When I first saw the title on LISNews, I was intrigued. Are there really certain habits that librarians can adopt to make us more effective?
In his essay for The Chronicle of Higher Education this week, Todd Gilman shares with us his “Four Habits of Highly Effective Librarians”. Though his essay is geared more towards academic librarians, I feel that the four habits are applicable to all librarians, whether they are in public or corporate libraries.
The four behaviors that Gilman suggests adopting to be more effective in our workplace are:
- openess,
- responsiveness,
- collaboration, and
- communication
Here’s ACRLog’s summary of what each behavior means
One who is open to new ideas and is open to sharing them and listening to those of others - and as Gilman suggests - is open to accepting change. One who is responsive to new ideas and is willing to give them a try - and who responds to co-workers when asked for input and participation. One who is willing to collaborate internally and externally with co-workers and fellow educators and academic support professionals to accomplish shared objectives. One who pays attention to the need to share information and communicate it to fellow librarians. I think most of us would like our colleagues to internalize these behaviors, and we should try to do so ourselves.
FYI, Todd Gilman is the librarian for literature in English at Yale University’s Sterling Memorial Library.
Technorati Tags: librarians, professional development
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