It’s
a classic double whammy: California’s most
seasoned library leaders are starting to head into
retirement just as population diversity, Internet
ubiquity, and infrastructure inadequacy are
creating new challenges – and opportunities! –
for public libraries up and down the state. The
California State Library, in partnership with
Infopeople, is working to head this trend off at
the pass with a professional development
initiative called the Eureka! Leadership Program:
Discover The Leader Within. Eureka!, an ambitious,
multi-faceted training program, began in July of
2006 and will culminate in a weeklong intensive
institute, currently planned for Spring 2008.
The
Eureka! Leadership Program is designed to bring
new energy and ideas into leadership circles. It
targets library professionals - including
librarians and non-MLS library managers – who
have three to ten years of professional
experience. Top candidates for the program will be
individuals who are willing to share their
enthusiasm, optimism, and vision for the future of
public library services. Participants’ actual
leadership experience is less important than their
long-term potential.
The
first phase of the four-phase Eureka! program was Exploring
Library Leadership, a free overview course
taught by nationally recognized leadership
consultant Maureen Sullivan. Between July and
October of 2006, more than 330 people took
advantage of the opportunity to participate at any
of ten workshop locations throughout California.
Phase
Two of the Eureka! program has comprised a series
of fee-based skills-building workshops. To date,
participants have been able to choose from:
- Building
Leadership Skills: Convincing and Influencing
Others, taught by Arch Lustberg
- Building
Leadership Skills: Developing and Leading
Projects, taught by Pat Wagner
- Building
Leadership Skills: Leading Change, taught
by Maureen Sullivan
- Building
Leadership Skills: Leading Teams, taught
by Andrew Sanderbeck
- Building
Leadership Skills: Planning for the Future,
taught by Stacey Aldrich (newly appointed CSL
Deputy State Librarian)
- Building
Leadership Skills: Problem-Solving and
Decision-Making, taught by Joan Frye
Williams
- Building
Leadership Skills: Community Engagement,
taught by Valerie Gross
- Building
Leadership Skills: Strategic Financial
Thinking, taught by Anne Turner
Still
to come in Phase Two are:
- Building
Leadership Skills: Stimulating Creativity,
taught by Joyce Wycoff
More
than 30 intrepid trainees took advantage of
special pricing and signed up for the entire
workshop series. Over 940 people so far have
attended Phase Two workshops.
In
response to requests and comments from those who
have taken Phase 2 workshops, Infopeople has added
a series of wrap-up sessions, facilitated by
Infopeople Director Holly Hinman and Training
Consultant Cheryl Gould, that will take place in
August and September. These sessions will help
participants synthesize and share what they
learned in Phase Two, begin to plan future
leadership development, and give information about
“what happens next” in the Eureka! program.
The
third phase of the Eureka! program will be a
five-day intensive leadership institute, still in
the planning stages. Thirty-five potential public
library leaders will participate in a focused,
transformative experience that will expose them to
top thinkers and guide them through a rigorous
process of individual and group self-analysis and
planning. Applicants for the institute need NOT
have participated in Phase One or Phase Two of the
program. This institute will take place in Spring
2008, and the competitive application process will
begin in early Fall 2007.
The
fourth and final phase of the Eureka! program
calls for leaders-in-training to put into practice
the skills and knowledge they acquired during the
first three phases of the program. Phase Four will
include one-on-one mentoring and opportunities for
participants to continue conversations and
professional connections built in previous Eureka!
phases.
Infopeople
has created a wiki to provide content support for
the Eureka! training. This wiki, which includes
notes from Exploring Library Leadership, as well
as links to all of the skills workshops, past,
present, and future, can be found at: http://wiki.infopeople.org/index.php?title=Eureka_Wiki.
Additional
information about the Eureka! Leadership Program
and ongoing workshops is available on the
Infopeople website at http://infopeople.org/.
