bob kieserman & company

Seven Simple Steps to Dealing with Difficult Patrons

by Bob Kieserman

Introduction          

      I have often been invited to meet with library staff members to discuss the challenges that are faced every day dealing with the customers of the library. Over the course of several hours, stories are told and ideas are shared. It becomes a true dialogue among colleagues. At the conclusion of each of these sessions, everyone usually agrees that he or she has come away with new solutions and a more positive attitude about doing their jobs. I know that as the facilitator of the session, I learn a great deal about the trials and tribulations that every member of a library staff has to face. Every public library has its share of difficult people. This article will first identify the common problems and then offer some strategies that libraries can use to defuse the problem patron.

Who Are the Difficult People?

     When you hear library staff talk about the people whom they serve, several groups are consistently mentioned as the “troublemakers”. These groups and the problems they commonly pose, as well as strategies for dealing with them, will serve as the examples throughout this article. The group that seems always to be mentioned first is teens. Common comments are that teens are “loud and abusive” and “disruptive”. Another group that seems to be high on the list are demanding young mothers and fathers, who feel that “everyone should stop whatever they are doing when I or my kid needs something”. We have all heard the children’s librarians tell many horror stories about young parents leaving toddlers in the library unattended while mom or dad either goes into another section of the library, or actually leaves the library, expecting the librarian to watch their child. Another group are posing challenges are high school seniors and college students. Reference librarians tell stories about how these students come in and expect the librarian to do all of their research and write half their term paper. Still another group often mentioned are needy senior citizens, many of whom are just very lonely and need someone with whom to talk, sometimes all day long. And finally, many library staff members share bad memories about incidents involving the mentally ill, many of whom find their way to library and pose all kinds of challenges to the library staff who try to be understanding and helpful, but also need to protect the privacy and right to enjoy the library to which the other library visitors are entitled. 

     When I find myself facilitating these discussions with library staff,  I like to share some of my own definitions of these problematic patrons. It is interesting to find with whom how many of these types of customers the librarians can clearly identify.

·        The Stragglers – these are the people who don’t seem to hear the announcement that the library is closing in 15 minutes and often need to be personally shown to the door

·        The Early Birds – conversely, these are the people who are always banging on your front door and looking at their watches five minutes before you are scheduled to open

·        The Monopolizers – these are the people who, despite the fact that they clearly see there are other people waiting to ask for your help, they continue to monopolize your time and demand your attention

·        The Taxpayers – these are the people who get annoyed by the slightest thing and hold it over your head because “I pay your salary!”

·        The Puritans – these are the people who don’t approve of most of the books, CD’s. DVD’s, and other materials that are in your collection

·        The Chatty Cathy’s and the Charlie McCarthy’s – these are the people who want to have personal conversations with you at your busiest times of the day, sharing stories about their families, their accomplishments, or their frustrations with life

·        The Tattle-Tales – these are the people who always want to know who is your boss, so they can report you

·        The Negotiators – this is a large group of people who believe that a free library means that you can keep books and other library materials until you are good and ready to bring them back without penalty. These people have decided that they are exempt from paying fines.

·        The Needy – these are high maintenance customers who make themselves overly dependent upon you anytime they use the library

·        The Rest Stoppers – these people don’t stay long, they just come in to use your rest rooms. However, occasionally they use the rest rooms to change clothes, take a bath in the sink, or take a short nap.

·        The Clothes Washers – this is not a common group, but there are people who have been known to use the library rest rooms as a convenient place to do their wash using the sinks and the electric blower

·        The Motel 6 Crowd – these are the people who come in every day, find a comfortable chair or alcove, and stretch out and take a 3-hour nap                                                                                                                                                    

What are the Emotions?

      When library staff members describe the emotions of the problem patron, the words that are most often used are the following:

·        angry

·        fearful

·        shamed

·        anxious

·        demanding

·        impatient

·        needy

·        assertive

·        complaining

·        sense of entitlement

·        judgmental

      Learning how to spot these emotions when first encountering the upset customer, and then using strategies to reduce the customer’s anxiety, is the key to successfully defusing the situation and turning a potential confrontation into a win-win outcome for both the customer and the library. These strategies can be summarized in seven simple steps.

