Librarian Leadership interview
Cliff January 23rd, 2008
I did this email interview for an MLIS student from my alma mater. I figured I’d share it. What advice would you give to future librarian leaders?
Life Story
I grew up across from a library in Lake Park, Georgia, and spent a lot of time there. I went to Auburn University first majoring in Horticulture, and then in Religious Studies. As I was about to graduate, I was looking at my options, and I met a reference librarian who explained her job to me. It sounded like a good option, so while applying to grad schools in Religious Studies, I added FSU’s MLIS program. I was accepted to FSU’s MLIS program and chose it since it was ALA accredited and was all distance education. I figured librarianship would be a good “back up” career (after all, there aren’t many options for a bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies unless you’re headed to seminary or are planning on starting a cult). I enjoyed my time at FSU, and completed two semesters worth of internships at Valdosta State during my last year at FSU (I strongly recommend internships to all MLIS students!). Upon graduating, I began a job search and applied to graduate programs in Religious Studies. I took a position at Valdosta State as Library Instruction Coordinator, later became Reference Facilitator, and am now Associate Professor and Technology Librarian. My particular area of “fame” (wink wink nudge nudge) in the library world is for my work on the impact of social networks on libraries. More on what I do can be found at http://clifflandis.net/
Leadership Definition
Leadership is taking the ability to turn a vision into reality and involving other people in the process.
Life’s Dream
I have chosen to experience life via relationships. Therefore, I emphasize humanity in all of my experiences. I try to be a good person to those around me, whether I’m teaching, answering questions, writing email, giving a presentation, going bar hopping with friends, or having lunch with my mother. There’s a lot to be said for the joy of being nice and polite. I also recognize that not everyone around me chooses to experience life in the same way–others create, build, destroy, hope, travel, want, fight, or whatever. This is the way that they choose to experience life, and so I try to respect that (meaning that not everyone’s going to appreciate my perspective on things). So as to “achieving my dreams,” I don’t look for a certain thing to have or do, but more a way to relate to those around me. I try to add more to Life than what I take away.
What does it take to be a good leader (leadership model)?
I can’t answer that one clearly because it lacks context (just like a Reference Librarian to do a reference interview for a simple question, eh?). I’ll ignore the obvious leader-of-people-and-or-teams definition. Instead, I’ll address being a leader in a particular field or area of research. Good leadership means: 1) staying in touch with developments as they happen, 2) having the ability to quickly analyze, understand, synthesize, and communicate information from a variety of sources to create new ideas, 3) to understand both the micro- and macrocosm of a particular area of human experience, 4) having the ability to create and maintain relationships with a variety of people in the field, 5) having the ability to communicate clearly and effectively in any form of communication (written, conversational, presentation, email, instant messaging, SMS, etc.). Oh, and lots of energy. I’m sure there’s more, but that’s all I’ve got at the moment. I’ve drawn on a variety of disciplines to gain the skills and ideas that I use in my writing and presentation work.
Leadership Principles
This is tough, because there are benevolent leaders and malevolent ones (some effective leaders have just shot the competition). So instead, here are my Benevolent Leadership Principles: Leaders know when to lead and when to follow. They also know when to step down from leadership, and when not to take it on in the first place. Leaders know themselves, and therefore know the difference between personal, group, and institutional goals, and when it is appropriate to fulfill each.
Life’s Mission
Well, that’s pretty much the same as my Life’s Dream. Be nice and polite to those that will accept it, while seeking my own joy. (And BTW, I do fail at this mission a fair bit, and I also have met folks whom I have learned to not relate to–discernment is a good skill for anyone)
Advice to future librarian leaders
–Do an internship (two if possible). Being a librarian is a learned skill where you will apply what you’re learning in class now.
–Learn to enjoy change, and learn to recognize good change vs. bad change.
–Be ruthlessly self-reflective. Know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and whether there is a better way.
–Learn as much as you can about human communication, in both theory and practice.
–Learn how to like people, both in theory and in practice. :) You’ll be dealing with them the rest of your life.
–Learn how to be organized and productive. This too is a learned skill that you have to study and practice. I recommend Zen Habits and the book Getting Things Done by David Allen.
–You have the ability to choose how you are going to experience your life. Make a choice and stick to it, and if you don’t like it, change your choice. Me? Being nice has been working out so far.