Compared to other professions, librarians seem particularly disinclined to pursue management positions. Multiple studies attribute librarians' disproportionate ambivalence about promotion in part to their desire to continue "on-the-ground" work instead of fielding personnel issues and drowning in meetings.
In this session, a Research & Instruction Librarian at a mid-sized academic library will discuss how she had to make an uneasy peace with her unexpected leadership role during a semester-long staffing transition, and the surprising ways in which her added responsibilities actually enabled her to reinvigorate the standard first-year "one-shot" and reimagine a problematic library assignment for a core English class.
Participants will:
Recognize how to successfully manage new projects and responsibilities while simultaneously maintaining focus on some more granular aspects of teaching and learning.
Identify opportunities for local-level adjustments to pedagogy that can inform the holistic evolution of an information literacy program.
Examine the important distinction between "management" and "leadership."