Step #1 – Perform Triage

     Much like an emergency room nurse must quickly determine the severity of the injury that the patient is presenting, the library staff member must also perform triage to determine the true nature of why the patron is upset. Problem patrons can be classified into three broad categories: Dangerous, which is usually very serious; “Who Knows?”, which could be serious, but we really don’t know; and Nuisances, which describes the  annoying, but harmless patron (Shaman, 1996). If the patron is dangerous, threatening a staff member or a patron in any way because of drug intoxication, being armed, or sexually deviant, it may require law enforcement to be called and for the disruptive patron to be removed as quickly as possible from the library. “Who Knows?” typically describes the patron who is drunk, loitering, highly emotional, or “acting weird”. This person can become dangerous or he/she may be able to be calmed down, but it is initially uncertain which way the encounter will go. Finally, those patrons who fall under the category of nuisances are those who might have offensive body odor, talk loudly, monopolize time, or become amorous with a library staff member. These people can be approached and can generally be calmed and defused.

     At the same time that the triage is being performed, the library staff member must also be able to ascertain what is triggering the stress. According to Rubin (1990), when a person is under stress, there is a “fight or flight” response that is triggered, and an individual cannot think rationally. “Anger is a secondary emotion. That is, anger is developed in response to another (invisible) emotion” (Rubin, 40). People are actually upset with something else like losing a privilege or a loss of power over something or someone, and it manifests itself in anger. What is actually happening, according to Rubin, is that the person is feeling a sense of decreased trust or self-esteem, and the best thing a staff member can do is make the angered patron feel valuable and to show that the library can be trusted (Rubin, 40-41). Marie Radford (2005) also suggests that the library staff member look at the hands of the patron to see if the knuckles are white and/or if the teeth of the patron are gritted, which are two common physical indications of anger. Radford also suggests that the staff member try to wear a smile, and not become defensive. The staff member should also try to remain calm and to try to breathe deeply, which dissipates anxiety and allows the staff member to deal with the patron with greater clarity and composure (Radford, 2005).

Step #2 – Listen

      Once the library staff member is able to determine these three major elements of triage: the severity of the problem, if the angered patron is a threat to himself or to anyone else, and the issue that is really bothering the customer, the staff member then needs to move to Step #2. The next step is to allow the patron to vent and for the staff member to patiently listen with a look of genuine concern and interest. Experts agree that the best thing for the library staff member to do at this point is to smile, look interested, and keep quiet, using nonverbal gestures as opposed to responding verbally to what is being said. While listening, show the patron that you are paying attention and understanding the situation. When you finally do respond, acknowledge the emotion you have just heard, such as “Mrs. Jones, you sound upset about the photocopy policy” (Rubin, page 41-42). In terms of nonverbal gestures, Marie Radford (1998) maintains that one of the best things to remember is to maintain eye contact with the angry patron at all times. In addition, the staff member should be careful of body language such as learning toward the user rather than away, being careful not to fold the arms, but rather holding one hand beneath your chin and the other hand supporting it to show intense concentration on what the patron is telling you, and to nod, to show you are listening and hearing what is being said (1998). The staff member should practice active listening and not set up any barriers to listening, as described by Ross and Dewdney (1998), such as making assumptions about what will be said instead of hearing what is actually being said, being defensive or arguing with the patron, and being judgmental or critical of what the patron is sharing.

Step #3 – Care

     Rachel Singer Gordon (2005) suggests that when a staff member is facing a hostile patron, the staff member should extend the same empathy to the customer as he or she would try to extend to coworkers. Showing the patron that you sincerely care is important. Demonstrating that you want to resolve the problem is important. Sometimes the patron wants to verbally attack the staff member, and it is hard to maintain a smile and a caring attitude. But Patrick Jones (1996) maintains that especially when you are dealing with teenagers, who already come into the encounter with an adolescent inferiority defensive nature, it is important to practice what he calls the Five Library R’s: relationships, rules, reactions, responsibilities, and most importantly, respect. Jones suggests that staff members should reach out to all patrons, especially teens, and form relationships, attempting to get to know them better so that the staff member can avoid conflict by understanding how the teens think and what they expect in terms of services from the library staff. Secondly, Jones believes that there should be rules that all patrons need to follow and these rules must be fair, firm, and consistent (Jones, 50). Thirdly, Jones feels that staff members need to watch themselves so they don’t overreact to situations that arise. Above all, the

staff member needs to keep cool and lighten up (Jones, 52). Fourth, Jones insists that librarians must always remember their obligations to serve all patrons, and to be understanding of the emotions that patrons bring into a library. Finally, Jones reminds staff members to show respect, even to the troublesome teen as well as to the lonely senior citizen or the demanding mother or father or the patron who has no where else to go but the library because he or she can no longer work because of a mental illness.

