Professional Development Books for Library Staff

Updated June 10, 2025
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The 12 steps to a community-led library
Barbakoff, Audrey
Paper Book
Libraries want to be more responsive to their diverse communities. Yet many libraries lack the structures, cultures, and mindsets to sustain community-led methods. This book lays out an evidence-based, twelve-step process that will help you transform your library in ways that serve your unique...
The black belt librarian : real-world safety & security
Graham, Warren Davis.
Paper Book
Sharing expertise gleaned from more than two decades as a library security manager, Graham demonstrates that libraries can maintain their best traditions of openness and public access by creating an unobtrusive yet effective security plan. In straightforward language, the author ...
Collection management for youth : equity, inclusion, and learning
Hughes-Hassell, Sandra
Paper Book
With a renewed emphasis on facilitating learning, supporting multiple literacies, and advancing equity and inclusion, the thoroughly updated and revised second edition of this trusted text provides models and tools that will enable library staff who serve youth to create and maintain collections...
Data-driven decisions : a practical toolkit for library and information professionals
Stubbing, Amy
Paper Book
Data-Driven Decisions: A Practical Toolkit for Library and Information Professionals is a simple, jargon-free guide to using data for decision making in library services. The book walks readers step-by-step through each stage of implementing, reviewing and embedding data-driven decisions...
Decentering whiteness in libraries : a framework for inclusive collection management practices
Jamison, Andrea
Paper Book
The book serves as a "how to" guide for evaluating and crafting collection development policies that will help create equity in library collections. The book not only helps contextualize the need for inclusive collection development policies but features user-friendly tables, guides, and sample...
The dysfunctional library : challenges and solutions to workplace relationships
Henry, Jo
Paper Book
By tackling the dysfunctional library head on, managers as well as library workers who find themselves in a toxic situation will be poised to better meet library goals and move the library forward.
Financial management for libraries
Sannwald, William W.
Paper Book
Presenting financial management principles and best practices applicable to both public and academic libraries, this comprehensive text elucidates a broad array of issues crucial for those entering a managerial position. Both thorough and straightforward, Sannwald's treatment gives...
Implementing for results : your strategic plan in action
Nelson, Sandra S.
Paper Book
For nearly two decades, the Public Library Association's Results Series has been the definitive resource for practical everyday management. This latest addition to the series offers: Tips to help determine which activities effectively support goals and objectives Fourteen...
Inclusive Cataloging: Histories, Context, and Reparative Approaches
Billey, Amber
Paper Book
As part of the profession's ongoing EDISJ efforts to redress librarianship's problematic past, practitioners from across the field are questioning long-held library authorities and standards. They're undertaking a critical and rigorous re-examination of so-called "best" practices and the...
The Kind Librarian: Cultivating a Culture of Kindness and Wellbeing in Libraries
Rimmer, Helen
Paper Book
The Kind Librarian: Cultivating a Culture of Kindness and Wellbeing in Libraries is a pioneering guide that addresses the critical need to foster kindness and wellbeing within library workplaces and promoting a more supportive and understanding working environment. In it, the author expertly...
Leading libraries : how to create a service culture
VanDuinkerken, Wyoma
Paper Book
This valuable resource gathers the principles and best practices of leadership, and points the way towards creating a service culture that makes every staff member a library leader.
Lean library management : eleven strategies for reducing costs and improving customer services
Huber, John J.
Paper Book
Libraries today face reduced budgets, increased customer expectations, and aggressive competition from web-based information sources. Management guru John Huber, a pioneer and leader in the Lean Manufacturing movement, has worked as a consultant with libraries across North America. Featured Review:...
The librarian's guide to homelessness : an empathy-driven approach to solving problems, preventing conflict, and serving everyone
Dowd, Ryan
Paper Book
Homelessness is a perennial topic of concern at libraries. In fact, staff at public libraries interact with almost as many homeless individuals as staff at shelters do. Empathy and understanding, along with specific actionable advice that's drawn from experience, makes all the difference in...
The library : a fragile history
Pettegree, Andrew
Paper Book
Perfect for book lovers, this is a fascinating exploration of the history of libraries and the people who built them, from the ancient world to the digital age.   Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over...
The library : an illustrated history
Murray, Stuart
Paper Book
Throughout the history of the world, libraries have been constructed, burned, discovered, raided, and cherished--and the treasures they've housed have evolved from early stone tablets to the mass-produced, bound paper books of our present day. The Library invites you to enter the...
Library Programming for Adults with Developmental Disabilities
Klipper, Barbara
Paper Book
Public libraries everywhere have embraced inclusion and expanded their programming for youth with disabilities, especially autism. It's imperative that libraries also offer rich and age-appropriate initiatives for adults with developmental disabilities; after all, as youth now served by their...
Library services and incarceration : recognizing barriers, strengthening access
Austin, Jeanie
Paper Book
As part of our mission to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all library patrons, our profession needs to come to terms with the consequences of mass incarceration, which have saturated the everyday lives of people in the United States and heavily impacts Black, Indigenous...
