The Library Leader's Guide to Human Resources: Keeping it Real, Legal, and Ethical

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Description

The human resources (HR) function for libraries can range in size and scope, depending on the size of the library. The complexities of HR today call for a guiding manual to help keep the multitude of processes fair, legal, and accurate. This book provides the level of detail for new and seasoned HR leaders to use to staff and operate their libraries with the best employees they can find. It offers legal advice from labor law attorneys, and operational steps, policies, and processes from Dr. Steve Albrecht, a longtime HR consultant for municipal government.
Even with the support of an HR Department (however large or small), all library leaders who have supervisory responsibility over their staff (hiring, firing, performance evaluation, assigning job duties) must have a working, updated knowledge of HR issues related to employing people in their branches. (And dont forget that even student interns, unpaid volunteers, and part-time employees have similar employment rights as full-time, paid employees.) This means that besides the myriad of other duties required to run a safe, efficient, useful library for the community, library leaders - from the Director, to the department heads, to the managers, to the frontline supervisors, to the PIC (Person in Charge on each work shift) - each must know what they can and cannot do when it comes to HR laws, policies, guidelines, and best practices.
This includes:
legal issues related to screening interviewing, and hiring applicants; successful on-boarding and new-employee orientation programs; coaching for improved work performance or employee behavior; mentoring employees for both promotional opportunities and succession planning; the challenges of attendance, sick leave, ADA and FMLA issues; fair and legal performance evaluations; working with employees in a union or an association; HR practices related to testing, promoting, disciplining, or terminating library employees; and keeping all employees motivated and connected, using wellness, stress management, and programs to prevent burnout or quiet quitting. Other books for library leaders may touch on HR issues as part of a broader look at supervising employees. This book will focus on it.

Reviews

Dr. Steve Albrecht is one of the most trusted and thoughtful voices advocating for libraries, librarians, and library staff. I know his contributions, through this book, to the HR functions in libraries, will be gratefully appreciated.

I greatly appreciate Albrecht's emphasis on the `Triangle of HR, ' showing the importance of the crucial areas of Compass, Culture and Compliance, with an eye on true transformational leadership via Commitment. Albrecht took this to the next level, integrating commitment into the center of the triangle. A great simple visual for a complex system that I will continue to use and pass on to others! Overall, a great book!

If you're looking for a comprehensive overview of library HR, written by a friendly and knowledgeable professional, look no further. Dr. Albrecht's book helps with all the little details while developing strategies for excellent service, where staff take good care of both patrons and each other.

Steve Albrecht has done it again! He's written an outstanding book, chock full of useful resources and tools, in an accessible, user-friendly (and funny!) format. It's a smooth read and, even after over 25+ in the Human Resources business, I came away with some new tips.

This readable compendium of practical HR processes and best practices will be useful to anyone responsible for human resources in the library. From hiring and onboarding the right person to handling thorny personnel issues to complying with relevant laws, Dr. Steve Albrecht shares his considerable HR expertise and experience in an accessible way that all types of libraries can benefit from.

Author Bio

Dr. Steve Albrecht is to library training audiences around the country for his workshops, webinars, podcasts, and articles on library service, safety, and security. He has worked as an HR consultant and security trainer for 36 years. He is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (www.SHRM.org) and has been board certified by them as Professional In Human Resources (PHR) since 1996.
Steve started teaching library service, safety, and security programs in 2000. He has taught thousands of library staffers from several hundred libraries, both live and online. He wrote Library Security: Better Communication, Safer Facilities in 2015 and The Safe Library: Keeping Users, Staff, and Collections Secure for Rowman & Littlefield in 2023.