Learning to supervise.

Learning to supervise. Crash course in library supervision: meeting the key players. ByDennis C. Tucker and Shelley E. Mosley. Crash Course Series. Westport,CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2008. 140 pp. A$59.95. Soft cover ISBN ISBNabbr.International Standard Book NumberISBNInternational Standard Book NumberISBNn abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m13:9781591585640. Crash course in library supervision is aimed at the new publiclibrary director, but it also is filled with pertinent information forthe new supervisor in any library setting. Tucker and Mosley offer many practical tips for the new supervisor,including the importance of the first impression a new supervisor makeswhen starting a new job. One of the best tips is to have a list of staffnames in your new library before starting to help you remember theirnames. As Tucker and Mosley state, 'the power of name is not beunderestimated'. If the supervisor can greet people by name afteronly a few days, people will feel they are valuable members of the team.Both the getting to know staff and the managing personnel sections arewell written and provide many excellent pointers for the new librarymanger mangercattle trough which served as crib for Christ. [N.T.: Luke 2:7]See : Nativity and team supervisor. The personnel laws section mentions a variety of laws relevant tothe US job market; but this section does not cover personnel laws forthe rest of the world. This chapter highlights a very interestingfeature of working in the US which might make many in the Antipodes Antipodes, islands, New ZealandAntipodes(ăntĭp`ədēz), rocky uninhabited islands, 24 sq mi (62 sq km), South Pacific, c.550 mi (885 km) SE of New Zealand, to which they belong. gladthey work here and not there: 'in the United States United States,officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. ... homicide isthe third-leading cause of fatal occupational injury.' The hiring and firing section gives an excellent overview ofeverything that a new supervisor or library manger may have to do, andthe friends and volunteers section explains how to organisefriends' groups and volunteers so that they are being used to theirfull potential. Although the discussion of friends' groups willprobably only be relevant to those working in public libraries, thissection may also be useful for dealing with management boards. One of the best sections of the book covers people in thecommunity, moving outside the box for groups and individuals that may berelevant to public and other library types. As Tucker and Mosley state,'no library is an island', and 'a cooperativerelationship is essential'. With funding threatened at all levels,this section will help leverage relationships to reinforce libraryvalue. Crash course in library supervision is an easy-to-approach, conciseguide to managing a library for the new supervisor. It is ideal forthose seeking to brush up to paint, or make clean or bright with a brush; to cleanse or improve; to renew.See also: Brush skills in this area or for others seeking anintroduction to the topic, although in some sections it caters only tothe US market. Emma Datson Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Canberra