Step #4 – Focus

     After actively listening and showing empathy for the patron, the next step is to focus on what you are going to do about the situation. Experts suggest that once the staff member has managed to calm the patron down to a conversational level, it is important to find out exactly what the patron wants you to do about the situation that has caused him or her to become angry. Darlene Weingand (1997) addresses the validity of the axiom, “the customer is always right”. Basically, she suggests that the obligation of the library staff member is to deliver service that meets customer expectations and to behave in ways that make customers feel secure and justly treated. The key is to find a solution that will keep the customer happy, but not violate the rights of other patrons or violate the rules of the library.       

Step #5 – Defuse

     This is an important step in the process. This is the step that hopefully transforms the hostile patron into a satisfied patron. Rubin (1990) suggests that the more alternative solutions that are presented to the patron, the better. It is also important to let the patron choose from possibilities to ensure that the solution is acceptable. It is suggested that the staff member begin by saying, “Let’s try to identify the issue together.” At this point, the problem must be restated clearly and concisely so that you are confirming exactly what the patron sees as the problem. Next, once the staff member truly understands the issue causing conflict, the staff member needs to decide what options can be offered as viable solutions. It is valuable to have several viable options to offer as solutions. Once those options have been determined, the staff member should then say to the patron, “You have a few options. We can do X or we can do Y.” These options must comply with library policy. Once the patron renders a choice, the staff member should then restate the solution, and most importantly, show the patron that the chosen solution will be acted upon and carried out in an expedient manner (Rubin, 1990). If there are no solution options agreeable to the patron, you can at least promise to write a memo to the director or board, which often will make the patron feel that they have had some success with their complaint. Again, at all times during this step, the staff member must remain calm with a caring attitude.

Step #6 - Smooth

      Library professionals have been trying to overcome a long-lived stereotype for decades. Many people view librarians as rigid individuals who never bend the rules, who are strict in their ways and lacking any empathy for those who use the library. Consumer research shows that a bad experience in the library only reinforces this stereotype, and that “90% of discontent customers never return and tell nine of their friends about their unhappiness. Moreover, the unhappy customer remembers his/her problem for 23.5 months whereas the satisfied customer remembers for 18 months” (Rubin, 49). That is why it becomes imperative for library staff to seek win-win situations when conflict with patrons arises. The public needs to see library staff members respond to complaints with flexibility, to consider each situation on its own. As public libraries move more toward customer-driven models and borrow some of the customer service and merchandising concepts of the bookstores, this flexibility and ability to listen more intently to customer complaints, whether considered legitimate or not, becomes even more essential than ever before. As Rubin states, “Now that libraries are becoming more aware of their need for public relations, our ability to satisfy even our difficult patrons is essential” (Rubin, 49).

Step #7 - Evaluate

     The final step of the process is to evaluate policies and procedures. Each incident where confrontation has occurred between a patron and a staff member needs to be documented. This data needs to be periodically analyzed to track the number of incidents, the severity, and the solutions that have been able to be reached. Hendricks (2001) suggests that when policy is developed regarding patron behavior that the policies should focus on the specific types of behavior or the inappropriate use of the library, rather than on the types of people. She also suggests that when policy is written, consideration should be given to matching the level of consequences with the inappropriate behavior, and that the consequences be reasonable. At the same time, professional organizations such as the New Jersey Library Association, support the establishment of a code of conduct in every public library. Rules that distinguish proper behavior from inappropriate behavior for all patrons must be prominently displayed and enforced, and these rules cannot discriminate between patrons. If the rule says that I cannot yell in the library, that rule needs to enforced for the young child as well as the homeless man (Comstock-Gay, 1995). Libraries also need to be proactive with their programming and services. Many public libraries are designating special areas for teens who frequent the library after school (Nussbaum, 2005). Other libraries are including enclosed private study rooms in their renovations. Still other libraries are separating adults using the public access computers from the teens and the teens from the young children. Some libraries are also eliminating the charging of fines for overdue books because the revenue it brings to the library is considered not significant enough to offset the conflicts that collecting the fines presents.

