Leading Libraries: How to Create a Service Culture

by Wyoma VanDuinkerken, Wendi Arant Kaspar

This valuable resource gathers the principles and best practices of leadership, and points the way towards creating a service culture that makes every staff member a library leader.

Genres: Nonfiction, Professional Development

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 2015

Reviews

[Jude Morrissey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm conflicted about this book. The information in it is great and would be helpful for library science students in a management course. The writing, however, is less than stellar - the book is riddled with grammatical and punctuation errors, and much of it seems repetitive.

One example is the many sentences that started with "However." It's a pet peeve of mine, drilled into my head when I was (briefly, although with great influence, apparently) an English major in college - you never start a sentence with "However." I know that's a lie; it still bothers me if it's overdone. Once or twice a chapter, I can handle. In this book, it seems to happen every other sentence in several paragraphs - and, very memorably, twice in a row in one paragraph. That's right - two sentences, one right after another, that start with "However." It just...hurts.

Maybe that doesn't bother you. What about sentence fragments? They're in there. Misplaced commas? Got 'em. It's also got "rebel rousers," which...I honestly don't know what to say about that. Statements immediately followed by quotes that say exactly the same thing? Oh, yeah.

Is it worth digging through to pull out the information? Yes. I won't be buying the book anytime soon, though - I checked it out from the library first (naturally) and I'll check it out again if I want to review any given section. I would recommend it to anyone entering a library management position (at any level), but I would recommend checking it out rather than purchasing it.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a nice read for anyone who fancies themselves a leader. It captures a lot of advice on how to become a leader by serving both your patrons and your own coworkers, bosses and staff. It's a quick read, and worth the time.

[Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tons of great information about service leadership and libraries!

[Marion]

It was required reading that turned out to be informative and well written.

[Theresa Jehlik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I found sections of this book useful (mainly the last chapter), I felt it was written for the library school student more than a working professional. The authors did a massive amount of research on current leadership theories and then chose to focus on service (aka servant) leadership as the best approach for libraries. The steps detailed about active listening in Chapter 4 give a person some concrete actions to develop this skill. Strategic planning, innovation, learning organization, accountability, metrics -- all the current buzzwords -- make their appearance in this short work. Case histories (mainly set in academic libraries) round out most of their chapters.