Leadership of presence: Leading today’s academic library

The Reichstag (parliament buildings) in Berlin, Germany, was gutted by an arson fire in 1933, a month after Hitler became Chancellor. The Reichstag, although severely damaged, remained unused and unnoticed until after the reunification of Germany in 1990. Although the building had played a historic role and was centrally located adjacent to the famed Brandenburg Gate, for many modern Germans, the building had no presence. Sir Norman Foster, the well-known British architect, was hired in the early 1990’s to reconstruct the Reichstag. Before Foster began the reconstruction that would transform the historic structure, the building was completely wrapped by the famous artist, Christo in 1995, attracting millions of visitors (http://christojeanneclaude.net/projects/wrapped-reichstag). This was the beginning of the Reichstag’s rebirth and awakening its presence in the mind of German citizens. The Foster renovation, completed in 1999 retained the historic aspects of the building, and added a glass dome or cupola, with spiraling walkways inside the dome that allows visitors a 360-degree view of the city.

Berlin Reichstag building at night, 2013 - Avda avda-foto.de CCBY

Berlin Reichstag - Inside Dome https://www.maxpixel.net/ CCBY

Berlin Skyline - http://www.spangdahlem.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2000279791/

In 2012 I visited Berlin and walked the spiraling walkways inside the Reichstag dome giving me a 360-degree view of the city. From this exalted perch, I could see the Brandenburg Gate, the Berliner Dom, the Soviet era Radio Tower, the Tiergarten, the Holocaust Memorial, Humboldt University, and remnants of the Berlin wall. From this spot, the city had “presence”; history, culture, music, the enduring spirit of Berlin.

The idea of buildings, monuments, or places having “presence” isn’t new. Any of us who have visited Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the Library of Congress, Machu Picchu, or Mount Everest knows that these are places that have “presence.” Presence may bring a sense of awe, or peace, or wonder; a sense of something larger than ourselves. Of course, more than buildings or nature has “presence,” people do as well.

I often think about leadership and how to be more effective in the work that I do. Recently one of the pastors of our church talked about the “leadership of presence” A.K.A. “showing up.” This immediately started me thinking about the idea of presence and what it means to have “presence” and what does “leadership of presence” mean in a practical sense.

When I talk of the “leadership of presence” I am not talking about the “leadership of charisma.” While many leaders have vast personal charisma and can instantly charm a room, “leadership of presence,” in my opinion, is different. Leadership of presence is the attitude and practice of showing up and being present and engaged with your staff, your faculty, and your students.

We take many of our cues about our jobs, our institutions, our place or importance from our leaders. While what leaders say is important, people look much more carefully at leader’s behavior and attitudes in judging them as leaders. A leader’s behavior and attitudes make a world of difference in the workplace.

How then do we show the leadership of presence on our campuses and in our libraries? Here are a few examples of what I think it means to show the “leadership of presence.”

Come in the front door: When you come to campus do not take the back entry into the library building and whisk up the elevator so that you are not seen. Come through the front door, acknowledge the staff and students you see, and observe what is going on. Every morning is a chance to make an impression on why this job at this university, at this library, is the most important job in the world and why these people matter.

Chat with your staff: Learn the names of every staff member if you can and chat with them individually on a regular basis. A short conversation, preferably in their work area, enforces that you value them and their role in the organization. Know something about the work they do, which shows your appreciation for their work.

Have an open door: It is important that staff feel that you are accessible and an open door is one way to help. You will not be overwhelmed with people dropping by. Staff, however, will appreciate that you are welcoming and occasionally some of them will drop by if they want to talk.

Show up and be present: Thinking both of engagement across campus and library staff, it is important to show up at a variety of campus and library events – football games, concerts, lectures, and also tabling events sponsored by the libraries or student groups, orientation events. This is hard as the dean’s responsibilities more than fill an 8-hour day, but showing up is critical to engage with students and faculty, and also to having staff believe that you support their work.

