{"id":6071,"date":"2015-10-17T13:32:43","date_gmt":"2015-10-17T20:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/alasc\/wp-descriptor\/?p=1527"},"modified":"2015-10-17T13:32:43","modified_gmt":"2015-10-17T20:32:43","slug":"transparency-in-library-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/alasc\/wp-students\/transparency-in-library-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Transparency in Library Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jolene Nechiporenko<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Libraries are an excellent example of organizations that can benefit from the leadership strategy of transparency.\u00a0 \u201cThe first important issue that drives transparent behavior is communication and helping people get the facts straight in the beginning and without emotional uncertainty.\u201d (Crumpton, 2011)<\/p>\n

Transparent leadership can reap benefits when used in communication. \u201cEasy access to information means the the public\u2019s appetite for accountability cannot be thwarted\u201d (Johnson, 2012).\u00a0 In Johnson\u2019s article, Transparency and Trust<\/em>, he explains the importance of being upfront and honest.\u00a0 The theory of transparency embraces frequent, open, and honest communication.\u00a0 Communication, flowing both directions, creates a network, a fan base, a group of shareholders, or even a community that supports and backs the library. Shoaf (2013), says that \u201c\u2026this process would be open and transparent, would be designed to receive input from library personnel, would make information about the process freely available to everyone, and would promote and encourage system-wide thinking among task force members and all library employees.\u201d Shoaf\u2019s article is directed toward internal organizations but would suffice for those that also address the external.<\/p>\n

Communications such as a blogs or a websites can be used to stifle rumors. To draw on what Shoaf stated above, transparency and communication make for happier employees by keeping them in the loop of what\u2019s going on. Transparency \u201ccan move organizational stress off the scale\u201d (Crumpton, 2011). It can also help the breakdown of silos within the work environment.<\/p>\n

Transparency recognizes and creates stakeholders both inside and outside of the library.\u00a0 According to Thompson, \u201cYour customers are going to poke around in your business anyway, and your workers are going to blab about internal info- so why not make it work for your by turning everyone into a partner in the process and inviting the to do so?\u201d (2007). Not only are you inviting people to learn more about your organization, you are inviting them through a direct source \u2013 the tone of which you control.\u00a0 \u201cGoogle is not a search engine.\u00a0 Google is a reputation management system.\u00a0 And that one of the most powerful reasons so many CEOs have become more transparent: Online, your rep is quantifiable, findable, and totally unavoidable.\u00a0 In other words, radical transparency is a double-edged sword, but once you know the new rules, you can use it to control your image in ways you never could before\u201d (Thompson, 2007).\u00a0 \u201cOnline is where reputations are made now,\u201d says reputation strategist, Leslie Gaines Ross (as cited in Thompson, 2007, p. 6).<\/p>\n

Transparency backs your decision-making and can help justify expenses.\u00a0 Many libraries today include their operating budget on their websites so that stakeholders can see and understand how the money is being spent. \u201cMaking it known why your organization makes the decisions it does and being forthright when it makes mistakes are effective ways to humanize your library\u201d (Schmidt, 2013). This also demystifies the library. \u201cJust where does all the money in the library budget go and what does the librarian do all day anyway?\u201d (Johnson, 2012).<\/p>\n

Transparency allows libraries to be heard: \u201c\u2026we\u2019ve become so good at dealing with limited resources, setbacks, and a lack of public recognition that we sometime stifle our ability to stand up and shout about everything that makes us great\u201d (Casey & Stephens, 2007-2014).<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that transparency builds trust by allowing libraries to be heard, understood, and communicative, which in turn establishes a reputation.\u00a0 \u201cTrust breeds loyalty, and loyal library users are more likely to support the library\u201d (Schmidt, 2013). In turn, these users are also more likely to support the library by financial means, volunteer time, etc.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"blogpic\"<\/a>Jolene Nechiporenko<\/h3>\n

Jolene Nechiporenko is a senior student in the MLIS programs at SJSU and plans to pursue a career in academic librarianship.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jolene Nechiporenko   Libraries are an excellent example of organizations that can benefit from the leadership strategy of transparency.\u00a0 \u201cThe first important issue that drives transparent behavior is communication […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[271,253],"tags":[281,294,333,382],"class_list":["post-6071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2015","category-descriptor-news","tag-advice","tag-communiction","tag-leadership","tag-transparency","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/alasc\/wp-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/alasc\/wp-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/alasc\/wp-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/alasc\/wp-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/alasc\/wp-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/alasc\/wp-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6071\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/alasc\/wp-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/alasc\/wp-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/alasc\/wp-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}