Library Worklife

Statistics

Library Funding Stories

It’s no secret that libraries are suffering budget cuts. How has your library been affected by budget cuts? The American Library Association is collecting personal stories about how your library is responding to cuts. The ALA-APA is interested in how the budgets are affecting salaries and professional development and what inventive ways you are finding to circumvent the cuts. If you have good news—budget increases—let us know!

The stories are listed state-by-state. Sharing your stories "will help ALA share the human side of state and local budget decisions, and help us inform legislators that libraries need to be a priority."

The Importance of Coaching

The June issue of Library Worklife featured an article called Coaching in the Workplace: Why It Matters, by Ruth Metz. Ruth maintains that having a coach to assist you with reaching professional goals is an important element in creating an ideal working environment. The survey that month asked how many of you had a mentor or a coach.

While most of you, fifty-seven percent (57%), have had a mentor, only thirteen percent (13%)of respondents have had a coach. Coaching is a practice that is becoming more prevalent in the workplace and eighty-three percent (83%) of you feel that mentoring and coaching can play an important role in our working success. Ruth wrote Coaching in the Library to give practical advice for how we can use coaching to remedy and avoid typical personnel and management problems.

Have you had a mentor? (N=398)

Yes 57%
No 42%
Yes/No? 1%

Have you had a professional coach? (N=396)

Yes 13%
No 87%

How important is/was this experience in your professional development? (N=337)

Very important 67%
Somewhat important 16%
Neutral 11%
Somewhat unimportant 1%
Unimportant 5%