      Even though problem patrons aggravate staff members and often bother other patrons as well, the fact remains that these people are our customers and without them, there would be no need for libraries to exist. As Patrick Jones states when he talks about young adults, “It may be difficult for some people to think that young adults deserve respect, but the fact is that the minute a young adult walks through the door of a library, he or she becomes a library patron deserving respect” (Jones, 54). Through more intensive staff training on dealing with conflict and developing more explicit policies on handling conflict, libraries can achieve greater success in defusing difficult situations before they manifest into larger incidents.    

Bob Kieserman, MBA, MLIS is Assistant Professor of Business Administration & Economics and the Director of the Business Information Research Center at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania. He is a frequent contributor on issues in library administration and management.

Works Cited

Gordon, R. S. (2005). The accidental library manager. Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc.

Jones, P. (1996). “Opposites attract: Young adults and libraries.” In: B. McNeil & D. Johnson, Patron behavior in libraries: A handbook of positive approaches to negative situations, pp. 44-55. Chicago: ALA.

Ross, C. & Dewdney, P. (1998) Communicating Professionally, 2nd ed., Ch. 2 “Listening ” NY: Neal-Schuman, pp. 15-20.

Shaman, B. A. (1996). “Down and out in the reading room: The homeless in the public library.” In: B. McNeil & D. Johnson, Patron behavior in libraries: A handbook of positive approaches to negative situations, pp. 3-17. Chicago: ALA.

Weingand, D. E. (1997). Customer service excellence: A concise guide for librarians. Chicago: ALA. Ch. 1&2, pp. 1-31.

Comstock-Gay, S. (1995). Disruptive behavior protecting people, protecting rights. [adaptation of address, May 1994]. Wilson Library Bulletin v. 69 (February 1995), 33-5.

Hendricks, S. (2001). Dealing with difficult situations, or the problem patron. Regional Rag, 28, issue 5, (www.sls.lib.ia.us/rag285002.htm).

Nussbaum, D. (2005, March 6). The new hangout. The New York Times, B1, B5.

Radford, M. L. (Spring 1998). Approach or avoidance? The role of nonverbal communication in the academic library user’s decision to initiate a reference encounter. Library Trends, 46(6), 699-717.

Rubin, R. J. (1990). Anger in the library: defusing angry patrons at the reference desk. Reference Librarian, (31), 39-51.

Radford, M. L. Interpersonal Communications for Information Professionals. Rutgers University. Lecture on April 20, 2005.

Let’s Hear It for Brave Souls

Who Become Library Directors!

by Bob Kieserman

      One of my library heroes is Rachel Singer Gordon, author of a fantastic book on library management and administration called The Accidental Library Manager (2005). I had the pleasure of meeting her and attending a workshop given by Rachel at the New Jersey Library Association Annual Conference in 2005. Rachel is also a columnist for Library Journal and creator/webmaster of the popular library job website, www.lisjobs.com. In her book, she begins by explaining how so often librarians with no previous intention of becoming managers find themselves “volunteered” into a position of leadership because of the sudden illness of a manager or a because a colleague retires or someone leaves for a new job and the vacancy must be filled. According to Rachel, many people see what their supervisor does all day, and the supervised librarian does not like what he/she sees. Employees see their managers constantly dealing with stressful situations and also see the stress often leading to burnout. When asked, many librarians are quick to point out that “they did not go to library school to become a manager”. Rachel also quotes several Generation X librarians in her book as claiming that “no money could motivate me to compromise my home and personal life to become a library director”. These young librarians base their comments on seeing managers always involved in meetings, working long hours, and constantly involved in handling crisis after crisis, and basically “having no life”.