Listen more and talk less: One of the things that shows a sense of presence is really listening when others talk to you. It allows people to feel that they are being heard. Don’t rush to speak. You don’t always have to have an answer on the spot; sometimes listening is the answer.

Show a sense of humility: Everyone has experienced a leader who thinks they are God’s gift to the world. Having a sense of humility allows you to recognize the worth of the person you are engaging with as well as recognizing the work that they do.

Get out of the Office: Part of the leadership of presence is being seen in the building, on campus, with people you are engaging with. When work gets overwhelming, take a break, get out of the office, and engage with people you see on campus, in the library, in the community.

Be generous with thanks, compliments, praise: Part of leadership is supporting the people who work with and for us. Part of leadership of presence is saying thanks, complimenting, and praising staff in person, and in the company of others. Providing recognition and appreciation goes a long way toward building a workplace culture that is positive. This recognition helps make people visible. Make sure you talk often to the custodial staff often and thank them for their work.

Do Not Think Tasks are Beneath You: When the library hosts events, especially those that involve setting up, food, and cleaning up, on occasion volunteer to help. As leaders, we shouldn’t ask people to do things we would be unwilling to do, or that we feel is beneath us as this smacks of elitism. Be sure to say thank you even if the planners won’t let you help and tell you they appreciate your willingness to help.

Diversity and Inclusion: Leadership of presence should be sensitive to diversity and inclusion and ensure that being present isn’t preferential regarding librarians over staff, or around social class, or race/ethnicity, etc.

Leadership of presence is an act of engagement. It is an intentional attitude of being present, interested, and supportive of the students, faculty, and staff of the library and the campus.

Inspire, Innovate, Transform: Forefronting Imagination and Creativity in the Library

I recently was privileged to hear Viola Davis, Oscar, Tony, and Emmy award-winning actress and producer, talk with Andrew Medlar from the New York Public Library about her life and her new upcoming children’s book, Corduroy Takes a Bow. While I am looking forward to seeing the book; Corduroy was a favorite of one of my sons, I was struck by her comments that imagination was crucial to her survival and growth – they were her only way to believe that life could be different. Another comment, “the slow burn of imagination,” also struck me. Imagination isn’t always quick, a flash of inspiration, but rather a lived experience for the long term.

In academe, we often relegate imagination, to the creative arts, and do not give enough explicit room for imagination in other areas of research and scholarship. In his inaugural address, President Steven Leath, of Auburn University, capitalized on the phase “Inspire, Innovate, Transform” and used these three words to speak quite passionately about research and what Auburn is doing to solve critical problems for citizens of Alabama, the US, and the world. While you would certainly expect that many university presidents would say some of the same things, I was impressed because at the heart of these three words, “inspire, innovate, transform” lies imagination and creativity, elements, in my mind, that makes a difference for the research enterprise. Forefronting imagination and creativity allows us to believe that life can be different, that new solutions to the world’s grand problems are indeed possible. This imaginative spirit infuses inspiration, innovation, and transformation to move from the predictable, to the new, the novel, the unusual, and to both right brain and left-brain thinking to take research to a new level.

One of the things that I love about the 21^st-century library is an increasing realization that libraries are creative spaces that go beyond writing an academic paper or writing your first novel. Libraries are space that can and should support a broad range of creative activity, and that imagination and creativity are two key elements of all research. Providing opportunities for students to develop these skills in an environment that supports disciplinary and interdisciplinary engagement will further support the university’s mission.

I think there are four things we can consider for the academic library that will help in making the library a place of creativity and innovation.

