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Allison Liesz

Professor Gabrielle Annala

LIS 707 Leadership, Marketing, and Strategic Communication

15 October 2020

Improving Collaboration and Communication in Libraries to Decrease Discrimination

Over the past decade, the world has gone through a multitude of social

evolutions that have changed everything, mostly for the better. From movements

fighting for women’s rights, to protests urging racial justice, to pushing for more rights

for members of the LGBTQIA+ community, social change is still taking place in full

swing. This has had to change a lot of how the world used to run, and for those in

leadership positions, this is absolutely no exception. In addition to continuing to perform

their usual leadership tasks to the best of their ability, leaders have also been urged to

be more inclusive and diverse. People are pushing for workspaces to have a staff full of

diversity, or at the very least be more accepting of it. But even with this push, people

who find themselves in minority groups still face discrimination of all types in the

workspace, with very few of them finding themselves in leadership positions. Libraries

are no exception to this, and many face issues of diversity in the workspace. In order to

improve this, leadership needs to improve by improving collaborative work and

communication among librarians. In this essay, several principles on leadership will be

discussed and how they apply to libraries, and also tackle the issue of discrimination in

the workplace. Using two librarians’ firsthand experiences, these leadership principles
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will be applied to their workplaces to fix the issues they encountered in their workplace,

mainly the sexism that they have faced. By tackling the issues of discrimination, library

leaders can create welcoming and positive experiences that allow collaboration and

communication between librarians.

Leadership itself is a very complex and diverse subject, with there being many

different ways to be a leader and do it successfully. There are thousands of leadership

theories, each of them having their own methods that have evolved over time. One

common trend of leadership is the idea of leading with a group. In this case, leadership

is more of a collaborative effort from group of selected people to improve the needs of

any given structure. According to Dennis Tourish (2014), a Professor on Leadership and

Organization at the University of London, “Leadership is less one person doing

something to another (with their more or less willing compliance). Rather, it is a process

whereby leaders and non-leaders accomplish each other through dynamics of

interaction in which mutual influence is always present” (Tourish, 87). While there are

certainly people assigned to leadership positions, leaders rarely, if never, act alone.

Instead, they are surrounded by a group of people with differing opinions and

perspectives that, together, can collaborate to create the best possible outcome for any

given situation. These group of leaders are not supposed to agree on everything, rather

they agree to have a similar goal in mind and together, with their diverse experiences

and standpoints, create best case solutions.

Due to libraries having such a vast variety of librarians, each their own, different

expertise, collaborating as a group is a great solution to leadership. Issues libraries

develop that need leadership very rarely, if never, deal with just one, specific type of
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librarian. Thus, having a variety of different librarians to collaborate to tackle an issue is

the best possible solution to leading any project. This can also allow for different

librarians to bond on projects, making future collaborations smoother. According to

Jason Martin (2020), “social awareness and empathy allow you as a library leader to

relate to the people in your library and make a connection with them. These

relationships and connections allow for all voices in a library to be heard, which can lead

to better solutions to problems, and help create a shared purpose across the library”

(Martin). By improving the relationships between coworkers, breaking any barriers they

may have, collaborating on leadership opportunities becomes much easier. Leaders in

many ways do have to be bosses have to take charge, but leaders should also be

understanding and willing to listen to other problems, even if those problems involve

them. Leaders are not perfect, and they will make mistakes, but admitting to these

mistakes is the only way one will grow from them, improving their leadership skills upon

the mistakes they made.

In addition to being more collaborative, improving communication can also

improve leadership among librarians. In order for a library to be successful,

communication is mandatory, since there are so many elements that make up a library

and how it runs. But improving this communication to be the absolute best that it can be

is crucial to being a good leader and improving leadership in the library. In the Journal

of Leadership and Organizational Studies, authors Brent Ruben and Ralph Gigliotti

(2016) discussed the importance of communication:

“The communication centered ideas of attention and agenda-setting, the

management of meaning/framing, and sensemaking/sense giving fit well within a

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systems view of communication. These three tools all benefit from an

acknowledgment that the leadership–communication process is not a matter of

unidirectional influence; rather, building from the systems model, the ways that

people—functioning in the somewhat arbitrarily designated roles of “leader” and

“follower”—create, convey, select, and attach meaning to the messages that

inform and shape their lives are much more complex, dynamic, and

unpredictable” (Gigliotti).

