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

by Steve Albrecht (Author)

Learn how new and seasoned library HR leaders to use to staff and operate their libraries with the best employees they can find.

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 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. 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 - 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; coaching for improved work performance or employee behavior; mentoring employees for both promotional opportunities and succession planning; and more. 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.

Author Biography

Dr. Steve Albrecht is well known in 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.