This document provides advice and insights on leadership for librarians. It discusses where leadership can be learned, defining leadership as seeing improvements that need to be made and actively working to achieve them. It notes that everyone can lead and discusses lies people tell themselves that prevent them from leading. The document also covers followership, future-driven leadership training, recent research on leadership in libraries, insights into effective leadership, and things that don't help leadership. It concludes with 28 key tips for leadership.

1. Leadership and Librarians
Stephen Abram, MLS
CILIP, Cambridge UK
June 17, 2013

2. Where have I learned?
• Associations
• Jobs
• Consortia
• Politics
• Travel
• Mentoring
• Training
• Projects
• Be the change and
change the world

3. What is Leadership?
Leaders see an improvement to be
made – a desirable future state,
sometimes before others, and actively
seek to achieve those improvements.

4. Who is a Leader?
Everyone can lead.
Leadership is different from
managing or supervising.

5. Lies we tell ourselves
• I’m not a leader
• Shyness versus introversion
• I don’t do presentations to management
• People will notice my good work
• They’ll read my report, memo . . .
• Leadership is someone else’s job
• I don’t make the decisions around here…
• That’s their responsibility – not mine
• Criticism in the absence of constructive criticism
and critical thinking

6. Followership

7. 7
Future Driven Leadership Training for Librarians
• Northern Exposure to Leadership Institute
• iSchool at Toronto e.g. Public Library Institute
• Crucial Conversations
• ALA Emerging Leaders
• Mountain Plains Leadership Institute
• Tall Texans
• Snowbird
• iSchool @ Toronto Symposia
– MOOCs, Makerspaces, New Measurements…
• Etc.

8. Recent Research: PhD Dissertations
on Leadership in Libraries
Mary-Jo Romaniuk, San Jose State Univ.
Cheryl Stenstrom, San Jose State Univ.
Donna Brockmeyer, Univ. of Saskatchewan, Thomas More
College
Ken Haycock, Marshall School, University of California
8

9. 9
Research Insights into what Makes a Difference
• Passion is foremost
• Confidence next
• Influence not just Advocacy
• Risk Taking – in context
• Change Management
• Flexibility
• Dealing with Ambiguity – having the aptitude to
introduce change aligned with the future state.
• Influencing Skills = selling ideas

10. 10
What doesn’t help or work
• Not taking the long view
• A dysfunctional view of time
• Being risk averse
• Playground competition
• Lack of cooperation
• Backbiting and blamestorming
• Fear of change or, indeed, fear at all
• Generally – ‘negativity’

11. SLA Alignment Research
Key Highlights:
• True Relationships (not just contacts)
• Real Networks, Collaboration
• Consultation – based on authority, expertise,
quality and short conversations
• Speed – Save Time
• Packaging for Added Value Answers
• Educate and Train
• Understanding libraries/ians is an underserved
and regularly expressed need
11

12. Positioning the Library and
Librarian / Library Staff
Real professionals have names and reputations
What is your value proposition?
You versus the library versus the institution?
Why do you, the library, or your institution exist?

13. Librarian Magic
What are your magic tricks?

14. Smelly
Yellow
Liquid
Or
Sex
Appeal?
The Complex Value Proposition

15. Communication theory: For adults to use a librarian effectively they have to admit that
they don’t know something and that requires openness, trust and a peer relationship.

16. Risk Taking in Librarianship
Avoiding the triple diseases of:
1. Conflict avoidance
2. Passive resistance
3. Risk aversion

18. Too Much Respect for Rules

19. Fear of Looking Silly

20. Too
Little
Time

21. Studying Things to Death

22. Not letting ideas grow . . .

23. Fear of Success

24. Failure to Reward Risk

25. Digital risk has raised the bar on risk taking in library land.

26. So Much Complication!

28. Too Much Respect for Tradition
While Neglecting to Curate the Future

29. Are there any of these in your library?
The Black Hole
Sucking the life out of initiative(s)?

30. Grocery Stores

31. Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

32. Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

33. Meals

34. The new
bibliography and
collection
development
Ask Us, KNOWLEDGE
PORTALS
KNOWLEDGE,
LEARNING,
INFORMATION &
RESEARCH
COMMONS

