What Every Library Director Should Know

In this unconventional management text, author Dr. Susan Carol Curzon presents a different take on traditional library management tools. Through personal narrative and anecdotes from other working professionals, Curzon presents the many everyday challenges one meets as a library manager:• The unwritten rules, strategies, and bits of wisdom only learned on-the-job • Behavioral nuances• Political strategies• Mentor-like advice• Subtle communication codesRegardless of the professional setting, management is management and wisdom is wisdom. What Every Library Director Should Know is the insider’s view of vital actions, behaviors, and strategies needed to succeed in every type of library.

This small book, written by a dean emeritus with experience in a number of libraries of various types, is an excellent guide on how to lead any library, should be read by directors, deans, managers, and those managing staff members, especially those on search committees. It demonstrates firmly that leadership is different from management in many ways and that people, not just the latest buzzwords and technology, make the organization. Covering the vast array of issues that can confront a director, it provides a straightforward, common sense approach to being the director of any library. It also brings up the notion that service to the customer, be it the public, faculty, students, or library board, is the number one priority in any library. Many things are covered here that are often left unspoken in other management textbooks, such as the management process around deaths or illness among staff. This volume emphasizes that a happy staff makes happy customers and other usually unwritten wisdom that is needed by a good director and leader. The pressures of being a director are not downplayed, but, all too unusually, this book also emphasizes the importance of the humanistic part of leadership., There are many books and articles to assist a library manager or director to study and reflect on what it takes to excel in organisational leadership; however, this title diverges from the norm. Rather than providing a management text, Curzon draws on her varied experience to talk directly to the reader, sharing her extensive knowledge and enriching this with nuggets of advice from other library directors. . . .The book is recommended as a reflective check-up for existing directors and a heads-up for intending ones. Much of the content will also be of interest to library managers at all levels. It is quick to read and will offer you understanding, insight, warning and challenge., There are many current library management and administration books out there, but none of them distill the experience and knowledge and directness this book does.  Dr. Curzon brings her extensive experience and breadth of knowledge to this book, and those who are currently in library director positions or thinking of moving their careers in this direction will benefit from the pearls of wisdom available in What Every Library Director Should Know., Balancing a budget does not a leader make. Curzon has captured the nuances of effective leadership with wisdom, common sense, elegance, and a practical how-to approach. Here is a library mentor you can trust. The book fills a need you never even knew existed, until you start reading it.

Dr. Susan Carol Curzon is the dean emeritus of the University Library of California State University, Northridge. Her previous positions include Director of Libraries for the City of Glendale, CA. and Regional Administrator for the County of Los Angeles Public Library. She also has experience in a corporate library.