Makerspace: Makerspaces are becoming quite common in libraries, especially with an increased recognition that many students learn best by doing. Makerspaces or fab labs appeared early on in engineering buildings and or in architectural design studios. As these became available, it quickly became apparent that there were applications for these type of facilities that supported students from a broad range of programs. Makerspaces typically include 3D printers, small programmable computers like Raspberry PI’s or Arduino’s, drills, soldering irons, laser cutters, sewing machines, etc. These tools support creativity for student research and student projects in the arts, humanities, social sciences, as well as in STEM disciplines. The makerspaces are often collaborative units supported by the library, student clubs, and IT. Examples include The Edge at the University of Oklahoma Libraries - https://libraries.ou.edu/content/innovation-edge and NCSU Libraries Makerspace - https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/services/makerspace. Makerspaces may also include other non-technology manipulables such as Legos (Rutgers University art library - https://news.rutgers.edu/feature/legos-new-frontier-libraries/20160522#.W0gXXtVKjIU)  or wooden planks (Keva at Duke University Libraries - http://www.kevaplanks.com/college-1/).

Digital studios/digital walls: The ability to create and display digital content (photographs, video, animation, art) is a cross-disciplinary activity. While high-end studio equipment is likely to be present in media and journalism/communications programs, there are students from across the university that will benefit from having access to this type of equipment. Examples include U Mass Amherst Green Screen rooms - https://www.library.umass.edu/locations/dml/media-production/greenscreenroom/ and NCSU Libraries Green Screen Studio - https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/spaces/green-screen-studio. As big data becomes primary source material across disciplines, data visualization studios that are open to students from across campus will build creative data skills as part of their skill set.  Faculty can also capitalize on this equipment if the digital wall is robust enough to support large-scale data visualization. Examples include CURVE at Georgia State Libraries - http://research.library.gsu.edu/c.php?g=115829&p=753263, and the NCSU Libraries Visualization Studio - https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/spaces/visualization-studio

Virtual reality/AI Labs: Virtual reality and artificial intelligence are becoming commonplace terms in our world. On university campuses, they are often found and used within STEM fields and are located in STEM buildings. VR and AI have wide applications and having such labs and equipment in the university library exposes these technologies to students across the disciplines and allows students to experiment with these new technologies and ways of working and incorporating them into their skill set. Examples include the Virtual and Augmented Reality Lab at Indiana University Purdue University Indiana Libraries http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/tech/VR and the Artificial Intelligence Lab at the University of Rhode Island Libraries - https://today.uri.edu/news/uri-to-launch-artificial-intelligence-lab/

Coding/Hackathon space: Hackathons are quite common in computer science programs but they have expanded beyond straight coding and software design to other areas. Hacking is basically a type of creative problem solving (Tauber https://hackathon.guide/), usually done in teams, and often involves some form of design thinking. It does not necessarily involve a technology solution. Hackathons can teach students essential skills of problem-solving. Working in teams, creativity, innovation, and can bring students from multiple disciplines together for new solutions. Providing space in the library to support this type of activity and building support from across campus on interdisciplinary hackathons will pay benefits for students. This is a type of high impact practice that leads to student success.

Let us use our libraries to support imagination and creativity and build a culture that Inspires, Innovates, and Transforms.

Turn Left, Out of the Parking Lot: Redefining the Academic Library

California, where I live, is a place unlike any other in the US – a land of opportunity, people, promise, and problems. It is one of the top economies in the world, one of the most diverse in its people, languages, and cultures. The recent movie “LA LA Land” opens with a freeway scene packed with cars and totally stopped. The music starts and drivers jump from their cars to sing and dance. “Climb these hills, I'm reaching for the heights, And chasing all the lights that shine, And when they let you down, You'll get up off the ground. 'Cause morning rolls around. And it's another day of sun.”

While California drivers can go straight at breakneck speed, I have been amazed at their seemingly inability to turn a corner at anything over 3 miles per hour.  Anyone who has driven with me in California has probably heard such utterances as “TURN, it’s not rocket science” or “my dead grandmother could turn faster than you.”

Libraries, have for much of our history, been conservative in nature. At times we have been stopped on the freeway, singing. While the singing has been good, it hasn’t always advanced our cause with the administration, faculty, and students.