35. http://www.librarygirl.net/2013/04/collection-development-20.html
35

36. THE EXPERIENCE OF THE LIBRARY
So let’s talk about . . .
36
Human
Resources
Service
Learning
Value

37. SHARING YOURSELF AND YOU
Up Your Game
• Embedded team member
• Embedded teacher
• Embedded research coach
• Embedded personal librarian
• Re-intermediation
• Tools – business cards, e-mail
sigs, web pages, social media
(Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr,…)

38. UNCOMFORTABLE CHOICES:
SACRIFICE
Up Your Game
• Dog, Star, Cow, Problem Child/?
• Reduce investment in successes – This isn’t a typo
• Increase investment in future successes – learn from failing
• Look at TCO - Do NOT value your own time at $zero
• Look at all costs incurred and not just hard costs
• Review the opportunity costs in soft costs (e.g. ILL …)

41. Being Open to Ambiguity
Be the Change We Want to See

43. Entering the Knowledge Era
• Right answers/facts give way to consensus
answers/informed guesses
• Information combined with Insight rules
• Knowing where and how to look is infinitely
more valuable than knowing facts
• Knowledge is an immersion environment -
an Information Ocean - where are the maps
that work here?

44. Five Laws of Library Science
• Books are for use.
• Books are for all; or, Every reader his book.
• Every book its reader.
• Save the time of the reader.
• A library is a growing organism.
S.R. Ranganathan

45. Five New Laws of Library Science
• Libraries serve humanity.
• Respect all forms by which knowledge is
communicated.
• Use technology intelligently to enhance
service.
• Protect free access to knowledge.
• Honor the past and create the future.
Walt Crawford and Michael Gorman

46. Librarian Core Value Commitments
• Democracy
• Stewardship
• Service
• Intellectual Freedom
• Privacy
• Literacy and Learning
• Rationalism
• Equity of Access
• Building Harmony and Balance
– Michael Gorman, Library Journal, April 15, 2001
VALUES

47. To have the right staff
Get the right information
In the right format
To the right people
At the right time
To make the right decision
RIGHT

48. Differences in the Private and Public Sector
Approaches to Development
Private Sector
 Competitive advantage is the ideal
 Innovation is key to long-term
existence
 Focus on clients and marketshare
 Business strategies
 Responsibility to shareholders or
owner/investors
 Increasing revenue
 Risk oriented
 Economic success is a prime
personal motivator
 Competitors, partners and allies
 e-Business is the challenge
 Focus on “results”
Public Sector
 Collaborative advantage is the ideal
 Good service is the key to long-term
existence
 Focus on citizens and social contract
 Political agendas and government
imperatives
 Responsibility to parliament and to
citizens
 Wise use of tax dollars
 Risk averse
 Making a positive impact on society is
a strong motivator
 Other departments, levels of
government, unions
 e-Government is the challenge
 Focus on “process”

49. Leadership is People not Projects
• "Successful knowledge transfer involves
neither computers nor documents but
rather interactions between people."
Tom Davenport
People like librarians, teachers, faculty,
counselors, therapists, social workers,
advisors, . . .

50. Taking The Knowledge Positioning
• Data >>>
• Transformations are:
• Applying standards
• SGML, HTML, Fields,
Tags, MARC,
normalizing . . .
• Information >>>
• Transformations are:
• Representing data:
• Display, Chart, Format,
Publish, Aggregate,
Picture, Graph, Sort,
Rank, Highlight, etc.

51. Taking The Knowledge Positioning
Data >>> Information >>> Knowledge >
Apply
standards
Tangible
Representations
of Data
Learning
Knowing
Filtering
Evaluating
Balancing

52. Knowledge is not the path to:
WISDOM

53. Taking The Knowledge Positioning
• Behaviour
• Decisions that result in action, even if that action
is non-action
• Key success factors are intelligent, informed and
impactful results
• Has value in proportion to its results in the
context of the individual or social organization
• Measure behavioural impact – don’t just collect
statistics.

