Management Education and Training for Librarians in Scotland

Abstract

This paper is a report on research into management education and training for librarians, which was initiated and funded by the Library and Information Services Committee (Scotland) [LISC(S)]. It outlines the origin of the proposal in the current debate about management education in the United Kingdom (UK), and in the growing concern to ensure that librarians' managerial abilities are fully developed. It provides background material on management education in Scotland, and on the provision of short courses in management for librarians in the UK. A survey of Heads of library and information services and the managers who report to them was undertaken in early 1991 to identify the management competences required by librarians. The resources available for staff development were investigated, as were the relative priorities attached to management development compared with general professional development. The review found that managerial development has clearly been identified as organisationally or personally important by some librarians. However, it appeared that the overall perception of librarians as managers is still low. There was a very considerable diversity in support for management development in Scottish libraries. The review concluded that, at the moment there does not appear to be a basis for a programme of management education and training specifically for librarians. The increase in financial allocations required to sustain such a programme would be unrealistic in present circumstances, and librarians should make more use of alternative, in-service methods of management development.