Prelims

Half Title

Emotional Intelligence and Critical Thinking for Library Leaders

Title Page

Emotional Intelligence and Critical Thinking for Library Leaders

Gary L. Shaffer

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2020

Copyright © 2020 Gary L. Shaffer.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

Reprints and permissions service

Contact: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the text, illustrations or advertisements. The opinions expressed in these chapters are not necessarily those of the Author or the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78973-872-8 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-78973-869-8 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-78973-871-1 (Epub)

Dedication

To Alicia, Bryce, and Brinn, may you always be guided by emotional intelligence and critical thinking.

Thank you for your love and support.

Contents

Preface

This book is the first in a planned series of seven. Each book will take an in-depth look at two (of 14 total) foundational competencies for library leaders and managers as defined by the Library Leadership and Management Association a division of the American Library Association (LLAMA, 2014). This book will cover emotional intelligence and critical thinking. Other books in the series will cover topics such as:

When this author, a library practitioner, researcher, and professor of library management, feels that the topics are important, but do not appear to be addressed by the LLAMA Foundational Competencies (e.g., fundraising), he will attempt to place that topic within the confines of the competency that he feels is most related, such as in this case, budget creation and presentation.

While the series will be based in research, it is meant for a practitioner audience and thus will err on the side of practical advice. In addition to being a researcher in management and leadership, having formerly run the Center for Library Leadership and Management at the University of Southern California (USC), the author is also a practitioner, having run two public libraries. He has also been a member of an executive team or consulted with the executive team in three other large urban public libraries over his 15+ year career in librarianship. While not an academic librarian, the author was housed within the Doheny Memorial Library and did collaborate with academic librarians often while at USC. The author has also been a member of the Special Library Association (SLA), has supervised many students in internships in special libraries, attended SLA conferences, and often consulted with his corporate special library during a previous career in advertising. Thus, he will attempt to address management and leadership variables that may be of particular interest to those working in special libraries as well. Last, the author has consulted with school librarians throughout his career, counting many as close acquaintances, and will do his best to address their challenges as well. In general, this work is meant to aid all librarians who wish to improve their management and leadership skills. He hopes you will enjoy this series.

Acknowledgments

A sincere thanks to the library leaders who participated in the various studies that inform this book. A special thank you to the library directors who allowed me to interview them and build the case studies featured in this text. A thank you is also due my fellow researcher Pat Kreitz, who preceded me in my doctoral program by a few years, helped me by showing me the way, and encouraged me to use her research; to Peter Hernon, (retired) Professor Emeritus at Simmons University, who pushed me to build on his substantive work on emotional intelligence in library leaders and held my hand through my very first research study; and to my colleagues at Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California for their work in developing the USC Critical Thinking model and to the school for allowing me to reference it. Particularly, I would like to thank USC Marshall’s Marion Philadelphia, A. J. Ogilvie, Gita Govahi, and Lanore Larson, the keepers of critical thinking at Marshall. A special thanks is due to the Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA) at ALA who first surfaced the 14 competencies which inform this series. I also wish to thank Susan Grode for her thorough advice. Last, I would like to acknowledge Charlotte Maiorana at Emerald Publishing for asking me to write this series and Charlie Wilson also of Emerald Publishing for her assistance with the manuscript. Thank you all!