54. Taking The Knowledge Positioning
Data
====>
Information
=======>
Knowledge
======>
Behaviour
======>
Apply
Stand-
ards
Store
&
Move
Display
Chart
Graph
Publish
Picture
Format
Knowing
Learning
Filtering
Evaluating
Gerunds
Do
Decide
Choose
Apply
Enact
Action
Verbs

55. Transformational Process
• Data
• Information
• Knowledge
• Behaviour
• Norm
• Form
• Transform
• Perform
Success

56. The Five Stages of Technology
Adoption
• Awareness
• Interest
• Evaluation
• Trial
• Adoption

57. The $60 Million Dollar Question
How do we more speedily process
our organizations through this cycle?
CHANGE

58. • Innovators
• Early Adopters
• Early Majority
• Middle Majority
• Laggards
• Non-Adopters
 2.5%
 13 %
 17.5 %
 33.5 %
 17.5%
 16%
The Classic Corn Research

59. The Classic Corn Research

60. What Favours Rapid Adoption?
• Relative Advantage
• Compatibility
• Complexity
• Trialability
• Observability

61. The Market Adaptation Sequence
• Product Acceptance
• Motivation
• Confidence Level
• Education / Attitude
• Acceptance Criteria
• Selling Strategy

62. Understanding Adoption Types:
Innovators
• Technology fascination
• Motivation -- Implement New Ideas
• Confidence Level High -- experiment, risk
• Self taught, independent
• Latest technology, few features, performance
• Self sold, when turned on, word of mouth

63. Understanding Adoption Types:
Early Adopters
• The coming thing
• Motivation -- leap frog the competition, prove
business
• Willing to try new things, reasonable risk
• Will attend night school to learn
• Innovation, better way to do job, selective
• Sold on benefits, references, word of mouth

64. Understanding Adoption Types: Late
Adopters
• Obvious solutions to problems
• Motivation --social pressure, fear of
obsolescence
• No risk, slow to change, needs references
• Seminars, proven products, hand holding
• Brand important, pay for needed features
only, terms & conditions important
• Examples, address cost/technical support

65. Understanding Adoption Types:
Laggards
• Absolute need
• Extreme competition/social pressure
• Reluctant to change
• Will send someone to a seminar, needs proof,
ease of use
• Lowest cost, competitive terms, brand
• Productivity increases, fear

66. What kind of librarian are you? Critical thinker or Criticizer?
What is your library culture around change or innovation?

67. Four Key Questions
• What changes will be offered (i.e. the breadth and depth
of the product line)?
• Who will be the target users (i.e. the boundaries of the
market segments served)?
• How will the products reach those users (i.e. the
distribution channels used)?
• Why will users prefer these product(s) to those of
competitors (i.e. the distinctive attributes and value to be
provided)?
• Bonus: Are they (clients/users) different from you, as
librarians?

68. Making Decisions and Sacrifices
Tools for effective decision management and idea
frame generation:
– Four Square
– Six Thinking Hats
– Six Action Shoes
– SWOT
– Diverge / Converge
– Post-its
– Mind Maps
– Fish Bone
– Rory’s Story Cubes

69. Making Decisions and Sacrifices
Nice to
have
Must
have
Low Value High Value
The 4-
Square
Value
Decision
Box

70. Making Decisions and Sacrifices
Value
Time

71. Making Decisions and Sacrifices
Strengths
ThreatsWeaknesses
Opportunities
Results

72. De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats
1. White Hat
2. Red Hat
3. Black Hat
4. Yellow Hat
5. Green Hat
6. Blue Hat
• What do we need to know?
• How do I feel about this?
• Let’s ask critical questions.
• What are the opportunities here?
• How can we grow this idea?
• What’s the process here? Have
we thought of everything?

73. De Bono’s Six Action Shoes
1. Navy Formal Shoes
2. Grey Sneakers
3. Brown Brogues
4. Orange Gumboots
5. Pink Slippers
6. Purple Riding Boots
• Routine Behaviour
• Collect Information
• Pragmatism and Practicality
• Emergency Response
• Human Caring
• Use Your Authority

74. Bringing the User into the Loop
• Advisory Boards
• Editorial Boards
• Reactor Panels
• Neighbourhoods
• Feedback tools (e-mail, etc.)
• Focus Groups
• Surveys
• MBWA and Observation

75. Leaders have many modes.
They choose to use the personal behaviour
that works in the situation.
Be 3D or 6D, but not 1D

76. "An optimist is someone who says a glass is
half full. A pessimist says it's half empty. A
leader might say, "Looks like we've got twice as
much glass as we need. Let discuss it."

