Spring 2017
Course DetailsInstructor
Dr. Betsy Van der Veer Martens Course Experience In this second semester of my MLIS program, I was very interested in this core class about management. While my main focus is children's services, I have had an eye on management throughout my program. During this course, I experienced a great deal of management change in my workplace and was able to apply what I was learning on the ground at work. Midway through the semester, a new manager, Rebecca Howard, moved to my branch of Martin Regional Library. This excellent move then led to an opportunity for my direct supervisor and mentor, Marie Welden, to manage another branch. By the last weeks of this Spring 2017 semester, I was unofficially but actually leading and managing the Children's department of Martin Regional (under the supervision of Rebecca Howard). This responsibility included scheduling, leading extra programs, and training new staff, in addition to my regular duties. It was a whirlwind, where when I look back I'm not sure how I (pun intended) managed it. I had great support from both my coworkers and this class, which helped guide that transition. Further, this experience later helped me when interviewing for my next position. ALSC Competencies At the time of this course, I was a Bilingual Children's Associate responsible for children's programming at the Martin Regional Library. Also, by the end of the course, I was also temporarily leading my department. This experience gave me the opportunity to explore the Administrative and Management Skills competencies. V. Outreach and Advocacy: V.1-8 VI. Administrative and Management Skills: VI.1-12 VII. Professionalism and Professional Development: VII.1-10 |
Samples of CourseworkWe worked on a number of managerial-related tasks in this course, but the final project of creating a strategic plan for a library branch was the capstone of the class. I chose to invent a strategic plan for the Siloam Springs Public Library in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. I attended John Brown University in Siloam Springs from 2006-2010 and even worked at that public library my first semester there. Much has changed in the intervening years, including a revitalization of the town and a brand new building after years of effort and fundraising (according to friends from the area). While I see myself staying in Tulsa, it was good practice to explore a strategic plan for a small town library not part of a larger system.
This assignment and others throughout the course supported all of the competencies under Administrative and Management Skills, but this assignment most especially helped with VI.1 and VI.2:
Another assignment that held meaning for me was a weekly discussion prompt towards the end of the semester. We had a number of articles related to libraries and management published in 1917 to choose from. I do not recall the exact wording of the discussion question, but I remember it as an encouragement to think about what has changed and what has not. I chose an article entitled "The Colored Branches of the Louisville Free Public Library." This article and my response to it has stayed with me for the rest of my program. While I do not have a screenshot of my discussion post response, I tend to draft all my discussion posts in a Google Doc to both gather my thoughts and save it for projects such as this.
Much has changed in our world since 1917, but some ideas and responses linger and need to be considered. Considering and writing about these challenging concepts helped me think about the Outreach and Advocacy competency V.4: "Advocates for eliminating barriers to library service for children based on socioeconomic circumstances, culture, privilege, language, gender, ability, and other diversities, and for overcoming systems of discrimination, exclusion, and ethnocentrism."
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Course Description from Syllabus
Theories, processes, behaviors and issues that allow knowledge-based institutions to transform themselves into ones that organize and share knowledge in an effective, efficient, and ethical manner; leadership, motivation and organizational communication; management of knowledge workers; ethical and legal aspects of managing information and knowledge organizations.
Course Goals and Student Learning Objectives from Syllabus
• To present functions common to all managers (e.g., planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling) in a framework that facilitates the student's understanding of administrative/management processes and library/information settings as organizations.
• To enhance the student's ability to develop critical management skills, including problem solving and decision making.
• To introduce the student to the literature of management, especially as it pertains to libraries and other information organizations
• To develop the student’s ability to produce both graduate-level and professional-level written products
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
• Trace the historical development of management as a discipline.
• Describe the concepts of organizational structure using examples to illustrate the concepts of specialization and coordination.
• Summarize the communication and controlling functions of an organization.
• Identify the tasks of human resources management in an organization.
• Apply a variety of theory-based techniques to organizational problem solving.
• Apply planning and assessment processes to management activities.
• Formulate appropriate responses to environmental changes affecting organizations
Theories, processes, behaviors and issues that allow knowledge-based institutions to transform themselves into ones that organize and share knowledge in an effective, efficient, and ethical manner; leadership, motivation and organizational communication; management of knowledge workers; ethical and legal aspects of managing information and knowledge organizations.
Course Goals and Student Learning Objectives from Syllabus
• To present functions common to all managers (e.g., planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling) in a framework that facilitates the student's understanding of administrative/management processes and library/information settings as organizations.
• To enhance the student's ability to develop critical management skills, including problem solving and decision making.
• To introduce the student to the literature of management, especially as it pertains to libraries and other information organizations
• To develop the student’s ability to produce both graduate-level and professional-level written products
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
• Trace the historical development of management as a discipline.
• Describe the concepts of organizational structure using examples to illustrate the concepts of specialization and coordination.
• Summarize the communication and controlling functions of an organization.
• Identify the tasks of human resources management in an organization.
• Apply a variety of theory-based techniques to organizational problem solving.
• Apply planning and assessment processes to management activities.
• Formulate appropriate responses to environmental changes affecting organizations