Title: The ART of People Management in Libraries: Tips for Managing Your Most Vital Resource
Abstract: This engaging work by McKinlay, a human resources executive consultant, and Williamson, dean of the University of Saskatchewan Library, emphasizes the importance of the value of human potential in the library organization and provides practical guidance for library leaders in a variety of settings. Much of the theory springs from the Haines Centre for Strategic Management. Haines, one of McKinlay's business partners, worked to create the “People Plan Process,” described in the book. From Williamson come the practical applications of these principles and ideas in the academic library setting. As the authors state, what is measurable is real. Williamson demonstrates the impact of the use of the techniques for people management with her own staff.
Working together on a strategic plan for Williamson's library, the authors noticed the difference that effective library leadership can make in how well employees deal with change. Libraries are currently in the midst of a paradigm shift. Until quite recently, a library's primary resource was its collections. The primary resource now lies in the expertise and service performance of library workers. As with any business where services can be accessed from a variety of sources, people are the differentiating factor that relates directly to relevance, return on investment, funding, and future role. The basic purpose of this book is to answer the question: “How can we maximize our impact, through our people, to ensure a degree of relevance and security for the future?” (p. 2).
The book is designed as a practical resource and written in conversational style. The authors include some new theoretical concepts, recent research data, lessons learned from practice, and some solid truisms from established authors, including Stephen Covey. They also provide a wealth of real-life examples from libraries and other settings. Through implementation of concepts, they have found that some ways of managing staff are universally successful, while others are not as valuable in libraries. The authors warn readers that some of the concepts may make them uncomfortable. From such uneasiness can emerge new learning and sound choices to help staff members feel important and valued for their daily efforts and contributions.
The book is directed toward current library leaders and library staff or students who aspire to leadership positions. The key to releasing the energy and talent of individuals lies with the individual staff members. To achieve the goal of effectively managing people, leaders must create an environment in which staff members feel truly engaged in the overall direction and strategy of the library. The idea is that in such a supportive environment, they will use their strengths for the team.
At the end of each chapter, the authors provide a summary, tips that they call the “ART of People Management,” and notes that include references. The components of ART are: A stands for attention to the needs of individuals who make up your staff and to the needs of your organization; R stands for results to achieve organizational success as well as career success for individuals in your organization; and T stands for techniques that have been proved to be effective over time and need to be continually updated to meet the differing needs of differing groups of employees.
The book is organized into nine chapters. Six chapters follow a narrative format: “Chapter One: “The Library Business Is Changing—Please Excuse Our Dust During Renovations!”; “Chapter Two: Human Resources: Your Most Vital Resource—Don't Leave It to Chance!”; “Chapter Three: The Rules of the Game Have Changed”; “Chapter Four: The Systems Thinking Approach: The Frame Work for Developing a Human Resource Management System”; “Chapter Seven: Leadership in HR Management Practices—The People Edge Competencies”; and “Chapter Nine: Epilogue: Just When We Thought Things Were Running Smoothly…” The last chapter deals with how the financial disaster of 2008 changed issues in the workplace for people. Chapters five, six, and eight are subdivided. “Chapter Five: Systems Thinking Simplified—Four Primary Concepts” includes the seven levels of living systems, the twelve natural laws of living systems, the A-B-C-D-E systems thinking approach, and the rollercoaster of change. These concepts continue throughout the rest of the book. “Chapter Six: Developing Your People Plan—A Systems Thinking Approach” details ten steps and a parallel process. “Chapter Eight: Ten Critical HR Issues within Libraries” is highly relevant and valuable in itself.
Other features include a list of figures, a bibliography of resources mentioned in chapter notes, and an index that includes some cross-referencing. The black-and-white figures are useful in understanding the presented concepts.
Because the authors are Australian and Canadian, some of the content will differ for Americans. For example, the generational profiles provided come from Canadian analysis and do vary from American populations in some ways. Overall, the issues addressed in the work are universally relevant to academic libraries and can be generalized to health sciences libraries.
This title would complement established management works, such as those by Covey and Patrick Lencioni, and library management text standards, such as those published by the Medical Library Association and American Library Association (ALA). This book is recommended for health sciences libraries and libraries supporting library and information science students. It would also be of value to other library types.