Like lines in a parking lot, we are often constrained by the lines that other people paint for us.  Our friends and families, our cultures, our religious traditions, our politics, and our access to money and opportunities, are all lines that either box us in, or provide pathways to opportunity. Recently I attended the American Library Association conference in New Orleans where I was inspired anew. Listening to Michelle Obama, former First Lady, Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress, and actress, Viola Davis, it is easy to see that these three women both used the lines that constrained them and also broke through them to define their own way.

As I think about the 21^st research library, I believe that we must use the constraining lines of our past (collections, buildings, traditions, and ways of looking at our work) and break through the lines and redefine our work.

Parking lots have lines that tell us where to park in relation to other cars and also in relation to the established traffic flow. While certainly some approach a parking lot and park in a helter-skelter manner despite the rigid lines, most follow the traffic pattern and park as the lines indicate. Thinking about the parking lot as an analogy for the traditional academic library, we can see how we are constrained by our own lines and traffic patterns. 

I am advocating that we “turn left out of the parking lot” and redefine the academic library and its role based on the academic teaching, research, and scholarship of faculty, and the learning, and emerging scholarship of students and not apriori on the building, collections, reference and instruction, etc. If we started with this new perspective, how might our academic libraries look different in terms of priorities, collections strategies, staffing models, the type of people we hire, the organizational models we adopt, and the type of buildings we build?

I think starting at a different point in defining our scope of work, meaning, and impact we will be a more effective partner in supporting the university’s strategic directions.

What might this look like? I would like to suggest four areas, with a number of potential ideas in each category where we might see a difference.

Roles: Historically most library roles have been defined from the inside out. The Library defines roles based on collections, spaces, services that we know and understand and we offer these roles to the campus. We market these roles to our constituencies, somewhat assured they will find them important because we do. If we turn this on its head and begin to define our roles from the outside in, we will move closer to being a key partner in the university’s mission.

How might we think creatively in understanding the “library in the life of the user” (https://www.oclc.org/research/publications/2015/oclcresearch-library-in-life-of-user.html) through roles that interface with student government, student clubs, Greek Life, etc? Some new roles might include positions devoted to student success, first-year experience, athletics, learning environments, digital learning and scholarship, diversity and inclusion, student affairs, graduate students, etc. The library in the life of the user also applies to teaching faculty and researchers. New roles might include expertise in copyright and intellectual property, data intelligence, data management, publishing, and metrics to mention just a few.

Buildings:  Almost every academic library is being reimagined, and with fundraising and campus funding, being renovated. While many libraries are moving books to provide additional space for other activities, I think we often shortchange ourselves in not thinking more creatively and holistically on how the building supports our goals of supporting student success and faculty teaching, research, and scholarship.

Students come to our libraries for a variety of purposes. If student success is one of our priorities how might we think about our space so that it supports students across the disciplines to be successful, not just providing individual and group study space but also space for creating (3D and other forms of making), virtual reality, artificial intelligence, green screen, animation, etc.

Another important aspect of our buildings should be making the space to be welcoming and affirming, aesthetically, culturally, and socially. One thing that libraries, with the full support of student affairs, should be paying attention to is students “spiritual/mental” needs.  Students often need a space to decompress, de-stress, meditate, or pray. Providing a multifaith prayer/meditations pace within the library is an effective use of library space, which provides for student needs, without them having to leave the library.

If the library is serious about understanding and supporting faculty teaching, research, scholarship, how might this change how we use library space to support these efforts? I would suggest a faculty commons with space for individual and group collaboration but also space for librarians to work with faculty as needed. The library might consider inviting some of the Office of Research into the building as a way of tying the library and its expertise to faculty and the research process from grant idea through publication and deposit of final papers and associated data. As we move to scholarship that is predominantly digital, a digital scholarship center that moves beyond support just for digital humanities to all types of digital scholarship, including library publishing would be appropriate.

Collaborations: Libraries are only one of the educational partners in the life of the university.  We sometimes think that our role is underappreciated or that we are misunderstood, or that we are ignored, or that someone else is playing in our sandbox. While the library does play a somewhat unique role in the education of students and in supporting the teaching, research, and scholarship of faculty, there are many, many places where our work intersects/overlaps/depends on the work of others on campus. Rather than seeing any of these as obstacles let’s turn them into opportunities for radical collaboration.

