A Survey of Sunshine State Library Leadership Institute Graduates

1
A Survey of Sunshine State Library Leadership
Institute Graduates

• Jason Martin, UCF
• David Woolard, ERAU

2
Literature Review

• Why Leadership? Need we say more!
• Change fiscal, generational, or technological
  its incessant
• Graying of the profession?
• 25 of librarians will turn 65 by the end of this
  year, and 58 by 2019 (Gordon, 2004)
• Approximately 25 of all library staff in Canada
  will retire by 2014 (Reimer, 2008)

3
Literature Review cont.

• Change cont.
• Effective leadership will require an
  extraordinary ability to maintain a delicate
  balance in the management of technical,
  financial, and human resources to serve the
  academic mission of the institution (Battin,
  1997).
• The challenges faced in libraries today are
  changing at a rapid pace and require in libraries
  an agile workforce of problem-solvers, team
  players, leaders, and articulate spokespeople
  (Burger, 2006).

4
Literature Review cont.

• Why Leadership Training?
• To develop, grow, mentor, nurture, promote,
  recruit, and retain leaders of tomorrow
• Leadership training is an investment that
  provides dividends for a lifetime (Burger,
  2006).
• Effective leadership training encourages eager
  librarians to be more career-focused and
  goal-oriented, and builds a strong network
  (Paul, 2004).
• Leadership institutes provide an opportunity for
  skills to be developed, confidence to be built in
  an environment free of distraction (Arnold,
  Nickel, Williams, 2008)

5
Literature Review cont.

• Statistics
• Between 1996-2002 twenty-one library leadership
  programs were developed (Mason Wetherbee, 2004)
• Currently there are approximately 25 library
  leadership training programs that are held
  annually or biannually (ALA, 2009)
• ACRL/Harvard, est. 1990
• Frye Institute, est. 1999
• SSLLI, est. 2004

6
Literature Review cont.

• Role of Mentorship
• Mentorship represents an individual commitment
  to seeking out, identifying, and developing in a
  variety of ways the leaders of the future
  (Battin, 1997).
• Mentoring can help orient younger librarians as
  they enter the field as well as address the
  diverse array of questions and options facing
  librarians at midcareer and beyond (Martorana,
  Schroeder, Snowhill, Duda, 2004).
• mentors can offer practical on-the-job advice,
  career guidance, and the opportunity to network.
  At the same time, mentors can find it rewarding
  and rejuvenating to work with mentees who bring a
  fresh perspective to professional issues (Zabel,
  2008).

7
Literature Review cont.

• The Philosophical Issues
• Born or Made?
• the quality of leadership is born in an
  individuals inherent personality and then
  refined by that individuals life experiences,
  behavioural choices, attitudinal proclivities,
  and core values (Karp Murdock, 1998).
• Its not the absence of leadership potential
  that inhibits the development of more leaders
  its the persistence of the myth that leadership
  cant be learned (Kouzes Posner, 2002).

8
Literature Review cont.

• Philosophical Issues cont.
• Leader or Manager?
• Leadership tends to be associated with
  personality, vision, while managers with
  methodology, routines, and structures (Wilson
  Corrall, 2008).
• Management is about what things get done, while
  leadership is about how things get done (Mason
  Wetherbee, 2004).
• good leaders possess their own power, and that
  their leadership is not dependent on being an
  administrator or having a title after their name
  (Kalin, 2008).

9
Literature Review cont.

• Leadership Skills
• Effective, reliable, innovative, initiative
  (Bennis Goldsmith, 1994)
• Risk taker, flexible, problem solver (Martin,
  1997)
• Creative, energetic, self-motivated, resourceful,
  sense of humour (Mullins Lineham, 2006)
• Empathetic, wise, principled (Sweeney, 1994)
• Honest, forward-looking, competent, inspiring,
  intelligent (Kouzes Posner, 2002)

10
Literature Review cont.

• Self-awareness
• To be a leader requires a strong sense of self.
  You must understand who you are to assess how to
  fulfill your definition of leadership (Nichols,
  2002).

Before you are a leader, success is all about
growing yourself. When you become a leader,
success is all about growing others. Jack
Welch
11
Literature Review cont.

• Bibliography
• American Library Association (ALA). (2009).
  Leadership Training. Retrieved April 6, 2009,
  from ALA Web site http//www.ala.org/ala/aboutal
  a/offices/hrdr/abouthrdr/hrdrliaiso
  ncomm/otld/leadershiptraining.cfm
• Arnold, J., Nickel, L.T., Williams, L. (2008).
  Creating the next generation of library leaders
  Electronic version. New Library World,
  109(9/10), 444-456.
• Battin, P. (1997). Diversity and leadership
  Mentoring builds leaders of the future
  Electronic version. Cause/Effect, 20(1), 15-17.
• Bennis, W., Goldsmith, J. (1994). Learning to
  lead A workbook on becoming a leader. Reading,
  MA Addison-Wesley Longman.
• Burger, L. (2006). Transforming leadership
  Electronic version. American Libraries,
  37(10), 3.

12
Literature Review cont.

• Bibliography cont.
• Kalin, S.W. (2008). Reframing leadership The
  ACRL/Harvard leadership institute for academic
  librarians Electronic version. Journal of
  Business Finance Librarianship, 13(3), 261-270.
• Karp, R.S., Murdock, C. (1998). Leadership in
  librarianship. In T.F. Mech, G.B. McCabe
  (Eds.), Leadership and academic librarians (pp.
  251-264). Westport, CT Greenwood Press.
• Kouzes, J.M., Posner, B.Z. (2002). The
  leadership challenge. San Francisco, CA
  Jossey-Bass.
• Martin, R.R. (1997). Recruiting a library leader
  for the 21st century. In F. DAndraia (Ed.), The
  academic library director Reflections on a
  position in transition (pp. 47-58). New York
  Haworth Press.