      It is important to note that this attitude is certainly not exclusive to librarians. For many years, as part of my former consulting practice, I presented seminars throughout the country teaching occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech pathologists how to establish private practices. Having the opportunity to meet and speak with thousands of therapists and to understand their attitudes about advancement within their professions, I learned early that there were two categories of practitioners, one group who would spend the rest of their careers working as employees, typically for a hospital rehabilitation department, and another group who wanted to break out and become entrepreneurs. Often, when asked if they might wish to attend one of my seminars, the hospital employee group would adamantly reply that they did not go through therapy school to become a manager, and that they are strictly clinicians with no interest in heading a department, let alone starting a private practice. Many librarians provide a similar answer when asked about a desire to assume a leadership position within their organization.

      This article addresses the issue of why there seems to be reluctance by librarians to assume leadership positions, which is making it more and more difficult for libraries to find directors and assistant directors when the need arises. While the article focuses on public libraries, this disinterest in moving up is shared by librarians working in other types of libraries as well. The question that seems to need to be answered is what should the library profession be doing to produce professionals who are not only skilled technically, but also prepared to manage departments and entire facilities.   

Background on the Problem

      There is a lack of peer-reviewed articles about the leadership crisis in public libraries, although there have been some journal articles written about the problem as faced by academic libraries. Realizing that much can be learned by public libraries by reviewing studies performed for college and university libraries, several years ago, I examined some of those articles. One of the most significant articles I found was Janice J. Kirkland’s 1997 article that addresses why there are not more women library directors. Kirkland maintains that although 75 to 80 percent of American librarians are women, they hold less than 75 percent of directorships, especially at large or prestigious libraries. What I find particularly interesting about Kirkland’s premise is that our library community here in New Jersey seems to be the exception, as many of our libraries are led very effectively by women. Nevertheless, Kirkland’s contention for why there is a lack of women directors nationally is two-fold. One reason is that there is a glass ceiling for women kept in place by the use of deprivation behavior, and the other reason is that there is an adverse phenomenon of a glass escalator supported by acceptance behavior for men. Deprivation behavior is the act of denying opportunity to a group of people, women in this case. It includes things like having them chair only secondary committees, denying them important information through selective communication, regarding the mistakes women make as errors, while viewing the mistakes men make as slipups, and creating an organizational culture where women are forced to compete with other women causing female colleagues to depreciate one another. Many of the female respondents to the studies that Kirkland performed claimed that their greatest challenge to becoming managers was lack of support from their male director and his refusal to be a mentor. In terms of solutions, the respondents suggested that women who aspire to become managers need to overcome the barriers placed before them and find new self-confidence and a sense of worth. Many others suggested that women need to learn image and power communication skills and how to creatively handle conflict. Most importantly, the women studied suggested that women who want to become directors need to find other women who have reached management positions from whom they can learn and be properly mentored since male directors are not willing to provide that support and training.

      Kirkland also points out that not only do female librarians need to overcome the challenge of the glass ceiling, but also the fact that their male counterparts have a glass escalator that takes them to top. A joke that is often passed around among women librarians anxious to move up in their organizations is why male librarians are like dead fish. The answer is “because they both rise to the top”. When respondents to Kirkland’s studies were asked to list the most important variable that, in their opinions, prevented those who aspired to leadership to be denied the opportunity, the number one answer given was the lack of mentors and the chance to be mentored.

      In contrast to Kirkland’s findings, Marta Mestrovic Deyrup, in a recent article, posed the question of whether the revolution of women trying to get equality in terms of leadership positions is over and whether there is now true economic and professional parity between men and women. Deyrup’s article focuses specifically on academic libraries, and she shows that there are actually now more women than men at the helm of the country’s academic libraries. She also adds that women occupy the majority of positions on the executive board and list of officers of the American Library Association and the board of directors of the Association of College and Research Libraries. It is her contention that women have achieved parity with their male counterparts, but that women directors now face an even greater challenge in encouraging those

currently in library school to consider assuming the leadership roles of the future and to prepare both the female and the male students for those roles.

