Overview

The necessity for library leaders to demonstrate that libraries are innovative, collaborative, and can provide eye-catching, transformational services and programs to their communities cannot be understated. But libraries do not suffer from a lack of big ideas. What library workers really need is a roadmap for making those big, impactful ideas become reality. Based in part on her extensive experience coordinating large-scale initiatives, this guide from ASCLA Leadership and Professional Achievement Award-winning consultant Horton will walk you through formulating and shaping your ideas into sellable, actionable projects. You'll learn techniques drawn from project management experts and researchers from many fields; why Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG) are worth your time and effort; guidance on upscaling your idea into a project or service that can be launched at a statewide, community wide, or library consortia level; several case studies of large-scale library projects, with analysis of why they were successful; how to successfully combine foundational principles of innovation with practical methods for collaboration; methods for extending your reach beyond your usual sphere to partner with other libraries and organizations; how to sharpen your skills of persuasion; no-nonsense advice on leading teams of disparate individuals; and evaluative tips for affirming the project is on the right track and correcting course as needed. By proudly owning the audaciousness of the Big Idea, libraries demonstrate both their resiliency and value to their communities. This resource shares the insights and practical knowledge to make it happen.

Full Product Details

9780838949870

Table of Contents

Reviews

Libraries of all types face declining budgets and are challenged by changing technologies, and collaboration with community, professional, and institutional partners will be one of the keys to continued relevance. This book offers the inspiration and tools to successfully initiate such collaborative projects. -- Choice

""Libraries of all types face declining budgets and are challenged by changing technologies, and collaboration with community, professional, and institutional partners will be one of the keys to continued relevance. This book offers the inspiration and tools to successfully initiate such collaborative projects."" -- Choice

Author Information

Valerie Horton has been director of Minitex since December 2012. Minitex serves Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota libraries with a large resource-sharing network, databases, continuing education, remote storage, and many other services. Horton is also the co-general editor for Collaborative Librarianship, and wrote Moving Materials: Physical Delivery in Libraries for ALA Publications. Prior to working at Minitex, she was the first director of the Colorado Library Consortium (CliC), a statewide library service organization. Before CliC, Valerie was Director of the Library at Mesa State after ten years at New Mexico State University, where she was Head of Systems, and for a time, library budget director/associate director. During her tenure in New Mexico, Valerie received an ALA International Fellowship and spent a year in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, where she consulted on how to automate the country's public, school, and government libraries. She started her professional career as a systems librarian at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, after graduating from and working in Systems at the University of Hawaii.

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