As Ruben and Gigliotti stated, leadership and communication is not just one person

giving directions to another, it is a collaborative effort of people built upon the

communication between them. With different points of view and ideas, communication

becomes a vital way to managing issues and improving upon them in the workplace.

Communication is not supposed to result in everyone getting along and having the

same opinion, it should include complex, differing ideas with a variety of viewpoints.

This way, there are many opinions on the table with a multitude of ways to solve any

given problem. This is only possible through proper communication, which is why is

should be something leaders’ practice and participate in often.

As many know, finding yourself taking on a leadership role can be difficult given

the multitude of discrimination that occurs in the workplace. Discrimination can occur in

many forms, from gender, sexual orientation, and race being some of the many ways

one can be discriminated against in the workplace. One of the interviewees for this

essay, Lisa, talked about how she faced heavy discrimination for being a woman in her

previous workplace as a graphic designer. She spoke of several instances where she

faced discrimination not only from her coworkers, but even from potential clients. In
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Lisa’s words, “I would be the only female in the room and he would go ‘why aren’t you

taking notes?’ and I was like you didn’t hire me to be a secretary” (L. Wieczorek, 2020).

Unfortunately, Lisa is one of the many instances of discrimination faced in the

workplace. Since this issue has come more into the limelight, there have been many

attempts to try and reduce the amount of discrimination in the workplace, such as

making mandatory diversity trainings for staff. However, these trainings can only do so

much, and while they may help at one library, it does not mean the same for another.

This is a much larger issue that goes beyond just one library not being diverse.

Thankfully, in the case of the two interviewees for this essay, their experience at

their respective libraries has been much more positive and less discriminatory. The two

of them have marked their time at their libraries as being very accepting, with their

gender rarely ever being used against them. Despite having to deal with sexism on the

daily at her old position at a graphic design firm, Lisa has had a much more positive

experience at her library. When speaking on her coworkers at her library, Lisa said,

“everyone is very respectful and everyone is a lot more progressive thinking too” (L.

Wieczorek, 2020). However, even though their experiences have been positive, both of

them still believe that there are many changes that could be made to make their

libraries more diverse. In Rachel’s case, she has made incredible strides to not only

make her library more diverse, but to make libraries as a whole more welcoming and

less discriminatory. Rachel is no stranger to being a leader, having participated in the

ALA Roundtable’s News and Review Committee for members of the LGBTQIA+

community. However, she still thinks that libraries can improve diversity in their

leadership positions. She has observed that, “Men in the library field are still more often
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in leadership and Director roles, and the small, subtle sexism in the form of skirting

away from loud, confident women is something that I do encounter” (R. Newlin, 2020).

Sexism is something that has been ingrained into the world, and as a result the

workplace, so it is no surprise that men tending to be in leadership positions more often

than women. This seems especially disappointing since the vast majority of libraries

tend to be woman dominated, so there are surely women that are qualified for these

leadership positions. However, for whatever reason men are being hired instead,

preventing women to be in leadership positions.

Since both of the libraries interviewed for this essay both have mostly positive

experiences, solving the few issues that do remain should be much easier. Both Rachel

and Lisa talked about how even though they have had positive experiences at their

libraries, sexism seems to be an issue that is still present at least somewhat. Since this

seems to be the only issue both interviewees mentioned their libraries having, fixing the

sexism that does exist should be the main priority. When asked why it was so important

to have more women representation and have their voices heard, Nancy Pelosi (2013)

stated, “it’s necessary to have more voices because that strengthens the debate and it

strengthens the decisions… To have diversity of opinion in the debate strengthens the

outcome and you get a better result” (Schnall, 169). By allowing diverse voices to be

heard, libraries can only benefit from the different experiences and perspectives that

women have to offer. So, to combat this sexism, simply allowing for women or other

minorities to give their opinions and advice on any given situation is an excellent way to

start. With sexism so deeply rooted in not only the job industry, but in the world as a

whole, this can definitely be easier said than done. There are plenty of workplaces that
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do not even allow other voices to be heard on certain situations. But it is definitely a

good starting point that, if is allowed, can make a difference.

