Todaro ALA Initiative WORKSPACE "Libraries Transform: The Expert in the Library": Home - ALA Todaro "Expert" Initiative for Libraries Transform

Janice Welburn, Co-Chair

Beth McNeil, Co-Chair

with support from

Elisa Coghlan

Tara Baillargeon

JoAnne Kempf

Shaula OConnor

and

Julie Todaro

Libraries Transform: the Expert in the Library

My presidential initiative is a focus on the employee, the library professional or the expert in the library. I am committed to identifying and promoting the existence and awareness of the expertise that connects our constituents to what they want and need, assists our patrons in their transformations and works with our communities to assist in their transformation.

To achieve this, we need to be able to articulate how we and our library employees transform through libraries. We need to be able to illustrate who we are, what we do AND we need to be able to demonstrate our worth and value.

To this end we need to identify 21^st century human resources content (terminology, data, structures, etc.); articulate who we are and what we do and our expertise and impact; study and collect value data on ourselves and our employees; and, most importantly - find paths for articulating our work and value in dynamic, up-to-the-minute library and information environments. The Initiative work plan includes:

First stage

1. Identifying existing “value of the library” resources and best practices in general and by type of library
2. Research content (in #1) to identify the articulation of value of the expert or professional in the library within general and type of library “value of library” resources

Second Stage

3. Identifying critical HR content needed for 21^st century HR content including:

• Identifying the range of products needed and available for 21^st century HR best practices (terminology, job descriptions, titles, competency sets, dispositions, etc.)
• Choose content to be used as best practices such as “the essential elements of a 21^st job description”
• Identify what needs to be created thereby articulating a HR research agenda for the next three years

4. Creating an Experts’ Playbook for 21^st century HR materials and best practices articulating value and expertise of library professionals

Products for my initiative are designed for all levels of employees within libraries no matter the program, function or service. Therefore, no matter how you identify them (faculty librarians, librarians, library managers, media specialists, paraprofessionals, classified staff, children’s librarians, school librarians, research associates, information specialists, instructional technologists, digital managers, archivists, conservators, adjunct librarians, hourly workers and so on…) the content will be placed in a Playbook for managers including 21^st century best practices such as:

Spring 2016 - Fall 2016

• Identification of research, content (opinion, etc.) on articulating the value of library employees in general;

• Identification of best practices for performance outcomes such as:

  • Job/position descriptions;

  • Performance measures for individuals and teams;

  • Evaluation mechanisms and choices (individual, self, team, peer, upward, etc.)

  • Hiring content such as (along with position descriptions) advertising content, rubrics for assessing candidates, interview question sets in the context of multiple 21^st century interviewing

  • Required and preferred competency sets for all levels of employees as well performance and assessment of required and preferred skill levels

• Selection of institutional directions such as commitment statements (for dispositions, etc.)

• Design of staff development action plans for all levels of staff by staff member, functions, etc.

• Recommended curriculum for competency acquisition in critical areas that include (these are areas identified so far and these may change given assessment of need): technology, professionalism, issues such as copyright, intellectual freedom, etc.; leadership (including advocacy); management; accountability and assessment/measurement and evaluation; and, collaboration for success;