Student Success initiatives often find their home in Student Affairs, with perhaps contributory efforts from the various colleges and schools on campus. While libraries feel, and rightly so, that they contribute to student success, few libraries have a person or a team of people dedicated to student success. Such an approach would require diligent attention to student success initiatives, First-Year Experience programs, summer prep camps, and programs, etc. and the creativity to develop a partnership that focuses first and foremost on students and helping them be successful.

Graduate Students and International Student often go hand in hand because of the large population of international students in various graduate programs. Both groups often get shorted on the attention they get from the library, especially if there is a strong emphasis on student success in the undergraduate program. International students are a key part of the global perspective of the university, and they have much to add to the rich diversity of the campus. Partnerships with various international student groups, many of whom have a strong educational as well as cultural mission, should find resonance with the library, provided the library builds relationships with them. Likewise, graduate students are a key partnership opportunity. Strong relationships between the library/librarians not only helps graduate students be successful in their research and writing, but because many graduate students also teach, their experience with the library has a direct impact on student’s view of the library and its services. This partnership also provide the library the opportunity to help graduate students understand Open Access options for their own scholarship.

Jobs/Personnel: This new way of thinking will require that we define new jobs and hire new sets of expertise as well as use existing personnel and provide professional development to enable them to take on new jobs. These new roles will directly support a new approach to our work. Such job roles might include some of the following

• Director of Student Engagement: someone that facilitates student engagement across student life. Interfaces with student success/first-year experience, student affairs, Greek life, athletics, student clubs, tutoring, etc.
• Data intelligence officer: An all-purpose data guru that has outward and internal facing duties. Outward facing would help facilitate working with data management plans, data archiving, metrics (traditional and alt-metrics). Inward facing would provide data analysis skills to help the library in building a data-driven decision culture.
• Open knowledge, open access librarian: A librarian who supports open knowledge, open data, open access initiatives. Outward facing duties in working with faculty, the office of research, and graduate programs. Inward facing duties
• Research partnership librarian: A librarian who’s predominant responsible is partnership with the Office of Research and its various offices (sponsored programs, grant prep, compliance) and gathers intelligence on research projects, timelines, data and information needs and reports back to appropriate library colleagues (collections, data management, IR, etc.).
• Digital scholarship, digital humanities, digital publishing librarian: A librarian responsible for supporting the growing arena of digital scholarship including digital humanities and digital publishing. This position would provide broad support for faculty as well as graduate and undergraduate students involved in major digital projects that represent new forms of scholarship.
• Research collections strategist: A librarian closely connected to faculty research, including local and national research being funded by major funders, and builds collections that support that work at the university. Also pays close attention to new tenure-track and cluster hires to ensure these new faculty/researchers have the necessary collections to be successful in their careers.
• Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, makerspace librarian/technicians: Librarian and IT professionals that can help students use AI, VR, and makerspace technologies to do assignments, be creative, and create new knowledge/projects.
• Building success strategist: Library buildings play a pivotal role in student success (https://lrlacw.blogspot.com/2018/05/libraries-and-student-success_20.html).  This strategist (a librarian, or an architect, or, learning design specialist) looks at how the building supports the dual strategic roles of student success as well as supporting faculty teaching, research, and scholarship. She/he pays close attention to building use, potential, and helps align library strategy to ensure the building supports the library’s goals.

These suggestions do not mean that we abandon collections, or cataloging, or information literacy, or integrated library systems, but rather we approach each of these tasks with a different framework on why we are doing these things.

Turning left or right, should not, in this context, be construed as a political statement.  Left turns are typically more difficult/challenging/dangerous as we are crossing on-coming traffic. The challenge here is to do the difficult work of thinking differently and building a new 21st-century library model.

Let’s turn left and get out of the parking lot and move our libraries forward!!!!

