Newspaper articles on DCL and me

Yikes, I never recorded the two articles that came out on Thursday, November 21, 2013 in the Denver Post. I should do that before I forget.

The first, "Ebooks at libraries: Douglas County director delivers a novel approach," by Claire Martin, was on the front page, (below the fold). And of course, it gives me credit for a system that owes as much or more to Monique Sendze, our IT director, and Rochelle Logan, who oversees our publisher relations and technical services, and many other folks who work at Douglas County Libraries.

The second was "Longtime innovative library head retires," by Clayton Woullard, on page 4P of Castle Rock's Yourhub insert.

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Uncle Bobby's Wedding

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My partner and I just finished co-teaching a leadership institute for librarians in the Western States. But I keep thinking about it. Some people, I know, think leadership is all about power. But I always wonder: power to do what? To make or to break? Over my 40-odd years of administrative experience — and some of them have been very odd indeed — I’ve boiled my idea of leadership down to three things. Know thyself . That is, have a relatively clear-eyed assessment of your strengths. Build on those strengths. But also learn how to recognize in other people the strengths that you do not have. Play well with others . Leadership begins with listening and paying attention. Then it moves into emotional intelligence — the ability to read and respond appropriately to human communication. The good news is that emotional intelligence is a skill set. It can be learned. The bad news is that a lot of people don’t bother. Make it better . There’s no point in leadership that makes things worse. Good ...

James LaRue - myliblog

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