LIS-S 552 Academic Library Management
3 credits
- Prerequisite(s): LIS-S 500, LIS-S 507
- Delivery: Online
- Semesters offered: Spring (Check the schedule to confirm.)
Description
Background and current trends in the management of academic libraries. Students will learn the academic context, organizational theory, management techniques, and information issues that concern academic librarians in collegial, supervisory, management, and leadership roles.
Program Learning Goals Supported
Instructors map their courses to specific LIS Program Goals. Mapped program goals drive the design of each course and what students can expect to generally learn.
- Lead and Manage Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Organizations
Learning Outcomes
Instructors develop learning outcomes for their courses. Students can expect to be able to achieve the learning outcomes for a given course after successfully completing the course.
- Know:
- The environment and needs of American higher education.
- Managerial tools such as budgeting, planning, and personnel policies and practices.
- Basic aspects of serving faculty, students, and community
- Understand and apply theories of organization to the above
- Analyze past and present challenges in academic librarianship
- Propose and evaluate solutions to needs, preparing to lead effectively within organizations
- Apply oral and written communication skills in order to communicate effectively with peers and administrators.
Course Overview
Instruction is in Canvas. Lessons are organized into Modules whose length may vary.
Each module may contain specialized options for students interested in different information environments, such as community colleges, research institutes, and other; students will learn about both public (patron-facing) and technical (systems, collections) aspects but may emphasize one or the other more heavily during the course.
Module 1: Academia past and present
- Systems of American higher education and American academic libraries
- Lifecycle of academic/archives librarians
Module 2: Management tools: Leadership and Ethics
- Ways of thinking about how people work together towards academic goals
- Understanding oneself, oneself as a leader and the motivations of others
- This is mostly on the individual level
Module 3: Management tools: Culture, Persons, Personnel
- Whether, how, and how much to work with others in an organization
- Organizational theories; culture at work; legal aspects of supervision
- This is on the organizational level
Module 4: Management tools: Budgets and Planning
- Understanding fiscal realities and opportunities; bringing people and resources together; different methods of doing short term and strategic planning; coordinating library planning with parent organizational goals and methods.
Module 5: Serving Faculty
- Understanding campus decision-making
- Research data management
- Research support (including collections)
- Faculty influence on student learning
Module 6: Serving Students (or other information end-users)
- Student backgrounds and goals
Module 7: Serving the Community
- Interaction of academia with broader society
Culminating work # 1: Student-chosen topic, summarize past and present condition; analyze within managerial framework.
Culminating work # 2: Group-students (based on self-chosen topics): Proposals for the future
Throughout the modules and assignments students will be expected to demonstrate two key abilities for an academic librarian:
- Clear, audience-oriented communication
- Analysis and creativity—moving beyond summarization and understanding (which are essential) to questioning, evaluating, and considering new possibilities
Policies and Procedures
Please be aware of the following linked policies and procedures. Note that in individual courses instructors will have stipulations specific to their course.