Any library managers or library project managers out there who might want to share insights?
It's so much tougher than I imagined!

Here are some suggestions for now:

LIS Future:A Library Mentor and Leadership Development Wiki
http://lisfuture.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

Welcome to the PALINET Leadership Network (you will need to register to read, but it's free)
http://pln.palinet.org/wiki/index.php/PLN_Home

Blogging Directors:
http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/links/index.php?title=Library_director

Library Administration and Management Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/lama/lama.cfm

Library Administration and Management Journal Editor's Desk
http://blogs.ala.org/LAandM.php

There is my blog as well: http://gathernodust.blogspot.com

Another ditto from me. I manage a very large, public-service department and have dealt/am dealing with every challenge, problem, obstacle, reward, success, etc, you could imagine. I spend a great deal of time motivating and encouraging my staff. Some days are easier than others.

As long as your colleagues respect you and accept the situation, I would not worry too much. Someone will always feel ackward in every situation.

---

Brian C. Gray
Head of Reference & Engineering Librarian
Kelvin Smith Library
Case Western Reserve University
http://blog.case.edu/bcg8
bcg8@case.edu

I very much agree that in moving from a line/staff position to management you quite often do not get to do "library" work any more. I started out as a paraprofessional on a reference desk, obtained my MLS, and had my first professional job as a branch manager. Now, 14+ years later, I am a director. With each step up the ladder I felt like I became less of a librarian and more of a bureaucrat.

I would also agree that the skills that make a good librarian do not necessarily equate to making a good manager, especially from the public service standpoint. It has been my experience that librarians and paraprofessional staff who work with the public are taught and conditioned to bend over backwards to help people and to go as far as possible in helping customers. I am not arguing against this, as it is most often the right thing to do. However, once you enter into a managerial position you quite often cannot maintain this approach. You become more aware of the limits on your time, of the limited resources of your department and organization, and you realize that you cannot do and be all things for all people, and that at times you have to say no and say it emphatically.

There has been a recent trend among some larger public libraries to hire directors who hold an MLS and an MBA or MPA, or even who do not have an MLS but do have one of the other two degrees. I cannot say that I totally disagree with the logic of this thinking. At the level of a director, especially in larger library systems with multiple facilities, hundreds of employees, and multi-million dollar budgets, you want a leader with business acumen. The actual library work gets done by the department heads and the people who work for them.

I have to agree the higher you go in management the less library stuff you get to do. I am a branch manager with only 12 salaried FTEs and 30 hourly staff and I don't have the time to work the desk or work with the public like I did when I was an hourly employee.

The MPA helpped me with some of the finacial things the library does. It also showed me different ways to think about problems and things.

---

TTYL,
John