78. Are you on the ‘hits’ train?

79. DATA

80. QUALITATIVE INFORMATION
QUANTITATIVE DATA
and

81. STATISTICS
MEASUREMENTS
versus

82. Are you locked into a
traditional library mindset?

83. What about value and impact?

84. LISTEN TO THE MUSIC IN YOUR HEAD
Exercise your mind about the rhythms of your work. . .
87

85. Or shall we stick with this?

86. Algorithms
• Search differentiator
• Commercial algorithms versus those based on big
data
• Measuring end user success versus known item
retrieval…
• “Romeo and Juliet”
• Problems with the unmonitored trial
– Wrong tests
– Poor sampling
– Mindset issues

87. Sharing Learning and Research
• Usability versus User Experience
• End users versus librarians
• Known item retrieval (favourite test) versus
immersion research
• Lists versus Discovery
• Scrolling versus pagination
• Devices and browsers and agnosticism
• Satisfaction and change
• Individual research experience vs. impacts on e-
courses, LibGuides, training materials, etc.

88. Focus and Understand on the Whole Experience

89. Statistics, Measurements and Analytics
• Counter & Sushi data are very weak metrics that
don’t provide insights into the critical stuff
• Database usage (unique user, session, length of
session, hits, downloads, etc.)
• Web and Google Analytics (6,000+ websites)
• Foresee satisfaction and demographic data
• Search Samples (underemphasized at this point.)
• Time of Year Analysis
• ILS Data (from clients &n partnerships)
• Geo-IP data, analytics and mapping.
• Impact studies and sampling.
• Gaining insight from information and data

90. Analytics

91. Conclusion: 28 Key Tips
 Good not Perfect
 It’s not the steps that cause delays in development
- it’s the space between the steps
 No mistake is ever final.
 Freeze and Go! The right metaphor is seasonal
change - not revolution or evolution
 Prefer action over study: If you’re studying
something to death - remember that death was
not the original goal!

92. Conclusion: 28 Key Tips
 Mock-Up, Build, Rebuild, Beta, Pilot, Launch,
Re-Do
 Remember the rule of six (6). You get very
diminishing returns after asking the same
question of like people.
 Remember the 15% rule: Humans have
extreme difficulty in actually seeing a
difference of less than 15%.

93. Conclusion: 28 Key Tips
 Use the 70/30 rule: “I agree with 70% and can
live with the other 30%.”
 Remember the old 80/20 rule standby: No
matter how few or many users you have, 80%
of your usage/revenue/etc. will come from
20% of your users.
 Remember the 90/10 rule. 90% of your costs
are in implementation, not development.

94. Conclusion: 28 Key Tips
“Productize”: Be able to physically point at
your product or service.
 Get out of your box! It is unlikely that you are
the alpha user profile.
 You can’t step in the same river twice. Your
knowledge of the new development means
you probably cannot see the potential pitfalls.

95. Conclusion: 28 Key Tips
 Understand the differences between
features, functions and benefits.
 Understand your customer and don’t assume
- TEST.
 Don’t just ask your clients what they do, will
do or want. OBSERVE them.
 Have a vision and dream BIG!

96. Conclusion: 28 Key Tips
 Ask the three magic questions:
What keeps you awake at night?
If you could solve only one problem at work, what
would it be?
If you could change one thing and one thing only,
what would it be?
 Never underestimate the customer.
 Seek the real customer.

97. Conclusion: 28 Key Tips
 Respect information literacy, learning styles
and multiple intelligence.
 Understand the adoption curve.
 Do research for yourself too. Set up alerts on
your hot issues.
 Bring management on side first, then
customers and users, BEFORE you launch.

98. Conclusion: 28 Key Tips
 Feedback is a gift - you can keep it, return it,
hide it in the closet. Don’t overvalue one piece
of out-of-context feedback or let it loom out of
perspective and balance.
 Measure - don’t just count: Decision-makers
CANNOT interpret your statistics.
 When you have 100 options to choose from the
critical skill isn’t choosing 5 but sacrificing 95.

111. The Library as Sandbox

112. Stephen Abram, MLS, FSLA
Consultant, Dysart & Jones/Lighthouse Partners
Cel: 416-669-4855
stephen.abram@gmail.com
Stephen’s Lighthouse Blog
http://stephenslighthouse.com
Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr: Stephen Abram
LinkedIn / Plaxo: Stephen Abram
Twitter: @sabram
SlideShare: StephenAbram1