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Empowering the reluctant new library manager

Kenneth Schlesinger

You never wanted this. You are happy being a Reference Librarian, working with the public. That’s why you became a librarian, after all. Now they want you to take this promotion as Department Head. Yes, the money’s better – but you’ve never supervised anyone before. How will you be able to fulfill your own new responsibilities and take care of the needs of a staff? The only management course you’ve ever taken was in library school.

On my first day of library school, reference professor extraordinaire Anne Kelly provided some excellent advice: ‘You’re all administrators. You’re going to be administrators.’ This statement presupposed that we would all advance in the profession ...

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