Library Management: It’s Not Rocket Science

Abstract

Ozan Varol’s book, Think Like a Rock Scientist, contends that you can “make giant leaps in work and life” by following his guidance. The rocket scientist, however, has a much easier task than a library manager because rockets follow the laws of gravity while managers must deal with the messy problems of irrational humans. Effective communication is difficult to achieve. Cognitive dissonance and subconscious behavior inhibit rational behavior. Management must account for cultural differences and the fact that culture changes continuously unlike gravity. Success of a rocket launch is easy to measure while creating a yardstick for the evaluation of a library and applying it correctly is difficult. The advantage the library manager has is that muddling through with partial success is an option that rocket scientists don’t have. For rocket scientists, research and education deal with a definitive body of knowledge while library managers must learn about ambiguity and unpredictable results.