MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT
By Magali Kirwan, Branch Librarian at Octavia Fields
This workshop, attended by four Harris County staff
members (Magali G. Kirwan, Gene Rollins, Cindy Ecklund and
Wayne Britt) and over 30 other librarians from this area,
was sponsored by the Texas State Library. It was divided
into roughly four distinct sessions of management skills
with the 1st session being an introduction to management
for those of us who felt they could do with a brush up.
The first issue to be addressed was the basic adminis¬
trative roles and behavior patterns we as managers are in¬
volved in daily. Hiring was felt to be the most important
decision a manager makes since it decides the quality of
life in the work place. Emphasized was the need to break
out of our stereotyped passive/reactive roles and once you've
identified your goals, take an active role in getting what
you want. The marketing approach as a viable tool was
stressed and should not be considered unprofessional by
librarians.
Three essential skills to being an effective admini¬
strator were presented: 1. Technical skills which are
the traditional formal learning activity. Instruction,
practice, testing and evaluating are all part of our training
of staff. 2. Human relation skills based on experience
and trial and error processes. A manager should create
opportunities for a person to learn. A manager motivates
and communicates properly. 3. Conceptual skills which
are based on experience. A manager plans and co-ordinates
duties with staff.
In addition, a good administrator combines technical
and human relations skills.
Management and leadership were also considered.
A competent professional was described as: 1. Helpful/
supportive, 2. Reads broadly, 3. Very productive, 4. An
optimist, 5. Works the network. Emphasized was the need
to frame questions properly for making decisions and to
examine why things go well. Record keeping was mentioned
as a good way to predict how something works, i.e., a
program. Several examples were given on how the small
world phenomenon works, and how indirectly this affects
hiring and the way the organization functions.
The last main topic dealt with personnel actions.
Some of the standard hiring or selection practices
necessary for a good selection process include: 1.
A good job description, 2. An efficient advertising and
recruitment policy, 3. Scheduling interviews and allowing
sufficient time for each applicant, 4. Preparing
questions beforehand, 5. The manager/supervisor should
conduct all interviews.
Other factors that were important for the total
effectiveness of the organization included a thorough
orientation and performance appraisal or evaluation which
is documented at regular intervals. Performance standards
should be developed for each duty with a knowledge that
the standards should not indicate perfection. Performance
problems and disciplinary actions were also discussed.
The last sesson consisted of breaking up into groups
with a workshop leader and solving a library related
problem. This was an all day excercise using planning and
evaluation tools.
The second issue concerned decision making skills.
It was brought out that: 1. People are unaware of how
they make decisions, 2. People have little concern over
the quality of that decision, and 3. Understanding how
decisions are made can lead to better decisions in the
future. Decision making is not constant. Most indi¬
viduals go up and down from the mean. We participated
in a small trivia quiz to show how a "biased" judgement
can affect decisions.
GERLAND'S TAPES
GOOD FUND RAISER
By Shirley Ada, Branch Librarian at Northwest
The consensus on the institute was that each
of us learned several things we could apply to our work
Some were management skills we knew and had forgotten,
yet others were new management skills and practices
waiting to be tried out, experimented with, and incorp¬
orated into our own style of management.
ahLLOON
LAUNCH
By Agnes Baucum,
Children's Librarian, Octavia Fields
Libraries in neighborhoods near Gerland's Food Markets
have a wonderful opportunity to collect extra funds to
improve their libraries. Gerland's offers non-profit
organizations 1% of the cash totals on their grocery
receipts. Friends of the Northwest Library have
•placed a box on the circulation desk in the library to
collect receipts. It is an easy painless way for
patrons to help their library. Periodically the
Treasurer of the Friends group turns them in to Gerlands
for a sizable check. Katy received $182 in February
and Cypress Creek received $900 in May which they put
toward children's books. This is a profitable venture for
all concerned!
A patron at the Northwest Library drops a Gerlands receipt
into a deposit box on the circulation desk.
A balloon launch was held as a kick-off for our
Summer Reading Awesome Adventure at Deerbrook Mall on
Saturday, June 8th at 1:00 p.m.
Each balloon had a two-sided tag attached with the
child's name who was launching the balloon, the Octavia
Fields name and address on one side, and the finder of the
balloon was to place his name and address on the other
side. A balloon and tag was given to each child when re¬
gistering for the Awesome Adventures Reading Club.
To insure that we were not breaking any FAA regula¬
tions the airport was contacted and plans of our launch
were described. We were told to contact the tower 15
minutes before launching, so they could advise any air¬
planes in the area of our launch.
Deerbrook Mall donated the balloons, helium, and
allowed the use of the west parking area.
We at Octavia Fields feel that this was a very suc¬
cessful and colorful program, as adults and children both
participated. One tag was received from as far away as
Bingle and I -10 ! However, any future balloon launch needs
an ideal method of holding the balloons after they are
filled with helium before given to the children.
