Introduction
Article Type: Case study From: Library Management, Volume 30, Issue 6/7
Starting with this issue, LM will publish a case study in each physical volume. The next several issues will have a case for your consideration. We invite you to share your thoughts about what the case issues are and how they might be resolved. Please make your comments to at: http://intouch.emeraldinsight.com/lm. When we have enough comments on a single case, in the online case discussion forum, we will publish those comments as well as provide commentary.
Life-long learning is a key factor in a person’s career success. One good technique for honing one’s managerial and leadership abilities is through case studies. The case method has a long history when it comes to developing management skills. (Certainly the Harvard School of Business is a prime example of employing cases as part of management training and long-term learning.) Cases expose a person to problematic real world situations that contain complex issues. They challenge participants to analyse a situation that contains multiple issues, uncertainty, risk, and, like the real world,incomplete information. The goal is to develop practical alternative solutions for the various issues – with the emphasis on multiple solutions. Cases require and foster critical thinking, cognitive skills, as well as demanding both inductive and deductive thinking. Finally, when used in a group setting, a person learns from fellow participants.
One goal of case analysis is to develop as long a list of solutions as possible – a dozen or more is not uncommon. Even “wild ideas”can go on the list because the more option a person has when making the “decision”about what to do, the greater the number options to consider the greater the chance of selecting a good workable solution. Cases rarely have a single good option. Also, just because a solution worked before, it does not necessarily mean it will work again as circumstances may have changed.
LM cases will be drawn from a variety of information service environments. Each case will have an opening section that address some of the broad issues of the following case as well as a few further reading suggestions. We hope you find the cases enjoyable and a worthwhile learning tool.
Dr G. Edward Evans will handle the case material. He is semi-retired after a long career as both a professor (library and information science and archaeology) and practicing information professional. Among his practical experiences were heading up Harvard University’s Tozzer Library (the anthropology and archaeology library) and an 18 year tenure as Associate Academic Vice President for Information Resources at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Currently he is looking after the Harold S. Colton Memorial Library and Archives for the Museum of Northern Arizona located in Flagstaff.
His teaching experiences were in US and Nordic library schools. For example,he was a professor in the University of California, Los Angeles Graduate School of Library and Information Science for more than 15 years. He also was a Fulbright teaching fellow at the University of Iceland library school.
Among his in print book that are germane to his handling the case material are Management Basics for Information Professionals (2nd ed.), Beyond the Basics, and Performance Management and Appraisal (all published by Neal-Schuman) and Leadership Basics for Librarians and Information Professionals (Scarecrow Press, Inc.).
Steve O’Connor
