a big job. But, it takes everyone to “shoot for the moon”, as you’ll learn on this show.

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Have you ever thought to yourself that if you were only more organized you could be more productive? On today’s show Lisa Johnson, an information professional in the school setting provides for us ideas from her book, Creatively Productive, to help tackle time wasters and clear clutter for success.

She shares the importance of having passion and purpose while using the best tools for calming the chaos, both for ourselves and for the information seekers in our organizations. Making sense of it all will be easy after you listen to this show. 

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