Library Leadership Podcast

What can your organization do to embrace mentoring as part of succession planning? On this show, Ann Marie Barrett, Manager of the Bingham Creek Branch, and Maggie Mills, Manager of the Whitmore Branch, with Salt Lake County Library, talk about everything  to consider when making mentoring part of your succession planning.

How can our libraries support small businesses and nonprofits? On this show, Rachel Fuller, Information Services Manager, and Kristine Cook, Manager of the Adult Services Division for the Main Library, with the Columbus Metropolitan Library, share how they are Empowering the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in their library system and how you can, too. 

Have you ever wondered how library foundations can open doors to untapped funding for your library? On this show Craig Palmer, Fund Development Manager for Sonoma County Library, shares how library foundations can activate fundraising for your organization and what drives giving for libraries. Whether you have an established library foundation or are thinking about this for the first time, this is useful information. 

Have you ever wanted to create a fun way to develop in-house leaders in your library? On this show, Judi Boyce, Assistant Director at Sublette County Library, Erin Wahl, Associate Professor University Archivist at New Mexico State University Library, and Eileen Wright, Library Director at Montana State University Billings, discuss a method they formed to develop in-house leaders that involves games, play, and a pirate theme to make learning about leadership fun.

Do you ever find yourself stuck in the routine work of librarianship in a way that makes you uncomfortable or frustrated? On this show Dr. Darin Freeburg, Associate Professor, and Katie Klein, Doctoral Student in Library and Information Science, in the College of Information and Communications at the University of South Carolina, share information about research they’ve been doing on problematic routines in libraries. They share what they’ve learned about what can cause these problems and reflect on the possibilities for creating workplaces free from the challenges of problematic routines.

What are ways we can engage our communities in work that embraces differences? On this show Essraa Nawar, Assistant Dean for DEI Initiatives and Development at Chapman University’s Leatherby Libraries, shares her experiences regarding the power of being different and meaningfully connected to the rest of the world. She helps us learn how to engage in work that promotes cultural understanding and inclusion.

How do we make our staffing plans match the needs and expectations of our organizations? On this show Daniel Neville-Rehbehn, Director of Customer Experience at the Salt Lake City Public Library, talks about the importance of creating staffing plans that optimize our most valuable resources, our people.

Who wants to handle a difficult conversation in the workplace? If you are saying, “not it” right now, this show is for you. And, let’s be honest, this probably applies to all of us to some degree. On this show, you will get advice from a knowledgeable panel about how not to sweat difficult conversations. Listen to find out how from Tiffany Peck, Director of Customer Experience, and Jen Wiese, Director of Human Resources, at the St. Louis Public Library, and from Angie Miraflor, Deputy Director of Public Services, and Danielle Perry, Director of Human Resources, with the King County Library System.

How do you make your library the hub of the community? On this show Lacey Sudderth, Assistant Manager at McAlester Public Library in Oklahoma, talks about how to engage in relationships across our communities to create broad connections and involvement that can truly make our libraries the hub of the community.

We often talk about leading library services from within libraries. But what do you do if you want to provide library services and don’t have the luxury of four walls? On this show Vashalice Kaaba, PhD Candidate of Information Studies at Florida State University, talks about spreading literacy, no walls needed. She was inspired by work she did in the Peace Corps in Uganda spreading literacy and saw similar needs in the U.S., so developed a project called “Library in a Box” that addresses the pressing issue of literacy access in underserved communities.

Support for the Uganda Wanyange Primary School Community Library Project can be provided at https://givebutter.com/KfV8XA.