Balancing a Career and Family

      However, despite Deyrup’s positive news in terms of academic library leadership, attitudes seem quite different in public library administration. Unlike in academic libraries where many women directors as well as their male colleagues tend to be career administrators, librarians who work in a public library work in that environment for a reason, which is directly related to why so few of them desire a role beyond a staff librarian. A reason that many of these librarians often give for not wanting to take on a leadership position is the desire to balance a job and a life as a partner and/or parent. Many male and female librarians share a common desire to have a job that is routine yet interesting with flexible hours that allows the librarian to successfully blend a career and a life outside of the library. Many male and female librarians choose to work for a public library rather than any other type of library because working for a public library provides this type of opportunity, to work close to one’s home in your own community and to work hours that fit the librarian’s lifestyle.

Having It All

      To illustrate the choices that librarians, especially female librarians, have in terms of “wanting to have it all”, Betty J. Turock, in her often-cited article, relates the four phases of women and leadership as espoused by Margaret McIntosh.  According to Turock, McIntosh labels Phase I as Womanless Leadership, the phase prominent less than one hundred years ago that speaks of the “true woman” who confined her role to the private and domestic domains. This was a time when men took the leadership role, and women chose to take the subservient role, even though they may have had an opinion. This phase was followed by Phase II, which McIntosh labels, Women as Anomalies or Problems in Leadership, where men expected women to either fit their leadership model, which was very much a male leadership model, or the woman was deemed deficient. This promoted an attitude among the women of the early 1950’s that they were “deviants” and that, in order to be successful, women who wanted to be leaders needed to be more like men.  This stereotyping further encouraged women to face the decision whether they wanted a career or a life as a homemaker, since men created an organizational culture that did not allow a women to enjoy both. However, this phase was followed by Phase III, Women as Leaders, and by Phase IV, Leadership Redefined, where women adopted a new attitude about their capabilities and their potential, and demanded that men not only accept them as leaders, but that men also accept the assets women brought to the workplace because they were women. Many studies have clearly shown that women managers show more compassion and empathy in their decision-making and that they are far more capable at multi-tasking than are men. Young, Powell, and Hernon determined from an extensive study the attributes that public library directors feel most important to have. High on the list were the ability to work with others including library boards and staff; at all times, maintain one’s highest integrity, and to have excellent communication skills. The respondents to the study also valued the ability to balance professional and private responsibilities. Certainly, many women would agree that women are far more experienced and far more able to have that balance in their lives.

Special Qualities

      In addition, many public library boards have admitted that when they look for candidates to assume the role of director, they value candidates with the experience and ideas on how to best work with children and teens. A good board of directors knows that the key to getting an entire community involved in a public library is through children’s programming. Board members who are visionaries understand that children represent the future, and that if a library’s director can get young people interested in using the library, that library has an excellent chance of turning those children into lifelong learners. Again, perhaps the best candidates with this type of experience and ideas are women.

The Strength of a Woman

      A great deal of the business literature also focuses on the strengths of a women leader as opposed to a man. Billing and Alvesson note that female values are characterized by interdependence, cooperation, receptivity, acceptance, awareness of patterns, strong emotional tone, intuition, and heightened perception. The two authors also maintain that these positive attributes allow women to manage often more effectively than men because they value and, more importantly, know how to use open and honest communication as a basis for their leadership.

Opportunities to Learn How to Lead

      A common theme among the articles and books that have been written on why librarians often show little interest in management is the fact that many librarians feel unprepared to assume those roles. Kirkland’s study emphasized the desire and need for mentoring, especially for women. One of the most frequently cited statements that is made by librarians regarding their library education is that they were never taught how to be a manager, or if they had the opportunity, the one course that perhaps they were forced to take as part of the core curriculum was focused more on theory and very little on practical applications. In preparing her book, Rachel Singer Gordon interviewed many librarians who had become managers unexpectedly, and she offers some of their of comments, such as:

·        “All of my management experience was gained on the job”

·        “…Library school was nice, but it only gave me the theoretical approaches…not the real nitty-gritty day-to-day grind and sweat needed to operate a library in a truly professional and successful manner.”

·        “I don’t think the school could have prepared me better for management because I didn’t view myself then as ever wanting to go into management.”

·        “My library school experience dealt with nuts and bolts and theory of working in a library. There was no training on working with personalities (staff, patrons, board members, etc.) or the business aspects of running a library.”

