Available Formats
Paperback, 2nd edition
Published: 5th February 2026
Hardback, 2nd edition
Published: 5th February 2026
Library Staff Development Handbook: Supporting Your Most Important Resource
By (Author) Mary Grace Flaherty
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Bloomsbury Libraries Unlimited
5th February 2026
2nd edition
United States
Professional and Scholarly
Non Fiction
Paperback
144
Width 152mm, Height 229mm
From planning to hiring to advocating for staff, this second edition provides practical tools, tips, templates, and reports from practitioners in the field.
In order to address some of our societal shifts and changes since the publication of the first edition, this new volume has been updated throughout. New sections have been added and include promoting staff morale during challenging times, providing a safe work environment, coaching remote workers, and attending to diversity and biases in the library workplace. A new chapter dedicated to working with library supervisory boards has also been included.
In keeping with the first edition, this new volume applies to a wide variety of library settings and includes numerous tips, resource suggestions, and real life examples. Throughout the book, practitioners across libraries and library systems, from academic, public, urban, and rural settings share their experiences when it comes to the joys and challenges of the day-to-day tasks of supporting staff. After all, libraries dont work without their most vital resource, the folks who run them.
Mary Grace Flaherty is professor emerita at the School of Information and Library Science at UNC-Chapel Hill. She has over 40 years of professional library experience in a variety of positions. She holds a PhD from Syracuse University and masters degrees from Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Maryland. She served as an IMLS Fellow, and as a Fulbright Scholar. Dr. Flahertys other books include: Great Library Events: From Planning to Promoting to Evaluation; Disaster Planning Handbook for Libraries; and Promoting Individual and Community Health at the Library.