13
Literature Review cont.

• Bibliography cont.
• Martorana, J., Schroeder, E., Snowhill, L.,
  Duda, A.L. (2004). A focus on mentorship in
  career development Electronic version. Library
  Administration Management, 18(4), 198- 202.
• Mason, F.M., Wetherbee, L.V. (2004). Learning
  to lead An analysis of current training
  programs for library leadership Electronic
  version. Library Trends, 53(1), 187-217.
• Mullins, J., Lineham, M. (2006). Desired
  qualities of public library leaders Electronic
  version. Leadership Organizational
  Development Journal, 27(1/2), 133-143.
• Nichols, C.A. (2002). Leaders Born or bred
  Electronic version. Library Journal, 127(13),
  38-40.
• Paul, C. (2004). Just do it! leadership training
  builds strong networks Electronic version.
  American Libraries, 35(9), 44-45.

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Literature Review cont.

• Bibliography cont.
• Reimer, L. (2008). The next next generation at
  work Electronic version. Feliciter, 54(5),
  202-204.
• Sweeney, R.T. (1994). Leadership in the
  post-hierarchical library. Library Trends,
  43(1), 62-94. Retrieved from Business Company
  Resource Center database, Gale.
• Wilson, K., Corrall, S. (2008). Developing
  public library managers as leaders Evaluation
  of a national leadership development programme
  Electronic version. Library Management,
  29(6/7), 473-488.
• Zabel, D. (2008). The mentoring role of
  professional associations Electronic version.
  Journal of Business Finance Librarianship,
  13(3), 349-361.

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Survey of the sunshine state library leadership
institute graduates

• Jason Martin

16
Survey Methodology

• Received approval from the UCF IRB.
• Submitted survey link (Survey Monkey) to all four
  SSLLI listservs.
• Approximately 40 people on each list, so about
  160 total received the survey.
• 67 started the survey and 65 completed it.
• About 40 return rate.
• Lists are not up-to-date.

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Demographics

• SSLLI One (2004-2005) 16.4 (n11)
• SSLLI Two (2005-2006) 26.9 (n18)
• SSLLI Three (2006-2007) 20.9 (n14)
• SSLLI Four (2007-2008) 35.8 (n24)

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Demographics

• Academic Libraries 28.6 (n18)
• Public Libraries 57.1 (n36)
• School K-12 4.8 (n3)
• Special 4.8 (n3)
• Other 4.8 (n3)

19
Demographics

• Female 73.8 (n48) and Male 26.2 (n17)
• Age Range
• 26-30 3.1 (n2)
• 31-35 18.5 (n12)
• 36-40 15.4 (n10)
• 41-45 15.4 (n10)
• 46-50 16.9 (n11)
• 51-55 15.4 (n10)
• 56-60 13.8 (n9)
• 61-65 1.5 (n1)

20
Demographics

• In Florida 92.3 (n60)
• Not in Florida 7.7 (n5)
• Still in Libraries 96.9 (n63)
• Not in Libraries 3.1 (n2)

21
SSLLI Experience

• Excellent 70.1 (n47)
• Good 28.4 (n19)
• Neither Good Nor Bad 1.5 (n1)
• Bad 0
• Poor 0

22
Other Leadership Training

• Yes 71.9 (n46)
• No 28.1 (n18)
• Better 71.7 (n33)
• Somewhat Better 15.2 (n7)
• About The Same 13 (n6)
• Somewhat Worse 0
• Worse 0

23
Why SSLLI?

• Networking
• Professional Development
• Asked to Apply or SSLLI was Recommended
• Learn About Leadership
• Advancement within their Library
• Library or Profession Needed Leadership

24
Mentor Relationship

• Continued after SSLLI 59.7 (n40)
• Only During SSLLI 22.4 (n15)
• No Mentor 17.9 (n12)
• Few described their relationship as negative, but
  few were glowing as well.
• Congenial, professional, and semi-worthwhile.

25
Benefits

• Personal and Professional Growth
• Networking
• Improved Relations at Work
• Learned Leadership Skills and Who I am as a
  Leader

26
Effect on Career

• Improved Leadership and Management Skills
• Lead from Within
• Seek out Leadership Opportunities
• Greater Understanding of Leadership and Libraries
• Now Look at Big Picture
• Reputation and Respect
• New Job

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Leadership Positions

• In a Formal Leadership Position Before SSLLI
• Yes 35
• No 32
• In a Formal Leadership Position After SSLLI
• Yes 45
• No 22
• Chi Square Test of Association was not
  Statistically Significant. ?2 3.108, df1, p
  .078

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What Else?

• Reunions and Follow-Up Meetings and Training
• More Diversity
• Public vs. Academic
• Supervisors
• Dealing with Difficult Ones
• Teaching them Leadership
• Libraries that had Room for Leaders
• Great Experience
• Loved Elizabeth Curry

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Questions to Ponder

• What groups should SSLLI target?
• Emerging Leaders or Established Leaders
• How Practical?
• Leadership vs. Management
• What types of Follow-Up Training are Needed?
• How do SSLLI Graduates Become Involved?

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Questions?

• Jason Martin, UCF, mjmartin_at_mail.ucf.edu
• David Woolard, ERAU, David.Woolard_at_erau.edu

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Materials

• Available here
• library.ucf.edu/presentations/2009/fla