Unplanned careers affect everything and everyone. They can lead to frustration, negativity, and apathy at a time when we need to be focused, energized and motivated. Though your library career might have started "accidentally," you can overcome organizational restructuring, changing job titles, and shifting responsibilities by cultivating a mindful existence in the library workplace. Building on the simple and fun approach that have made her previous books bestsellers, Hakala-Ausperk offers up a workbook-style program for revisiting personal values, understanding your options, identifying skill gaps, and creating plans for growth. Whether you're a library veteran who's feeling burned out, a new LIS grad just starting out, or somewhere in mid-career, this book will introduce methods to help you examine your individual interests, desires, and goals; show you how to understand your workplace's priorities and culture, and offer tips for identifying where there's either a match or a gap; demonstrate how you can improve your current position; prepare you to move forward through the creation of a personalized strategic professional plan that addresses professional development, gaining additional experience, and other options for growth; include tips for effective self-marketing, networking through colleagues and friends, and acing an interview; present ways to stay happy and engaged in a new role or position; and offer guidance for sharing your skills and experience through mentorship, and retiring with grace . Ideal for both self-paced study and team-based staff development, this six-step plan will help readers renew themselves, their careers, and their organizations.

"With library staffing levels and services cut to the bone, creating a team that communicates well and functions smoothly is more important than ever. Building on the model of her bestselling book Be A Great Boss, Hakala-Ausperk presents a handy self-guided tool to the dynamic role of team-building. Organized in 52 modules, designed to cover a year of weekly sessions but easily adaptable for any pace, this workbook will show you how to Manage staff across different age groups and skill sets Improve communication between team members Mentor other staff members Keep your team organized in a culture of change Suitable for all levels of management, from first-line supervisors to library directors, this book lays out a clear path to learning the essentials of building and maintaining a first-rate team."

Moving into a library management position can feel like a daunting and solitary pursuit. Graduate courses in management are expensive and hard to find. To help library managers improve their skills and acumen, renowned speaker and trainer Hakala-Ausperk presents a handy self-study guide to the dynamic role of being a boss. Organized in 52 modules, designed to cover a year of weekly sessions but easily adaptable for any pace, this workbook - Covers major management topics such as success with stakeholders, staffing, customer service, planning, funding, leadership, and more - Offers an inexpensive alternative to seminars and classroom instruction - Requires an investment of as little as an hour per week, and is completely self-paced - Includes challenging questions and exercises, and a Web-based template to record learning progress Suitable for all levels of management, from first-line supervisors to library directors, this book lays out a clear path to learning the essentials of being a great boss.

Why do so many of us dislike meetings? And why does that popup reminder on our screen often trigger feelings of dread and boredom? It’s because all too often it means sitting through or leading another do-nothing, time-wasting, fingers-on-the-chalkboard, “we talk about the same thing every month” obligation. But as a team leader, you can do better. It’s time to flip the script on this bedrock of organizational culture and remake meetings into the kind of hot-ticket gatherings that will make attendees feel confident and motivated, informed and included. In this succinct Leadership Planner, loaded with self-reflective questions, activities, and prompts, renowned management author Hakala-Ausperk shows you how to forge ahead. By using this resource, you will learn how to introduce real and significant innovations in how meetings are run and how information is shared in your organization; create and use a staff Virtual File that will focus and streamline your meetings; clarify every meeting’s goals, helping you determine who should (and shouldn’t) be included; design a meeting script that will keep your meetings on target, on track, and on time; and maximize meetings’ impact by choosing specific roles for each attendee to play, assuring comprehensive input and broad idea sharing. Once the value, inclusiveness, and effectiveness of your new meeting style is known, opportunities to attend your events will become hot tickets indeed!