Doing What You Love: Libraries, July 4th, and Social Justice

The parking lot at my favorite Starbucks in Santa Ana, California has short, inspirational sayings painted on a quite a few of the parking spaces. Tonight, I pulled into one that said, “Do what you love.” This immediately sparked reflections on my career and how thankful I am for having spent the last 40 years working in academic libraries and how I am looking forward to continuing that work for at least another ten years, hopefully at a place where I can make a significant impact for students and faculty.

Recently a Hispanic graduate student in cultural anthropology that I got to know during my time at Cal State Fullerton asked me if I had time for a 15-minute phone call so he could ask me a couple of questions about being a librarian. I suggested instead that we meet for coffee to talk. What ensued was a three-hour conversation about libraries, librarianship, and opportunities to do things we are both passionate about.

One of the many things that I enjoy about the library profession is that the whole world is your oyster. It is perfectly acceptable to have interest and expertise on politics, religion, mechanics, art, music, current issues, and pretty much anything else under the sun, as well as typical library things like cataloging, book selection, etc. While each of us over the years develops sets of expertise, librarians, tend to be renaissance men and women.

Working at large institutions, we are often limited in the individual, and personal impact that we can make on students and faculty, and I love when I can make a connection that makes a difference. I really enjoy talking to students, especially those whose background and experience might be quite different from mine. I find their stories and life experiences to be both interesting and inspiring. If you think that the world and the country is going to “hell in a hand-basket” then sit down with some of the wonderful students that populate our campuses.  They are intellectually curious and are interested in making the world a better place. Include international students in the conversation; they will enrich your understanding of the world.

Tomorrow is July 4^th, and most of the United States will celebrate with passion, food, and fireworks. As an immigrant to this country, I approach this holiday with both happiness and sense of trepidation. As I reflect on the famous phrase “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” I am keenly aware that not everyone in the country is able to avail themselves of these three ideals from the Declaration of Independence.” Some of this inability to enjoy these benefits comes from prejudice, economic disparity, and in some cases outright hatred of “others” that are deemed not to belong to this great country. As the Father of four adopted immigrant children from Colombia in South America, I am only too aware how these Hispanic children have been treated differently from their white peers. As the United States is a country built on the immigrant experience, I am hoping for better from myself, and from the rest of the country in the year ahead.

In a recent interview, I was asked about “social justice” and the role that libraries and librarians play. It is an interesting question to reflect on, as libraries have a role to provide information to all and, to the best of their ability, represent all sides of issues.

Libraries are committed to raising the voices of all members of society, and when voices are silenced due to discrimination, legal action, bigotry, or ignorance, then librarians tend to step to the front line to advocate for those whose voices, for whatever reason have been silenced. In advocating for these voices, it is impossible and sometimes prejudicial to separate access to information from the people who need it. For example, if a library only advocates for including LGBTQ literature in its collections but stays silent on local or national ordinances that discriminate against LGBTQ individuals, the voices that the Library is advocating for, in many ways are still silent.

I just spent the last four years as a member of the American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee. It is easy to see issues of social justice in most of the policies, briefings, and interpretations that we worked on. Examples include: “religion in libraries”, which specified that libraries build broad and inclusive collections that support the religious traditions of all the members of the community; “services to people with disabilities” that created guidelines on providing equitable access to facilities, collections, and services; “library meeting rooms” with guidelines to ensure that all member groups in the community have access to the space; and “controversial speakers” which provided information on provide an inclusive environment that protected First Amendment rights for all community members, regardless of their views.

At the recent American Library Association conference, New Orleans, a resolution was passed honoring those African American librarians who fought segregation in libraries and included an acknowledgment that ALA had, in the past, been complicit because of not speaking out against segregation.

Social justice is a library issue. Librarians are social justice people.

*************************

Happy July 4^th – Celebrate, eat too much, and enjoy the fireworks.

Find something you love and do it. Find a cause that makes the world a better and more just place and work for it.

Find a Librarian and thank them for the work they do in serving everyone.