While both Lisa and Rachel have had very positive experiences at their library,

the same cannot be said for many women around the world. As said previously, sexism

is a huge problem in the world, and unfortunately, it is not the only issue. Discrimination

against races, religions, and sexual orientation are just a few of the many ways one can

be affected in the workplace. And, even though people have been fighting for less

discrimination for ages, it is still far from ideal and obtaining that ideal world is not

something that can happen overnight. So, what can be done, in order for these voices

to be heard and for workplaces to become more diverse? In an opinion piece featured in

American Libraries, Lisa Rabey (2014) states that libraries need to, “stop turning a blind

eye. We should stop shaming people for speaking out against the indifferences they see

at local institutions and at national levels. We have to stop using the word "diversity" as

our motto if we're not willing to really work on making our profession diverse” (Rabey).

In addition to librarians speaking out against the discrimination in the workplace, Rabey

believes that other librarians need to be willing to listen to the criticisms. People can

speak out on injustices all they want, but their voices are useless if no one is willing to

listen. So, for libraries facing issues of lacking diversity and discrimination, leaders need

to emerge to allow these voices to be heard. Rachel Newlin, one of the interviewees, is

doing an excellent job at allowing voices of the LGBTQIA+ community to be heard by

going to the ALA Roundtable Conferences. This is a great way for leaders to offer

criticism on the lack of diversity and discrimination libraries are suffering from since it

goes beyond just one single library. By attending these conferences, these issues are
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being brought to a huge audience that is willing to listen to the issues presented. It is a

great way to become a leader, a pioneer, on these issues and work to fix them.

Leaders in the library world can create accepting and proactive interactions

between their coworkers, allowing for collaboration, positive communication, and

addressing issues of discrimination and creating ways to deal with it. This essay

discussed several leadership theories and skills, including collaborative leadership, that

allow for colleagues to work together and provide alternative solutions to issues that

may come up. This collaborative leadership applies perfectly to libraries, which have a

multitude of different librarians specializing in different skills and subjects. These

librarians working together should be able to create a positive group of leaders that can

tackle any issues that arise in their libraries. Two interviewees, Lisa and Rachel, were

able to provide their own firsthand experiences of leading in a library setting, and the

blessings and challenges that come with it. With these challenges came the issues of

sexism that, while not being too shameful, still existed and needed to be addressed. By

discussing the importance of differing opinions from diverse groups, leaders should see

that collaborating with women on leadership opportunities can only benefit any given

situation. Hopefully, by listening to the voices of women and others that are

discrimination against, librarians can finally obtain the diversity that so many hope to

strive for.
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Works Cited

Ruben, B., & Gigliotti, R. (2016). Leadership as Social Influence: An Expanded View of

Leadership Communication Theory and Practice. Journal of Leadership &

Organizational Studies, 23(4), 467–479.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1548051816641876

Tourish, D. (2014). Leadership, more or less? A processual, communication perspective

on the role of agency in leadership theory. Leadership, 10(1), 79–98.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715013509030

Raelin, J. A. (2016). Imagine there are no leaders: Reframing leadership as

collaborative agency. Leadership, 12(2), 131–158.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715014558076

Martin, J. (2020, April 1). The Role of Leadership in Healthy Library Cultures.

https://www-tandfonline-com.dom.idm.oclc.org/doi/full/10.1080/01930826.2020.17

33348?scroll=top.

Schnall, M. (2013). What Will it Take to Make a Woman President? Conversations

about Women, Leadership and Power. Seal Press.

Rabey, L. (2014). Speaking up: starting a dialogue on sexism in libraries.(OPINION: On

My Mind). American Libraries (Chicago, Ill.), 45(6), 26–.

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Newlin, Rachel. (2020) Personal communication. Cataloging Librarian at the

Schaumburg Township District Library.

Wieczorek, Lisa. (2020) Personal communication. Library Associate, Youth and Teen

Services at the Lincolnwood Public Library District.

Base interview questions:

1. What is your leadership style?

2. What are your most important values as a leader?

3. What qualities do you think are most important for a leader to have?

4. Who do you lead at your library? (Doesn't necessarily mean you have to be a

supervisor of someone)

5. What is one of your proudest instances as a leader?

6. Have you ever had to admit you were wrong as a leader? Have you had a time

when you were tested? 

7. Has there ever been a time where you had to compromise, either with a leader or

as one?

8. Have you ever felt your leadership skills were questioned because of your

gender?

9. What do you think must change in the workplace for women, people of color,

members of the LGBTQA+ community, and other groups that may be

discriminated to be treated fairly? What do you think must change?

More causal questions to build discussion:

1. Who is your favorite woman leader?

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2. For this same project, I read a book about feminist leadership called What Will it

take to Make a Woman President? So, what do you think it will take to make a

woman president?