Practical and Effective Management of Libraries

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Psychology and knowing oneself: how do these affect management and decision-making?

It almost goes without saying that each of us comes into library work with different strengths and weaknesses. We also come into library work with a multiplicity of different experiences and worldviews. There are a number of factors that go into making a manager successful. That said, understanding who you are from a variety of perspectives can help you become more effective as a manager. Indeed, one of the chapters in Daniel Goleman's book on emotional intelligence, which is discussed below, is entitled ‘Know thyself’ (Goleman, 1997: 46) It should be emphasized, however, that none of the approaches discussed below in and of itself will give you all the information ...