Summer 2019 Part 2 – New Titles in the Professional Collection

Arrowhead Library System (ALS) has a long-standing commitment to maintaining a collection of current publication titles of interest to librarians, library staff and library trustees.  The collection is housed at the ALS Headquarters in Mountain Iron, but all titles can be requested via the online catalog (if you have a borrower’s card from an ALS library) or via the statewide MnLINK catalog (if you have a borrower’s card from Duluth Public Library).  If you have questions about borrowing titles from the ALS Professional Collection, feel free to call ALS staff!  Here are the latest additions to the ALS collection: 

Dynamic Discipline (Leadership Planners Series)
Katherine Hakala-Ausperk
ALA Editions, 2019
023.223 HAK 2019

You’re a manager, supervisor, and library leader—but you’re still human. And, as social animals, humans tend to shy away from situations that are uncomfortable or even potentially threatening. So it’s no wonder that disciplining employees doesn’t rank high on anyone’s list of favorite job duties. But because negativity can quickly spread, personnel problems cannot be ignored. The good news is that discipline does not have to be a dirty word, and in fact dynamic discipline can go beyond just fixing a problem to making your whole team stronger. Using a combination of readings, exercises, and activities, this planner will guide you through

  • understanding why we don’t like to discipline but why it’s so essential;
  • the concept of Improvement Discipline (ID) and how you can use it to overcome your reluctance at confronting someone;
  • “what if” scenarios that will help you prepare for difficult conversations with employees;
  • administering discipline in such a way that it moves beyond censure to positive outcomes; and
  • reflecting on the steps you’ve taken and those you plan to take in the future.

This planner will ensure that you discipline well by helping you focus on improvement, not punishment.

Win ‘Em Over (Leadership Planners Series)
Katherine Hakala-Ausperk
ALA Editions, 2019
023.223 HAK 2019

No matter how talented a leader you are, there are often barriers in your way caused by a lack of trust or respect, or most likely an absence of confidence. This installment of management coach Hakala-Ausperk’s Leadership Planners series tackles a crucial issue: how to effectively supervise employees who might be older or more experienced than you are, or even longtime peers who are suddenly under your authority after an internal promotion. It might seem like a tall order to confidently demonstrate your skills and abilities to such a team. But all you really have to do is win ‘em over. This planner will help you examine the reasons, the implications, the challenges, and the solutions that confidence — or a lack thereof — can cause. And, using exercises, worksheets, and prompts, it will guide you in

  • establishing yourself in ways that will win the confidence of rookies, experts, and bosses alike;
  • working well with more experienced members of your team;
  • supervising friends and peers effectively;
  • winning and losing graciously;
  • learning from your mistakes; and
  • confidently putting your own plan into action.

By cultivating confidence, you’ll be primed to build respectful and professional relationships with every member of your team. This planner from Hakala-Ausperk shows the way to do it.

Wholehearted Librarianship: Finding Hope, Inspiration, and Balance
Michael Stephens
ALA Editions, 2019
023.23 STE 2019

Of his earlier bookAgainst the Grain raved, “Reading this book brings a sense of hope, inspiration, and excitement for what the future holds for the new generation of hyperlinked librarians entering our profession.” Now Stephens is back with a newly curated collection of succinct writings that will refresh your view of the profession and invigorate your work. Associate Professor at San Jose State University, Stephens encourages curiosity and creativity in his students and all library workers by connecting trends from outside the profession to its bedrock values. With a humanist lens, he reflects on such topics as

  • how libraries can empower kindness;
  • developing a coterie of kindred spirits at conferences outside libraryland;
  • inspiring creativity in library patrons;
  • the most effective professional development experiences;
  • comfort, joy, and hygge in the library;
  • the characteristics of compassionate leadership;
  • how to contend with a devil’s advocate; and
  • mentoring new librarians.

Whether you’ve just landed your first job or a longtime professional, Stephens’ perspective will reenergize your commitment to librarianship and the important work that libraries are doing every day.

Future-Proof Your Team (Leadership Planners Series)
Katherine Hakala-Ausperk
ALA Editions, 2019
023.9223 HAK 2019

Does everything just seem to be happening too fast? Are you finding there’s no time between hearing that change is coming and dealing with your team’s frustration once it arrives? What’s more, all eyes are on you; and though you’re supposed to be directing, supporting, and helping your team succeed, frankly, you’re getting pulled down into the quicksand too! Sound familiar? From renowned leadership guru Hakala-Ausperk, author of the bestseller Be A Great Boss, comes this unique planner for helping your team survive and thrive amidst change. The first in a series of pragmatic leadership planners, this tool is designed to be useful as soon as you turn the first page. It’s filled with a variety of focused planning exercises, activities, and self-directed questions that will help you

  • step back and reflect on what’s happening, what’s out of whack, and what you can do to get focused;
  • think about what changes your users really want from libraries, as well as what your team needs from you as a leader;
  • build trust and confidence in the future among the people you supervise;
  • identify simple and effective solutions to current and future problems;
  • finalize your plan by creating lists, sketching out a calendar, and following up with your team; and
  • plan ways to adapt to changes while staying grounded.

