In a digital age, with e-books and information available at a click of a mouse or tap of an iPad or just touch phone away, public libraries are rethinking the way they operate within their Councils and communities.
They not only need to meet new client needs, they’re operating in a climate of diminishing budgets. The rapidly evolving environment means that the role of the public librarian and the skills required to do the job are also changing.
No longer is the public librarian just a master of the Dewey Decimal System. As well as being technologically savvy, modern librarians need to be excellent communicators, effective leaders, demonstrate entrepreneurial acumen and serve as trusted advisers to their Councils.
In response to the varied challenges of a Google-dominated online world, as well as changes resulting from recent Council amalgamations in Queensland, the State Library of Queensland engaged Brisbane firm Niche Consultants to develop a leadership training program to expand the knowledge and skill base of public librarians across the state.
“The Council amalgamations have meant new reporting structures for librarians within the new Councils,” says Niche Consultants Director Helen Darch.
“The librarians have new stakeholders to manage, and there is a heavy focus on showing the value for money that they provide to Council budgets.
“What the State Library was looking for was a program which would help empower librarians and assist them in taking the lead in shaping their futures and leading their communities. Something that would help give them the confidence to step out from behind the desk.”
Niche Consultants met with State Library senior management, and interviewed librarians and library managers from several Councils to explore their work context and assess their needs. This information was used to shape the content of Niche’s Leading Edge library leadership training program.
The three developers and deliverers of the program – Ms Darch, Niche Director Colleen Clur, and senior adviser Janine Schmidt – bring with them a broad range of expertise.
Ms Darch, an experienced management consultant is also a former librarian; Ms Clur has wide experience as a corporate communications manager; and Ms Schmidt has extensive leadership and management experience within libraries, including the State Library of New South Wales, The University of Queensland Library and McGill University Libraries, Canada.
The Leading Edge library leadership training program comprises a series of workshops run over four days. The program was delivered in May and June to 38 librarians at workshops held in Brisbane and another 22 librarians at workshops in Townsville. Librarians came from all corners of the state including Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Mackay, Rockhampton, Charters Towers and Redland Bay.
“It was a very effective program,” said Director of Public and Indigenous Library Services for the State Library, Jane Cowell, “and we are still receiving positive comments from participants.”
Ms Darch said the librarians who attended “appreciated the opportunity to brainstorm with their peers on the issues they face, particularly those who were from one-person libraries in regional centres.
“They said that they had not had many opportunities to come together as a group and network. Those from smaller centres said they had not been confident of their decision-making, and were boosted by discovering that they had issues in common with their peers in other libraries, although obviously on a different scale.”
The Leading Edge training program comprises four modules: Innovating Through Leadership; Embracing Change; Getting Your Message Across; and Futurising Your Enterprise.
Topics discussed include positioning yourself in your environment; analysing the environment; getting and keeping the right people; promoting and positioning your library; engaging with the community; and building a business case. Innovative components include video interviews, case studies and interactive group exercises.
“As the workshops progressed, and with the group exercises, we found people becoming more confident, especially after learning how others had tackled the challenges of technology,” Ms Darch said.
“Public librarians still feel themselves relevant, and a lynchpin in their communities who can communicate community needs to their Councils.
“They are looking at their libraries being more than the place from which you borrow a book or where you use a computer terminal. They’re a place you can have group meetings and maybe events like speed dating with books. Libraries can also serve the needs of the people who are often ignored in a technology revolution – the disabled and the elderly.”
“Librarians see the library of the future not as a place of quiet contemplation, as in the past. It is a place of debate and social interaction. A place that buzzes with life.”
John Scott, Manager Library Services at the Burdekin Shire Council, said the leadership program had helped him “validate that my thinking is current and relevant for my library”.
“With leadership, you have to be a risk taker, you have got to say, ‘I’m prepared to try this out’,” Mr Scott said.
“Library leaders need to have a feel for where they fit in in the wider world, and in the communities that they serve.”
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