Library services to homeschoolers : a guide
Giovannelli-Caputo, Christina
Paper Book
Library Services to Homeschoolers: A Guide will help librarians understand and serve their homeschooling community. Chapter 1 covers the early history of homeschooling and how compulsory education changed how our children were schooled. Chapter 2 explores the homeschool revolution, when...
Making a collection count : a holistic approach to library collection management
Hibner, Holly
Paper Book
Library collection management is a vital part of any library's operations. Making a Collection Count takes a holistic look at library collection management, connecting collection management activities and departments, and instructs on how to gather and analyse data from each point in a...
Management basics for information professionals
Evans, G. Edward
Paper Book
The recipient of rave reviews from far and wide (Journal of Hospital Librarianship deemed it "a librarian's dream ... very forward-thinking"), since its initial publication this text has served as an essential resource for both LIS students and practitioners. The new fourth edition offers an...
Navigating Difficult Situations in Public Libraries: The Pla Guide to Trauma-Informed De-Escalation
Paauw, Margaret Ann
Because libraries are community spaces that provide access to information, resources, and programming for people of all ages and backgrounds, conflicts between patrons, verbal or physical altercations, and other difficult situations can occur. These situations can be traumatic for those involved,...
Outreach services for teens : a starter guide
Snow, Jess
Paper Book
The clichéd and vague notions about outreach services for teens that so many librarians encounter in job descriptions and performance evaluations do not reflect the importance or day-to-day realities of this undertaking. In this primer for those new to the profession, Snow demonstrates how youth...
The playful library : building environments for learning and creativity
Lotts, Megan
Paper Book
Play is a state of mind, and a means to have fun, explore wild ideas, and get lost in "the flow." Not only does play make library work more enjoyable and less stressful, it can also help us do our jobs better--while making the library a much more engaging and delightful presence in the community at...
Public library buildings : the librarian's go-to guide for construction, expansion, and renovation projects
Charbonnet, Lisa
Paper Book
This go-to guide covers the entire process of building or renovating a public library--from initial planning, to maintaining the completed space, to measuring success. In light of current social and technological shifts, libraries are reinventing themselves. Meeting place,...
Public library collections in the balance : censorship, inclusivity, and truth
Downey, Jennifer
Paper Book
A fascinating and informative read for librarians, library staff, and MLIS students, this book offers practical information and professional guidelines to examine current issues in censorship and libraries while also enabling readers to consider their own opinions about intellectual freedom.<...
The safe library : keeping users, staff, and collections secure
Albrecht, Steve
Paper Book
For over 22 years, Steve Albrecht has trained thousands of library employees around the country on the dos and don'ts of handling challenging, entitled, eccentric, demanding, harassing, or even threatening patrons. His articles, blogs, podcasts, and keynote speeches have helped empower equip...
Serving patrons with disabilities : perspectives and insights from people with disabilities
Laskin, Kodi
Paper Book
Ensuring accessibility is more important than ever; however, answering questions of what needs to be done and why to make a library accessible can be an uncomfortable and daunting hurdle to true inclusion. This book is a safe, nonjudgmental tool for overcoming this awkwardness, offering readers...
Simple book repair techniques
Conn, Donia
Paper Book
Many large or academic libraries have staff specifically trained to care for their collections, but public and other small libraries don't have that luxury. So how can the small library extend the usable life of its collection with little staff time or money? This book will walk library staff...
The six-step guide to library worker engagement
Norlin, Elaina
Paper Book
Gallup's 2019 State of the American Workplace Report found that 70 percent of employees are disengaged at work. Why is worker engagement so important? Engaged workers lead to engaged libraries -- vibrant institutions that nurture their workers' dedication, creativity, and innovation so they can...
Strategic planning for results
Nelson, Sandra S.
Paper Book
The PLA Results Series has long served to help public librarians envision, evaluate, and respond to community needs with distinctive programs and services. Building from this proven model, Strategic Planning for Results is the fully revised version of Planning for Results, the...
A trauma-informed approach to library services
Tolley, Rebecca
Paper Book
We are only now coming to terms with how common trauma really is; a landmark Kaiser study that surveyed patients receiving physicals found that almost two-thirds had experienced at least one form of abuse, neglect, or other trauma as a child. Though originating in the fields of health and social...
A trauma-informed framework for supporting patrons : the PLA workbook of best practices
Paper Book
Whether it's navigating a crisis or witnessing a community member struggling with tough times, coming face to face with trauma and adversity can be uncomfortable. But in striving to learn more about challenging behaviors, and how we can better interact with library patrons and our coworkers, we can...
Whole person librarianship : a social work approach to patron services
Zettervall, Sara K.
Paper Book
Whole Person Librarianship guides librarians through the practical process of facilitating connections among libraries, social workers, and social services; explains why those connections are important; and puts them in the context of a national movement. Collaboration...
Winning grants : a how-to-do-it manual for librarians
Gerding, Stephanie K.
Paper Book
Newly updated and comprehensive, this invaluable manual is a must-have for library directors, grant writers, board members, consultants, and anyone navigating the intricacies of library grant funding. Whether you're starting from scratch and don't know where to begin, or you're an experienced grant...

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