This planner will ensure you keep moving forward by guiding you in taking concrete, positive steps—right away, soon, and in the future.

Library Leadership Your Way
Jason Martin
ALA Editions, 2019
025.1 MAR 2019

Author Jason Martin won’t tell you how to be a leader. In fact, that’s not the point of his book. Instead he’ll give you a roadmap and the tools to find it out for yourself, guiding you to discover why you want to lead, how you can best lead, and what your own unique leadership practice looks like. Activities will both allow you to explore your leadership identity and develop your leadership practice. Signposted with prompts for self-reflection, workshop discussions, and mentoring conversations, this guide’s topics cover core issues like

  • discovering why you want to lead;
  • research findings on the five most desirable traits in library leaders;
  • wrestling with the constraints of organizational culture;
  • a tour of practical leadership models such as Theory Z, Situational Leadership, Transformational Leadership, and emotional intelligence;
  • how to develop habits that will bolster your confidence through inevitable moments of doubt;
  • cultivating a “people first, mission always” mentality;
  • self-care for leaders; and
  • living out your unique leadership vision through goal setting, self-evaluation, and other key steps.

By following the activities in this book and using them to inform your leadership practice, you will add value to your leadership and to your library. As Martin demonstrates, it all starts with asking yourself, “What can I do today to make myself a better leader?”

Where Are the Spooky Books?  How to Genrefy Your Library
Brenda DeHaan
Brenda DeHaan, 2019
025.19 DEH 2019

Are you wondering if you should genrefy your library and what’s the easiest way to do it? Are you concerned that genrefication might “dummy down” your library? Do you need to move your library because of getting new flooring, remodeling, or getting a new space? Do you need some guidelines as to which books you should weed? This book will help answer these questions. After hearing “Where are the spooky books?” countless times, the author genrefied her library. Now the beloved spooky books are in one spot, including supernatural fiction and nonfiction shelved together. The fiction and nonfiction sports books are in one spot, including sports biographies. All sorts of genres and subjects were reorganized in an easily accessible manner. Patrons can quickly find what they’d like to read. Shelving is faster also. In addition to explanations of how an elementary and a secondary library each arranged by the Dewey Decimal System became one genrefied K-12 library, numerous photographs document the process. The new library is a hybrid system of genrefication and Dewey Decimal. Genrefying has helped to build a reading culture, and books that had been previously overlooked for many years were suddenly being checked out. Genre categories, label ideas, signage suggestions, genre activities, and more are included. If not sure about genrefying your library, mini-genrefication ideas are also included. Seeing how someone else does something can make it easier to determine what is the best route for you and your library. There’s not just one right way to genrefy. There’s not just one right way to organize your library, regardless of which system you use. This book shares one way that worked for one librarian who encourages you to find your own way.

Murder Mystery, Graphic Novels, and More:  Innovative Programs for Engaging Teens in Your Library
Thane Benson
Libraries Unlimited, 2019
027.626 BEN 2019

This book offers step-by-step details on how to plan and execute library workshops and programs to inspire creativity in teens:

• Empowers librarians to teach graphic novel creation, create murder mystery events, make animated films, and offer other creative programs on a shoestring budget

• Provides exercises and games librarians can use to kick-start creativity in teens

• Includes other fun elements such as further information offered in word bubbles in the graphic novel section and a built-in flip book.

Strategic Planning for Academic Libraries: A Step-by-Step Guide
Gregory C. Thompson, Harish Maringanti, Rick Anderson, Catherine B. Soehner, and Alberta Comer
ALA Editions, 2019
027.7093 THO 2019

No doubt about it: strategic planning is a serious commitment. But when carried out skillfully, thoughtfully, and with sensitivity to the impacts on all those involved, it’s an undertaking that can pay large dividends for the library and its users. A strong strategic plan gives shape and clarity to the library’s intentions and, when carefully written, can make a powerful case for the library’s indispensability to its sponsoring institution. Providing library deans, directors, and university librarians with up-to-date guidance, this book

  • outlines a step-by-step method that helps readers prepare for a successful strategic planning process, create and implement a strategic plan, and assess the effectiveness of both the process and the resulting plan;
  • discusses the differences between scenario planning and strategic planning, with pointers on determining which would be best in a given organization;
  • offers expert advice for communicating a strategic plan clearly and compellingly to the library’s many stakeholders at every stage of the process;
  • shares ways to bring library staff as well as users into the planning process;
  • teaches how to use surveys and focus groups to inform strategic planning, complete with sample survey questions and a consent cover letter;
  • addresses whether and how to hire consultants;
  • concludes with a summary of the essential elements of a successful planning process, ideal for quick reference; and
  • includes an appendix with numerous useful templates, from an Executive Council Strategic Planning Retreat Agenda to a Final Report.

Written by a team of authors with decades of library administration experience between them, this powerful resource enables academic libraries to produce plans that will offer directional guidance to employees while also demonstrating the library’s power to meet institutional goals.

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