      The fact that many librarians feel unprepared to lead has generated several excellent articles on how new librarians can learn leadership. Perhaps one of the most substantial of those articles is by Mason and Wetherbee, which is an analysis of current training programs in library leadership. Interestingly enough, the article makes a point of mentioning that of all of the many programs that are available for librarians to learn the concepts of leadership, there is an absence of programs that have been developed or offered by library and information science programs. Most of the librarians taking these classes given by private leadership institutes and professional associations are individuals who have assumed a leadership role suddenly without much notice and need to learn what they are now supposed to do and how they are now supposed to function as a library manager. Mason and Wetherbee also reiterate that as a large number of librarians retire, libraries will experience a loss of library leaders and that the profession must actively develop leadership programs that welcome librarians from diverse backgrounds.

Mentoring Programs

      When asked, men and women both agree that mentoring programs could even the playing field for opportunities in public library management. Perhaps one of the most significant programs that has served as a model for other mentoring programs is the Library Directors Mentor Program sponsored by the College Leadership Committee of the College Libraries Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). This program cleverly matches a class of first-year college library directors with a group of experienced college library directors, and the teams work together for a period of three weeks at the experienced library director’s library. This program has been very highly received by its participants, and both team members have reported benefits from being part of the experience. Programs like this one have provided a model for similar programs sponsored by state library associations and by county and urban public library systems for their own librarians. 

A Final Study

      Finally, perhaps one of the most valuable articles written in recent years that truly relates the reasons that public librarians, in particular, shy aware from leadership roles is Mary Pergander’s small study of the ten librarians of varied ages and backgrounds who became public library directors within two years of obtaining their graduate degrees. Pergander interviewed these ten librarians many years later. Half of the group subsequently left their positions to take nondirector positions, three of the ten stayed at the same library where they started as directors for over 25 years, and the remaining two took time off from leadership and returned several times during their careers. The article provides some significant clues as to why many librarians may not wish to become directors. They include the following:

·        taking a position of a public library director will take away hands-on time with patrons and programs

·        you will need to be comfortable at times with taking risks

·        there will no longer be anyone to tell you, “You are doing a good job”

·        there is a chance that you will end up feeling totally overwhelmed and find yourself quickly burned out

·     your job will no longer have a set schedule, but rather you could end up with your life consumed by your job

      Since the library profession is threatened by a shortage of qualified library administrators in the very near future, it is necessary for additional studies to be performed and the results to be reported to allow new strategies to be developed to encourage more librarians to seriously consider leadership roles, especially in the public library setting. Until those additional studies are initiated, in order to nurture future leaders within a given library, the director might wish to meet with staff librarians who show interest and/or potential for leadership positions, and ask them the following questions:

WORKS CITED

Rachel Singer Gordon, The Accidental Library Manager (Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc, 2005). http://www.lisjobs.com

The Accidental Library Manager”, presented by Rachel Singer Gordon, at the 2005 Annual Conference of NJLA, April 12, 2005, Ocean Place Resort, Long Branch, New Jersey.

Janice J. Kirkland, “The Missing Women Library Directors: Deprivation versus Mentoring,” College and Research Libraries 58 (1997): 376.

Marta Mestrovic Deyrup, “Is the Revolution Over? Gender, Economic, and Professional Parity in Academic Library Leadership Positions,” College Research Libraries 65 no 3 (2004): 242. 

Betty J.Turock, “Women and Leadership,” Leadership in the Library and Information Science Professions: Theory and Practice, edited by Mark D. Winston. New York: The Hawthorne Press, Inc., 2001, 111-132. 

Arthur P. Young, Ronald R. Powell, and Peter Hernon, “Attributes for the Next Generation of Library Directors,” ACRL Eleventh National Conference, April 10-13, 2003, Charlotte, North Carolina.

James Wyrick and Susan Brothers, “Searching for New Leadership,” Kentucky Libraries 67 no 4 (2003): 25.

Yvonne Due Billing and Mats Alvesson, “Questioning the Notion of Feminine Leadership: A Critical Perspective on the Gender Labelling of Leadership,” Gender, Work and Organization 7 no 3 (2000): 147.

Florence M. Mason and Louella V. Wetherbee, “Learning to Lead: An Analysis of Current Training Programs for Library Leadership,” Library Trends 53 (2004): 201.

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