In San Antonio this past summer, during the AALL annual meeting, I had the opportunity to attend a workshop called “Rebuilding the Profession” that was held at the St. Mary’s University School of Law. The purpose of the seminar was to provide information about how law librarians could qualify themselves to pursue director level positions in academic law libraries. A number of highly-respected directors contributed to this successful program.
Janis Johnston, from the University of Illinois, discussed the administrative skills required to be a director of an academic law library. Law library directors run multi-million dollar non-profit organizations. Management skills are obviously a key component of director positions. Professor Johnston stressed that you had to manage: (1) operations; (2) your role in the institution; and (3) yourself. Managing operations includes things like budgeting and personnel management. It also includes leading the library - seeing the big picture for the organization. Secondly, it is important to manage your role in the institution. You have to learn to be a team player within the law school. You also need to be an effective advocate for the library and build solid negotiation skills. Lastly, you need to manage yourself. Professor Johnston stressed the importance of time management skills for a director. A director needs to effectively delegate responsibilities. Proper perspective is also important, as well as keeping a good sense of humor.
Martha Dragich Pearson, from the University of Missouri, and Barbara Bintliff, from the University of Colorado, discussed the responsibilities of directors as members of the law school faculty. Professor Bintliff discussed the various institutional responsibilities of faculty members, including academic affairs and scholastic affairs. Faculty members are required to maintain expertise in their field of study. Professor Bintliff stressed the importance of academic freedom in law schools and that it depends on strong, functioning faculty. Professor Dragich Pearson discussed some of the difficulties with directors being faculty members. Directors are often required to handle their administrative/managerial work, plus carry full faculty responsibilities such as teaching, writing, and being active in professional organizations.
The next part of the seminar focused on ways that librarians could build their credentials so as to be competitive in the director job market.
Martha Dragich Pearson and Frank Houdek, from Southern Illinois University, discussed the importance of scholarship. Professor Houdek stressed that the library director is usually the only member of the faculty whose area of expertise is libraries and information science. Writing thought-provoking articles that demonstrate expertise in this area will impress a law school hiring committee. Professor Houdek also emphasized the importance of writing about issues that interest you. Professor Dragich Pearson stated that law school deans are looking for a record of accomplishment, but they are also looking for the promise of future success. Demonstrating a habit of writing can help show this future promise. Professor Dragich Pearson also discussed the importance of developing a subject area of expertise in your scholarship, rather than jumping around from topic to topic.
Lolly Gasaway, from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, discussed the importance of teaching experience and stressed that librarians should take advantage of every teaching opportunity available at their law schools. Librarians should also work at being good teachers. They should be extremely well-prepared, adopt technology and use it in the classroom, and pay attention to student evaluations.
Barbara Bintliff talked about the importance of service. The right kind of service can demonstrate a number of critical skills such as leadership, management, etc. Law school committees are a great way to get service experience. However, the traditional faculty time breakdown is 40% teaching, 40% scholarship and only 20% service. As valuable as service experience can be, it is important not to overdo it. AALL and regional organizations provide great service opportunities, but librarians interested in director positions should be cautious of making large time commitments if their publication and teaching records are not in order.
Penny Hazelton, from the University of Washington, discussed the importance of job experience. The traditional career ladder for librarians has been reference librarian, head of reference, head of public service, associate director, and director. However, job titles are not necessarily that important. More important, are what people actually do in the positions that they hold. Dean Hazelton also discussed how the quality of the institutions that you work for can benefit you in the job market.
The last part of the seminar was a discussion by Michelle Wu, from Hofstra University, and Charles Ten Brink, from Michigan State University, about interviewing for a director position. The interviewing process can vary tremendously from institution to institution. Before going on any interview it is important to investigate the institution and get as much background information as possible. During the interview it is important to find out the budgetary situation of the school and the library, and to discuss the responsibilities of the director. It is also important to understand that library directors tend to stay at their institutions for a number of years, and that schools tend to not have a lot of experience interviewing and hiring for these positions. In this environment, it is important for candidates to sell themselves to the schools.
I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to attend this seminar. As a newer law librarian, still learning my current position, I will not be applying for director vacancies anytime soon. However, I believe that the advice of these successful professionals will help me make good decisions at the beginning of my career, and that these decisions will pay dividends further down the road.